1. Renaissance
A. General information for the Renaissance - the Renaissance (UK /rᵻˈneɪsəns/, US /ˈrɛnᵻsɑːns/) is a period in
Europe, from the 14th to the 17th century, considered the bridge between
the Middle Ages and modern history. It started
as a cultural
movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and
later spread to the rest of Europe, marking the beginning of the Early
Modern Age. The
Renaissance's intellectual basis was its own invented version of humanism, derived from the rediscovery of classical Greek
philosophy, such as that of Protagoras, who said,
that "Man is the measure of all things."
This new thinking became
manifest in art, architecture, politics, science and literature. Early examples
were the development of perspective in oil painting and the
recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the
invention of metal movable type sped the
dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the
Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe.
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| The School of Athens - Raphael, 1509–1510 |
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| Vitruvian man, 1487 |
There is a
consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th
century. Various
theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics,
focusing on a variety of factors including the social and civic peculiarities
of Florence at the time; its political structure; the patronage of its dominant
family, the Medici and the
migration of Greek scholars and
texts to Italy following the Fall of Constantinople at the
hands of the Ottoman Turks. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such
as Venice, Genoa, Milan; Bologna; and finally Rome during
the Renaissance Papacy.
B. Spread in England - the sixteenth century marked the beginning of
the English
Renaissance with the work of writers William
Shakespeare, Christopher
Marlowe, Edmund
Spenser, Sir Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, as well as
great artists, architects (such as Inigo Jones who introduced
Italianate architecture to England), and composers such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, and William
Byrd.
The English
Renaissance was a cultural and artistic
movement in England dating from the late 15th to the early 17th century. It is
associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is
usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century. Like most of
northern Europe, England saw little of these developments until more than a
century later. The beginning of the English Renaissance is often taken, as a
convenience, to be 1485, when the Battle
of Bosworth ended the Wars of
the Roses and inaugurated the Tudor
Dynasty. Renaissance style and ideas, however, were slow to penetrate England, and
the Elizabethan
era in the second half of the 16th century is usually
regarded as the height of the English Renaissance.
The English
Renaissance is different from the Italian Renaissance in
several ways. The dominant art forms of the English Renaissance were literature and music. Visual
arts in the English Renaissance were much less significant than in the
Italian Renaissance. The English period began far later than the Italian, which
is usually considered to begin in the late 14th century, and was moving into Mannerism and
the Baroque by the
1550s or earlier. In contrast, the English Renaissance can only be said to
begin, shakily, in the 1520s, and continued until perhaps 1620.
Literature - England had a
strong tradition of literature in the English vernacular, which
gradually increased as English use of the printing
press became common by the mid 16th centuy By the time of Elizabethan literature a
vigorous literary culture in both drama and poetry included poets such as Edmund
Spenser, whose verse epic The
Faerie Queene had a strong influence on English
literature but was eventually overshadowed by the lyrics of William Shakespeare, Thomas Wyatt and
others. Typically, the works of these playwrights and poets circulated in
manuscript form for some time before they were published, and above all the
plays of English Renaissance theatre were the
outstanding legacy of the period. The works of this period are also affected by
Henry VIII's declaration of independence from the Catholic Church and
technological advances in sailing and cartography, which are reflected in the
generally nonreligious themes and various shipwreck adventures of Shakespeare.
The English
theatre scene, which performed both for the court and nobility in private
performances, and a very wide public in the theatres, was the most crowded in
Europe, with a host of other playwrights as well as the giant figures of Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare and Ben
Jonson. Elizabeth herself
was a product of Renaissance humanism trained
by Roger Ascham, and wrote occasional poems such
as On Monsieur’s Departure at
critical moments of her life. Philosophers and intellectuals included Thomas
More and Francis
Bacon. All the 16th century Tudor monarchs were highly educated, as was much of
the nobility, and Italian literature had a considerable following, providing
the sources for many of Shakespeare's plays. English thought advanced towards
modern science with the Baconian
Method, a forerunner of the Scientific
Method. The language of the Book of Common Prayer, first
published in 1549, and at the end of the period the Authorised
Version ("King James Version" to Americans) of the
Bible (1611) had enduring impacts on the English consciousness.
