The Tudors and the Elizabethan Age 1485 – 1558 –

Main Points Historical framework Social background Literary world –Questions and answers 2

Historical framework (1) Historical background –Henry VII Tudor ( ) –Henry VIII ( ) Six wives –Edward VI ( ) Jane Seymour’s son –Mary I ( ) Catherine of Aragon’s daughter The Catholic and Bloody Mary 3

Historical framework (2) Main events –Anglican Reformation (Act of Supremacy, 1534) The sovereign > Supreme head of the Church Divorce from Catherine of Aragon Monasteries dissolved Catholic properties acquired by the State Catholic schools and hospitals closed down –Reintroduction of the Catholic religion (1553) Protestants persecuted 4

Historical framework (3) Elizabeth I Queen of England (1558) –Re-establishment of the Anglican Church –Religious tolerance –Policy of expansion American colonies (Virginia, 1584) East India Company (1600) –Contrasts with Spain (commercial and religious) Sea-dogs (Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh) Defeat of the Invincible Armada (1588) 5

Social background (1) Balance between Monarchy and Parliament Time of peace, order and stability Use of gunpowder (end of the feudal system) Loss of power of the old aristocracy Importance of the Court Rising of the urban class –Merchant class –Development of overseas trading 6

Social background (2) The Court –The Queen as patron of the Arts Macrocosm and microcosm –Universal order vs human order –New Puritan ethic Hard work, duty, self-discipline –Social stratification –Social shift 7

Social background (3) Urban class – Need for entertainment –Elizabethan theatre Open air, daylight No intermissions No curtains No costumes Little scenery No women on stage Audience –Standing around the stage –Sitting in galleries –Sitting on the stage 8

Literary world (1) Elizabethan Age = English Renaissance Main genres –Poetry: the sonnet –Drama: comedies tragedies historical plays 9

Literary world (2) The Sonnet Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 3 quatrains 1 couplet 10

Literary world (3) Drama –William Shakespeare ( ) –Romeo and Juliet Tragedy –A Midsummer Night’s Dream Comedy –Julius Caesar Historical play 11

Summary Historical framework Social background Literary world 12

Conclusions “All the world’s a stage” –Shakespeare’s works as representation of the world of his age Complex period – forerunner of the modern world 13