English Renaissance

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Renaissance
The School of Athens (1509–1511) by Raphael
Aspects
Regions
History and study
The First Appearance of William Shakespeare on the Stage of the Globe Theatre by George Cruikshank

The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England during the late 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries.[1] It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century. As in most of the rest of Northern Europe, England saw little of these developments until more than a century later within the Northern Renaissance. Renaissance style and ideas 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. Many scholars see its beginnings in the early 16th century during the reign of Henry VIII.[2] Others argue the Renaissance was already present in England in the late 15th century.

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 was moving into Mannerism and the Baroque by the 1550s or earlier.

Literature

Main article:
Catholic Church's interpretation. Discussions on how to translate the Bible so that it could be understood by laymen but still do justice to God's word became contentious, with people arguing how much license could be taken to impart the correct meaning without sacrificing its eloquence. The desire to let people read the Bible for themselves led William Tyndale to publish his own translation in 1526, giving way to Sir Rowland Hill's publication of the Geneva Bible in 1560, marking the re-establishment of the Church of England at the accession of Elizabeth I. These would be predecessors to the King James Version
of the Bible.

Another early proponent of literature in the vernacular was

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.[4]

The growing population of England, the growing wealth of its people, and their fondness for spectacle produced a dramatic literature of remarkable variety, quality, and extent.

occasional poems such as "On Monsieur's Departure" at critical moments of her life.[5] William Shakespeare, whose works include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, remains one of the most championed authors in English literature. The playwright and poet is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time.[6][7][8]

Philosophers and intellectuals included

Divine Right of Kings. 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. The language of the Book of Common Prayer
, first published in 1549, and at the end of the period the Bible had enduring and profound impacts on the English consciousness.

Science and exploration

The English Renaissance saw significant scientific progress. The astronomers

William Gilbert published his seminal study of magnetism, De Magnete, in 1600. He was the first to discover that the Earth was itself a dipole magnet as well as the first to correctly explain why a nautical compass worked as it did.[10]

Substantial advancements were made in the fields of cartography and surveying.

steam plough, sits in an easy chair, crosses the channel or the Atlantic, eats a good dinner, enjoys a beautiful garden, or undergoes a painless surgical operation, owes him something''.[12] English thought advanced towards modern science with the Baconian method.[13]

The Tudor navy carrack Henry Grace à Dieu. In her day she was the largest warship in the world.[14]

English achievements in exploration were noteworthy.

spices, saltpetre, tea, and opium.[19] The East India Company was the most powerful corporation in history.[20][21]

Visual arts

England was slow to produce visual arts in Renaissance styles like the rest of Northern European, and the

landscape art, for centuries to come.[22]

Portrait of Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury by Isaac Oliver

The significant English invention was the

Nicolas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver produced the finest work.[23] The portrait miniature had spread all over Europe by the 18th century.[24]

The

Sir Nathaniel Bacon
.

Music

Main article: Early music of the British Isles
Thomas Tallis was a Renaissance composer who occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. He is considered one of England's greatest composers, and he is honoured for his original voice in English musicianship.[25]

virginal, sang, and even claimed to have composed dance music.[26] She felt that dancing was a great form of physical exercise and employed musicians to play for her while she danced. The interests of the queen were expected to be adopted by her subjects. All noblemen were expected to be proficient in playing the lute and "any young woman unable to take her proper place in a vocal or instrumental ensemble became the laughing-stock of society". Music printing led to a market of amateur musicians purchasing works published by those who received special permission from the queen.[27]

The

Elizabethan madrigal was distinct from, but related to, the Italian tradition. The most famous composers for the Anglican Church were Thomas Tallis and his student William Byrd. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native country and in Europe.[28] Both composers were Catholics and produced vocal works in both Latin and English. Secular vocal works became extremely popular with the importation of Italian musicians and compositions. The music of the late Italian madrigal composers inspired native composers who are now labelled as the English Madrigal School. These composers adapted the text painting and polyphonic writing of the Italians into a uniquely English genre of madrigal. Thomas Morley published collections of madrigals which included his own compositions as well as those of his contemporaries. The most famous of these collections was The Triumphs of Oriana, which was made in honour of Queen Elizabeth and featured the compositions of Morley, Thomas Weelkes, and John Wilbye
among other representatives of the English madrigalists.

