The Renaissance 1485-1625 a flowering of literary, artistic and

intellectual development that began in Italy in the 14th century.

inspired by arts and scholarship of ancient Greece and Rome, which were rediscovered during the Crusades

means “rebirth” – rebirth of civilization

Key Characteristics of the Renaissance

Religious devotion of the Middle Ages gave way to interest in the human being’s place on this earth (humanism) to harmonize Bible and classics to teach how to live and rule

Universities introduced a new curriculum, the humanities, including history, geography, poetry, and languages

Invention of printing made books more available More writers began using the vernacular

(common language) – English, Italian, French

Humanism:This new concept man had of himself encouraged these various art styles: painting, literature, dance

Leonardo DaVinci and Michaelangelo were the most notable, for their accuracy in representing the human anatomy and applying the laws of perspective to make their works more realistic.

Figures of the Renaissance

Mostly Italians Petrarch wrote lyric poetry in the form of sonnets Leonardo Da Vinci, a painter, sculptor, architect,

and scientist Da Vinci typifies a Renaissance man—a person

of broad education and interests whose curiosity knew no bounds.

The Age of Exploration

Renaissance thirst for knowledge lead to a great burst of exploration.

Crusades opened routes to Asia soon monopolized by Italian merchants.

Explorers from other nations searched for all-sea routes aided by compass and advances in astronomy.

Culminated in Columbus’s discovery of the New World in 1492--colonization

England in the Age of Exploration

1497—Italian-born John Cabot reached Newfoundland (an island off the coast of Canada) and perhaps the mainland

Cabot laid the basis for future English claims in North America.

The Protestant Reformation: Questioning the Catholic Church

A growing sense of nationalism led many to question the authority of the church (in Italy).

Complaints:– the sale of indulgences– payment to the church (tithing, taxes)– church leaders favored Mediterranean powers over

northerly countries– the educated questioned the Church teachings and

hierarchy

Erasmus

Dutch thinker whose edition

of the New Testament raised

questions about standard

interpretations of the Bible. Focused attention on issues of morality and

religion Morality and religion became the central

concerns of the English Renaissance

Martin Luther Erasmus paved the way for the split in the Roman Catholic Church in 1517. German monk Martin Luther nailed a list of dissenting

beliefs (“ninety-five theses”) to the door of a German church.

Luther - salvation not earned by good deeds but free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus.

Challenged authority of Pope of Roman Catholic Church by teaching that Bible is only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God.

Intent was to reform Catholic Church, but actually divided church and introduced Protestantism.

Results of the Protestant Reformation Swept through Europe with aid of Luther’s

translation of the Bible and pamphlets printed with new printing press

Veneration of some saints, certain pilgrimages and pilgrim shrines (like Thomas a Beckett’s in Canterbury) were attacked and destroyed. Huge amounts of church land and property passed into hands of Crown - ultimately into nobility and gentry.

Persecution of Catholics and Protestants Division of Protestants—Lutherans and Calvinists

(Puritans and Presbyterian sects)

Tudor England

Tudor dynasty ruled from 1485-1603. Time of stability and economic expansion London a metropolis of 180,000 people Many saw the changes as a threat to the

old familiar ways Feared new outbreaks of civil strife (like

War of the Roses)

Henry VII

First Tudor monarch; defeated

Richard III in 1485 Inherited an England depleted by civil war Before his death in 1509, he rebuilt the

treasury and established law and order. Henry VII restored the prestige of the

monarchy and set the stage for his successors.

Henry VIII Catholic (even wrote a book against Luther) Relationship with the Pope did not last Marriage to Catherine of Aragon produced no male

heir Henry tried to obtain an annulment to marry Anne

Boleyn The Pope refused, but Henry married anyway “Renaissance man” – wrote poetry, athlete and

hunter, created Royal Navy

Henry’s Break with the Church

Henry’s defiance led to an open break with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Act of Supremacy (1534) gave Henry full control of the Church in England and severed all ties with Rome.

