ENGLISH LITERATURE III

Sara Gonzlez Castellanos

1. RENAISSANCE & REFORMATION

1.1. Introduction w The word Renaissance means the rebirth of the Classical world. After the Middle Ages, this rebirth took
place. It was the rebirth of the man as the centre of all and not God, as it was before. w In 1453 the Turks invaded Constantinople and the intellectuals had to escape to Italy. This meant the origins of modern culture. Many historians consider this as the start of Renaissance (in Italy), and its true but not w By the end of the XIII century and the beginnings of the XIV century we have an important person: San Francis (S. Francisco de Asis), a radical figure who was against the catholic churchs doctrine, which was very dogmatic, had scholastic philosophy, it was very difficult to understand). He went a mong the poor people talking about nature, he said that, if you see the greatness of nature, then you will see the greatness of its creator (for the time, this was very radical). This thought inspired many intellectuals and artists, and theres a change in the vision of the world, and this is called the Proto-Renaissance, were there are various artists as Giotto, with portraits that reflected a psychological penetration; Dante, Petrarch, Bocaccio But theres another important year, 1348 in which this ideas stopped, and this was because of the bubonic plague, different civil wars, etc. w From the XV century theres an interest for the Latin culture and the vernacular. w Theres an important figure who is one of the most important literary critic and histor ian that defends that the Renaissance would had happened anyway, although the classic world, etc. hadnt exist, because there were elements that announced a big change. To defend this theory he talked about some elements. 0 The break of feudal structures: people started to produce more than they needed, so it appeared an incipient Money economy, it was the very beginning of commerce. As a consequence there was more wealth and more people, so cities developed. As a consequence of this, theres a proliferation of schools and universities, and an Exchange of ideas, and it took place the development of science (they wanted to know more and more) and they started to have a sceptical mentality and attitude. 0 The reformation of the Catholic Church. It was produced because before there was a lot of corruption, etc. and this made people not to be as attached as before by the Church. w But the Church continued being the patron of the art. w Art continued to be deeply religious, but now it was a more realistic and sensual art, it was less allegorical and tried to represent the world (nature k landscapes). Art started to be considered as a branch of knowledge, maths principles started to be applied (perspective, balance). w Humanism was a movement of this time that represented the spirit of the period. It gave importance to the subjective part of man and not to the spiritual. They were secular minded, and they didnt let religion to interfere in their knowledge (we are not saying that they were anti-religious, much of them were religious but their separated it from their approaches, etc.). They separated faith of knowledge. w Scholarship started also with the humanists. They wanted to study the origins, the original texts. Now they didnt apply faith but a critical point of view. w They represented classical ethics: Discipline, honesty and simplicity (these were their basic principles in their lives). w The Renaissance was a time of the discover of the new world. Astronomy changed too, the Earth didnt continue being the centre of the universe as Ptolemy had defended before, now Copernicus discovered that the Earth moved around the Sun. w Two basic concepts for a Renaissance intellectual were: 0 Imitation: imitation doesnt mean to copy but to grasp the spirit of the Works and transmit it to a new creation.

ENGLISH LITERATURE III

Sara Gonzlez Castellanos

0 Decorum: it meant to speak, write, etc. properly, according to the situation. w The ideal man of this period was a mens sana in corpore sano and he had to have an aristocratic procedence, so they had an aristocratic idea. The first to talk about an ideal was Len Batista Alberti (he himself was an ideal). w An important work related to this (the ideal) is Il Cortegiano by Baldasare Castiglione in 1528. This work became very famous in England and its translation into English The book of the Cortesan was translated in 1561 by Thomas Hoby. 1.2. The Reformation (hand-out)

w The Reformation means a reform in the catholic Church that takes place in the 16th century. w Main features (in the north-western part of Europe): Martin Luther and John Calvin, who was a follower of
the previous one. They criticized against the situation of the Church, its corruption w This people were called protestants by the Catholics, who considered them heretics. * Diet of Speyer: the diets were catholic assemblies where doctrinal questions were treated. (1529) w The Reformation had some antecedents: 1) St. Francis 2) John Huss (Check) 3) John Wycleffe (English) 4) Erasmus of Rotterdam w They were against Churchs corruption, power (after the fall of the Occidental Roman Empire (5th century) the Church had the power during the Middle Ages, all the Money went to Rome, some kings were supported by the pope while other ones not, so, this was an obstacle, and also the fact that he Money was for the pope and not for the kingdoms). There were also ecclesiastical courts, there were no judges, clerics were judged by themselves, etc. w Kings, aristocracy... tried to set aside the Churchs power. Religious people were against this. w In 1517 (October) Luther stack at the Churchs doors a paper with 95 theses criticizing the Church. People started to move around him because they were also disgusted with the Church. w He said that the only authority was in the scriptures and not invent things. w He was excommunicated and Calvin too. w The Church only recognized one reformation: Council of Trent (1543-1562). w There are common elements between Renaissance and Reformation: 1) Individualism. The believed in their capacity to change the world and they focused on man. 2) Anthropocentrism. This new religion had to take into account man. 3) Money economy is very important. 4) Humanists went back to the origins, to the original religious texts. To see to what point the Church had perverted this texts. w They have also opposite things: 1) The humanists of the Renaissance focused on the physical and intellectual part of man while the people of the Reformation focused on the spiritual part of man. 2) Catholics g faith and to be conform. Renaissance Humanists g reason and to tolerate. 3) The character of the Renaissance was international while the character of the protestant movement was national / regional. w In this period, there were doctrinal disputes, instead of St. Agustin (mans nature was depraved w spirit of the Reformance) they started to adopt the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas (opposite to St. Agustin). Humanists believed on man to improve their-selves. On the other hand, the Calvin doctrine defended te predestination of man (spirit of the Reformance).