Instrumental music was also very popular. The most popular solo instruments of the time were the

virginal and the lute. The virginal was a popular variant of the harpsichord among the English and one of Elizabeth's favourite instruments to play. Numerous works were produced for the instrument including several collections by William Byrd, namely the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and Parthenia. The lute strung with sheepgut was the most popular instrument of the age. Lutes could be played as solo instruments or as accompaniment for singers. Compositions of the latter variety were known as lute song. The most popular Elizabethan composer for the lute and of lute songs was John Dowland. Several families of instruments were popular among the English people and were employed for the group music making. If all of the instruments in an ensemble were of the same family they were considered to be in "consort". Mixed ensembles were said to be in "broken consort
". Both forms of ensembles were equally popular.

Portrait of Elizabeth I of England playing the lute, portrait miniature by Nicholas Hilliard.

The key composers from the early Renaissance era also wrote in a late Medieval style, and as such, they are transitional figures.

Marian antiphon, Alma Redemptoris Mater, in which the antiphon is stated literally in the tenor voice in each movement, without melodic ornaments. This is the only cyclic setting of the mass ordinary which can be attributed to him.[31]
He wrote mass cycles, fragments, and single movements and a variety of other sacred works.

la contenance angloise ("the English countenance"), a term used by the poet Martin le Franc in his Le Champion des Dames. Other leading composers include Robert Johnson, John Taverner, Thomas Morley, Orlando Gibbons, and John Blitheman
.

The colossal

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. 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 has enjoyed a considerable revival in recent decades in Europe.[32][33]

Architecture

Main article: Elizabethan architecture
Examples of Elizabethan architecture: clockwise from top left—Hampton Court Palace, Audley End House, Wollaton Hall, and Soulton Hall.

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, and the building of Soulton Hall under Queen Mary I, it was not until dawning of Elizabethan architecture that a true Renaissance style became widespread.

The wool trade, which had carried the economic life of England in the late medieval period, was no longer as prosperous as it had been and there was less disposable wealth for architectural projects. Under Elizabeth, farming was encouraged resulting in a recovery that put a vast amount of wealth into the hands of a large number of people. Elizabeth built no new palaces, instead encouraging her courtiers to build extravagantly and house her on her summer progresses. A large number of small houses were built, and at the same time many country mansions were constructed. Many of the earlier medieval or Tudor manors were remodelled and modernised during Elizabeth's reign. Civic and institutional buildings were also becoming increasingly common.[34]

Nonsuch Palace in Surrey. A former grand Tudor royal palace.[35]

The most famous buildings, of a type called the

church monuments, screens and other fittings often had classical styles from about the mid-century. The few new church buildings post-Reformation were usually still Gothic in style, as in Langley Chapel of 1601.[36]

Elizabethan garden at Kenilworth Castle.[37]

It was also at this time that the

withdrawing rooms supplemented the main living room for the family, the great chamber. The great hall was now mostly used by the servants, and as an impressive point of entry to the house.[34]

The decorative arts became increasingly rich in color, detail, and design by the

three-dimensional designs.[38] Architecture in the Jacobean era was a continuation of the Elizabethan style with increasing emphasis on classical elements like columns and obelisks. Inigo Jones may be the most famous English architect of this period, with lasting contributions to classical public building style; his works include the Banqueting House in the Palace of Whitehall and the portico of Old St Paul's Cathedral (destroyed in the Great Fire of London). Significant Jacobean buildings include Hatfield House, Bolsover Castle, Aston Hall, and Charlton House. Many churches contain fine monuments in Jacobean style, with characteristic motifs including strapwork, and polychromy. The mason and sculptor Nicholas Stone
produced many effigies for tombs as well as architectural stonework.

Society

There was a wide range of leisure activities entertaining both the nobility and the common classes. Among these leisure activities were

individual sports, games, dramatics, music, and the arts. The annual summer fair and other seasonal fairs such as May Day were often bawdy affairs. Watching plays and performing arts became increasingly popular. All English towns sponsored plays enacted in town squares followed by the actors using the courtyards of taverns or inns (referred to as inn-yards) followed by great open-air amphitheatres and then the introduction of indoor theatres called playhouses. This popularity was helped by the rise of great playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe using theatres such as the Globe Theatre. Before theatres were built, actors travelled from town to town and performed in the streets or outside inns.[39] Miracle plays were local re-enactments of stories from the Bible. They derived from the old custom of mystery plays, in which stories and fables were enacted to teach lessons or educate about life in general.[40]

Music was greatly enjoyed throughout this era, as seen through quite a few family evenings including musical performances. English children were taught to sing and dance at a very early age and became used to performing in public during such evenings. Keyboard instruments such as

Woodwind instruments like crumhorns, and flutes and stringed instruments such as lutes and rebecs were also widely used. Royal court dances included the pavane and galliard, the almain and the volta.[41]

There was an expansion of education and apprenticships in 14th-16th century England.

