1. The English Renaissance & The Elizabethan World View & the 17 th 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