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Humanism inRenaissance England

As the power struggle between Catholics andProtestants continued, the same type of questioning

authority that threatened the power of the papacywas manifesting itselfwithin the academic sphere asHumanists challenged the medieval worldview.

•What a piece of work is man! how noblein reason!

how infinite in faculty! in form and movinghow express and admirable! in action how likean angel!in apprehension how like a god!the-beauty of the world! the paragonof animals!

{Hamlet \U\3\2-yi6)

Shakespeare's lines exemplify the focus on thehuman being that is a hallmark of the Renaissance.-Literally, Renaissance means "rebirth" or a return tothe focus of classical Greece and Rome on the value

of man as the measure of all things, as opposed tothe Middle Ages' view of man as the root of all evil.Throughout the Middle Ages, however, classicalscholars continued to study Greek and Latin, and somescholars called scholastics—Peter Abelard, ThomasAquinas, Roger Bacon, and Saint Bonaventure—triedto apply Aristotelian logic to religious questions.

The view of the classics was one characteristic that

distinguished the Renaissance from the Middle Ages.As the Renaissance unfolded, some scholars known asHumanists—Petrarch, Erasmus, Thomas More, Isabellad'Este, Francis Bacon—turned to the classic scholars inorder to find models for living and learning. Of primaryvalue to the Humanists was active involvement in publiclife. They criticized the cloistered medieval scholasticswho did not believe in allowing ordinary people to readScripture for themselves. With the.advent of the printingpress, this access was more possible than ever before.

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Science

Around 1514, NicolausCopernicus, a Polish doctorand astronomer, handwrotean anonymous booklet calledthe Little Commentary whichhe distributed to some friends.The axioms contained in thebooklet, which formed thebasis of his later work, DeRevolutionibus, included:

1. There is no one center in

the universe.

2. The Earth's center is not

the center of the universe.

3. The center of the universe

is near the sun.

Copernicus' theory ofplanetary motion was a hugeleap from medieval cosmologyin which the earth was a fixed,inert, immovable mass at thecenter of the universe, and allcelestial bodies, including the sunand the stars, revolved around it,as shown in the diagram of thePtolemaic universe.

Fearful of the reaction to thetheory, which contradicted thechurch view on the order of theuniverse, Copernicus delayedpublishing the work for morethan 25 years. When finallyreleased, it had a major impacton future'astronomical inquiriesas well as on the previouslyunchallenged authority ofthe Church.

The Ptolemaic universe as shownin Andrew Borde's The First Book ofthe Introduction of Knowledge, 1542.

Religious ReformationsThe Protestant Reformation

In 1500, Christianity in Europe was basicallyrepresented by the Roman Catholic Church, held

together by a powerful hierarchy led by the pope.However, many factors were beginning to challengethe hegemony of the church. Humanists questionedthe elitism of church scholars. Kings, princes, andother secular leaders resented the tax monies that thechurch collected. The printing press, invented in the1400s, helped to spread literacy. Some books werepublished in the vernacular and as more people beganto read, they became more critical and less inclinedto accept the church as an all-powerful entity. Thechurch itself suffered from corruption. For example, toraise money, the church would dispense indulgences.An indulgence allowed a sinner to gain forgiveness

igh a monetary contribution to a church or aii

prwst. Three types of reformers within the churchsaw a need for reform. Spiritual reformers hated theworldly pursuits of the church; conciliar reformerswished to establish decision-making councils thatwould take power away from,the pope. Finally,humanistic reformers hoped that reading and biblicalknowledge would restore integrity to the church.

When Martin Luther, a German Augustinian monk,saw the splendor in which the pope then lived and thecircus-like way in which some priests sold indulgences,he became enraged. One day in 1517 while readingScripture, Luther experienced an epiphany: hesuddenly believed he understood the true nature ofGod's mercy and man's penance. Luther's revelationwas that the church had lost sight of the Truth, thatsalvation is granted solely by the grace of God, not bythe payment of indulgences nor the pronouncementsof church officials. Luther posted his ideas, called theNinety-five Theses, on Castle Church in Wittenberg.(c \ posters were common in 16th-century towns andcrWs because there were no newspapers or journals atthat time.)

