English Renaissance

Religion

Science

Society

Culture

Reformation: Catholicism VS Protestantism

Catholics were often persecuted; many kept practicing in secret

Protestants are not all the same: there are Lutherans, Calvinists and Puritans

Lutherans: Martin Luther | everyone is their own priest | individual communication w/God | Virgin Mary and saints not super important

Calvinists: theory of predestination to heaven or hell | you could see if someone was destined to heaven via their way of life: importance of hard work and frugality

Puritans: want to be (or believe they are) "purer" than other Protestants | no ceremonies, music, incense and kneeling | dislike of clergy

theory of microcosm and macrocosm > humans are worlds in their own right, they reflect the universe

Medicine

Galenic theory of sex: one-sex model | women and men have the same bodies with genitals arranged differently (inside for women, outside for men) b/c women are colder and men run warm

humoralism: everything in the universe if made up of 4 elements: in the human body these are the 4 "humours" that need to be balanced in order for the body to be healthy; imbalance of the humours brings illness

basic hygiene unknown > high rate of mortality also due to plagues | death is an everyday reality and not something unmentionable

Alchemy combination of chemistry and magic | philosopher's stone only discoverable by the pure of heart > alchemist must become so wise that he's not interested in the resulting wealth

highly hierarchical: monarch | aristocrats and clergy | citizens | "mob" (city) and "churls" (countryside)

social mobility possible through marriage, money (buying a coat of arms) or education

Family

much larger sense than now (distant relatives were acknowledged + no contraception methods)

husband as master/king | wife inferior to husband, must be silent, faithful and obedient | children are their parents' property and unquestioned obedience is expected

paranoia about female infidelity

servants were also part of the family

courtiers view citizens as vulgar; citizens view courtiers as spendthrifts | citizens associated to hard work and honesty, make wealth through trades (trade guilds; city councils), can be considered forerunners of middle class

visual art as morally suspicious (stands btw human and direct contemplation of divine > idolatry)

portraits are in vogue but the most energy goes into architecture and lavish gardens

Poetry

Satire

Pastoral

Epic

Prose

not "novels" | characters are often purely symbolic | elaborate style

Drama

Tragedies

Comedies

Mystery plays

Tragicomedies

Morality plays

Historical plays

Masques

centered on moral issues and choices | characters are man, vice and virtues

performed annually in the streets by trade guilds | short plays that together narrate a biblical story

performed at court by lords and ladies | very lavish | combined poetry music and elaborate scenes | revel when audience danced with actors | mostly adulatory of royal policy

Tournaments

Progresses (tours of the countryside by the monarch and their retinue)