W4 - Renaissance

• Engels
• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 4

The 16th Century (1485-1603)

Goal

After today (this lesson and next lesson) you know about the history of the 16th century and you will be able to put the literary works that we're going to read in historical context.

What is the rose in the previous slide called and why is it red and white?

Tudor dynasty (1485-1603)

Another contestant to the throne Mary, Queen of Scots (great-granddaughter of Henry VII)

Dark ages to rebirth

Where are we coming from?

WAR, FAMINE, DISEASE but also a time in which the church was the most important source of information.

Renaissance = rebirth
Memento mori -->  Carpe diem

Going back to the classics (Roman & Greek culture)

Started in England around 1485 with the start of the Tudor Dynasty

Elizabethan era = height of the Renaissance in England (Shakespeare & friends)

Great economic and cultural growth (higher classes)

Benefits were felt by the higher classes mostly. Lower classes still had a very hard life. 

Cultural - theatre became more important. 

Rise of the sonnet

The Renaissance and Humanism

Cultural development - Renaissance - Rebirth

Rediscovered art, literature and philosophy of Greece and Rome

Theocentric (God) > Anthropocentric (Mankind)

Memento Mori > Carpe Diem

Printing press (1450)

Humanism

Remember that you must die versus Seize the Day

Printing press lead to the democratisation of knowledge - easier and cheaper to produce books - ideas could spread much more quickly - fertile ground for the development of humanism

Humanism

School of philosophy / World-vision

Optimistic, human-oriented and forward-looking view of life

Individualistic

Humanists believed that it was possible to create an ideal society on earth. 

Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man

Consequences:

Curiosity about the nature of the world (Copernicus)

Exploration (Columbus - 1492)

Cultural revival -> Art (Da Vinci and Michelangelo)
-> Literature (Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton)

Scientific experimentation
Copernicus proved that the earth revolved around the sun. Galileo Galilei discovered the telescope and much more

discovered America in 1492

Da Vinci and Michelangelo - drew upon the achievements of classical antiquity. Put your name to your work. 

England mainly in literature

English Literature

Religious theatre (mystery, miracle and the morality plays) > Classical theatre (Comedy, Tragedy, History plays) - William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe

Epic poem (Paradise Lost - John Milton)

Religious theatre mostly served the purpose of teaching the word of Christ.

Mystery plays were stories taken from the Bible. The play usually ended outside the church so that the people would go to church and hear a sermon after watching the play.

The Miracle play was about the life or actions of a saint, usually about the actions that made that person a saint. One popular Miracle play was about Saint George and the dragon.

Morality plays were designed to teach people a lesson in how to live their life according to the rules of the church.

Classical theatre - using Italian names and settings for their works drew from Italian renaissance writers not so much from the classics themselves (Romeo and Juliet - Verona) 

Milton - The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

An epic poem is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily involving a time beyond living memory in which occurred the extraordinary doings of the extraordinary men and women who, in dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants, the poet and their audience, to understand themselves as a people or nation.

Societal consequences: 

Individualism, look back at the original source (bible), invention of printing press
> Question Organisation of the church

1517 - Martin Luther - 95 theses

But this was not the only reason 

But this was not the only reason why England broke free of the Roman church. It was as much political s it was cultural. 

Henry VIII 

Married 6 times 

3 children

Was convinced he needed a male heir to secure prosperity for the kingdom. 

Even split from the church of England because of this. 

Married Catherine of Aragon (dead brother's - Arthur wife but marriage was never consummated so Pope annulled the marriage and therefore Henry could marry her). 

She only gave him a girl so he wanted to annul the marriage on the grounds that Catherine and Arthur had consummated their marriage. Pope refused. Henry angry. Split from the church and appointed himself head of the church of England. Wanted to remain catholic put protestant influences seeped through and the Church of England became a protestant church.

Henry died in 1547 and was succeeded by his son (9 years old) Edward VI

Henry VIII - 1509-1547

Catherine of Aragon                                                     Mary I (catholic)

Anne Boleyn                                                                     Elizabeth I (protestant)

Jane Seymour                                                                 Edward VI (protestant)

Anne of Cleves

Catherine Howard

Kateryn Parr

After Edward died of tubercolosis in 1553 and he consented to not having his sisters Mary (catholic) or Elizabeth (not protestant enough) inherit the throne but Lady Jane Grey (a great granddaughter of Henry VII) - orthodox protestant

She 'ruled' for 9 days until Mary pressed her claim to the throne and had Jane Grey locked into the tower. She was executed 6 months later. 

Bloody Mary

(Bloody) Mary I

Catholic

Tried to turn reformation around

Burned many Protestants at the stake 

Died after 5 years on the throne

Burned portestants for Heresy (around 300 people)

She wasn't the only one though, Henry VIII also did it and Elizabeth I as well. She's most known for it because she prosecuted and killed the 'wrong' religious people --> protestants. 

Elizabeth I

• Imprisoned by Mary I
• Armada - Speech Tilbury
• Evidence of God favouring Elizabeth and with that Protestant rule in England
• 44 year reign 
• Never married - The Virgin Queen

Side note: she wasn't perfect (no religious tolerance, strict censorship, court culture)

The victory on the Armada was seen as proof that God favoured Elizabeth and therefore Protestantism in England. 
Defeat of the Armada boosted self-confidence and patriotism

Elizabeth reigned for 44 years.

The Virgin Queen - never married - she was married to England. Never married because she had to 'listen' to her husband if she were. She maybe saw how her father had treated his wives and never wished to be one. Although there were many rumours. She never married or had any illegitimate children. 

Stability lead to a cultural flourishing in the theatres but also numerous paintings and poems were created. Some important names are:  Nicholas Hilliard (painter), William Byrd (musician, Francis Bacon (philosopher), Marlowe, Spenser, Shakespeare. 

Speech is in your booklet on page 60 but is different. 

"I have the body of..." important. Patriotism. Comparison to a man to defend her rule as a female leader.

Similarities between descriptions indicate that she at least wore a plumed helmet and a steel cuirass over a white velvet gown. She held a gold and silver truncheon, or baton, in her hand as she rode atop a white steed. As quoted in J. E. Neale's Elizabeth, her demeanour was "full of princely resolution and more than feminine courage" and that "she passed like some Amazonian empress through all her army".

Another contestant to the throne Mary, Queen of Scots (great-granddaughter of Henry VII)

Mary Queen of Scots

Another contestant for the throne, Mary Stuart, granddaughter of Elizabeth's aunt Margaret and James IV (King of Scotland).

Mary tried to seize the English throne with help from France.

Elizabeth, of course, didn't want Mary to claim the throne and Mary's unwise marital (married crown prince of France) and political actions provoked rebellion among the Scottish nobles, forcing her to flee to England (she was a Roman catholic whilst Scotland and its nobles had turned protestant), where she was eventually beheaded as a Roman Catholic threat to the English throne.

Those Roman Catholics who considered Elizabeth illegitimate because they regarded Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and his marriage to Anne Boleyn invalid even looked upon Mary as the lawful queen. 

Did we achieve our goal?
After today (this lesson and next lesson) you know about the history of the 16th century and you will be able to put the literary works that we're going to read in historical context.