Summary
Summary English Renaissance literary history + poetic devices
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Summary of literary history in English with tropes (poetic devices) included.
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Kings and queensHenry VII (Lancaster) was king in 1485. His wife was Elizabeth from York. The
marriage ended the War of the Roses between York and Lancaster. Lancaster → red
roses, York → white roses. They were both Tudors → dynasty, and when they married
they combined the colours.
Henry VIII → son, (1509 took over throne) he had six wives and split from the Church of
Rome. He was married to Catherine, who was married to his brother Arthur before him.
It was considered incest to marry his brothers widow so he needed permission from the
pope. The pope agreed and they married in 1509. She only gave him one girl, but he
wanted an heir so he had a mistress Anne Boleyn.
Henry wanted to get his marriage with Catherine annulled, but the pope refused so he
severed ties with Rome and appointed himself head of Church of England in 1533. He
dissolved all monasteries and took their stuff so the royal family became even more rich.
The break with Rome was disastrous for the cultural stuff, art and such was destroyed.
Henry wanted the church to be Catholic, but after his death the influence of Martin
Luther was so big that the established religion took on parts of the Protestants.
1547 → Henry died and his nine year old son Edward VI took over. The Council of
Regents controlled the kingdom in his eight year old reign. It was a strict Protestant
policy. He died in 1553 of tuberculosis and Jane Grey (great granddaughter of Henry
VII) took over.
Jane was orthodox Protestant so she was preferred to Elizabeth, Henry VIII's daughter.
Mary Tudor, Bloody Mary (Henry VIII's eldest daughter) was Catholic and people feared
she would undo the Reformation. Jane was only queen for 9 days and never crowned.
She was put in the Tower and executed six months later.
Mary did undo several parts of the Reformation and forged an alliance with Catholic
Spain by marrying Crown Prince Philip. She could not fix the relationship between
Rome and England. She reigned for five years and was given the nickname Bloody Mary,
because she killed so many Protestants. Elizabeth took over (Protestant) and was on the
throne for 44 years. She brought an end to the turbulence.
In 1588 the English navy defeated the Spanish Armada sent by Philips II, Elizabeth's
brother in law.
The sixteenth century
1485-1603
Tudor dynasty → economic and cultural growth. Great increase in population. Lower
class still had very hard lives.
Secular theatre became prominent mostly due to Shakespeare.
Engeland changed its established religion multiple times.
Queen Mary (Tudor) I had Jane Grey executed.
, Elizabeth I executed Mary Queen of Scots.
The six wives of Henry VIII
After the marriage with Catherine Aragon was dissolved Henry VIII married Anne
Boleyn in 1533. She was already carrying his child, Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was
annoyed she wasn't a boy and in the following years no boys either so he left her. Anne
was accused of adultery, incest and witchcraft (she had six fingers).
Henry then married Jane Seymour, who gave him Edward VI. Jane died shortly after.
He then married Anne of Cleves, but he found her ugly (he'd never seen her before, only
a portrait) and so divorced her after six months (he wanted to immediately after the
wedding).
Wife number 5, Catherine Howard, had the same fate as Anne Boleyn.
Catherine Parr, his sixth wife, outlived him and took on a fourth husband after his
death (no queen has been married more). She provided a home for his three children.
Rhyme: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.
Renaissance
The victory of the navy against the Spanish Armada was seen in England as a sign of
God's preference for Protestants. The defeat also gave a new mood of national
self-confidence and patriotism.
During the Elizabethan era there were numerous creative figures: painter Nicholas
Hilliard, musician William Byrd, philosopher Francis Bacon, writers Christopher
Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare.
During the Elizabethan era England thrived, but lower classes remained oppressed
(censorship and bad court culture). In the early Elizabethan era there was religious
tolerance, but later on there was an uprising by Catholic nobles and the queens
excommunication by the Pope (1570) that resulted in the persecution of religious and
other opponents.
Elizabeth never married and became known as 'The Virgin Queen'. She died in 1603 and
James VI of Scotland, Mary Stuart's son, also became King James I of England.
Elizabeth and Mary Stuart
Elizabeth was not universally popular, several plots were hatched to remove her. One of
her rivals was Mary Stuart (great-granddaughter of Henry VII). In 1559 Mary tried to
seize the throne with help from France. She was already Queen of Scotland (Mary
Queen of Scots)
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