2. Revival Of Learning
This transition period is one of decline from the Age of Chaucer,
and then of intellectual preparation for the Age of Elizabeth. For
a centuary and a half after Chaucer not a single great english
work appeared, and the general standard of literature was very
low.
There are three cheif causes to account for this:
1. The long war with france and the civil wars of the Roses
distracted attention from books and poetry, and destroyed of
ruined many noble English families who had been friends of
literature.
2. The reformatiom in the latter part of the period filled man’s
minds with religious questions.
3. The Revival of Learning set scholars and literary men to an eager
study of the classics, rather than to the creation of native
literature.
3. ............
Historically the age is noticeable
for its intellectual progress, for the
introduction of printing,for the
discovery of America,for the
begining of the reformation, and
for the growth of political power
among the common people.
5. Reformation
>In the reign of Henry VIII the
changes are less violent, but have
more purpose and significance. His
age is marked by a steady increase in
the national power, by the entrance of
the reformation and by the final
separation of England from all
ecclesiastical bondage in parliament’s
famous Act of Supremacy.
6. Marriage to Catherine of Aragon
In 1509, Henry VIII had
married Catherine. By 1527,
the union had produced no
male heir to the throne and
only one surviving child, a
daughter, Mary. Henry was
justifiably concerned about
the political consequences of
leaving only a female heir. In
this period, people believed it
unnatural for women to rule
over men. At best a woman
ruler meant a contested
(dispute) reign, at worst
turmoil and revolution.
7. The King’s Affair
By 1527, Henry was
thoroughly enamored of
Anne Bolyn. He
determined to put
Catherine aside and take
Anne as his wife. This he
could not do in Catholic
England, however,
without papal annulment
of the marriage to
Catherine.
8. The Reformation Parliament
When the king’s
advisors could not
obtain a papal
annulment, they
conceived of a plan to
declare the king
supreme in English
spiritual affairs as he
was in English
temporal affairs.
9. Head of the Church of England
In January
1531, the
Convocation
publicly
recognized
Henry as Head
of the Church
in England.
10. Marriage to Anne Boleyn
In January
1533, Henry
wed the Anne
Boleyn, with
Thomas
Cranmer
officiating.
11. King the Highest Court of Appeal
In February 1533.
Parliament made
the King the
Highest Court of
Appeal for all
English subjects.
12. Invalidation of First Marriage
In March 1533.
Cranmer became
archbishop of
Canterbury and led
the Convocation in
invalidating the
King’s marriage to
Catherine (First
Marriage).
13. The Six Wives of Henry VIII
To satisfy his desires and to secure
a male heir, Henry married six
times:
First he married CATHERINE
OF ARAGON . She was mother
of king’s first daughter mary.
In 1536, he married ANNE
BOLEYN who give birth to
Elizabeth I.
JANE SEYMOUR died in 1537
shortly after giving birth to the
future Edward VI.
Henry wed ANNE OF CLEVES
on the advice of Cromwell.
CATHERINE HOWARD was
his fifth wife.
Henry’s last wife was
CATHERINE PARR.
14. Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
It was not until the reign of
Anne Boleyn’s daughter,
Elizabeth I, that a lasting
religious settlement was
worked out in England.
Elizabeth face many
problems as at that time
when she came to crown she
found the whole kingdom
divided against itself; the
North was largely Catholic,
while the southern countries
were as strongly Protestant.
15. Characteritics Of the Elizabethan Age
Religious Toleration
>The most characteritic feature of the age was
the comparative religious tolerance, which was
due largely to the queen’s influence.Upon her
accession Elizabeth found the whole kingdom
divided against itself, the north was largely
Catholic , while the southern countries were as
strongly Protestant Scotland had followed the
Reformation in its own intense way, while
Ireland remained true to its old religious
tradition , and both countries were openly
rebellious.
16. Social Contentment
> Increasing trade brought enormous wealth to
England, and this wealth was shared to this
extent, at least, that for the first time some
systematic care for the needy was attempted.
Parishes were made responsible for their own
poor, and the wealthy were taxed to support
them or give them employment. The increase of
wealth, the improvement in living, the
opportunities for labor, the new social content—
these also are factors which help to account for
the new literary activity.
17. Enthusiasm
>It is an age of dreams, of adventure, of
unbounded enthusiasm.
>A score of explorers reveal a new earth to
men’s eyes, and instantly literature creates
a new heaven to match it. So the dream
and deed increase side by side, and the
dream is ever greater than the deed. That
is the meaning of literature.
18. The Drama
>The Age of Elizabeth was a time of intellectual liberty,
of growing intelligence and comfort among all classes,
of unbounded patriotism. When Corneille, Racine,
and Moliere brought the drama in France to the point
where Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Jonson had left it in
England half a century earlier. Such an age of great
thought and great action, appealing to the eyes as well
as to the imagination and intellect, neither poetry nor
the story can express the whole man, his thought,
feeling, action, and the resulting character; hence in
the Age of Elizabeth literature turned intinctively to
the drama and brought it rapidly to the highest stage
of its development.
