Stuff You Should Know Part 1: The Monarchy & English Renaissance (Revised)
This is Part I of our intro series, “Stuff You Should Know,” which covers some background and context into the life and times of Shakespeare, because art isn’t created in a vacuum. In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the monarchy and English Renaissance. And when we say basic, we mean basic. This is a quick overview of early modern England, more importantly the England that influenced Shakespeare.
In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the English monarchy and English Renaissance. We will give an overview of the history of the English monarchy during the English Renaissance, through the early modern period and a little beyond Shakespeare's lifetime. We will discuss how the Renaissance differed from the medieval period that came before it and how the English Renaissance differed from the Italian Renaissance.
Want more about the English Renaissance? Check out these episodes that go more in depth on topics we touch on in this episode:
Kourtney Smith (KS): This is a revision of part one of our intro series, Stuff You Should Know, which covers some background and context into the life and times of Shakespeare, because art isn't created in a vacuum. And we are revising the intro series because we, after almost four years of podcasting, know a lot more now than we knew back then, and we want to reflect this in an episode glow-up for listeners old and new.
Elyse Sharp (ES): In this episode, we'll be covering some basic information about the modern Shakespeare monarchy and English Renaissance. And when we say basic, we mean basic. This is a quick overview of early modern England, more importantly, the England that influenced Shakespeare. This era is certainly not a monolith, and we do want to acknowledge that. In fact, we discuss many of the variables of early modern England in other episodes. However, this series is all about the fundamentals.
KS: In this episode, we'll be covering some basic information about the English monarchy and English Renaissance.
ES: First, let's talk about the monarchy.
KS: The first line of monarchs of the English Renaissance was the Tudor dynasty. The Tudor dynasty rose to power in 1485 after the War of the Roses. The War of the Roses was a series of conflicts between supporters of two different factions of a royal house that resulted in the overthrow of one faction, the House of York, and the rise of a new royal house, the House of Tudor, beginning with Henry VII. We'll talk more about this when we get to Shakespeare's Henriad, or Henry plays.
ES: England had experienced a lot of political unrest prior to the establishment of the Tudor dynasty, notably due to the socioeconomic troubles caused by the Hundred Years' War, a conflict between England and France over territories in mainland Europe. Additionally, England's political and economic systems were transitioning away from the medieval feudal system into a mercantile system that consisted of merchant guilds, local guilds, and by the mid-1500s, joint stock companies. But by the early decades of the 16th century, England was considered a relatively peaceful country under their second Tudor ruler, King Henry VIII.
KS: Yes, he's the same king who beheaded his wife because they weren't producing heirs, and people of the time didn't understand the sex of a child was attributed to sperm, not women's reproductive organs or moral character.
ES: And there were dire consequences for early modern women because of this fundamental misunderstanding of anatomy. Women were accused of witchcraft, giving monstrous births, and adultery because they did not produce a male heir. We talk more about early modern women under the patriarchy in other episodes that are linked in the episode description.
KS: During the English Renaissance, England saw a high turnover of rulers to the throne. First was Henry VII, who ascended to the throne after the War of the Roses.
ES: Second, his son, Henry VIII, who is probably best remembered as being the king who split England from the Catholic Church because he wanted to get a divorce from his first wife who hadn't produced a male heir. Divorce was banned by the Catholic Church, so his solution was to split with the Catholic Church to form the Church of England. He was declared its supreme ruler so that, yes, he could get that divorce.
KS: He had a total of six wives in his lifetime. Those wives include Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. A great way to remember what happened to each of his respective wives is the little school rhyme: one died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded. Or you can go see the musical Six.
ES: Third, was Henry VIII's son, King Edward VI, who had a short reign of a few years until he died of tuberculosis.
KS: Fourth was Lady Jane Grey, a great-granddaughter of Henry VII, who had one of the shortest reigns in history of nine days because…
ES: Fifth, Mary Tudor deposed Lady Jane Grey and ascended to the throne as Mary I of England. Mary was called Bloody Mary due to her severe persecution of Protestant heretics, whom she, a devout Catholic, burned at the stake in the hundreds.
KS: But Mary's controversial reign was also short-lived, because five years after she ascended to the throne, she died of the flu.
ES: Sixth was her half-sister, the most famous Tudor ruler, Elizabeth I, who ascended to the throne in 1558. And unlike the turnover rate of the last 73 years, Elizabeth stayed on the throne from the age of 25 until her death at the age of 69. The Elizabethan era, named for her rule, is said to be the height of the English Renaissance, or the Golden Age, and it's the era Shakespeare was born into.