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His ideas struck a responsive chord amongcommon people, many ofwhom felt exploited bychurch practices. When put on trial, Luther would notrecant: "Unless I am convicted by Scripture or by rightreason ... I neither can nor will recant anything, sinceit is neither right nor safe to act against conscience."Some princes came to Luther's defense. Soon a full-scalemovement emerged, which eventually, after an extensivestruggle, resulted in the Protestant Reformation—abreaking away from the Church of Rome.

Catholic Reformation

In response to Luther's revolution and the previouswork of reformers, reform within the Catholic Churchtook hold. The Council ofTrent, a series ofmeetingsfrom 1545 to 1563, met to discuss church reform.The council, while better defining church doctrine andcondemning monetary abuse, also encouraged repressivepractices such as book burning and inquisitions.

When King Henry VIII broke with the Church ofRome in the 1530s to form the Anglican Church, hedid so at a time when humanists questioned certainpractices of the church. This questioning spirit led toa more general rebellion against the church. Thus,Elizabeth I had to perform a continuous balancing actin order to maintain peace among the three groups,Protestants., Anglicans, and Catholics.

When she reestablished the Anglican Church— Ibecause that church itself offered a compromise—Elizabeth I worded the settlement in such a way toappease both Catholics and Puritans. She did notpersecute those who followed their own conscience.Whether due to personal proclivities or politicalexpediency, Elizabeth I also preferred to keeppersonal her own beliefs. She lauded private worshipover public worship. She spoke of her conscience(a concession to the Puritans) but kept a candle andcrucifix in her private chapel, which was a boon tothe Catholics.

Elizabeth further attempted to keep religiouspeace by diverting attention from Christian religiousdisagreements, calling the Islam Turks the real heretics.Thus, Elizabeth was able to achieve what a less-competent diplomat would not have been able to do:she avoided religious war.

Nonetheless, the concord achieved was not perfect.The Catholic Pope Pius V called Elizabeth "that servantof all iniquity ... a heretic and a favorer of heretics." Shewas excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1570.

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Elizabethan TheaterAs humanist ideas spread throughout Europe, they

made themselves felt in English thought and life.However, the tenor of daily life did not transformsuddenly. For centuries medieval and humanistpractices coexisted. This can even be seen in commonresidential architecture: changes in the adze (an axelike tool with a curved blade) improved the smoothnessof cut timbers for cottages that ordinary people livedin, but these simple homes did not change much;Each European country assimilated new humanist '•ideas in its own time and in its own distinct fashion.

Theater incorporated new knowledge—science, history,rhetoric, education, and religion, while at the sametime referencing medieval superstitions and habits.

The heavens themselves, the planets andvthis centre

K^J Observe degree, priority and place,Insisture, course, proportion, season,, form,Office and custom, in all line of order;. . . but when the planets'In evil mixture to disorder wander,What plagues and what portents!

what mutiny!What raging of the sea! shaking of the earth!Commotion in the winds! . . .

(Troilus and Cressida I.iii.85)

Shakespeare's lines allude to medieval astrology—toa superstitious belief that the alignment of planets hasthe power to bestow good or ill on human lives. InElizabethan.plays, superstitious astrological allusionsmingled with more informed scientific ideas. Forexample, in Tamburlaine the Great, ChristopherMarlowe refers to astronomical measurement: "Our

souls, whose faculties can comprehend / The wondrousArchitecture of the world; / And measure every-,rand'ring planet's course . . ." (I.i.869). Marlowe

^Ae celebrates the work of Copernicus, Galileo, and •the glory of the human intellect.

