Transcript The Renaissance “A Rebirth of Everything”

The Renaissance
“A Rebirth of Everything”
Beginning in the late 1400s, the English
Renaissance marked changes in people’s
values, beliefs, and behavior.
Rediscovering Ancient Greece
and Rome
• “Renaissance” – translated as “rebirth”
– Renewed interest in classical learning
• Writings of ancient Greece and Rome
– Found knowledge in books hidden away in
monasteries for hundreds of years
– People became more curious about themselves and
the world around them
– Renewal of the human spirit- curiosity& creativity
Names for the Time Period
• Renaissance – Rebirth of the classics
• Age of Exploration – Exploring new
lands
– Ex. – Columbus, Raleigh, Cabot
• Age of Discovery – Discovering new
inventions and sciences
– Ex. – daVinci, Copernicus, Galen
• Reformation – Martin Luther
• Elizabethan Era – Queen Elizabeth I’s reign
Renaissance Man
• An energetic & productive human being who
is interested in science, literature, history, art,
and other subjects.
– Examples: Henry VIII, Leonardo daVinci
Thomas Jefferson
It all Began in Italy:
Italian Renaissance
• Began in Italy in 14th century – 16th century
• Wealth generated from banking & trade with
the East
– Example: Venice
Leonardo daVinci
Michelangelo Bonarati
Galileo Galilei
Raphael
Christopher Columbus
Religion
• Almost everyone in Europe and Britain was Roman
Catholic
– Church was rich a powerful in religious and political affairs
– Popes were patrons of artists, architects, and scholars
• Pope Julius II – Michelangelo and Sistine Chapel
– Vatican City – “Pope’s City”
Sistine Chapel
Humanism
• Definition: Intellectual movement.
Humanists went to old Latin & Greek classics
to discover answers to question like
– What is a human being?
– What is a good life?
– How do I lead a good life?
• Sought to harmonize the Bible with
the classics
– Used the classics to strengthen Christianity
Humanism continued…
• Plutarch – Aim of life is to attain virtue, not success
or money or fame
• Made subjects related to classical education (history,
literature, and philosophy) popular again
• These subjects are called the humanities
Two Friends -Two Humanists:
Erasmus
• Erasmus (1466?-1536)
Best-known
Renaissance Humanist
– Dutch monk who lived
outside the monastery –
loved to travel
– Taught at Cambridge
University
– Became friends with
Thomas More
Two Friends -Two Humanists:
Thomas More
• Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII
• Wrote in Latin poem, pamphlets, &
biographies
• Wrote Utopia – Analyzes the social,
economic, penal, and moral problems in
England, then describes an ideal,
nonexistent society where these problems
do not exist.
• A Man for All Seasons- Play by Robert
Bolt about More’s tragic standoff with
King Henry VIII – He would not
recognize Henry as the head of the Church
of England
– He was beheaded
The New Technology:
A Flood of Print
• Printing press transformed the way
information was exchanged during
the Renaissance.
– Before- all books were copied by hand
• Johannes Gutenberg (German) –
invented the movable-type printing
press
– 1st complete book – Latin Bible printed
in Mainz, Germany (1455)
The Reformation: Breaking with
the Catholic Church
• Reformation- Movement fueled by
a group of reformers who rejected
the authority of the pope and
Italian churchmen.
– Pope Paul III (Council of Trent
-1545)
• Used to investigate selling
of indulgences or religious
pardons, and other abuses
The Reformation: Breaking with
the Catholic Church
• 1530- Open break with the Roman Catholic
Church could not be avoided
– Strong feelings of patriotism made English people
resent financial burdens imposed on them by the
Pope.
– New religious ideas were coming to England from
Germany – Martin Luther
The Reformation: Breaking with
the Catholic Church
• Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Founded new kind of
Christianity, not based on
what the Pope said, but on
a personal understanding
of the Bible.