Visual
arts - England was
very slow to produce visual arts in Renaissance styles, and the artists of the Tudor court were
mainly imported foreigners until after the end of the Renaissance; Hans Holbein was the
outstanding figure. The English Reformation produced
a huge programme of iconoclasm that
destroyed almost all medieval religious art, and all but ended the skill of
painting in England; English art was to be dominated by portraiture, and then
later landscape art, for centuries to come. The significant English
invention was the portrait
miniature, which essentially took the techniques of the dying art of the illuminated manuscript and
transferred them to small portraits worn in lockets. Though the form was
developed in England by foreign artists, mostly Flemish like Lucas
Horenbout, the somewhat undistinguished founder of the tradition, by the late 16th
century natives such as Nicolas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver produced the finest work, even as the best
producers of larger portraits in oil were still foreigners. The portrait
miniature had spread all over Europe by the 18th century. The portraiture of Elizabeth Iwas carefully
controlled, and developed into an elaborate and wholly un-realist iconic style,
that has succeeded in creating enduring images.
Music - English Renaissance music kept in
touch with continental developments far more than visual art, and managed to
survive the Reformation relatively successfully, though William
Byrd and other major figures were Catholic. The Elizabethan madrigal was
distinct from, but related to the Italian tradition. Thomas
Tallis, Thomas Morley, and John
Dowland were other leading English composers.
The
colossal polychoral productions of the Venetian School had been
anticipated in the works of Thomas Tallis, and the Palestrina style
from the Roman School had already been absorbed prior to the
publication of Musica transalpina, in the music of masters such as
William Byrd.
The Italian
and English Renaissances were similar in sharing a specific musical
aesthetic. In the late 16th century Italy was the musical center of Europe, and one
of the principal forms which emerged from that singular explosion of musical
creativity was the madrigal. In
1588, Nicholas
Yonge published in England the Musica transalpina—a collection
of Italian madrigals that had been Anglicized—an event which began a vogue of
madrigal in England which was almost unmatched in the Renaissance in being an
instantaneous adoption of an idea, from another country, adapted to local
aesthetics. English poetry was exactly at the right stage of development for
this transplantation to occur, since forms such as the sonnet were uniquely adapted to
setting as madrigals: indeed, the sonnet was already well developed in Italy.
Composers such as Thomas Morley, the only contemporary composer to set
Shakespeare, and whose work survives, published collections of their own,
roughly in the Italian manner but yet with a unique Englishness; interest in
the compositions of the English Madrigal School have enjoyed a considerable
revival in recent decades.
Architecture - Despite some
buildings in a partly Renaissance style from the reign of Henry VIII,
notably Hampton Court Palace, the
vanished Nonsuch Palace, Sutton Place and Layer Marney Tower, it was not
until the Elizabethan architecture of the end of
the century that a true Renaissance style emerged, influenced far more by
northern Europe than Italy. The most famous buildings are large show houses
constructed for courtiers, and characterised by lavish use of glass, as at
"Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall", Wollaton
Hall and Hatfield
House and Burghley House, the style
continuing into the early 17th century before developing into Jacobean architecture. Lesser, but
still large, houses like Little Moreton Hall continued
to be constructed and expanded in essentially medieval half-timbered styles until the late 16th century. Church
architecture essentially continued in a late Gothic style until the
Reformation, and then stopped almost completely, although church
monuments, screens and other fittings often had classical styles from about the
mid-century. The few new church buildings were usually still Gothic in style,
as in Langley Chapel of 1601.
Criticism
of the idea of the English Renaissance - the notion of calling this period
"The Renaissance" is a modern invention, having been popularized by
the historian Jacob Burckhardt in the
19th century. The idea of the Renaissance has come under increased criticism by
many cultural historians, and some
have contended that the "English Renaissance" has no real tie with
the artistic achievements and aims of the Italian artists (Leonardo
da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello) who are
closely identified with Renaissance visual art. Whereas from the perspective of
literary history, England had already experienced a flourishing of literature
over 200 years before the time of Shakespeare, during the last decades of the
fourteenth century. Geoffrey Chaucer's
popularizing of English as a
medium of literary composition rather than Latin occurred
only 50 years after Dante had
started using Italian for serious
poetry, and Chaucer translated works by both
Boccaccio and Petrarch into Middle
English. At the same time William
Langland, author of Piers Plowman, and John
Gower were also writing in English. In the fifteenth century, Thomas
Malory, author of Le
Morte D'Arthur, was a notable figure. For this reason, scholars find
the singularity of the period called the English Renaissance
questionable; C. S. Lewis, a professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature
at Oxford and Cambridge, famously
remarked to a colleague that he had "discovered" that there was no
English Renaissance, and that if there had been one, it had "no effect
whatsoever".
