The English Renaissance(Early Modern Period)

(1485-1625)

Of Men and Horses

The Renaissance: Definition• The Renaissance was a flowering of

literary, artistic, and intellectual development that began in Italy in the 14th century (1300s) and spread to England by the last two decades of the fifteenth century (1400s).

• The movement was inspired by the arts and scholarship of ancient Greece and Rome, which had been rediscovered during the Crusades.

Key Characteristics• New thoughts on religion– Humanism– The Reformation

• Stable/ capable monarchy– Henry VIII– Queen Elizabeth I

• The production and acquisition of knowledge– Age of Exploration– Movable Type

New Thoughts on Religion: Humanism

• Humanism: The belief or practice resulting from the belief that man’s experience on earth is at least as important as an “afterlife.”

• Religious devotion of the Middle Ages somewhat declined and gave way to new interest in/emphasis on human beings’ place on earth.

• Humanism was deeply involved with the study of the Classics (written in Greek and Latin) because they examine human experience from a secular angle.

New Thoughts on Religion:The Reformation

• People were fed up with the corruption of the Catholic Church (remember the Pardonder?).

• Martin Luther, German Monk, nailed his famous ninety-five theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517.

• Humanist scholars were doing academic work that would seem to challenge Church authority.– (A new translation of The New Testament by

Desiderius Erasmus was published in 1522 and highlighted, negatively, the Church’s authority over interpretation of the Bible).

• Henry VIII wanted to get divorced.

The Reformation

The ReformationThree main tenets of the Reformation:1) Only the Scriptures (not the Church or

tradition) have authority in matters of religion.

2) Only God’s grace and personal faith (not good works, religious practices, or commodities) can bring about salvation.

3) Only enlightened private conscience (not priests, ministers, or hierarchies) can determine what an individual must believe and do.

Stable and Capable Monarchy (Mostly)

• Henry VII (1485-1509)– Kingship marked the end of the War of the Roses– Helped modernize England’s economy by making

provisions to expand cloth production• Henry VIII (1509-1547)– Patron of the arts– Formed a standing army (Feudalism had declined)– Expanded the Navy– “Defender of the (Catholic) Faith” Founder of a

new religion: Church of England (Anglican)

Stable and Capable Monarchy: Elizabeth I

• Perhaps no English monarch is more closely associated with the Renaissance than Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth I• Reigned from 1558-1603 (45 years)• Succeeded her sister, Mary I, “Bloody Mary”• Established a secure Church of England but compromised

with Catholicism and did not actively persecute Catholics• Exercised good judgment in choosing government

officials and advisors• Chose not to marry to preserve the integrity of her

judgment on matters of foreign and domestic policy (Virginia was named after her.)

• Supported exploration and economic expansion• Supported the arts (esp. theater)• Earned the devotion—almost worship—of her subjects

and inspired strong nationalism

Production/Acquisition of Knowledge:

Age of Exploration

Production/Acquisition of Knowledge: Age of Exploration

• Christopher Columbus (Italian)– Americas, 1492

• Vasco de Gama (Portuguese)– Reached India by sea, sailing around the Cape of

Good Hope (1497-1499)• John Cabot (British/British)

– Newfoundland, 1497• Sir Francis Drake (British)

– Sailed through the Strait of Magellan, pillaged Spanish towns on the Pacific, reached as far as San Francisco, crossed to the Philippines, and returned around the Cape of Good Hope

Age of Exploration: Vasco de Gama’s Voyage

Age of ExplorationGood outcomes• Increased knowledge

about the world• Created great wealth for

European countries (triangular trade, colonies)

• Created opportunity for “commoners” to make their fortunes and/or increase personal freedom outside of Britain

Not-so-good outcomes• British self-perception as

culturally-racially superior to the rest of the world

• Colonization– Ireland suppressed because

of Catholicism– British East India Company

1600 (not as large as Dutch East India Company [1602] but definitely older)

– Triangular trade (slaves-raw materials-finished goods)

Production/Acquisition of Knowledge: Movable Type

• Johannes Gutenberg (German) is credited with inventing movable type; his printing press was in operation by 1450; he printed a Bible in 1455.

• Englishman William Caxton introduced movable type to Britain (1476).

• Literacy increased during the fifteenth century, so that many more people could read than in Geoffrey Chaucer’s time.

• Estimates suggest that about 30 percent of the people could read English in the early 15th century and about 60 percent by 1530.

• Printing obviously made books cheaper, more plentiful, providing more opportunity to read and more incentive to learn.

Movable Type

Movable Type: Effects• Birth of “race” as we know it– Travelogues were produced from various voyages

abroad and made for cheap, interesting reading. – By reading about people whose appearance and

culture were dramatically different from their own, the average British citizen was able to form ideas about how Englishness (and being European) was different from other cultural identities.

– In fact, “race” came into the English language in connection with this historical development. Its first known usage in English was in the 16th century (1500s).

Movable Type: Effects• Strengthened Protestantism

– King James I (who followed Elizabeth and was also a strong Renaissance monarch) commissioned the translation of a new Bible (1604-1611)

– New Testament translated from Greek.– Old Testament translated from Hebrew and Aramaic.– Apocrypha translated from Greek and Latin.– King James’s Bible was only the third version in

English; Henry VIII had commissioned the first translation in 1535.

– King James’s version was able to be mass produced and widely read; it is still influential 404 years later.