– Lutheran Church
– 95 Theses – was a list of
complaints against the
Catholic Church that was
nailed to the door of a
church in Wittenberg,
Germany
The Reformation: Breaking with
the Catholic Church
• Humanists ridiculed old superstitions,
ignorance, and idleness of monks and loose
living and personal wealth of priests and
bishops.
King versus Pope: All for an Heir
• King Henry VIII had six wives:
– He was first married to
Catherine of Aragon
(a Spanish Roman Catholic)
– Married for 24 years
– She could not produce a male
heir
• Only Mary ( a Catholic
daughter) – to become
“Bloody Mary”
• Henry asked Pope Clement II to declare that he and Catherine were not properly
married
– She was previously married to Henry’s brother Arthur for only 5 months before
he died.
• He got his religious advisors to dig up Biblical evidence in Leviticus that it was
unlawful to marry a dead brother’s spouse.
Henry VIII: Renaissance Man and
Executioner
• There were five Tudor rulers in England
– Henry’s grandfather, father, and three children
• Grandfather- Henry VII- Welsh nobleman who seized
the throne after England was totally exhausted by the
Wars of the Roses (began in 1455)
– Battle for the crown between the
» Lancaster (white rose)
» York (red rose)
King Henry VIII
• He was a coarse,
arrogant womanizer
• At an early age he was a
“Renaissance Man”
– Very attractive, athletic,
and intelligent
• Henry could cheat on his
wives but would not
tolerate infidelity from
them
– Anne Boleyn and
Katherine Howard
• He did create the Royal
Navy – put a stop to
foreign invasions
Henry VIII had Six Wives
(1509-1547)
• Catherine of Aragon
– Roman Catholic from Spain
– He divorced her; she died of natural causes
– Children – Mary (Catholic)
• Anne Boleyn
–
–
–
–
–
Lady-in-Waiting of Catherine of Aragon
Very bright, spirited, and beautiful
Believed in the Reformation
Beheaded when Henry grew tired of her
Children – Elizabeth (Protestant)
Henry VIII had Six Wives
(1509-1547)
• Jane Seymour
–
–
–
–
Lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn
Gentle, modest, and obedient
Died after birth of …
Children – Edward (sickly boy – died of
TB early)
• Anne of Cleves
– Sister of the German ruler
– Did not speak English
– Henry thought she was ugly; he agreed
to marry her sight unseen
– She agreed to a divorce and an
anullment
– Children - none
Henry VIII had Six Wives
(1509-1547)
• Katherine Howard
– Cousin of Anne Boleyn
– 15 or 16 when she married Henry
– After her marriage to the king,
she resumed a relationship with an
“old flame”
• She was discovered and arrested
• She was executed
– Children - none
Henry VIII had Six Wives
(1509-1547)
• Katherine Parr (Lady Jane Grey)
– She was in love with Jane Seymour’s
brother, Thomas but dared not refuse the
King
– Acted as a nurse to Henry in his old age
– Good to his children and helped him
reconcile with Catherine of Aragon’s
daughter, Mary
– Henry died on January 28, 1547. Within
months she married her true love, Thomas
Seymour
– She died of complications from childbirth
in 1548
– Children - none
Reasons for Divorce
• Catherine bore him only one
living child
– A daughter (Mary)
– She was too old to bare him
any more children (esp. a son)
– She had lost 5 children
previously
• Anne Boleyn (one of Catherine’s
ladies in waiting) caught his eye
and she would not have sex with
him unless they were married
– She used this to “play hard to
get” for a while
King versus Pope: All for an Heir
• Divorce was not allowed
according to the Catholic
Church
– Especially with the royalty
(until recently in Britain
with Charles and Diana)
– Pope refuses to grant
Henry’s request -1533
• Henry declares himself head of
the Church of England
– Appoints an Archbishop of
Canterbury (as the head of
the Church in England) and
he declared Henry and
Catherine’s marriage
invalid.
King versus Pope: All for an Heir
• Catherine refuses to accept the
annulment of their marriage
– She is put under house arrest in the
Tower of London and out of Henry’s
sight
•
Henry closes all monasteries and sells the riches,
buildings, and lands to his subjects.
