the renaissance

The Renaissance

Giampaolo Palumbo - A.A. 2013/2014

Period of change• This was a period of great change. Humanist thought

triumphed over medieval scholasticism. The physical extent of the known world was expanded by voyages of discovery

• The breaking down of Christian church into Protestant and Catholic radically changed personal and public life.

• After the influence of northen European humanism spread by Erasmus of Rotterdam, T. More and J. Colet ; scholars started to study the classical texts in the original language to cultivate fine literature and ideas. Their Humanist educators wished to make them literate in Latin and Greek, to read theology for their faith and classics as guides to public life.


• Grammar school were set up to educate boys in towns. We have the born of the press. Printers and booksellers became more numerous. Such literary study also served to enrich and elevate the English language.

• The population and the price of food increased in 16°th-century England. There was mobility, whether because of poverty or religious persecution. The merchant fleet and navy, set up to defend England, expanded trade beyond northen Europe across the Atlantic to Spanish dominions.


The Tudor DynastyHenry Tudor defeated the last Yorkist Richard III, in the war of the Roses and Became king Henry VII. He was not a member of the royal dynasty, so propaganda was written to support the Tudors. This dinasty lasted only three generation so all the the Tudors monarchs were concerned with ligitimacy and security.


Henry VIIHenry VII restored the reputation of the monarch as one who rules, not merely reign. He encouraged both trade, making advantageous commercial treaties, and cloth industry. He also laid the foundation of English naval power by spending money on the building of ships so that England could have its own merchant fleet as well as its military strenght. He sponsored the voyage from Bristol of Jhon Cabot in 1497 wich let to the discovery of The North American mainland.


Henry VIIIHenry VII was succeeded by his son Henry VIII in 1509. His reign was that of typical Renaissance Prince presiding over a cultured and splendid court. He was an accomplished musician and linguist. The second half of his reign was dominate by the Reformation. He had six wives and died in 1547.


The ReformationBy 1530 Henry VIII needed a male heir, but his first wife ,

Catherine of Aragon was too old to giv him a son. She was his brother’s widow, so Henry VIII asked Pope Clement VII to

declare this marriage invalid. Clement did not wish to offend the Emperor Charles , so he refused . Henry’s new mistress was pregnant. To divorce and re-marry, Henry set up the Church of England and was excommunicated by the

Pope. Henry declared himself “Supreme Head of the Church” in England by means of the Act of supremacy. The

King’s secretary Thomas Cromwell dissolved the monasteries and seized their wealth.


Edward VIOn Henry’s death in 1547, his son, Edward, a scholarly , devout but sickly 9-year-old, became King as Edward VI before his older sisters. His uncle, Edward Seymour, became Lord Protector. The achievement of his reign wa the Protestant Reformation.

Giampaolo Palumbo- A.A. 2013-2014

Mary IWhen Edward’s sister, wife of the King of Spain Philip II, became Queen as Mary I in 1553 she was already middle-aged and determined to restore relations with Rome and Spain. Both her attempt to return country to Catholicism and her marriage proved unpopoular. She earned the nickname “Bloody Mary” because of the number of Protestants that where burned for heresy during her reign


Elizabeth I

1558 - 1603


Elizabeth I succeded her sister Mary in 1558 and became England’s most popoular ruler. Her main achievement was the settlement of the religious question. Catholics considered her illegitimate and preferred Mary Queen of Scots, who became a focus of rebellions. Elizabeth’s spies always found them out. Elizabeth was well educated and cultured and her court was more brilliant then her father’sWith careful diplomacy, she balanced the rival power of France and Spain, using her possible marriage as a weapon Elizabeth avoided war for its expense, but, inevitably, there was war with Spain. The Spanish Armada was defeated by the weather and the superior design of English ships. Meanwhile, exploration and overseas trade expanded, making England a commercial and seafaring power. Some of the most important English sea-captains are Françis Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins.


Virginia.Virginia officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War. The name "Virginia" may have been suggested then by Raleigh or Elizabeth, perhaps noting her status as the "Virgin Queen," and may also be related to a native phrase, "Wingandacoa," or name, "Wingina."


William Shakespeare.William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet. His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.


Life.•Shakespeare was born at Stratford on Avon in April 1564 on 23 Apri. His father was a yeoman; William was the eldest son and attended the local grammar school which gave him a thorough grounding in the use of language and classical authors.• he married Anne Hathaway when was only eighteen and she was twenty –six and with their daughter.•In 1584 he left Stratford and went to London. It was received into one of the companies the in being, at first in a avry mean rank; but his admirable wit soon distinguished him, not as an actor but as an excellent writer.•After the support of the Earl of Southampton in the 1593 because of the plague, he became a shareholder and the main playwright of the most successful company of actors in London: the Lord Chamberlain’s Men that in 1599 built the Globe Theatre, where most of his plays were performed.•The latter part of his life was spent in retirement at Stratford. He died when was 52 years old and was buried in the local church. Seven years after his death some of his friends published an edition of thirty-six of the plays in on volume: the famous First Folio


The Style: Sonnets•The sonnets are almost all constructed from three quatrains, which are four-line stanzas, and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter. This is also the meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays.

•The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets. Often, the beginning of the third quatrain marks the volta ("turn"), or the line in which the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany.


•When analysed as characters, the subjects of the sonnets are usually referred to as the Fair Youth, the Rival Poet, and the Dark Lady. The speaker expresses admiration for the Fair Youth's beauty, and later has an affair with the Dark Lady. It is not known whether the poems and their characters are fiction or autobiographical; scholars who find the sonnets to be autobiographical

the renaissance

Documents

son henry

king henry

church of england

century england

public life

christian church

english language

merchant fleet