English Renaissance 1485 1660

It’s a time of rebirth. It could be divided in two periods: the Elizabethan (1485-1603) and the Jacobean (1603-1660).

In the Elizabeth period there were five monarchs: Henry VII (1485-1505), Henry VIII (1508-1547), Edward VI (1547-1553), Mary I (1553-1558) and the last one Elizabeth (1558-1603).

This period is called so because Elizabeth ruled longer than any other monarch during the Renaissance.

She attained new heights in world affairs, in art, in literature, in music.

She did not left heirs so she was succeeded by the son of her cousin Mary, king James I of England who ruled from 1603 to 1625.

Humanism is a new way of looking at the world.

It talks about questions regarding authority and faith.

It rises of rationalism and scepticism. It is emphasised from religious to secular matters. The great thinkers were Erasmus and more. The Renaissance began in Italy in the fourteenth century. It was a time of rebirth of intellectual and artistic energies that characterised Greek and Roman civilization. Famous poets in Italy were Petrarch and Boccaccio. Giotto was famous as painter, Brunelleschi as architect, Donatello as sculptor and Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo as artists.

Lorenzo De Medici was a very important figure of Renaissance.

He encouraged intellectual trends and artistic accomplishments, the goals of Renaissance and Humanism. He emphasised the capacities of the human mind and the achievement of human culture.

Other Renaissance accomplishments in the world were the territorial exploration and discovery, for example Columbus in 1492 who discovered the America.

Sir Thomas More was the centre of an active and brilliant circle of English Humanists.

He wrote Utopia (1516) the first literacy masterpiece of the English Renaissance.

In this period Copernicus and Galileo founded the new modern astronomy.

In the same time Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-Five theses; Henry VIII broke with the church and found the Anglican Church.

England was the most powerful nation. It defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588. The ships were smaller and more manoeuvrable than the Spanish one.

The entertainment was very important.

The first public theatre was built near London in 1576 but there were closed in 1593 because of plague.

In the Jacobean Era King James I published his version of the Bible.

After James death (1625) became king his son Charles than began the civil war. Oliver Cromwell became commander of the parliamentary forces. After Cromwell death in 1658 return to the throne Charles II, there were new election of Parliament. It was the beginning of a new era.