King versus Pope: All for an Heir
• This is the beginning of
Protestantism in England
– People thought the Church
was not reformed enough –
They thought it was merely a
copy of Catholicism
• These people were the Puritans,
Presbyterians, etc.
• Wanted to get rid of things
considered “Popish”
– Bishops, prayer books,
priests’ vestments,
church bells, stained glass, etc.
Henry’s Children Become Monarchs
• Henry was survived by 3 children
– Mary – Daughter of Catherine of Aragon
• Catholic
– Elizabeth – Daughter of Anne Boleyn
• Protestant
– Edward – Son of Jane Seymour
Was crowned at age 9 after his father’s death
• Was a sickly boy, ruled in name only
• Died of tuberculosis
Mary Becomes Queen
1553-1558
• Strong-willed, devout Catholic
• ½ Spanish
• Wanted to avenge wrongs done to her mother
– Ruthlessly hunted down Protestants
• Burned approximately 300 at the stake for their faith
– Hence the nickname “Bloody Mary”
• Married King Phillip II of Spain (she was older)
• She died of a “fever” and childless
• After her death, her sister Elizabeth becomes queen.
Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen
1558-1603
• One of the most brilliant &
successful monarchs in
history
• Her 1st task- restore law and
order after Mary’s reign
– Re-established Church of
England
– Rejected the Pope’s authority
• He excommunicated her
• To keep Spain happy, she
pretended she might marry
her widowed brother-in-law
Phillip of Spain
Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen
1558-1603
• Resisted marriage all of her life,
but she had several lovers
– Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
– Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex
• “Virgin Queen” – she became so tired of her advisors
trying to force her to marry in order to beget an heir and
secure her throne that she refused altogether.
– Cut off her hair, painted her skin white, and
declared herself
the “Virgin Queen,” married to England
This gave Virginia its name
Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen
1558-1603
• She survived many plots against her life
– Many by her cousin, Mary Stuart, Mary
Queen of Scots
• Elizabeth did not have children and Mary was
heir to England’s throne because she was a
direct descendant of Henry VIII
• As a Catholic, Mary was deposed of her
throne in Protestant Scotland
• Elizabeth enduring Mary’s plots for 20
years, then was forced by Sir Francis
Walsingham to execute her
– Did not wish to kill Mary because Mary was
a “God anointed sovereign” and her kin
The Spanish Armada Sinks:
A Turning Point in History
• King Phillip of Spain used Mary, Queen of Scots’
execution as an excuse to invade England.
• He assembled a fleet of warships – Spanish Armada
– 1558-England’s Royal Navy destroyed the Armada
• Assured England’s and all of northern Europe’s independence form
powerful Catholic countries of the Mediterranean
• If Spain had won, North and South American would be speaking
Spanish, not English.
“I know I have the body of a weak and
feeble woman, but I have the heart and
stomach of a king, and of a king of
England too.”
Flood of Literature
• Religion and national identity started England
writing as never before.
• Elizabeth was a symbol of peace, security, &
prosperity to her subjects.
– Inspired authors
•
•
•
•
Gloriana
Diana
The Faerie Queene
Cynthia
Decline of the Renaissance
• Elizabeth dies without an heir
• Her 2nd cousin, James IV of
Scotland, becomes king (1603-1625)
– Son of Mary, Queen of Scots
– Wrote books about the Divine
Right of Kings & against the use
of tobacco
– Patron of Shakespeare (King’s
Men)
– Sponsored an English translation
of the Bible
• King James Bible
– Benevolent ruler; had problems
with pious puritanical-minded
merchants
The Renaissance Begins to Wane
• Charles I (James’ son) becomes king
– Self-destructive ruler
• His powerful subjects had him beheaded in 1649
• England was ruled by Parliament and a Puritan
dictator, Oliver Cromwell, for the next 11 years
• Charles II (Charles I son) returns from exile in France
• Milton is the last great writer of the Renaissance
– Paradise Lost
• English Renaissance ends