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Just as science affected dramatic content, so toodid the humanist study of history. This type of historprovided a plethora of texts from which to garnermaterial such as The Principall Navigations (Hakluyt1582) and The Survey of London (Stowe, 1589).Other texts chronicled the history of the nation,fostering unity and inspiring patriotism within thepopulace. These were excellent sources for Englishhistorical plays. Coupled with humanist translationsof classical histories such as Sir Thomas North's

1579 translation of Plutarch's Lives, dramatistswere assured endless sources of material from which

to draw. Because these histories were written or

translated into English they were widely read, andplaywrights could assume familiarity with the basicmaterial. Thus, they could focus on particularinterpretations, in the same manner that classicalwriters assumed that the masses knew the mythicalmaterial that they dramatized. Shakespeare's historicalplays—Richard II, Richard HI, Henry IV, HenryV, Henry VI, Henry VIII, as well as ChristopherMarlowe's Doctor Faus-tus—are some of the works

that drew upon humanist histories. Playwrightsupheld their poetic license, however, to mix fact wit!fancy—just as they did with their use of science.Thus, dramatist and pamphleteer Thomas Heywooddefended the theater against Puritan attacks in 1608by lauding the educational values of patriotic plays,which Heywood said, taught the masses about "thatlanding of Brute," the legendary founder of Britainand medieval fabrication.

Why was theater the most popular art form inElizabethan England? Rhetoric linked eloquence anddecorum with wisdom and truth. Thus, the humanisthelped set educational curriculum and societalpriorities, both of which valued the spoken word.As an oral art, theater bloomed in such a congenialatmosphere. Elizabethans fell in love with English,a language that rhetorician George Puttenham {TheArte of English Poesie, 1589) described as "copious,pithy, and significative."

The theater of the time appealed tothe lower classes because admissioncharges were as low as a penny topublic theaters, and it drew fromthe energy of their vernacular. Manyplays retained a medieval allegoricalpurpose, albeit the subject of interestchanged from the "everyman" to aheroic individual. The stage itself hada-canopy for "heaven" above anda space for "hell" below a platformstage—relic terms and devices fromdramaturgy of the Middle Ages.

In 1596, Arend van Buchell madethis sketch of the Swan Theatre,which is similar to the Globe

Theatre in which Shakespeare'splays were performed.

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ElizabethanWomen Writers

The status of women in the Elizabethan Age wascomplex, in part because a very competent woman

was queen. No man of the time could complain, withtotal intellectual honesty, of the ineptitude or inferiorityof women—to do so might be construed as an insultto his queen. Nonetheless, ordinary women did notenjoy equality with men, although a few aristocratic-women did receive humanist educations. Legally awoman was bound to her husband or, before marriage(and marriage, indeed, was expected), to her father. Awife usually could not own property nor did she usuallyhave custody rights over her own children. Whilewomen of the time often did work, and even dominatedcertain fields such as midwiferyand the millinery trades, theendless chores of most women's

daily existence left little time forreflection and writing.

More leisure time, whichresulted from the growth ofcapitalism, allowed a few middle-class and some upper-classwomen to express themselvesthrough writing. They wrote notjust for family, but for the publicas well. A few women such asLady Jane Lumlcy, Mary Sidney,and Elizabeth Cary translatedplays from Latin or Greek andeven wrote original plays. Mostof their original works, however,did not get produced. Onemust remember that at the time

women were not even allowedto act in the theater; female roleswere played by men. Aside fromplaywriting, women also wrotepoems, pamphlets, and speeches.

Writings of Queen Elizabeth

Many scholars believe that Queen Elizabethnever married so that she could use her virginity(or unattached state, at least) as a political tool.Unfettered, she could woo suitors who had politicalcapital to offer; she could also woo her perilouskingdom—offering one and all her unencumbereddevotion. Being a woman, she had to use the skill ofmanipulation expertly, proving to her subjects thatnot only was she feminine but also brilliant, reliable,brave, and reasonable—traits often associated with themasculine. Elizabeth wrote the following poem whilea prisoner at Woodstock Castle.

PRIMARY SOURCE: POEM

Written on a Wall at

Woodstock, IS54-55by Queen Elizabeth

-^h Fortune, thy wresting wavering stateHath fraught with cares my troubled wit,Whose witness this present prison lateCould bear, where once was joy's loan quit.Thou caused the guilty to be loosedFrom bands where innocents were inclosed,And caused the guiltless to be reserved,And freed those that death had well deserved.

But all herein can be nothing wrought,So God send to my foes all they have thought.

A gifted writer and speaker, Elizabeth's speeches wereoften delivered impromptu. In 1601, for example, SirRoger Wilbraham, the Queen's solicitor general forIreland, struggled to record her speech of December 19,as he ". . . could not well hear all she spake, the graceof pronunciation and of her apt and refined words, solearnedly composed, did ravish the sense of the hearerswith such admiration as every new sentence made me

forget the precedents."