Henry became the head of the Anglican Church (the new Church of England).

He seized Church property and dissolved the monasteries.

The Aftermath Henry used ruthless measures to suppress opposition. He even had his former friend and advisor, Thomas

More, executed, because More refused to renounce his faith.

Henry married six times. His first two marriages (Catherine and Anne)

produced two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. His third wife, Jane Seymour, bore him a son,

Edward, who was still a frail child when Henry died in 1547.

Catherine of Aragon

m. 1509 - 1533Divorced

Anne Boleynm. 1533 - 1536

Executed

Jane Seymourm. 1536 - 1537

Died

Anne of Clevesm. 1540 Jan.-July

Divorced

Kathryn Howardm. 1540 - 1542

Executed

Katherine Parrm. 1543 - 1547

Widowed

Edward VI Became king at 9; died at 15 (1553) Parliamentary acts during his

reign changed England’s religious

practices and sent England on its way to becoming

a Protestant nation. English replaced Latin in church. The Anglican prayer book, Book of Common

Prayer, became required in public worship.

Bloody Mary Mary I, Edward’s half sister; a Catholic Mary restored Catholic practices and papal authority to

the Church of England. Mary married her Spanish cousin, Phillip II, making

England a part of the powerful Spanish state. (During this period of nationalism, many found her acts unpatriotic)

Mary also persecuted Protestants: she ordered the execution of some 300 Protestants during her reign, strengthening anti-Catholic sentiment in England

Elizabeth I After Mary’s five year reign, her half-sister, Elizabeth came to the throne. Elizabeth was the last of the Tudors, dying

unmarried and childless. Elizabeth received a Renaissance education,

became a patron of the arts, and Elizabethan came to describe the English Renaissance at its height.

Virginia named after her (the virgin queen)

Elizabeth and the Church

Ended religious turmoil Reestablished the monarch’s supremacy in

the Church of England Restored the Book of Common Prayer Instituted a policy of religious moderation

Foreign Affairs

France and Spain, England’s two greatest rivals, often worked with Catholic factions in England.

Both nations fought to dominate England. Elizabeth and her counselors played one side

against the other, using offers of marriage as bait.

This cleverness allowed England a period of peace and allowed commercial and maritime interests to prosper.

Mary, Queen of Scots Elizabeth’s Catholic cousin, Mary Stuart; queen of Scotland by birth and next in line to the British throne (granddaughter of Henry VII) Catholics did not recognize Henry VIII’s marriage to

Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother, and considered Mary Stuart the queen.

Mary was a prisoner of England for 19 years and the center of numerous plots on Elizabeth’s life.

Eventually Mary was convicted of plotting to murder Elizabeth and went to the block in 1587, a Catholic martyr.

“In my end is my beginning”—Mary’s death led Catholic Spain to declare war on England.

England vs. Spain Spain rejected English claims in America, resented

that English privateers had been attacking and plundering Spanish ships.

Privateers like John Hawkins and Francis Drake “on their own,” but were really under authority of Queen Elizabeth.

After Mary’s execution, King Phillip II prepared Spanish armada of 130 warships to attack England.

In 1588, English sailors defeated the Armada in the English Channel; marked decline of Spain and the rise of England as great sea power

From Tudors to Stuarts

Elizabeth’s death marked the end of the Tudor dynasty.

To avoid civil strife, Elizabeth named King James VI of Scotland her successor (son of Mary Stuart).