Her rule is remembered by the cult of personality that celebrated her life and rule in art and culture, as well as her social status as an unmarried virgin queen. Elizabeth is also said to have had a live-and-let-live reputation in regards to government. This last piece is not wholly true, and we talk about the contradictions of her reign throughout our work. However, this is how she is remembered. Elizabeth was also the last of the Tudor dynasty. Following Elizabeth's death in 1603 with no descendants from the Virgin Queen, the ascension of the crown went to…
KS: Seventh, James I, also James VI in Scotland, of the Stuart dynasty. He ruled for 22 years during the Jacobean era, named after the Latin word for James. His rule is remembered by the publication of the King James Bible, as well as the first half of the Thirty Years' War.
James also unified the Crown of England and the Crown of Scotland. Think Macbeth. Shakespeare also died during this era. Now, there were rumors surrounding James' death. Some say his alleged partner, Buckingham, had poisoned him, but there was no evidence of foul play.
ES: Okay, we're almost done with the monarchs, folks, I promise. Eighth, and last, who we will briefly mention, was James I's son, Charles I. He ruled for roughly 54 years during the Caroline era, similarly derived from Carolus, Latin for Charles. His reign was fueled by political conflict between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. The English Civil War took place during his rule, and after its end in 1651, Charles had been executed, the English Renaissance can be considered over, and the monarchy saw less divine power due to the rise of the Commonwealth and Puritanism.
KS: Now, to rewind a little, like we said, William Shakespeare lived during the English Renaissance and, specifically, the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. He worked in the public theaters of London during the Golden Age of England.
ES: But when we say the Renaissance, you likely think of the Italian Renaissance, a period of European history when culture transitioned from the philosophies of the European Middle Ages into those of modernity. The Renaissance took place from roughly the 14th century until the 17th century.
KS: The capital of the Renaissance was Florence, Italy. By the 1400s, Italian philosophy and culture shifted from the characteristics of the feudal medieval period to a flowering of humanism and the rediscovery of classical philosophy. A simplified definition of humanism is this: a philosophical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings individually and collectively. But it's important to note that the misconception of the medieval era, especially the “Dark Ages,” is more a product of Renaissance philosophers, historians, and writers, such as Petrarch, rebranding the period than the actual characteristics of the era. For more on medieval Europe, check out Dr. Eleanor Yannega's The Middle Ages, a Graphic History. Additionally, many non-European cultures experienced many artistic, literary, mathematical, and scientific advantages during Europe's alleged Dark Ages.
ES: But back to Europe. Humanism manifested itself into art, architecture, politics, science, and literature. The Italian Renaissance saw many famous figures who helped shape Western culture that we see to this day. Popular names you've probably heard of include scholar Petrarch, artists Michelangelo and Da Vinci, sculptor Bernini, and the House of Medici, a famous Italian banking and political dynasty that invested in a mass art collection that you can view at the Uffizi in Florence.
KS: The Renaissance was also the height of navigational and geographical exploration, which includes Renaissance Italian Christopher Columbus's 1492 exploration.
ES: And if you're new to Shakespeare Anyone?, we want to take a moment to share our thoughts on this period of European, English, and Western “exploration” that led to mass colonization: Shakespeare lived during a proto-colonial period. We support the sovereignty of all nationalities against colonialism and imperialism. We both live on unceded territory and support land back. Please support indigenous activists, scholars, historians, and artists. Oh, and f**k Christopher Columbus.
KS: Back to England. This is a podcast about William Shakespeare in London, not Florence. When did the Renaissance arrive in England? How did that look?
ES: The Renaissance style was slow to permeate in England. Some scholars and art historians say it wasn't prominent until the Elizabethan era, again, the era Shakespeare lived in. But to give some context for the shift in culture, let's start our discussion at the first famous Italian we know of that stepped on English soil.
KS: About 50 years before Shakespeare's birth, in 1507, a Florentine sculptor, Pietro Torgiano, fled Italy and arrived in London. It's alleged that he was forced to flee after he, in a fit of jealousy, broke the nose of the famous and beloved artist Michelangelo. Regardless, when he arrived in England, he brought with him artistic styles already popular in Italy.
ES: He was commissioned by Henry VIII, our second Tudor king, to design and sculpt a tomb for his father, Henry VII, our first Tudor king. This tomb at Westminster Abbey was described by 20th century art historian Sir John Pope Hennessy as, “the finest Renaissance tomb north of the Alps.”
KS: Another important foreigner was Swiss portrait painter Ambrosius Holbein who, in 1526, brought portrait painting to England at a time when portrait painting was nearly unheard of. His portraits show a new class of people, merchants, couriers, and scholars. He even drew women, and they're really realistic looking, which wasn't the medieval style. You can learn more about him in our woodcuts mini episode.