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British ExplorationWhen Elizabeth sent her navy off to battle and

finally overpowered the Spanish Armada in1588, she did so as queen not only of England, butalso "France and Ireland." "France" referred to some

lost possessions from the Middle Ages; "Ireland"referred to Irish alliances with lords who were her

cousins. In spite of the meaninglcssness of this formaltitle, by the end of her formal rule, Elizabeth wouldhave had reason to claim an even more illustrious title

for England had acquired lands and foreign alliancesas part of a growing empire.

The discord between England and Spain wasrooted in religious differences and trade rivalry. As aCatholic country, Spain was fueled by the intolerantideas of the Inquisition. Regarding Elizabeth as a"heretic," the Spanish king could justify attacking her.Elizabeth had held Spam at bay over the years, first b)considering Spanish King Philip II's marriage proposal,and secondly by allowing the Catholic Mary Queenof Scots (who was French) to remain in Scotland.Under such circumstances, Spain did not wish tooffend France by attacking Britain. However, Philipsoon realized that Elizabeth would not marry him.

Then when Mary conspired to overthrow Elizabeth,Elizabeth executed her, ridding England of one threatbut increasing the likelihood that Spain would send itsInvincible Armada to try to overtake England.

England's rivalry with Spain was also based ontrade competition. Spain had a huge empire, withcolonies and alliances in South America, Africa, andAsia. Henry VIIl's break with the Roman church haddamaged English exports of wool to the Netherlandsand Spain. To continue prosperously, England neededto find new trading partners. It needed markets for itswool and it needed spices, fabrics, and precious metalsfor its growing middle class. England also neededdistant lands to send the unemployed, some of whomhad been displaced from fanns when Henry VIIIredistributed Catholic monastery lands.

To satisfy these needs, Elizabeth encouragedexploration and trade with India. America, and otherregions. She even encouraged privateers, or sea dogs,to loot Spanish ships and possessions. Two of themost famous English explorers of this time were SirFrancis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh. Sir FrancisDrake was the first Englishman to sail around theworld in 1577, a trip on which he explored tradingpossibilities in the Pacific Ocean aboard his ship,Golden Hinde. On that same voyage, he lookedfor the Northwest Passage (a nonexistent river thatwould link both coasts of North America).

PRIMARY SOURCE: JOURNAL

from Sir Francis Drake's Famous

Voyage Round The Worldby Francis Pretty, 1580

e Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake into (hesouth Sea, and there hence about the whole Globeof the Earth, begun in the year of our Lord I.S77.

The fifth of June, being in 43 degrees towardsthe pole Arctic, we found the air so cold, that ourmen . . . complained of the extremity thereof; andthe further we went, the more the cold increased

upon us.- Whereupon we thought it best for thattime to seek the land, ... In which height itpleased God to send us into a fair and good bay,with a good wind to enter the same. In this baywe anchored; and the people of the country,having their houses close by the water's side,shewed themselves unto us, and sent a present toour General. When the}' came unto us, they greatlywondered at the things that we brought. But ourGeneral, . . . liberally bestowed on them necessarythings to cover their nakedness; whereuponthey supposed us to be gods, and would not bepersuaded to the contrary. . . .

n Voyages and travels: ancient and modern, witI?^Tfitroductions, notes and illustrations, 1910.

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On his adventurous journey, Drake looted Spanishships and stopped for spices at the Molucca Islands.Afterwards, in 1588, Drake commanded a large groupof war ships on the attack of the Invincible Armada,capturing and sinking many of the Spanish ships.Like Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh led a life of adventure,exploring much of the southeast coast of America. In1-585 he established a colony on Roanoke Island inPamlico Sound but, sick and fearful, many colonistschose to sail back to England with Sir Francis Drake,who had stopped there on his voyage around the world.With the help of explorers such as Drake and Raleigh,English trade flourished.

In the following excerpt, Thomas Mun, a directorof the British East India Company, describes theeconomic doctrine known as mercantilism thatinspired ongoing exploration.