Historians
have also begun to consider the word "Renaissance" as an
unnecessarily loaded word that implies an unambiguously positive
"rebirth" from the supposedly more primitive Middle Ages. Some
historians have asked the question "a renaissance for whom?,"
pointing out, for example, that the status of women in society arguably
declined during the Renaissance. Many historians and cultural historians now
prefer to use the term "early modern" for
this period, a term that highlights the period as a transitional one that led
to the modern world, but attempts to avoid positive or negative connotations.
Other cultural
historians have countered that, regardless of whether the name
"renaissance" is apt, there was undeniably an artistic flowering in
England under the Tudor
monarchs, culminating in Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
2. Tudor England (1485–1603)
Henry
VII (1485-1509) - with Henry VII's accession to
the throne in 1485, the Wars of the Roses came to an end, and Tudors would
continue to rule England for 118 years. Traditionally, the Battle
of Bosworth Field is considered to mark the end of the Middle Ages
in England, although Henry did not introduce any new concept of monarchy, and
for most of his reign his hold on power was tenuous. He claimed the throne by
conquest and God's judgement in battle. Parliament quickly recognized him as
king, but the Yorkists were far from defeated. Nonetheless, he married Edward
IV's eldest daughter Elizabeth in January 1486, thereby uniting the houses of
York and Lancaster.
Henry VII
Most of the
European rulers did not believe Henry would survive long, and were thus willing
to shelter claimants against him. The first plot against him was the Stafford
and Lovell Rebellion of 1486, which presented no serious threat. But
Richard III's nephew John de
la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, hatched another attempt the following year. Using a
peasant boy named Lambert Simnel, who posed
as Edward, Earl of Warwick (the
real Warwick was locked up in the Tower of London), he led an army of 2,000
German mercenaries paid for by Margaret
of Burgundy into England. They were defeated and de la Pole killed at the
difficult Battle of Stoke, where the
loyalty of some of the royal troops to Henry was questionable. The king,
realizing that Simnel was merely a dupe, employed him in the royal kitchen.
A more serious
menace was Perkin Warbeck, a Flemish
youth who posed as Edward IV's son Richard. Again enjoying the support of
Margaret of Burgundy, he invaded England four times from 1495–1497 before he
was finally captured and put in the Tower of London. Both Warbeck and the Earl
of Warwick were too dangerous to keep around even in captivity, and Henry had
to execute them in 1499 before Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain would allow
their daughter Catherine to come to England and marry his son Arthur.
In 1497, Henry
defeated Cornish rebels marching on London. The rest of his Henry VII's reign
was relatively peaceful, despite worries concerning succession after the death
of his wife Elizabeth of York in 1503.
Henry VII's
foreign policy was a peaceful one. He had formed an alliance with Spain and the
Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, but in 1493,
when they went to war with France, England was dragged into the conflict. With
his crown impoverished and his hold on power insecure, Henry had no desire to
go to war. He quickly reached an understanding with the French and renounced
all claims to their territory except the port of Calais, realizing also that
nothing could be done to stop them from incorporating the Duchy of Brittany. In
return, the French agreed to recognize him as king and stop sheltering
pretenders. Shortly afterwards, they became preoccupied with adventures in
Italy and turned their attention away from England. Henry also reached an
understanding with Scotland, agreeing to marry his daughter Margaret to that
country's king James IV.
Upon becoming
king, Henry inherited a government severely weakened and degraded by the Wars
of the Roses. The treasury was empty, having been drained by Edward IV's
Woodville in-laws after his death. Through a tight fiscal policy and sometimes
ruthless tax collection and confiscations, Henry managed to refill the treasury
by the time of his death. He also effectively rebuilt the machinery of
government.
In 1501, the
king's son Arthur, having married Catherine of Aragon, died of an
illness at the age of 15, leaving his younger son Henry, Duke of York, as his heir.
When the king himself died in 1509, the position of the Tudors was secure at
last, and his son succeeded him unopposed.
Henry
VIII (1509-1547) - Henry VIII began
his reign with a high degree of optimism. The handsome, athletic young king
stood in sharp contrast to his wary, miserly father. Henry's lavish court
quickly drained the treasury of the fortune he had inherited. He married the
widowed Catherine of Aragon, and they had
several children, but none survived infancy except a daughter, Mary.
In 1512, the
young king embarked on a war in
France. Although England was an ally of Spain, one of France's principal enemies,
the war was mostly about Henry's desire for personal glory, regardless of the
fact that his sister Mary was married to the French
king Louis
XII. The war accomplished little. The English army suffered badly from
disease, and Henry was not even present at the one notable victory, the Battle of the Spurs.
