The English Renaissance & The Elizabethan World View & the 17 th Century

1. The English Renaissance &The Elizabethan World View& the 17th Century 1485- 1603 (1660)

2. Beginnings • Italy – Fourteenth Century • Wealth from Banking and Trade • New Energy and Creativity • Leonardo daVinci • Michelangelo • Columbus • Galileo & Copernicus • Catholic Church • Wealthy & powerful, even in politics • Popes were patrons of artists, architects, scholars • Sistine Chapel

3. Down with the Middle Ages • Associated themselves with classical antiquity • Read Old Greek and Latin classics of literature, history, and moral philosophy • Reformed the Latin they read, wrote and spoke • Brought about a renewed spirit and creativity among the people • Dissociated themselves from the Middle Ages

4. Politics, Politics, Politics • End of Feudalism • Establishment of an effective central government (monarchy) • “Divine Right” • King is also head of Anglican Church • The Ideals of Kingship/the Character of Behavior and Rulers • Machiavelli’s Prince • Shakespeare’s Henry V

5. Humanism • Intellectual movement • Looked to Classical Lit, History, and Moral philosophy for Answers • Sought to harmonize the Bible with the Classics • Used the classics to strengthen Christianity • Moved from “contemplative life” to “active life” • Active involvement in public life, in moral, political, and military action, and in service to the state

6. Focused on teaching people how to participate in and rule society • Taught their findings to future rules in hopes they would be wise and virtuous • Plutarch • Life’s aim is to attain virtue, not success or money or fame because virtue is the only source of happiness • Desiderius Erasmus • Best known humanist • Dutch Monk • Wrote in Latin • Taught Greek at Cambridge& befriended Thomas More • Also wrote in Latin. Was a Lawyer & was Knighted. Highly respected • Henry VIII had him beheaded

7. Art as Imitation • “following predecessors” • Translate for present readers the moral vision of the past • Imitating great works • Adapting them to a Christian perspective and milieu • Should not be mechanical or complete • Capture the spirit of the originals • Master the best models • Learn from them • Use for the author’s own purpose • Faithful depiction of human behavior • “holding the mirror up to nature” Shakespeare • Revival of forms • Epic, Satire, Comedy and Tragedy

8. The Reformation • Rejected the Medieval form of Christianity • Martin Luther (1483-1546) • Reacted against Church corruption • Like Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales • Luther challenged fundamental doctrines of the church which led him and his followers to break away from the church in protest (thus the word Protestant) • Rejected the authority of the Pope • Rejected authority of Church and Priests to mediate between humans and God • Must achieve a direct personal relationship with God through reading Bible • Saved by God’s Grace alone, not good deeds

9. Literary Ramifications of the Reformation • Believed all believers need to read the Bible for themselves • Translated the Bible into vernacular languages • Bible became a renewed source of literary inspiration in form and subject matter & became a rich source for symbols • Influenced later Romantics through an emphasis on inner feeling • Gutenberg Press 1455 (England in 1476)

10. The Tudors – Henry VIII • Wars of the Roses • 1455 between the families of York & Lancaster • By 1845 so many baronial families were extinguished that the hierarchy of succession to the throne was forever altered • Thus . . . Henry VIII • Welsh Nobleman who took the throne after the Wars of the Roses

11. Henry and His Wives • Catherine of Aragon • Anne Boleyn • Jane Seymour • Anne of Cleves • Catherine Howard • Katherine Parr