ES: Lastly, we'll mention the English poet Thomas Wyatt, who traveled to Italy and was so impressed by Petrarch's sonnets that he wrote his own poetry in this incredibly human and raw style, virtually unheard of during the medieval period. We mentioned Petrarch earlier, and you can learn more about him and his influence on Shakespeare in our Petrarch mini episode.
KS: These are just a few of the early Renaissance art figures that shaped the period. There are more figures that we could go into, and the innovations expand into more than just art and literature. There was also innovative Renaissance architecture, science, philosophy, music. But this isn't a Renaissance podcast, and we don't have enough time to cover everyone else's contribution in this episode.
ES: Don't worry, we'll discuss Shakespeare's contemporaries in part two of the intro series and in some of our other episodes. We want to begin by discussing the Italian Renaissance influence on England because playwrights, like Shakespeare and his contemporaries, were greatly influenced by what came out of the Italian Renaissance.
KS: The big takeaway is that artists were becoming more humanist, attaching more importance to the human condition rather than the supernatural of religion. Religion still played a major role in art and society, but human consciousness was moving closer towards Descartes' “I think therefore I am” than the medieval supernaturalism. Artists were painting and drawing realistically, and they were including coded messages in their works. We can read and hear this influence in Shakespeare's plays, and some argue humanism might not have reached England by Shakespeare's lifetime if Europeans hadn't traveled to England.
ES: But before we leave our episode on the English Renaissance, it's important to talk about one last major influence, navigation and exploration. Because Shakespeare would have been influenced by the excitement and curiosity surrounding travel, we see many of his characters traveling by sea to foreign lands and, in the case of The Tempest, one might say colonizing, a quintessentially English idea.
KS: You see, it's said that the English Renaissance was motivated by an English inferiority complex that motivated Brits to show how wonderful England was as they rose to the Italian challenge. And this wonderful England is one who benefited from colonizing foreign lands for material gains such as resources, lands, labor, and enslaved peoples. Typically, material ambitions come first, then ideologies are attributed to justify the conquest. A major example of this is the creation of the English Empire. This idea is credited to John Dee, a Welsh advisor to Queen Elizabeth I who, in 1577, while Shakespeare was a boy, wrote a text called The General and Rare Memorials Pertaining to the Perfect Art of Navigation.
ES: This text provided Elizabeth with a vision of an English empire in the “New World.” Dee convinced her to commission ships to create it. Many scholars also view Dee as inspiration for The Tempest’s Prospero, and the indigenous peoples of the Americas as inspiration for Caliban. Other famous English explorers include Sir Walter Raleigh, who was granted a royal patent to explore North America and colonized Virginia for England, and Sir Francis Drake, who circumvented the globe and even claimed California for England, sparking conflict with the Spanish over the West Coast.
KS: To learn more about this, check out our multi-part postcolonial theory episodes that we release every National Day of Mourning, also referred to as the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. These episodes explore proto-colonialism, foreign commodities, and immigrants in London, and decolonizing the mind, amongst other themes.
ES: So yeah, that's pretty much it. England during Shakespeare's life was mostly under Tudor rule, and it was a rapidly changing culture that predates Shakespeare, but thrived during his lifetime. These elements are vital building blocks for discussing his plays.
KS: And again, this episode covers the basics of the period. For more in-depth examinations, please check out our discussion-based episodes and our mini-episodes, including interviews with scholars, writers, and artists. We've also linked related episodes in our episode description.
ES: Next, we will dive even further into stuff you should know in parts two and three of our intro series.
KS: In part two, we look at Elizabethan and Jacobean England and the theater.
ES: In part three, we look at the man himself, William Shakespeare. Thank you for listening, and we hope you join us next time.
Quote of the Episode
ES: From Richard III, Act II, Scene iv, said by Queen Elizabeth, “Insulting tyranny begins to jet upon the innocent and aweless throne.”
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Episode written and researched by Kourtney Smith. Revised September 2024.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
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Works Referenced:
Cooper, Dr. Tanya. “Elizabeth I and Her People”. National Portrait Gallery, The Weiss Gallery, 7 Oct. 2013. Accessed 8 Sept. 2020, from www.npg.org.uk/whatson/elizabethi/film
Elizabethans - Religious Settlement. (2018, September 23). Accessed 24 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylP6oZgSeuI
Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 1: The Renaissance Arrives. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtc1cY3ZDTs
Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 2: The Elizabethan Code. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCCjOck6cd4
Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 3: Whose Renaissance?. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03yzflc/episodes/guide
William, Professor Kate, presentor. The Stuarts - A Bloody Reign, Episode 101: King James I. Timeline, A 3DD Production in association with Yesterday imagined by UKTV, 31 July 2018. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zfgxzk3UtY