Meanwhile, James IV of Scotland (despite
being Henry's other brother-in-law), activated his alliance with the French and
declared war on England. While Henry was dallying in France, Catherine, who was
serving as regent in his absence, and his advisers were left to deal with this
threat. At the Battle
of Flodden on 9 September 1513, the Scots were completely and totally defeated.
Most of the Scottish nobility were killed along with James himself. When Henry
returned from France, he was given credit for the victory even though he had
nothing to do with it.
Henry VIII
Eventually,
Catherine was no longer able to have any more children. The king became
increasingly nervous about the possibility of his daughter Mary inheriting the
throne, as England's one experience with a female sovereign, Matilda in the
12th century, had been a catastrophe. He eventually decided that it was
necessary to divorce Catherine and find a new queen. The Church would not
simply grant this favour, so Henry cited the passage in the Book of Leviticus where it
said, "If a man taketh his brother's wife, he hath committed adultery;
they shall be childless." However, Catherine insisted that she and Arthur
had never consummated their brief marriage and that the prohibition did not
apply here. The timing of Henry's case was very unfortunate; it was 1527 and
the Pope had been taken prisoner by the emperor Charles V, Catherine's
nephew and the most powerful man in Europe, for siding with his archenemy Francis I of France. As there was
no possibility of getting a divorce in these circumstances, Henry decided to
simply secede from the Church, in what became known as the English Reformation.
The newly
established Church of England amounted
to little more than the existing Catholic Church, but with the king rather than
the Pope as its head. It took a number of years for the separation from Rome to
be completed, however, and many were executed for resisting the king's
religious policies.
In 1530,
Catherine was banished from court and spent the remainder of her life (until
her death in 1536) alone in an isolated manor home, barred from any contact
with Mary (although her ladies-in-waiting helped the two maintain a secret
correspondence). Their marriage was declared invalid, making Mary an
illegitimate child. Henry married Anne
Boleyn in secret in January 1533, just as his divorce from Catherine was
finalised. After this, they had a second, public wedding. Anne soon became
pregnant and may have already been when they wed. But on 7 September 1533, she
gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. The king was devastated at his failure to
obtain a son after all the effort it had taken to remarry. Gradually, he came
to develop a disliking of his new queen for her strange behaviour. In 1536,
when Anne was pregnant again, Henry was badly injured in a jousting accident.
Shaken by this, the queen gave birth prematurely to a stillborn boy. By now,
the king was convinced that his marriage was hexed, and having already found a
new queen, Jane Seymour, he put Anne in the Tower of London on charges of
witchcraft. Afterwards, she was beheaded along with five men (her brother
included) accused of adultery with her. The marriage was then declared invalid,
so that Elizabeth, just like her half sister, became a bastard.
Henry
immediately married Jane
Seymour, who became pregnant almost as quickly. On 12 October 1537, she gave birth
to a healthy boy, Edward, which was greeted with huge celebrations. The king's
quest for a son was finally over, so long as Edward could be kept healthy.
However, the queen died of puerperal
sepsis ten days later. Henry genuinely mourned her death, and at his own
passing nine years later, he was buried next to her.
The king
married a fourth time in 1540, to the German Anne of
Cleves for a political alliance with her Protestant brother, the Duke of
Cleves. He also hoped to obtain another son in case something should happen to
Edward. Anne proved a dull, unattractive woman and Henry declined to consummate
the marriage. He quickly divorced her, and she remained in England as a kind of
adopted sister to him. So he married again, to a 19-year-old named Catherine Howard. But when it
became known that she was neither a virgin at the wedding, nor a faithful wife
afterwards, she ended up on the scaffold and the marriage declared invalid. His
sixth and last marriage was to Catherine
Parr, more a nursemaid to him than anything else, as his health was failing (it
had declined ever since the jousting accident in 1536).
In 1542, the
king embarked on a new campaign in France, but unlike in 1512, he only managed
with great difficulty. The war netted England the city of Boulogne, but nothing
else, and the French retook it in 1549. Scotland also declared war and at Solway Moss was once
again totally defeated.
Henry's
paranoia and suspicion worsened in his last years. The total number of
executions during his 38-year reign numbered in the tens of thousands. He died
in January 1547 at the age of 55 and was succeeded by his son, Edward VI.
