EARLY INFLUENCE OF EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE ON ENGLISH
What is Renaissance?
The word ‘renaissance’ is of French origin, and means ‘rebirth’. Renaissance is a social wave
that marks the beginning of the Modern Age in Europe. Dating a period from the 14th to the
17th century, this is regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern
history. It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Medieval period and later spread to
the rest of Europe.
Renaissance, (French: “Rebirth”) period in European civilization immediately
following the Middle Ages and conventionally held to have been characterized by a
surge of interest in Classical scholarship and values. The Renaissance also witnessed
the discovery and exploration of new continents, the substitution of
the Copernican for the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, the decline of the feudal
system and the growth of commerce, and the invention or application of such
potentially powerful innovations as paper, printing, the mariner’s compass, and
gunpowder. To the scholars and thinkers of the day, however, it was primarily a time
of the revival of Classical learning and wisdom after a long period of cultural decline
and stagnation. https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance
Byzantine Empire: Also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, this was the continuation
of the Roman Empire in the East during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital
city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, which had been founded as Byzantium). It
survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and
continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
(Wikipedia)
Fall of Constantinople: The capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading
army of the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453.
Migration of Greek scholars to Florence and parts of Italy
Italy, the cradle of European renaissance: The Renaissance began in Florence, (the capital
city of Italy) in the 14th century.
The Renaissance is credited with bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and modern-day
civilization.
A new interest in classical scholarship and values.
Exploration and discovery of new lands
Changed views in science
Loss of trust in Church and religion
Decline of Feudal system
Scientific inventions (especially, press and paper)
Rise of Humanism: Humanism is an intellectual movement which is seen as an earliest
expression of Renaissance. It was initiated by secular men of letters rather than by the
scholar-clerics who had dominated medieval intellectual life. Humanism began and achieved
fruition first in Italy. Its predecessors were men like Dante and Petrarch. The fall
of Constantinople provided humanism with a major boost, for many eastern scholars fled to
Italy, bringing with them important books and manuscripts and a tradition of Greek
scholarship.
Web resources acknowledged
Features of Humanism:
Its subject: Human nature in all of its various manifestations and achievements
Syncretism: It stressed the unity and compatibility of the truth found in all philosophical and
theological schools and systems, a doctrine known as syncretism.
Emphasis on the dignity of man: In place of the medieval ideal of a life of penance as the
highest form of human activity, the humanists looked to the struggle of creation and the
attempt to exert mastery over nature.
Quest for a rebirth of a lost human spirit and wisdom: In the course of striving to recover it,
the humanists worked towards a new spiritual and intellectual outlook and in the
development of a new body of knowledge.
The effect of humanism was to help men break free from the mental strictures imposed by
religious orthodoxy, to inspire free inquiry and criticism, and to inspire a new confidence in
the possibilities of human thought and creations.
Some Humanist Scholars:
Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, John Colet
English Renaissance: The English Renaissance is associated with the pan-European
Renaissance which started in Italy. In England, it dates from the late 15th century to the early
17th century. A milestone that marks the end of the Medieval period in England is the rise of
the Tudors (1485), and this is considered to be the start of English Renaissance as well.
The English Renaissance is different from the Italian Renaissance in several ways. The
dominant art forms of the English Renaissance were literature and music. Visual arts in the
English Renaissance were much less significant than in the Italian Renaissance.
England had a strong tradition of literature in the English vernacular, which gradually
increased as English use of the printing press became common by the mid 16th century.
England was very slow to produce visual arts in Renaissance styles, and the artists of the
Tudor court were mainly imported foreigners until after the end of the Renaissance.
The English Reformation produced a huge programme of iconoclasm that destroyed almost
all medieval religious art.
Major literary figures in the English Renaissance include:
Francis Bacon Philip Massinger
Francis Beaumont Thomas Middleton
George Chapman Thomas More
Francis Hubert Thomas Nashe
Thomas Dekker William Rowley
John Donne William Shakespeare
John Fletcher James Shirley
John Ford Philip Sidney
Ben Jonson Edmund Spenser
Thomas Kyd William Tyndale
Christopher Marlowe John Webster
Thomas Wyatt
Geoffrey Chaucer, who ushered in the modern age in English literature, is well addressed to as the
Morning Star of English Renaissance.
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