English Renaissance1485-1625

•Renaissance means “Rebirth”

•Time period was a flowering of art, literature, painting,

science, etc…

•Began in Italy with individuals such as Leonardo Da Vinci (painter, sculptor, engineer,

scientist, etc…)

English Renaissance• People’s focus turned to human’s

place on earth instead of afterlife

• Learning included history, geography, poetry, and languages

• Printing turned to moveable type – the Bible believed to be the first book published this way

• English became more standard as writers began to use common people’s language

English Renaissance• Age of Exploration

– Invention of the compass and study of astronomy opened the world to exploration

– Europeans (other than Vikings) began to venture into the oceans

• Protestant Reformation

– Publication of the Bible started a stink

– Questioning of the Roman Catholic Church

– Began with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses (a list of complaints against the Roman Catholic Church)

– Sparked by money, independent thinking, and science

English Renaissance• War of the Roses ended &

Tudor dynasty founded

• Henry VII restored monarchy & treasury

• Henry VIII – son of Henry VII – Catholic (right now)

– Ultimate renaissance man

– Had 6 wives

•Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, & survived.

Henry VIII’s Wives• Catherin of Aragon – Catholic

– Married for 20+ years

– Only one child – Mary Tudor

– Henry met and fell for Anne Boleyn

– Henry requested an annulment•Pope said NO

– Henry requested a divorce•Pope said NO

– Henry declared himself head of the Church of England•Seized monasteries & lands held by the

Catholic Church

•Granted his own divorce

Henry VIII’s Wives• Anne Boleyn – protestant

– Married Henry after divorce

– Produced two children

•Elizabeth & still-born son

– Strong and independent minded

– Had many enemies at court

– Henry met & fell for Jane Seymour

– Henry had Anne executed on false charges of adultery, witchcraft, incest, & treason

Anne's Ghost Story

Henry VIII’s Wives• Jane Seymour - protestant

– Had been a lady-in-waiting to both

Catherine & Anne

– Son born – Edward – sickly &

died young

– Jane died of a fever shortly after Edward’s birth

– Henry didn’t remarry for 3 years following her death

– He is buried next to her

Henry VIII’s Wives

• Anne of Cleaves - protestant

– German

– Not attractive – heavy boned

– Portrait was much more flattering than the real thing!

– Marriage annulled almost immediately

– They remained friends until Henry’s death

– Anne was considered a “sister” of the king

Henry VIII’s Wives

• Catherine Howard

– protestant

– Young and “unchaste”

– In love with a cousin

– Married to Henry only two years

– Beheaded on real charges of adultery, incest, and treason

Henry VIII’s Wives• Catherine Parr

– protestant

– Her mother had been Catherine’s

attendant

– Managed to outlive Henry VIII

– It is possible she had been in love with Thomas Seymour (Jane’s brother)

Catherine Parr's Ghost

Story

An Allegory of the Tudor Succession:

The Family of Henry VIII

By: Lucas de Heere

King Edward VI

• Protestant King

• Henry VIII’s only son

• Crowned at the age of 9

• Died at age of 15

• Named Lady Jane Grey (protestant) as heir

• Caused an uproar until they Privy Council named Mary Tudor the rightful heir

Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary)• Practicing Catholic

• Restored Roman Catholicism

to England

• Married to Phillip II of Spain

• Executed nearly 300 protestants – burned at the stake

• Died of cancer (abdominal) after two phantom pregnancies

Queen Elizabeth I• The “Virgin Queen” – never

married

• Last of the Tudor line

• Compared to William, the Conqueror

• “Patron of the Arts” –Elizabeth has come to represent the Renaissance at its height

• Reestablished Protestantism

– all in moderation

• Still she had her problems

Mary, Queen of Scots• Catholic great-granddaughter of

Henry VII

• Married to Phillip II of Spain (yes, the same one who was wed to Mary I)

• Catholics wanted her crowned– did not recognize Henry VIII’s

marriage to Anne Boleyn or Elizabeth as legitimate

• Mary was a prisoner for 19 years in England and the center for numerous plots against Elizabeth

Mary in captivity, c. 1578

Mary, Queen of Scots• Elizabeth finally executed her in

1587 after a foiled murder plot• Spain declared war on England

(Elizabeth did execute the Queen of Spain)

• Spanish Armada attacked and was defeated by Privateers – Privateers had been raiding and

sinking Spanish vessels with Elizabeth’s “knowledge”

• The execution of Mary, Q of S was just the excuse the Spanish needed

Replica of Mary,

Q of S’s tomb

James I of England• James VI of Scotland (son of

Mary, Queen of Scots) –Protestant

• Elizabeth named him her heir when he agreed to convert to Protestantism

• Continued Elizabeth’s passionate support of the arts

• Macbeth was written by Shakespeare for James I

• Jacobean Era

James I of England• Jamestown is named for

him

• Dark spot in rule was his persecution of the Puritans

• Commissioned a retranslation and rework of the Bible known today as the King James Version

Elizabethan Age Literature• Explosion of cultural energy – architects,

sculptors, painters, composers, & writers

– Narratives, poetry, dramas, and comedies all expressed the spirit of the renaissance

• Elizabethan Poetry

– Sonnets are the most famous remnant of Elizabethan poetry

– Poets moved away from narratives in favor of lyrical poems

• Sonnets – Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare

– a sonnet is a 14 line poem usually written in iambic pentameter with a varying rhyme scheme

– Sonnets were often written in collections called cycles that told a loose story

Elizabethan Age Literature• Two primary types of sonnets

– English

• Divided into three quatrains (sets of 4 lines) and a

couplet (set of two lines)

– The couplet provides the theme (main point) for the

sonnet

• Rhyme Scheme – Shakespearean or Spenserian

– Shakespearean - abab cdcd efef gg

– Spenserian – abab bcbc cdcd ee

– Petrarchan or Italian

• Divided into an octave (set of 8 lines) which

presents a problem or a quest and a sestet (set of

6 lines) which solves it

• Rhyme Scheme – abbaabba cdecde or cdcdcd