ENGLISH LITERATURE III

Sara Gonzlez Castellanos

1.2.1. Reformation in England (Hand out) w The origins of the Reformation in England were caused by Henry VIII, he wanted to get divorced to
marry Anne Bolei, but the pope Clement VII didnt let him, so he broke with Rome and the only authority in England in the Church was the King by means of supremacy. In 1534 is found the Anglican Church. w A step forward of the reign were the translations from Latin to English: Book of Prayers. This let people read and hear (and understand), before they didnt understand. We can say that now religion was more accessible for more people. w The translation was also a work of interpretation. w It took place a proliferation of translations of biblical, religious sources (1 st step of English Reformation). w These translations gave a number of different bibles: a) Anglican tradition influenced by Lutheranism: Tyndale, Coverdale, and The Authorized Version of the Bible or King James Bible. Tyndales Bible: is very familiar, uses homely vocabulary. Instead of using words such as Christ or Church used Congregation and Elder. It was a translation from Latin and Greek. Coverdale is another translation from German and Latin. It is the first complete Bible in English. King James Bible used very archaic vocabulary. It is the most famous translation of the time. b) Independent Protestant tradition: Geneva Bible. The Geneva Bible is a translation from classical texts and has protestant influences. It was written by persecuted Protestants who went to France, Geneva running away from England in the Marian exiles (Mary 1553-1558). It is the first bible to use italics (for different words or to explain things) and verses. It is also published in a small format, and this helped the development of individualism, faith and doctrine were then your own. c) Roman-Catholic tradition: Reims-Douai Bible. This bible is the Catholic Bible per excellence. w There were doctrinal disputes: St. Augustine instead of St. Thomas Aquinas w The Elizabeths reign was a moderate reign. She made a mixture of Catholic and Protestant. She wrote 39 articles g St. Agustine + free-will, she didnt abolish the hierarchy of the Church. Protestantism proliferated in England. w Hug Latimer wrote the first protestant sermons. w John Foxes Book of Martyrs dealt with the persecutions of the Marian exiles, he was one. It was very influential for hatered Catholicism. w Richard Hooker: The moderate (Anglican position) w There was a similar reformation movement within the protestants, and this reformers are the puritans. They wanted the religious doctrine as pure as it was in its origins as Jesus Christ created it. Puritanism became the official relidion in Scotland (Kirk g Church) w John Knoxs History of the Reformation within the Realm of Scotland inspired this in Scotland. w Field and Wilcox, Admonition to Parliament is a basic text to Puritans in England and in the colonies. It is the origin of the polemic between Anglicans and Puritans.

