Although
the English language lacked international
prestige at the beginning of the sixteenth
century, it became an expressive medium
in the works of Marlowe and Shakespeare
by the turn of the seventeenth century. Wealthy
English travelers explored continental
cities like Venice, Madrid, and Paris,
taking back with them knowledge of their
bustling marketplaces and impressive universities.
As English had little prestige on the continent,
or even in Britain itself, travelers learned
bits of French, Italian, and Spanish. They
often returned, wearing foreign fashions,
much to the disgust of moralists. One of
the earliest sixteenth-century works of
English literature, Thomas More's Utopia,
was written in Latin for an international
intellectual community. It was only translated
into English during the 1550s, nearly a
half-century after its original publication
in Britain.
The marriage of Owen Tudor
to Catherine of Valois, widow of the Lancasterian
King Henry V, effectively ended the political
rivalry between the houses of York and Lancaster
in the so-called War of the Roses. The development
of the English language is indirectly linked
to the consolidation and strengthening of
the English state. In
addition to a center of political power,
the royal court became a center of culture,
finding expression in theater, masques, fashion,
and taste in painting, music, and poetry. As
there was virtually no freedom of speech
and relatively limited means of mass communication
in Tudor England, important public issues
were often aired indirectly through "entertainments," such
as lyrics. Castiglione's Il Cortigiano (The
Courtier) became highly influential in
the English court, providing subtle guidance
for conduct, such as sprezzatura,
the art of concealment. The introduction
of printing from moveable type reinforced
the trend of silent reading.
Due to political upheavals,
the Renaissance arrived late in England,
under the reign of Henry VII. Rather
than the flowering of visual arts and architecture
that had occurred in Italy, the Renaissance
emerged in Britain through an intellectual
orientation to humanism. The sons
of the nobility and gentry benefited most
from education during the English Renaissance.
The curriculum was ordered according to the
medieval trivium (grammar, logic,
rhetoric) and quadrivium (arithmetic,
geometry, astrology, and music), and it emphasized
Latin, the language of diplomacy, professions,
and higher learning. Catholicism was the
predominant religion during the early sixteenth
century. After the Reformation, however,
England was officially Protestant.
The debates about the official
religion continued to create political tension
within England and especially internationally
between England and France. In
addition to tensions concerning religion,
relations between England and Europe were
further complicated by internal tension about
resident alien populations and Elizabeth's
always prospective marriage to any of the
many foreign rulers who would have ensured
an heir and the continuation of the Tudor
line. The greater diversity of population
within England, thanks to expanded international
trade, slavery, and court-sponsored piracy
led to rioting with foreign artisans and
merchants accused of taking jobs from Englishmen.
Although Elizabeth's need for an heir
did not cause overt tension in the realm,
it was of considerable concern and interest
throughout Europe, bringing rulers from every
major country interested in forming an alliance
with England.
Aesthetically,
Elizabethan literature was generally invested
in "symmetry and proportion," as
Thomas Campion wrote, even though it supported
elaborate rhetoric. Elizabethans
strove to create literature with elaborate
but perfectly regular designs. In his work
of literary criticism, Defense of Poesy,
Sir Phillip Sidney further addressed the
importance of poetry as it had a moral
power and didactic role, whether in a pastoral
or heroic mode. In poetic production, the
patronage system provided the financial
resources to writers in an era when writing
was not professionalized, as it would be
many centuries later. As for drama of the
period, noble patronage provided the resources
for organizing companies of players. The
construction of public theaters, dependent
on admission charges, provided venues for
the production of plays that included mystery
plays, morality plays, tragedies, and comedies.
In addition to these forms of public performance,
various other forms of public spectacle
were popular including festivals, public
shaming, execution, and mutilation of criminals.
Marlowe's Doctor Faustus ends with
a dismemberment that is the theatrical
equivalent of what occurred on a regular
basis in reality.