James was a Protestant James VI of Scotland = James I of England The reign of James I (1603-1625) is now

known as the Jacobean Era

King James I Strong supporter of the arts; furthered England’s position as a world power Sponsored the establishment of the first English

colony in America—Jamestown Believed in “divine right” monarchy and had

contempt for Parliament (power struggle) Persecuted Puritans (House of Commons)—

James’s persecution prompted a group of Puritans to establish Plymouth colony in 1621

Believed in witchcraft and ghosts

The English Renaissance Architects designed beautiful mansions Composers wrote new hymns for Anglican

service and popularized the English madrigal Renaissance painters and sculptors moved to

England (Hans Holbein the Younger was court painter to Henry VIII)

Opened public schools (like private secondary schools today)

Improvements at Oxford and Cambridge

Elizabethan Poetry

Perfected the sonnet and experimented with other poetic forms

Philip Sidney wrote the first Elizabethan sonnet cycle (a series of sonnets that fit together as a story)—Astrophel and Stella

Edmund Spenser wrote a long epic, The Faerie Queen, in complex nine-line units now called Spenserian stanzas

Christopher Marlowe popularized pastoral verse (idealizes the rural life)

The Sonnet

English Spenserian Italian (Petrarchean)

3 quatrains, 1 couplet; couplet is solution or comment

3 quatrains, 1 couplet

8 lines (octave) and 6 lines (sestet); octave presents problem, sestet presents solution or comment

abab cdcd efef gg abab bcbc cdcd ee OR abba abba cddc ee

abba abba cdecde

- 14 line poem, written in iambic pentameter

Elizabethan Drama Reintroduced tragedies—plays in which disaster

befalls a hero or heroine Reintroduced comedies—plays in which a

humorous situation leads to a happy resolution. Began using blank verse Christopher Marlowe was the first major

Elizabethan dramatist. Marlowe may have rivaled Shakespeare as

England’s greatest playwright had he lived past thirty.

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare began his involvement with the theater as an actor.

By 1592, he was a popular playwright whose works had been performed at Elizabeth’s court.

After the Globe Theater was built in 1599, many of his plays were performed there.

Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays: nine tragedies, several comedies, ten histories, and a number of play classified as tragic comedies.

“He was not of an age but for all time.”

William Shakespeare’s The Globe 3 stories high with balconies Polygonal “O-shaped” Tiring house –backstage area with flag flying from its

peak announced whether there was a performance that day Trap doors on main stage Women’s parts played by young boys Elaborate, expensive costumes but few sets Plays performed in afternoon - no night shows Poorer patrons “groundlings” paid a penny to stand at

stage Sold hazelnuts and beer as concessions Stunk – no bathrooms just buckets

Elizabethan and Jacobean Prose Walter Raleigh wrote his History of the World

during his confinement in the Tower of London (was beheaded for allegedly plotting against James I)

The leading prose writer of the time was Francis Bacon.

The King James Bible – – most monumental prose achievement of the

English Renaissance– Commissioned by King James on the advice

of Protestant clergymen– Took fifty-four scholars seven years to

complete

Famous Renaissance Writers More – Utopia Thomas More is

considered one of the

greatest of all English humanists, mainly for the book Utopia, written in Latin, about an imaginary island where everything is perfect.

Sidney – Astrophel and Stella Spenser – Faerie Queen Marlowe – Dr. Faustus

Shakespeare – sonnets

and plays Bacon – Essays Donne – sonnets and sermons Milton – Paradise Lost

Assorted Renaissance bits Crime and punishment

– Death- punishment for treason, rebellion, murder and most kinds of stealing

– Other common punishments: gallows, the rack, stocks, whipping, branding

Education– Men only, Latin most important subject

Food– Honey – only way to sweeten food– 1 day a week, had to eat fish (it was the law)– All meals washed down with wine or beer– Most people ate with fingers; forks uncommon– Few vitamins in diet– Bad teeth- not enough milk, too many sweets

Inventions• 1570 toothbrush

• Rockets, hand grenades

• +, -, = signs

• Tobacco, potatoes discovered in America

• Pencil, pocket watch

Concepts that figure into Shakespeare’s plays

Great Chain of Being 4 Humours

God

9 orders of angels choleric sanguine

King (yellow bile) (blood)

Man melancholic phlegmatic

Beasts (black bile) (phlegm)

Plants

Stones, etc.

Wheel of Fortune– Common symbol during the Middle Ages– Its lesson seemed to be that even kings could

not escape the hazards of the human condition.