PRIMARY SOURCE: BOOK

from England's Treasure byForraign Trade

by Thomas Mun ( 1571-1641)

Although a Kingdom may be enriched by giftsreceived, . . . (t)he ordinary means . . . to increaseour wealth and treasure is by Forraign Trade,wherein wee must ever . . . sell more to strangersyearly than wee consume of theirs in value. Forsuppose that when this Kingdom is plentifullyserved with the Cloth, Lead, Tin, Iron, Fish andother native commodities, we doe yearly exportthe overplus to forraign Countreys to the valueof twenty-two hundred thousand pounds; bywhich means we are enabled beyond the Seas tobuy and bring in forraign wares for our use andConsumptions, to the value of twenty hundredthousand pounds: By this order duly kept in ourtrading, we may rest assured that the kingdomshall be enriched yearly two hundred thousandpounds, which must be brought to us in so muchTreasure; ...

CVfwo'tO

^J Civil War andthe End of an Era

While much of Elizabeth I's success as monarch

can be credited to her own talents, wisdom, andleadership, she did not succeed in really resolving theproblems that plagued her throne; she merely allayedthem. Her House of Stuart successors—James I, hisson Charles I, and Charles's French Catholic wifeQueen Henrietta Maria—were not as skilled at stavingoff crises.

Religious Tensions

Following Elizabeth's death, as the Puritans becamemore united in their strict beliefs and goals, theirdissatisfaction with Anglican rule grew. For example,Puritans held that all Catholic rituals should be

removed from the Anglican Church and that individualpreaching superseded set prayers. Indeed, they thoughti/idividual could commune with God without apriest or established church at all. They also believedin "predestination," whereby certain individuals werechosen by God for eternal salvation.

Because their beliefs conflicted with established

Anglican dogma, the Puritans resented having to paytithes, or taxes, supporting the Church. They did notwant to be judged by church courts for their sins norpay fees for marriages, christenings, and funerals. Theyresented Anglican clergy who prayed and performedrituals but did not preach. With time, some Puritansgained access to church pulpits, speaking out againstAnglican clergy and the church hierarchy; eventuallythis influence toppled the established religious structure.

Economic and Political Tensions

Due to the financial recklessness of James I andCharles I, there were no funds to raise an army whenshifting European alliances made it necessary forEngland to defend itself. Puritans as well as others in^ /,rowing middle class, exasperated by the resultingincreases in taxes, began to rely more and more on

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Parliament to represent their interests and curb thepower of the king.

Unlike their predecessors, Charles I and James Irebuked their Parliaments, defensively upholdingDivine Right. (Divine Right was a medieval conceptthat God, not the people or Parliament, gave kingsabsolute authority.) Soon lawyers, Parliament, andPuritans joined together to draft the Petition of Right,limiting the power of Charles I. Under duress, CharlesI signed. Afterward, he refused to call Parliament foreleven years, from 1629 to 1640. During this time, hetook strong measures against his political opponentsthrough the royal Court of Star Chamber. The resultof these oppressive measures was a deepening ofreligious, political, and economic unrest. In 1642,civil war broke out.

The Defeat of the Monarchy

The English civil war pitted the Royalists, orsupporters of the monarchy—mainly RomanCatholics, Anglicans, and members of the nobility—against the supporters of Parliament, consistingprincipally of Puritans, smaller landowners, andmiddle-class town dwellers. Under the leadership ofGeneral Oliver Cromwell, the devout, disciplinedPuritan army soundly defeated the Royalists in1645; the king surrendered a year later. Cromwell'sarmy, now in control of Parliament, ordered stiffretaliatory measures against the Royalists. Onceinstalled, Cromwell closed the theaters, suspendedmost forms of recreation, designated Sunday a dayof prayer, and even forbade, walking for pleasure.A reluctant but able politician, Cromwell curbedquarrels among members of the military, religiousleaders, and discontented government officials. WhenCromwell died in 1658, his son inherited the title.Richard Cromwell, however, showed little of hisfather's ability to control the various factions. Puritangovernment had proved no less autocratic than theStuart reign, and in 1660 a new Parliament invitedCharles II, son of Charles I, to return from exileand assume the throne. His reign ushered in a newchapter in English history, known as the Restoration.