The English Renaissance'

1
The English Renaissance.

• The Politics of Reformation. Renaissance Humanism

2
The English Renaissance ontological issues

• This notion is a modern invention, popularized by
  Jacob Burckhardt in the 19th century
• The "English Renaissance" has no real tie with
  the artistic achievements of Italian artists
• We will consider 1485 the "start" of the
  "Renaissance due to 2 key events
• Accession of Henry VII the beginning of the
  Tudor dynasty
• Caxton's publication of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte
  Darthure English literature enters the print era
  

3

• Etimologically, the term Renaissance comes from
  Fr. Rebirth
• The Romantics considered the "middle ages" to be
  the interval between Classical Antiquity ancient
  Greece and Rome) and the "rebirth" of that lost
  glory.
• In fact, medieval writers shared the Renaissance
  humanist's preoccupation with establishing a
  connection to the glory of Rome
• This anticipates the Renaissance admiration for
  the literature of classical antiquity

4

• There was undeniably an artistic flowering in
  England under the Tudor dynasty, culminating in
  Shakespeare and his contemporaries
• Many historians and cultural historians now
  prefer to use the term "early modern" for this
  period
• Historians have also begun to consider the term
  "Renaissance" as unnecessarily loaded

5
The politics of Reformation

• It was imperative that the Bible be available in
  vernacular languages
• These translations be perceived as a threat to
  the authority of the Church.
• Late 1520s the Catholic authorities of England
  tried to buy up and burn all copies of William
  Tyndale's English translation of the Bible
• They were attempting to stop the spread of what
  they viewed as a heresies spreading out from
  Luther's Germany.

6

• The Protestant Reformation a movement opposed to
  crucial aspects of both the belief system and the
  institutional structure of Roman Catholicism.
• Many of the key tenets of the Reformation had
  been anticipated in England by the teachings of
  John Wycliffe in the14th century
• In 1517, Martin Luther, a monk and professor of
  theology challenged the Papal authority and
  attacked several key doctrines of the Catholic
  Church.

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• According to Luther, the Church had become
  hopelessly corrupt, manipulating popular
  superstitions to enrich itself and amass worldly
  power.
• Luther began by vehemently attacking the sale of
  indulgences
• These had no foundation in the Bible, which in
  Luther's view was the only legitimate source of
  religious truth
• This challenge spread and gathered force,
  especially in Northern Europe

8

• The Reformation had a direct and powerful impact
  on those realms where it gained control
• Protestant congregations continued, for the most
  part, to celebrate the most sacred Christian
  ritual the Last Supper
• They now prayed not in the old liturgical Latin
  but in the vernacular
• The Reformation was at first vigorously resisted
  in England

9

• The situation changed decisively when Henry VIII
  decided to divorce from Catherine of Aragon, in
  order to marry Anne Boleyn
• In 1531 Henry charged the entire clergy of
  England and the king became "supreme head of the
  English Church and clergy"
• The king was promptly excommunicated by Pope
  Clement VII.
• Royal defiance of the authority of Rome was a key
  element in the Reformation but did not by itself
  constitute the establishment of Protestantism in
  England

10
Protestantism dynamics

• It arose from a mid-15th century technological
  innovation the printing press.
• Early Protestants grasped that with a few
  clandestine presses could defy Catholic
  authorities
• This tenacity arose from the passionate, often
  suicidal heroism of men and women who embraced
  martyrdom.
• By the end of the 16th century, it was the
  Catholics turn to use the clandestine press to
  propagate their beliefs

11
Humanism

• Term freely applied to a variety of beliefs and
  philosophies that place central emphasis on the
  human realm
• Most frequently, the term is used with reference
  to a system of education and mode of inquiry
  developed in N. Italy during 14th century.
• A broadly and profoundly influential program one
  of the chief reasons why the Renaissance is
  viewed as a distinct historical period.
• First employed (as humanismus) by 19th-century
  German scholars to designate the Renaissance
  emphasis on classical studies in education.

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• The term derives from studia humanitatis course
  of classical studies (grammar, poetry, rhetoric,
  history, and moral philosophy)
• Studia humanitatis were held to be the equivalent
  of the Greek paideia.
• Humanitas, an educational and political ideal
  that was the intellectual basis of the entire
  Renaissance movement
• Renaissance humanism defined itself in its
  straining toward this ideal.

13
English Renaissance Humanism (intro)

• English humanism flourished in two stages
• a basically academic movement that had its roots
  in the 15th century Sir Thomas More, Sir Thomas
  Elyot, and Roger Ascham
• a poetic revolution led by Sir Philip Sidney and
  William Shakespeare.
• English humanism as a distinct phenomenon did not
  emerge until late in the 15th century
• The Oxford group were philological and
  institutional rather than philosophical or
  literary
• In Sir Thomas More (14781535), Sir Thomas Elyot
  (c. 14901546), and Roger Ascham (151568),
  English humanism bore fruit in major literary
  achievement