The English Renaissance
Italian Renaissance (mid 15th to mid 16th century): political
instability, explosion of individual expression.
Renaissance in Northern Europe (16th century): influenced by
the Reformation, more integrated into the cultural life of society,
political stability.
English Renaissance: encouraged by Queen Elisabeth Ist,
characterised by an open, questioning mentality, by a great
expansion of knowledge, and the study of classical cultures. The
Renaissance ended with the death of Elisabeth.
Main features of the Renaissance
• Intellectual curiosity
• Rediscovery of the Greek and Roman cultures
(suppressed by the Catholic Church in the Middle
Ages)
• Spread of learning (expansion of Oxford and
Cambridge universities, the printing press, Erasmus)
• Centrality of man: new interest in the human
thought and action (humanism).
Contradictions of the Renaissance
• Age of confusion: cohexistence of old medieval ideas
with new discoveries of science and philosophy
(Copernicus).
• It was the beginning of progress for European
nations, but this progress was based on the conquest
and exploitation of countries in Africa, Asia and the
Americas.
The Tudors
Henry VII (1485-1509)
(Financial and political stability, expansion of trade, “frugal” king)
Henry VIII (1509-47)
(he was a poet, musician, sportsman; he liked luxury and magnificence, he
started a new golden age, he had six wives)
Catherine of Aragon †
Jane Seymour
Ann Boleyn †
Mary I
Elisabeth I
Catherine Howard †
Anne of Cleves
Edward VI
Catherine Parr
Henry VIII (1509 – 47)
• First a defender of Catholicism against Martin Luther,
• He wanted to divorce his first wife (who didn’t give him male
heir) in order to marry Ann Boleyn
• The pope Clement VII didn’t grant him a divorce
• With the Act of Supremacy (1534) he declared himself the
head of the new Church of England
(confiscation of lands from the monasteries, beheading of
Thomas More)
Edward VI (1547 – 53): radical protestantism, persecution of Catholics,
introduction of the Book of Common Prayer (services were now in English).
Mary I (1553 – 58): daughter of Catherine of Aragon, Catholic.
“Bloody Mary” because of her persecution of Protestants.
Elisabeth I (1558- 1603): protestant, but she was able to give England unity
and stability, to find a balance between Catholicism and Puritanism,
flourishing of English Renaissance.
Elisabeth received a good classical education, she was surrounded by
intelligent councillors. She was excommunicated by the Pope
different plots against her (also by her cousin Mary Stuart, Queen of
Scotland, finally beheaded in 1587).
During her reign England became one of the most powerful nations in
Europe: beginning of the British Empire. Defeat of the “Spanish Armada” in
1588; expansion of the navy and of commerce (battle for naval supremacy,
pirate raids against Spanish ships); exploration of new lands (Drake).
The myth of Elisabeth
• The Virgin Queen: she never married.
• Her iconographic and poetic representation still corresponds to the
idealised woman of medieval courtly love.
• Regarded as the centre of the universe (reflecting the concept of the
universe at the time, still Ptolemaic).
The years after Elisabeth
• James I (1603 – 1625), Anglican, Mary Stuart’s son.
1605: Gunpowder Plot;
clash with Parliament (divine right of the king)
• Charles I (1625 – 49) dissolved Parliament and reigned as an
absolute monarch from 1929 to 1640.
Great social changes: the new middle classes (landed gentry,
professional people) had acquired more wealth and
supported Parliament.
1642: civil war: Cavaliers (Royalists) and Roundheads
(Parliamentarists), led by Oliver Cromwell (a puritan, he
imposed the closing of theatres)
1647 -1658: Cromwell established the “Commonwealth”. He
took control of London, arrested over 100 members of
Parliament, arrested and executed the king in 1949.
The Restoration
After Cromwell’s death Charles II (1660-1685) was called back
from his exile in France.
2 disasters: the plague(1665) and the great fire of London(1666).
• James II (1685-88): wanted to impose the catholic religion,
was absolutist and put Catholics in positions of power
glorious revolution (non-violent): William of Orange
(husband of James’s protestant daughter, Mary)
became king William III (1689-1702).
With the Bill of Rights (1689), he established that the king could
no longer rule the country (raise taxes or form an army) without
Parliament. He also gave freedom of religion but established that
only Protestants could be heirs to the throne.