Edward
VI (1547-1553) and Mary I (1553-1558) - although he
showed piety and intelligence, Edward
VI was only nine years old when he took the throne in 1547. His
uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset tampered
with Henry VIII's will and
obtained letters patent giving him much of the power of a monarch by March
1547. He took the title of Protector. Whilst some see him as a high-minded
idealist, his stay in power culminated in a crisis in 1549 when many counties
of the realm were up in protest. Kett's
Rebellion in Norfolk and the Prayer
Book Rebellion in Devon and Cornwall simultaneously
created a crisis during a time when invasion from Scotland and France were
feared. Somerset, disliked by the Regency Council for his autocratic methods,
was removed from power by John Dudley, who is known
as Lord President Northumberland.
Northumberland proceeded to adopt the power for himself, but his methods were
more conciliatory and the Council accepted him. It was during Edward's reign
that England became a Protestant nation as opposed to a Catholic one in schism
from Rome.
Edward
as Prince of Wales, 1546
Edward was
beginning to show great promise when he fell violently ill with tuberculosis in 1553
and died that August two months short of his 16th birthday.
Northumberland
made plans to place Lady
Jane Grey on the throne and marry her to his son, so that he could remain the
power behind the throne. His plot failed in a matter of days, Jane Grey was
beheaded, and Mary I (1516–1558) took the throne amidst popular demonstration in her favour in
London, which contemporaries described as the largest show of affection for a
Tudor monarch. Mary had never been expected to hold the throne, at least not
since Edward was born. She was a devoted Catholic who believed that she could
turn the clock back to 1516, before the Reformation began.
Mary I, by Antonis Mor, 1554
Returning
England to Catholicism led to the burnings of 274 Protestants, which are
recorded especially in John
Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Mary then
married her cousin Philip, son of Emperor Charles V, and King of
Spain when Charles abdicated in 1556. The union was a difficult one, since Mary
was already in her late 30s and Philip was a Catholic and a foreigner, and so
not very welcome in England. This wedding also had the effect of provoking the
hostility of the French, already at war with Spain and now alarmed at the
prospect of being completely encircled by the Habsburgs. Calais, the last
English outpost on the Continent, was then taken by France. King Philip
(1527–1598) had very little power, although he did protect Elizabeth. He was
not popular in England, and spent little time there. Mary eventually became pregnant, or at least believed herself to be.
In reality, she may have had uterine
cancer. Her death in November 1558 was greeted with huge celebrations in the
streets of London.
Elizabeth
I (1558–1603) - the reign
of Elizabeth I restored
a sort of order to the realm following the turbulence of the reigns of Edward
VI and Mary I when she came to the throne following the latter's death in 1558.
The religious issue which had divided the country since Henry VIII was in a way
put to rest by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which
re-established the Church
of England. Much of Elizabeth's success was in balancing the interests of the Puritans and
Catholics. She managed to offend neither to a large extent, although she
clamped down on Catholics towards the end of her reign as war with Catholic
Spain loomed.
Despite the
need for an heir, Elizabeth declined to marry, despite offers from a number of
suitors across Europe, including the Swedish king Erik
XIV. This created endless worries over her succession, especially in the 1570s
when she nearly died of smallpox. It has been often rumoured that she had a
number of lovers (including Francis
Drake), but there is no hard evidence.
Portrait
of Elizabeth to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), depicted
in the background. Elizabeth's hand rests on the globe, symbolising her
international power.
Elizabeth I - Elizabeth maintained relative government stability
apart from the Revolt of the Northern Earls in 1569,
she was effective in reducing the power of the old nobility and expanding the
power of her government. Elizabeth's government did much to consolidate the
work begun under Thomas Cromwell in the
reign of Henry VIII, that is, expanding the role of the government and
effecting common law and administration throughout England. During the reign of
Elizabeth and shortly afterwards, the population grew significantly: from three
million in 1564 to nearly five million in 1616.
The queen ran
afoul of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, who was a
devoted Catholic and had been forced to abdicate her throne as a consequence
(Scotland had recently become Protestant). She fled to England, where Elizabeth
immediately had her arrested. Mary spent the next 18 years in confinement, but
proved too dangerous to keep alive, as the Catholic powers in Europe considered
her, not Elizabeth, the legitimate ruler of England. She was eventually tried
for treason and sentenced to death, being beheaded in February 1587.
The
Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign
(1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in
English history. The symbol of Britannia was
first used in 1572 and often thereafter to mark the Elizabethan age as a
renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals,
international expansion, and naval triumph over the hated Spanish foe. In terms
of the entire century, the historian John Guy (1988) argues that "England was economically healthier, more
expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at
any time in a thousand years.
