The Sixteenth Century

1
The Sixteenth Century

• 1485-1603

2
Important Dates

• 1485 Ascension of Henry VII inaugurates Tudor
  dynasty
• 1509 Ascension of Henry VIII
• 1517 Beginning of Reformation
• 1534 Henry VIII declares himself head of the
  English church
• 1558 Ascension of Elizabeth I
• 1603 Death of Elizabeth I
• 1603 Ascension of James I, first of Stuart
  dynasty

3
Background

• At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the
  English language had no prestige abroad
• By centurys end, English had been fashioned into
  an immensely powerful expressive medium

4
The Court

• The court was the center of culture and power
• Court tastes shaped the taste of the country
• Court culture created an art of intrigue
• Castigliones The Courtier
• Patronage
• Courtiers were highly gifted at crafting graceful
  words with double meanings

5
The City

• Population of London tripled
• London was the largest and fastest growing city
  in Europe

6
Literacy

• Caxtons printing press made books cheaper and
  more plentiful
• Protestantism encouraged reading

7
Renaissance Humanism

• Beginnings in Italy
• Rebirth of letters and recovery of texts and
  artifacts from classical antiquity
• Submission of human spirit to discipline gave way
  to individual self-assertion
• Emphasis on worth of life in this world
• Vision of self-fashioning
• More and Erasmus great English humanists
• Liberal education
• Knowledge of the classics
• Literature in the vernacular rather than Latin
• Renaissance translations

8
The Reformation

• Before the Reformation, the Catholic church was
  the central institution of life
• In 1517, Luther started the Reformation with his
  theses against the abuses of the Church
• Luthers emphasis on scripture and faith

9
Calvinism

• Started by John Calvin in Switzerland
• The Institutes of the Christian Religion
• Calvinism rooted in belief in predestination
• Government subordinate to the Church

10
The English Reformation

• Henry VIII craved a legitimate son. His wife
  Catherine of Aragon failed to give him one
• The pope refused to annul his marriage so he
  could marry Anne Boleyn
• Henry declared himself Head of Church and State
• Act of Supremacy passed
• Henry had no sympathy for Catholics or Protestant
  sects
• After Henrys death, throne passed to his son,
  Edward.
• Forty-Two Articles and Book of Common Prayer

11
Queen Mary

• After Edwards death, Mary became queen.
• She restored Catholic Mass, reaffirmed the
  authority of the pope

12
Queen Elizabeth

• Elizabeth became queen after Marys death
• Restored supremacy of the Anglican Church

13
England and Otherness

• England claimed to be rulers of Ireland
• Jews were objects of hostility
• Africans regarded as exotic
• African slave trade to the New World
• Merchant of Adventurers founded and Englishmen
  began to explore Asia and the North America

14
Elizabethan Attitudes Toward Women

• Queen Elizabeth ruled by royal absolutism
• In reality, Elizabeth ruled through political
  maneuvering and command
• Elizabeths Cult of Love
• Court became a place of romance

15
England and Spain

• Elizabeth learned that Phillip II, her former
  brother in-law and one-time suitor, was prepared
  to send an enormous fleet to invade England.
• The Armada reached English waters in July 1588
• The Armada was destroyed by violent storms.

16
Writers, Printers and Patrons

• The career of the professional writer was almost
  impossible
• Strict government regulations
• Writers thought of themselves are courtiers
• Poetry was a social grace
• Financial rewards came in the form of gifts from
  wealthy patrons
• City of London and the two universities had
  impact on the periods literature
• Women had no access to universities

17
Renaissance Style

• Renaissance literature is the product of a
  rhetorical culture
• Figures, forms of patterns of words, were shaped
  and repeated in order to confer beauty or
  heighten expressive power
• Elaborate ornament
• Elaborate design
• Delight in pattern
• Renaissance poetry is interested in the magical
  power of workmanship to draw its readers into
  fabricated worlds
• Poetry has a moral value and didactic function
• Use of literary conventions pastoral, heroic,
  lyric, satiric, elegiac, tragic, and comic

18
The Elizabethan Theater

• Mystery plays performed by guilds of writers
• Before the construction of public theatres,
  playing companies performed short plays called
  interludes
• Morality plays
• Tragedies
• Comedy
• Music and dance were incorporated into plays
• First public theater in England dates from
  Shakespeares time

19
Characteristics of the Renaissance and
Renaissance Literature

• Use of poetic conventions
• Preoccupation with this life rather than life
  beyond
• Emphasis on the individual
• Art glorifies human nature
• Concern with time
• Great Chain of Being
• Microcosm/Macrocosm
• Rebirth of antiquity
• Humanism
• Christian Humanism