Figure 1.--

The great drama of Renaissance Europe is concentrated in two countries--England and Spain. England is by far the most important. England was hardly the center of the Renaissance. In fact it was still a back water of Europe. A small kingdom located on the Atlantic fringe of Chrisrendom. The English theatre, however, proved to be by far the most advanced and sophisticated in all of Western Europe. We have dramas (tragedies) and commedies with story and character development beyond that in any country. The plays are of such brilliance and so caught the essence of human character that they still ebgage us 400 years later. The tradition of sophisticated plays performed by companies of men and boys (for the women's parts) and designed for a cross-section of the middle-class public was almost uniquely an English phenomenon. Also destinctively English was the tradition of dramatic blank verse (sometimes intermingled with prose for the lower-class or lower-toned scenes) which developed as the medium of dialogue. The height of Renaissance English literature is the latter half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, rather late in the Renaissance. This period includes of course Shakespeare, but he was hardly alone. We note Donne, Milton, Spenser, Sidney, among many others. The question of course occurs, why did all this take place in England just when it did. Why were theatrical plays so much more advanced in England and why did boy characters emerge in England and not in other countries.

Medieval England

The end of Roman rule in Britain can be seen as the beginning of the Medieval era. Raids of Germanic tribes had begun even before Rome withdew it legions. The Anglo-Saxons and Jutes gradually expand their raids which become waves of invasion which gradually turned into settlement by the 5th century just as it did in the rest of the Western Empire. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were Christianized by missionaries from both Rome and Ireland. Christianity became an important cultural influence in England for the first time. The first Viking or Norsemen, appear in the 8th century and raids gradually increase in severity. The first raids were on islands and coastal towns. The Vikings are often referred to in English history as the Danes, but not all came from Denmark. The Vikings began full scale invasions (865). The Danes almost overran all of Britain , but were fimnally stopped by King Alfred of Wessex. Feudalism developed in Britain much as it did on the continent. The Germanic invaders (Saxons and Jutes) were freeman (ceorl). They were responsible to the tribal chiefs and were not serfs. Over time war and subsistence farming had reduced most freemen into serfdom. William the Conqueror after defeating Harold at Hastings (1066) brought Norman-style political and military feudalism to England. He was the most efficent administrator since the departure of the Romans. William used the feudal system to collect detailed information on his new realm and collect taxes. England as other Medieval kingdoms was faced with a struggle for supremecy between Church and state. This conflict became especially severe during the reign of Henry II. Loyal supporters of the king murdered Arch Bishop Thomas à Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. King Edward I initiated the conquest of both Wales and Scotland. The trading interest of the Danes had brought renewed vigor to towns in England. Norman rule with their concern woith administration further promoted the growth of towns. Another factor was the perpetual need of English kings to borrow money. Many towns were able to in effect purchase royal charters which detailef grants of rights. In all the Feudal kingdoms of Europe, there was an inherent tension between the king and his nobels. This conflict became became increasingly serious under Richard I and reached a crisis under King John. A victory by the barons forced Jpohn to sign the Magna Carta (1215). Thedocument is considered to be one of the modst important constitutional charters in history. While it applied only to the barons, it limited royal power and was a major first step in English democracy. Edward III initiated the Hundred Years War with France (1337). Edward had a claim to the French crown through his mother. Hostilities erupted and cintinued over 100 years. The plague or Black Death devestated Europe. It began in Italy and moved rapidly north. The Channel was no barrier. It soon reched England (1348). Along with the pain and suffering there was a significant economic impact. The huge number of people killed significantly reduced the labor force, altering the relationship beteen the nobility and the peasantry. The plague accelerated a process already underway of breaking down the Feudal System. The Wars of the Roses was a drawn out dynastic civil war pitting the House of Lancaster against the House of York. The English economy centered on the wool trade and the inclosues to increase wool production had profoundconsequences. Almost independent of the German Refomation was the Reformation in England, but this proved to be crucial because of the future imperial role of England. Political rather than religious issues were to drive the Reformation in England. England emerged from the Medieval era during the Tudor era.