This
"golden age” represented
the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw
the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many
others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theatre. It
was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became
more acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish
Armada was repulsed. It was also the end of the period when England was a
separate realm before its royal union with Scotland.
The
Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly largely because of the periods before and
after. It was a brief period of largely internal peace between the English Reformation and the
battles between Protestants and Catholics and the battles between parliament and the
monarchy that engulfed the seventeenth century. The Protestant/Catholic divide
was settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and
parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.
England was
also well-off compared to the other nations of Europe. The Italian Renaissance had come
to an end under the weight of foreign domination of the peninsula. France was
embroiled in its own religious battles that would only be settled in 1598 with
the Edict of Nantes. In part
because of this, but also because the English had been expelled from their last
outposts on the continent, the centuries long conflict between France and
England was largely suspended for most of Elizabeth's reign.
The one great
rival was Spain, with which England clashed both in Europe and the Americas in
skirmishes that exploded into the Anglo-Spanish War of
1585–1604. An attempt by Philip
II of Spain to invade England with the Spanish
Armada in 1588 was famously defeated, but the tide of war turned against
England with an unsuccessful expedition to Portugal and the Azores, the Drake-Norris
Expedition of 1589.
Thereafter Spain provided some support for Irish
Catholics in a debilitating rebellion against
English rule, and Spanish naval and land forces inflicted a series of reversals
against English offensives. This drained both the English Exchequer and economy
that had been so carefully restored under Elizabeth's prudent guidance. English
commercial and territorial expansion would be limited until the signing of
the Treaty of London the year
following Elizabeth's death.
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| The Spanish Armada and English ships in August 1588 |
 |
| The Somerset House Conference between English and Spanish diplomats |
England during
this period had a centralised, well-organised, and effective government,
largely a result of the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII.
Economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade.
The National Armada memorial in Plymouth using the Britannia image to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588
Foreign affairs - in foreign policy Elizabeth played against each other the major powers of
France and Spain, as well as the papacy and Scotland. These were all Catholic
and each wanted to end Protestantism in England. Elizabeth was cautious in
foreign affairs and only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective,
poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France and Ireland. She
risked war with Spain by supporting the "Sea Dogs," such
as Walter Raleigh, John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake, who preyed on the Spanish merchant ships carrying
gold and silver from the New World. The major war came with Spain, 1585–1603. When Spain
tried to invade and conquer England it was a fiasco, and the defeat of
the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated
Elizabeth's name forever with what is popularly viewed as one of the greatest
victories in English history. Her enemies failed to combine and Elizabeth's
foreign policy successfully navigated all the dangers.
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| Francis Drake circa 1581 |
End of
Tudor era - in all,
the Tudor period is seen as a decisive one which set up many
important questions which would have to be answered in the next century and
during the English Civil War. These were
questions of the relative power of the monarch and Parliament and to what
extent one should control the other. Some historians think that Thomas Cromwell
affected a "Tudor Revolution" in government, and it is certain that
Parliament became more important during his chancellorship.
Other historians
say the "Tudor Revolution" really extended to the end of Elizabeth's
reign, when the work was all consolidated. Although the Privy Council declined
after the death of Elizabeth, while she was alive it was very effective.
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| Portrait of Thomas Cromwell, Hans Holbein the Younger, (1532–1533) |
3. Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation, often referred
to simply as the Reformation (from Latin reformatio, lit. "restoration,
renewal"), was a schism from
the Roman
Catholic Church initiated by Martin Luther and
continued by John Calvin and
other early Protestant
Reformers in 16th century Europe.
Although there
had been significant earlier attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church before
Luther — such as those of Jan Hus, Peter Waldo, and John Wycliffe — Martin
Luther is widely acknowledged to have started the Reformation with his 1517
work The Ninety-Five Theses. Luther began
by criticizing the selling of indulgences, insisting
that the Pope had no
authority over purgatory and that
the Catholic doctrine of the merits of the saints had no
foundation in the gospel. The Protestant position, however, would come to
incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura and sola fide. The core
motivation behind these changes was theological, though many other factors played a part, including
the rise of nationalism, the Western Schism which
eroded people's faith in the Papacy, the perceived corruption of the Roman Curia, the impact
of humanism and the
new learning of the Renaissance which
questioned much of the traditional thought.
Luther (1529) by Lucas Cranach the Elder
The initial
movement within Germany diversified almost right then and there, and other
reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenberg's printing press provided
the means for the rapid dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular.
The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists. Lutheran
churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the
Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and
Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively
after 1547 under Edward
VI and Elizabeth
I, although the national church had been made
independent under Henry
VIII in the early 1530s for political rather than religious reasons.
