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17th Century - Coggle Diagram
17th Century
England 1600-1660: The King James Bible King James and his bishops believed that ordinary people should have access to the Word of God in their own tongue. Protestant side. Based on the "Bishop's Bible", not the "Geneva Bible". The language/style projected a religion characterised more by majesty and hierarchy than by simplicity, humility and equality of the kind advocated by the Puritans.
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, 1688
The early settlement of the New World. New England & Massachusetts played host to a strict and somewhat puritanical religious code throughout the century. The Salem witch trials of the 1690s. Rhode Island - much greater tolerance for alternative forms of religious expression. William Penn - Quaker leader: an innovative constitution that asserted the right to religious freedom in law.
Pilgrims & Puritans. Analogous religious beliefs, but the Pilgrims were segregationists, breaking away from the too-Popish Church of England, the Puritans had wanted to reform and "purify" the Church from inside.
John Winthrop: Puritan. A Model of Christian Charity. A duty to create a Christian community that could act as a beacon for the rest of the world. "A city upon a hill" - Sermon of the Mount. Central myth & symbol of American identity..
The Restoration: Back-dating Charles II's reign to 1649, re-opening of the theatres. The Enlightenment values of rational thought and empirical scientific experiment replaced the more theocratic belief-system of the Puritans as the basis for the pursuit of knowledge. Much greater licence given to the pleasures of the flesh.
Mary Rowlandson, 1682. Account of a colonial woman's capture & treatment by a group of Native Americans in 1676. King Philip's War. "Captivity narratives". Values ascribed to the colonists and those ascribed to the "Indian" captors. What role does religion play in her worldview? Puritan.
The English-speaking world: At the turn of the 17th century, the only colony to which England could plausibly lay claim was Ireland. 1607: Jamestown. 1649: Cromwell's campaign in Ireland - merciless violence against the Catholic opponents. Result: 40% of the population was lost due to the assault: famine, plague and mass emigration.
Politics: End of the Tudor dynasty 1603. Reign of the Stuarts 1603-1714. Interrupted by Civil War & Republican Government 1649-1660.
James VI was already king of Scotland. First time England & Scotland were ruled by the same monarch. James I.
Wanted this arrangement to be made formal in constitutional law and for Britain to re-emerge as a single political unity. Was thwarted by a recalcitrant parliament. Act of Union confirmed in parliament in 1707. Still considered England & Scotland - not Britain - at this time. Separate parliaments, own legal and educational systems, own religious traditions and institutions.
The Civil War, 1642. Execution of the king in 1649. The causes on the political front was Charles I's refusal to recognise parliament's right to approve or deny the raising of taxes and to discuss other matters of state. Accused Charles of seeking to rule as an "absolute monarch".
The republican "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland". Oliver Cromwell - the victorious military general. Lord Protector until his death in 1648. The Commonwealth collapsed under the incompetent rule of Cromwell's son Richard.
Monarchy restored in the form of Charles I's son, Charles II, in 1660. Tensions continued to simmer. James II had been suspected of plotting to turn England back into a Roman Catholic stad and to seek to rule as an "absolute monarch". Removed and replaced by his daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange.
The Glorious Revolution, 1688. Imposing further legal and constitutional restraints on the monarchy. The deposed James II tried to inspire the Roman Catholic majority in Ireland to rise up on his side. the Battle of the Boyne. Tightened control over Ireland.
The English Bill of Rights, 1689: established the legal framework for today's constitutional monarchy" by transferring several of the monarch's traditional powers to parliament and confirming the right of parliament to meet frequently, enjoy complete freedom of speech and hold elections.
Religion: Continuing religious tensions in England. Competing demands of Roman Catholics and the more austere kind of Protestant (Puritans) who desired to return religious worship to its original, simple and pure forms.
The Church of England: "Catholicism without the Pope". Maintained many forms of Catholic forms of worship, but had introduced several Protestant ideas and practices, f.es. reading of the Bible in English.
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The Puritans: Reforms to religious practices in the nation: strip ceremonial trappings, simplify the Church hierarchy, new prayer book, new translation of the Bible.
John Donne: "An Elegy to his Mistress Going to Bed". 1590-1610. Colonial attitude to the New World. Sources of pleasure and wealth, the to be mined and plundered for the benefit and advancement of its self-declared rulers. Imperialism.
The Human: Ideas about the human nature and the human condition varied considerably during the 17th Century.
Cultural and intellectual developments: King James Bible, Shakespeare and John Donne. The finest examples of poetry and prose in the English language.
Growing interest in science and a growing number of scientific breakthroughs. Creation of professional scientific institutions like The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Higher education institutions founded in North America.
Greater attention was now being paid to empirical evidence and to the value of scientific experiments that proceeded on the basis of direct observation.
Nathaniel Hawthorne: "The Maypole of Merry Mount", 1832.