Guilds controlled many trades and used apprenticeships to control entry.[45] Many towns and villages had a parish school where the local vicar taught boys to read and write. Brothers could teach their sisters these skills. At school, pupils were taught English, Latin, Greek, catechism and arithmetic.[46]

Criticism

The notion of calling this period a ''renaissance" is a modern invention, having been popularized by the historian

Le Morte D'Arthur), John Lydgate, and Thomas Hoccleve were notable figures.[47]

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.[48]

Major English Renaissance authors

Major literary figures in the English Renaissance include:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Key features of Renaissance culture Andrew Dickson, "An English Renaissance: Key features of Renaissance culture". British Library online, 2017". Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  2. ^ ""English Renaissance", Poetry Foundation online". Archived from the original on 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  3. ^ Bhardwaj, Shaswat. "History of English Literature". Academia.
  4. ^ "Life in Renaissance England". www.uh.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-01-23. Retrieved 2015-12-05.
  5. ^ "The story of theatre · V&A". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  6. ^ "William Shakespeare (English author)". Britannica Online encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2006.
  7. ^ MSN Encarta Encyclopedia article on Shakespeare. Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved 26 February 2006.
  8. ^ Rogers 2001, p. 135.
  9. ^ Rowse 1971, p. 48.
  10. ^ "Science in the Time of Shakespeare". libguides.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  11. ^ Klein, Jürgen (2012), "Francis Bacon", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, archived from the original on 22 October 2019, retrieved 17 January 2020
  12. ^ Hepworth Dixon, William (1862). "The story of Lord Bacon's Life" (1862).
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  14. ^ Dear & Kemp 2007.
  15. ISBN 978-0-19-820443-5
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  16. ^ "How the East India Company Became the World's Most Powerful Monopoly". HISTORY. 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
  17. ^ Scott, William. "East India Company, 1817–1827". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Senate House Library Archives, University of London. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  18. ^ Parliament of England (31 December 1600). Charter Granted by Queen Elizabeth to the East India Company  – via Wikisource. Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies
  19. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7123-4756-3. Archived
    from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  20. ISBN 978-0-19-873706-3
    , retrieved 2023-12-28
  21. ^ "The world's most powerful corporation". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
  22. ^ Burke, Danielle (2023-06-23). "Faces of the Tudor period: 16th century artists in England". Fine Art Restoration Company. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  23. ^ "The prattling paintings of Renaissance England". Apollo Magazine. 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
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  25. ^ Farrell 2001, p. 125.
  26. ^ Thomas, Heather. "The Queen's Pastimes". Elizabeth R. Self-Published. Archived from the original on 10 October 2003. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
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  28. ^ "William Byrd". Gramophone Magazine. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  29. ^ Stolba 1990, p. 140.
  30. ^ Emmerson and Clayton-Emmerson 2006, 544.
  31. ^ Bent n.d.
  32. ^ "The English Madrigalists". Stainer & Bell. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
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  34. ^ a b "Architectural Style : Tudor and Elizabethan". www.buildinghistory.org. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  35. ^ "Nonsuch Palace". The Fitzwilliam Museum. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  36. ISBN 0-09-147831-6
  37. ^ "Kenilworth Castle Elizabethan Garden". English Heritage. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  38. ^ a b "Learn About Style: Jacobean". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  39. ^ "Tudor Entertainment". Woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk. 2004-01-01. Archived from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
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  41. ^ "Overview of Elizabeth I / Historical Association". www.history.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  42. ISBN 9780521296793
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  43. ^ "The Tudor apprentice" (PDF). Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
  44. ^ "A short history of apprenticeships in England: from medieval craft guilds to the twenty-first century". House of Commons Library.
  45. ^ "Research, education & online exhibitions > Family history > In depth guide to family history > People at work > Apprentices". The National Archives. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
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  47. ^ Snyder, Dr (2023-02-14). "Lewis & the Renaissance – Pondering Principles". Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  48. ^ "An Artistic Flowering: The Major Figures and Developments of the English Renaissance |". Scribd. Retrieved 2024-01-18.

Works cited

Further reading

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