Thomas Cranmer proved essential in the
development of the English Reformation.
There were
also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical
Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian, and
other Pietistic movements.
Radical Reformers, besides forming communities outside state sanction, often
employed more extreme doctrinal change, such as the rejection of tenets of the councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.
John Knox was a leading figure in
the Scottish Reformation.
The Roman
Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated
by the Council
of Trent. Much work in battling Protestantism was done
by the well-organized new order of theJesuits. In general,
Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, came under the
influence of Protestantism. Southern Europe remained Roman Catholic,
although Greece remained
predominantly Eastern Orthodox, while
Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years' War, which left
it massively devastated.
Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre,
Painting by François Dubois
CHRONOLOGY OF THE TUDOR ERA
1486
- Henry VII (Tudor) married Elizabeth of York uniting houses of York and
Lancaster.
1487
- Battle of Stoke Field: In final engagement of the Wars of the Roses, Henry
VII, defeats Yorkist army "led" by Lambert Simnel (who was
impersonating Edward, the nephew of Edward IV, the only plausible royal
alternative to Henry, who was confined in the Tower of London).
1496 - Henry VII joins the Holy League; commercial treaty between England and Netherlands.
1497 - John Cabot discovers Newfoundland
1502 - Margaret, daughter of Henry VII, marries James IV of Scotland.
1509 - Henry VIII, becomes king.
1513 - Battle of Flodden Field (fought at Flodden Edge, Northumberland) in which invading Scots are defeated by the English under their commander, 70 year old Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey; James IV of Scotland is killed.
1515 - Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, is made Lord Chancellor of England and Cardinal
1517 - The Protestant Reformation begins; Martin Luther nails his "95 Theses" against the Catholic practice of selling indulgences, on the church door at Wittenberg
1520 - Field of Cloth of Gold: Francois I of France meets Henry VIII but fails to gain his support against Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V
1496 - Henry VII joins the Holy League; commercial treaty between England and Netherlands.
1497 - John Cabot discovers Newfoundland
1502 - Margaret, daughter of Henry VII, marries James IV of Scotland.
1509 - Henry VIII, becomes king.
1513 - Battle of Flodden Field (fought at Flodden Edge, Northumberland) in which invading Scots are defeated by the English under their commander, 70 year old Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey; James IV of Scotland is killed.
1515 - Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, is made Lord Chancellor of England and Cardinal
1517 - The Protestant Reformation begins; Martin Luther nails his "95 Theses" against the Catholic practice of selling indulgences, on the church door at Wittenberg
1520 - Field of Cloth of Gold: Francois I of France meets Henry VIII but fails to gain his support against Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V
1521
- Henry VIII receives the title "Defender of the Faith" from Pope Leo
X for his opposition to Luther
1529 - Henry VIII dismisses Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey for failing to obtain the Pope's consent to his divorce from Catherine of Aragon; Sir Thomas More appointed Lord Chancellor; Henry VIII summons the "Reformation Parliament" and begins to cut the ties with the Church of Rome
1530 - Thomas Wolsey dies
1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns over the question of Henry VIII's divorce
1533 - Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn and is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII; Thomas Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
1534 - Act of Supremacy: Henry VIII declared supreme head of the Church of England
1535 - Sir Thomas More is beheaded in Tower of London for failing to take the Oath of Supremacy
1536 - Anne Boleyn is beheaded; Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour; dissolution of monasteries in England begins under the direction of Thomas Cromwell, completed in 1539.
1537 - Jane Seymour dies after the birth of a son, the future Edward VI
1539 - Dissolution of Glastonbury Abbey; buildings torched and looted by king's men; Abbot Richard Whiting is executed by hanging atop Glastonbury Tor.
1540 - Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves following negotiations by Thomas Cromwell; Henry divorces Anne of Cleves and marries Catherine Howard; Thomas Cromwell executed on charge of treason
1529 - Henry VIII dismisses Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey for failing to obtain the Pope's consent to his divorce from Catherine of Aragon; Sir Thomas More appointed Lord Chancellor; Henry VIII summons the "Reformation Parliament" and begins to cut the ties with the Church of Rome
1530 - Thomas Wolsey dies
1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns over the question of Henry VIII's divorce
1533 - Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn and is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII; Thomas Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
1534 - Act of Supremacy: Henry VIII declared supreme head of the Church of England
1535 - Sir Thomas More is beheaded in Tower of London for failing to take the Oath of Supremacy
1536 - Anne Boleyn is beheaded; Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour; dissolution of monasteries in England begins under the direction of Thomas Cromwell, completed in 1539.