The Tudors

It was the Tudors that ushered Britain into the modern age and under the Tudors Britain began its acendancy from a backwatd country on the perifery of Europe to a commanding presence on the Seas. What a cast of characters tghe Tudors were. They still fascinate us today--especially Henry VIII. It was Henry's father who launched the Tudor dynasty and ended the War of the Roses by fuseing the Lanacaterian and Yorkist factions. The first Tudor king, Henry VII, defeated Richard III and the Yorkists after 30 years of war. The Tudors produced two of England's greast monarchs, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. It was Henry VIII who made the Protestant Reformation possible in England. It was Elizabeth who with the defeat of the Great Armada began the rise of England as the world's preeminent naval power. Surely the central figure in the Tudor drama was the larger than life Henry VIII--a commanding presence of a man. In many ways though, he was a man caught between two of the most resolute women in history, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boylen, neither of which he could control. The graetest irony of all was that Henry annulled his marriage to the Queen, risked his throne, and launched the Protestant Revolution (which he did not approve of) in England--to obtain a male heir. Yet it was his daughter Elizabeth who may have been the greatest monarch in English history.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance began in Italy during the 14th century. Only gradually did it spread north. England was one of the last counties to be affected by the Renaissance. One aspect of the Renaissance was a cultural flowering, a growing depth and sophistication of the arts. This included the visual arts, music, and drama. One of the most importal cultural jewels of the Renaissance was the revival of drama as an art form. And true to the Renaissance these dramas moved away from religion and focused on the human condition--human character and experience. The great dramas of Renaissance Europe were concentrated in two countries--England and Spain. England is by far the most important. England was hardly the center of the Renaissance. In fact it was still a back water of Europe. A small kingdom located on the Atlantic fringe of Chrisrendom.

The English Theater

The English theatre proved to be by far the most advanced and sophisticated in all of Western Europe. We have dramas (tragedies) and commedies with story and character development beyond that in any country. The plays are of such brilliance and so caught the essence of human character that they still ebgage us 400 years later. The tradition of sophisticated plays performed by companies of men and boys (for the women's parts) and designed for a cross-section of the middle-class public was almost uniquely an English phenomenon. Also destinctively English was the tradition of dramatic blank verse (sometimes intermingled with prose for the lower-class or lower-toned scenes) which developed as the medium of dialogue.

Chronology

The height of Renaissance English literature is the latter half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, rather late in the Renaissance.

Authors

This period includes of course Shakespeare, but he was hardly alone. We note Donne, Milton, Spenser, Sidney, among many others.

Development in England

The question of course occurs, why did all this take place in England just when it did. Why were theatrical plays so much more advanced in England? England in the 16th century was very turbulent. The country went from Catholic to Prostestant and back to Catholic again before gaining a kind of fragile stability under the Anglican settlement. This was a sort of compromise between Catholicism and the Reformation. The country under Elizabeth I flowered culturally in the most magnificent way, producing the greatest poets, playwrights, and musicians that England has ever known (before or since). With supreme geniuses such as Shakespeare, Mozart, Dante, and Michaelangelo, there is never a satisfactory explanation in terms of economic, political, or cultural context. But England under Elizabeth, although threatened with invasion and conspiracy and fascing an unsettled succession (since the Queen remained unmarried), managed to keep an uneasy peace, and London was probably the most exciting city in the world during the last quarter of the 16th century. There was more flexibility in the English government than in other continental countries. Commoners through Parliament, unlike the sitution elsewhere in Europe, actually had a significant role in government. Talent was allowed to rise to the top. Many of Elizabeth's ministers had very humble origins, and people of talent could find appreciation and reward if they were lucky. The conditions seem to have been just right for playwrights like Marlowe and Shakespeare and Webster to produce exciting plays and for composers like Byrd and Gibbons to write their masterpieces. England was discovering a new sense of pride and identity in Europe. Spain of course had its literary genius also, Cervantes (Don Quixote) being the most obvious example. But Philip II was too rigid in his Catholicism and too bound by Hapsburg tradition to allow for the kinds of originality and innovation that were coming alive in its Protestant rival for world hegemony. Portugaland England had launched the voyages of discovery which resulted in enormous wealth. England under the Tudors wanted in on that wealth and by Elizabeth's rule, obtained a cut, primarily by raiding Spanish treasure ships and colonial settlements. They had also set out on their own voyages of discovery which would eventually lead to an even more magnificent empire than the Spanish.

Boy Characters

Why did boy characters emerge as important in the English theater and not in other countries? nterestingly there are quite a few important boy characters in the English plays which is not the case of the plays emerging out of other European countries. Most of the English Renaissance se dramatists created parts for boy actors--not only for the female characters but also for characters who are represented as boys. One of the reasons for the prominence of boys in Renaissance English plays is the music they were required to sing. Many of the boy actors whom Shakespeare and others wrote for came out of the great choir schools in England and were professional trained in music so that they could sing the songs and often accompany them on the lute.

Created: 4:33 AM 12/5/2006
Last updated: 11:29 PM 12/5/2006