Renaissance Language – Early Modern English A Transition from the Middle Ages

The 3 Major Transitions from the Medieval Period Political, Economical (centralization) and Demographics (reorganizations) These all had a major impact on the culture, and language of Renaissance England.

Politics Civil Wars had been going on between the houses, the “War of Roses” – between Houses Lancaster and York – over control of England. This gave far too much control to the nobles in the eyes of Henry VII. He defeated the House of York and in turn created new laws to prevent the scenario from happening again. He took away money via high taxes which results in a loss of power and helped build up Royal Power structures Henry Payne “Choosing the Red and White Roses in the Temple Garden” 1910

Politics - Continued Henry VIII creates the Church of England – made himself head of the Church He Nationalizes all parts of the Roman Catholic Church’s financial presence in England. The Stuarts- King James of Scotland was made King of England – he cut down nobles access to weapons, limits the amount of armed guards nobles can have, and makes it a felony to draw swords. This is to prevent any possibility of a Civil War or a coupe.

Economy Land Development and movement toward Enclosure: closing off of land with the purpose to use it for one manor ( one semi autonomous entity) Things moves from bartering and trading as a form of exchange to using a coinage. Land owners stopped renewing leases and encloses land. Land owners move from people to owning Sheep to create Wool – which becomes one of England’s great cash crops Penshurst Place, Kent England Karen McLellan Collection

Demographics London was the first city with 1,000,000 citizens between 1500 – 1800. In 1500, when the Tudors first came to power the population was under 40,000 and was exceeded by almost all European Cities. Trade with Venice, Paris and Genoa encouraged travel which brought more immigrants to London, which caused language to slowly evolve. As stated previously, Enclosure began in England’s countryside. This encouraged movement to the city for jobs. This created a larger Middle Class in London – an evolution of language because of different dialects coming together. Semper Idem – “always the same”

Literature and English Language Guttenberg Printing Press was able to print a 1 page in 1 minute in comparison to 1,000 minutes for a scribe to do 1 page. 1 printer can print thousands of books while a monastery produced 1 Bible per year. Due to the availability of books literacy climbs from around 5 to 10% among the working/labor class to 90% The fact that reading is no longer exclusive to the upper class leaves room for the lower class to become more educated and have an influence on the language. Guttenberg Printing Press

The Importance of the Change This Change had a major impact on language because it changed gaps in economy, politics and demographics of the people communicating in one central area – London. The lower class became more educated, which made it harder and harder to know who was born into wealth and who was not. This paved the way for the father of Early Modern Language to share his words with the world – William Shakespeare.

Citations Boehrer, B. (Director) (2015, May 14). "Literature and England". Florida State University Classroom. Lecture conducted from , Tallahassee. Clemson University. (n.d.). Views of London from the 17th Century. Retrieved June, 2015, from https://faculty.up.edu/asarnow/london.htm  Judkins, D. (n.d.). Life in Renaissance England. Retrieved June, 2015, from http://www.uh.edu/~djudkins/life_in_renaissance_england.htm King Henry VIII. (n.d.). Retrieved June, 2015, from http://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=henry8 King James I. (n.d.). Retrieved June, 2015, from http://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=james1

Citations Continued McElroy, W. (2012, March 8). The Enclosure Acts and the Industrial Revolution. Retrieved June, 2015, from http://fff.org/explore- freedom/article/enclosure-acts-industrial-revolution/ Old UK Photos. (n.d.). Retrieved June, 2015, from http://www.oldukphotos.com/kent_penshurst.htm Payne, H. (n.d.). File:Choosing the Red and White Roses.jpg. Retrieved June 1, 2015, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Choosing_the_Red_and_White_ Roses.jpg  Shakespeare in Love -- Elizabethan England. (n.d.). Retrieved June, 2015, from http://www.cinetropic.com/shakespeare/Eliz.html The English Renaissance - World History For Kids - By KidsPast.com. (n.d.). Retrieved June, 2015, from http://www.kidspast.com/world- history/0296-english-renaissance.php