1.3. The Transition to the Renaissance (1400-1500) (Hand out)

ENGLISH LITERATURE III

Sara Gonzlez Castellanos

w In this period it took place a civil war: War of the Roses which ended in 1485. England was divide into
two groups: Red Rose of Lancaster and White Rose of York. w Henry VI* was in the throne, he had some mental disorders. These two groups wanted to dethrone him and put in his place: the Duke of Lancaster (Red Rose) or the Duke of York (White Rose). w There was also another war, the Hundred Years War. w In 1485 it took place the Victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field by Henry VIII, who became the first Tudor English monarch. He initiated a period of stability, development of economy, of the country w At the high classes there were problems, but there was peace at other levels. Peasants and trade men begin to improve their lives. w There was an incipient money economy. There was also a proliferation of schools and culture. w The factory systems of copy helped to sell in markets. w Engravings and woodcuts are also important, they reproduced important works of art, and they were very cheap reproductions. [Less rigid art than the medieval art. More realistic pieces of art were reproduced]. w So it was a more attractive and materialistic society that the medieval. w Henry VII contributed to abandoned that chivalric atmosphere of the medieval times with two things: 1) Canons 2) Pay standing Army. There was a civil service, men started to be royal first to themselves, then to their nation and king, and not to a landlord as it was in the Middle Ages. w It also contributed a primitive exchange that was taking place between Italian and English intellectuals. They attracted English intellectual to Italy with their new ideas and back with them. w In this period it took place the Great Vowel Shift, this change in the pronunciation of vowels only affected the long ones. The tongue tended to go forward up in the pallet and in the front. The vowels that were long could be longer and split into diphthongs. Name: [ nam ] [ neim ] Sweet: [ sweit ] [ sut ] Life: [ lf ] [ laif ] Moon: [ mon ] [ mn ] House: [ hs ] [ haus ] (it cannot be longer so it split into a diphthong) w This phenomena is unique in an Indo-European language. w In 1450 writers and intellectuals started to express themselves by the London dialect, before there were different dialects. They preferred this dialect because they had to be distributed in London to be known or they wont publish anywhere, London is the place of distribution. So we have and standard literary language. w In 1476 took place the introduction of the printing press in England, Westminster, by Caxton. w But in the North they continued with their dialect, so we have two important languages from a literary point of view. w One characteristic of the writers of this period is that they imitated Chaucer, and this was because they didnt know already Anglo-Saxon poetry. But they imitated the Italians too. w English and Scottish Chaucerians were quite medieval but they were more part of the Renaissance. w This Chaucerian writers are: w English: o Thomas Occleve: he was quite medieval. He imitated Chaucers realistic side instead of artificial allegorical. o John Lydgate: he used many rhetorical figures, etc. He was very verbose. He also experimented with language, he wanted his mode of expression to fit with the period, and in order to do this he reinvented words, etc. o John Skelton: he was influenced by humanism. He was very conservative and h wanted to improve life, soviety w Scottish:

ENGLISH LITERATURE III

Sara Gonzlez Castellanos

o James I: cultivated king. o Robert Henryson: he wrote the testament of Criseida and itinfluenced also Shakespeares treatment of the poems. o William Dunbar: he was called the Scottish Chaucer o Gavin Douglas: he was the great inspire of Renaissance in Scottland. And he is the first playwright to sign his works.

w There were texts and men between Medieval and Renaissance period.
o Sir Thomas Malory: he had been knighted, and he was imprisoned for life. In 1460 he went to London, to Newgates prison. In this prison he had access to Gray Friars, a library here he got in touch with King Arthur. Malory didnt entitled his works but Caxton published it and gave the title (in medieval French) basing himself in the last chapter: Le Morte dAthur When he founded this material he started to give form to it and approached it to the current society, but not thinking in readers. He concentrated on two aspects: 1) St. Grail 2) 2) G and Lancelot. This good vs bad is a medieval characteristic, but good didnt win, and this is not medieval, it was in consonance with the world around. He also eliminated supernatural thing, the romantic and he present nostalgia for a previous time that was better. o William Caxton: He established at Bruges, (1st printing press, and later in London). He was also between medieval times and Renaissance. He was quite moralizing, something so medieval, had inaccuracy with names and facts and quotation of religious authorities. On the other hand, he talked about himself being a writer, discussed about the different dialects for England, he was concerned with language; and had the necessity of improving language. This is all from the Renaissance. o Alexander Barclay: he began to be well-known with The Ship of Fools (Narrenshiff), an eclogue (pastoral tales taken from Italy in which we can see dialogues between different shepherds talking about themes such as love, etc. o The Paston Letters: they were the letters of the Paston family. They proved that literacy grew among people. It is one of the best documents of the 15th century with political, domestic questions.

1.4. The Renaissance in England (Hand out) FIRST PHASE w The introduction of new ideas came with institutions as: the University and the Court. w These new ideas came in Latin manly and also in Greek. This Latin was that of Cicero. w There were also Reformers not of religion, but of knowledge.
o o Grocyn: one of the eldest. He studied at Florence and he was the first Greek professor at Oxford (the first they had). Linacre: he studied Greek. He was devoted to medicine and the first translator of Galen into Latin. He was also the founder of the Royal Collage of physicians in London and he wrote a Latin grammar. Colet and lily: Lily is John Lilys grandfather. Colet went to France and Lily went to Greece. They studied Italian and founded St. Pauls school, the first grammar school devoted to the new learning. They, with Erasmus, created a Latin grammar, the Etons grammar or lilys grammar or Pauls accidence. (accidence rudimentary rule).

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Sara Gonzlez Castellanos

Erasmus: He wrote Moriae Encomium in London, in Sir Thomas Mores house. He was considered one of the best English (Latin work in England) man of letters.

SECOND PHASE o John Cheke: he was the 1st Greek professor al Cambridge. He made a translation into English of The Heart of Sedition, How Grievous It Is to a Commonwealth. w Theres another step, knowledge was translated into English so there was more access to it. Another important thing is the translation of the Greek history w There was not a great interest for Greek drama but of Latin drama (Seneca, Terence and Plautus) w Greek historians were important: Cesar, Cicero, Tacitus and Apuleius. w In poetry they were the Latins Ovid and Virgil. w During this period they rediscovered the Anglo-saxon literature, they went back to their origins. This historians were called antiquarians. THIRD PHASE w New poetry. Beginning of new era. The English men of the 16th century believed they were innovators. w The first demonstration of literary power was in poetry.