1537 - Jane Seymour dies after the birth of a son, the future Edward VI
1539 - Dissolution of Glastonbury Abbey; buildings torched and looted by king's men; Abbot Richard Whiting is executed by hanging atop Glastonbury Tor.
1540 - Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves following negotiations by Thomas Cromwell; Henry divorces Anne of Cleves and marries Catherine Howard; Thomas Cromwell executed on charge of treason
1542
- Catherine Howard is executed
1543 - Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr; alliance between Henry and Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor) against Scotland and France
1544 - Henry VIII and Charles V invade France
1547 - Edward VI, King of England: Duke of Somerset acts as Protector
1549 - Introduction of uniform Protestant service in England based on Edward VI's Book of Common Prayer
1550 - Fall of Duke of Somerset:; Duke of Northumberland succeeds as Protector
1543 - Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr; alliance between Henry and Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor) against Scotland and France
1544 - Henry VIII and Charles V invade France
1547 - Edward VI, King of England: Duke of Somerset acts as Protector
1549 - Introduction of uniform Protestant service in England based on Edward VI's Book of Common Prayer
1550 - Fall of Duke of Somerset:; Duke of Northumberland succeeds as Protector
1551
- Archbishop Cranmer publishes Forty-two Articles of religion
1553 - On death of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen of England by Duke of Northumberland, her reign lasts nine days; Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (to 1558); Restoration of Roman Catholic bishops in England
1554 - Execution of Lady Jane Grey
1555 - England returns to Roman Catholicism: Protestants are persecuted and about 300, including Cranmer, are burned at the stake
1558 - England loses Calais, last English possession in France; Death of Mary I; Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, becomes Queen; Repeal of Catholic legislation in England
1560 - Treaty of Berwick between Elizabeth I and Scottish reformers; Treaty of Edinburgh among England, France, and Scotland
1563 - The Thirty-nine Articles, which complete establishment of the Anglican Church
1564 - Peace of Troyes between England and France
1567 - Murder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, probably by Earl of Bothwell; Mary Queen of Scots marries Bothwell, is imprisoned, and forced to abdicate; James VI, King of Scotland
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots escapes to England and is imprisoned by Elizabeth I at Fotheringay Castle
1553 - On death of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen of England by Duke of Northumberland, her reign lasts nine days; Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (to 1558); Restoration of Roman Catholic bishops in England
1554 - Execution of Lady Jane Grey
1555 - England returns to Roman Catholicism: Protestants are persecuted and about 300, including Cranmer, are burned at the stake
1558 - England loses Calais, last English possession in France; Death of Mary I; Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, becomes Queen; Repeal of Catholic legislation in England
1560 - Treaty of Berwick between Elizabeth I and Scottish reformers; Treaty of Edinburgh among England, France, and Scotland
1563 - The Thirty-nine Articles, which complete establishment of the Anglican Church
1564 - Peace of Troyes between England and France
1567 - Murder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, probably by Earl of Bothwell; Mary Queen of Scots marries Bothwell, is imprisoned, and forced to abdicate; James VI, King of Scotland
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots escapes to England and is imprisoned by Elizabeth I at Fotheringay Castle
1577
- Alliance between England and Netherlands; Francis Drake sails around the
world (to 1580)
1584 - William of Orange is murdered and England sends aid to the Netherlands;
1586 Expedition of Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies; Conspiracy against Elizabeth I involving Mary Queen of Scots
1587 - Execution of Mary Queen of Scots; England at war with Spain; Drake destroys Spanish fleet at Cadiz
1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins: war between Spain and England continues until 1603
1597 - Irish rebellion under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (finally put down 1601)
1600 - Elizabeth I grants charter to East India Company
1601 - Elizabethan Poor Law charges the parishes with providing for the needy; Essex attempts rebellion, and is executed
1603 - Elizabeth dies; James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England
1584 - William of Orange is murdered and England sends aid to the Netherlands;
1586 Expedition of Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies; Conspiracy against Elizabeth I involving Mary Queen of Scots
1587 - Execution of Mary Queen of Scots; England at war with Spain; Drake destroys Spanish fleet at Cadiz
1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins: war between Spain and England continues until 1603
1597 - Irish rebellion under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (finally put down 1601)
1600 - Elizabeth I grants charter to East India Company
1601 - Elizabethan Poor Law charges the parishes with providing for the needy; Essex attempts rebellion, and is executed
1603 - Elizabeth dies; James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England
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