Table of content
1. Task
6. Politics
2. Historical background
7. Life in the Elizabethan
3. Queen Elizabeth I
Era
4. Elizabethan Worldview
8. Culture
5. Government
9. Science and Technology
Task: Throughout the presentation please
keep in mind the following question
Why ist the Elizabethan Era called the „golden age“?
Try to find aspects in our presentation that justify or prove the
term “golden age” in your opinion.
Historical background
- England was close to a civil war
- Queen Mary wants to convert
England back to a Catholicism
àBut then Elizabeth got crowded
→had to deal with political, economic and
religious tension
Queen Elizabeth I
- Ruled for 45 years
- Never married which was uncommon
at that time
→ Nicknamed the “Virgin Queen”
- 1558 - 1603
Elizabethan Worldview
- The great chain of being
→ Strict hierarchy
- Based on gods will
- Hierarchy for constant harmony
- Terrified of disorders
Government
- parlamentary monarchy
- Tudor governement
Government
-
decisions were made by the supreme leader Elizabeth
-
parliament provides advices:
- The House of Lords
→ was made up with upper class people
- House of Commons
→ Very few people could vote
→ Excluded people: woman, people who didn’t own land
Domestic Politics
-
Mostly made up by upper class
-
Maintaining the dominance of Elizabeth´s reign
Þ Strong military
Foreign politics
- Expansion of trading routes
- Rise of the british empire
- War against spain: 1585- 1604:
- Religious and political differences
Life in the Elizabethan Era
The nobles
The commoners
Religion in the Elizabethan Era
- Anglican Church / The church of England
→Henry VIII. Father of Queen Elizabeth I. established the new Christian religion
→Wanted to get divorced from his wife without asking the pope
- In the Elizabethan Era the religion was mixed between Catholicism
and Evangelism
- People who were against the church got executed
Fashion in the Elizabethan Era
-Men wore their hair short, while women combed their long hair
upwards where it was fixed with a metal frame
-Purple coloured clothing was a sign of royalty
Music in the
Elizabethan era
-Instrumental music
-Popular solo instruments:
→Virginal
→Lute
Music in the
Elizabethan era
-Huge variety between the
music played in the
Elizabethan era:
→Traditional ballads
→Church music
→Live dance music
Literature in the
Elizabethan era
- Flowering of poetry
- Golden age of drama
- Themes: humanism, worldly/ earthly power
- Orders and chaos
- Motives: antisemitism, disguise, revenge, the
supernatural
- Shakespeare influenced this era
Theatre in the Elizabethan era
-Role of theatre gets bigger
-Open arenas as playhouses for up to 3000 people
→Globe theatre
-Plays performed by daylight
-No theatre etiquette
Science and technology
- First English man to surround
the word by boat
- Supported England in a lot of
wars
- Later England got the
strongest navy
- general success by a lot of
English merchants
Sir Francis Drake 1540 - 1596
Science and technology
- Was the first to find that the
earth turns on it’s own axis
- First to find that all planets
turn around the sun
- Only few believed
→ Theory later proven right
Nicolaus Copernicus 1473 - 1543
Science and technology
- Made one of the first
telescopes
- With his telescope he proved
Copernicus theory
- Created the pendulum which
is the most important part of a
clock
Galileo Galilei 1564 - 1642
Science and technology
- Mathematician
- Figured out about the
mathematical laws of the way
planets move
- Build the base for the theory of
gravity
Johannes Kepler 1571 - 1630
Why „golden age“?
Now: Talk with your partner about what you wrote down about
the “golden age”
We will discuss your results in 3 minutes
Why „golden age“?
- Age of progress
- Elizabeth lead england in triump
→ most dominat western military power
→ Strong navy
- managed to stop the beginning of a civil war
- Culture developed (science and theatre, university and school)
Why „golden age“?
- Success of merchants:
- improved economy
- brought imigrants
- increased population
-promoted exploration to new trade routes à increased wealth