The Renaissance

The Renaissance in Europe was probably the most important period for the Western artistic world. After the black plague killed approximately one-third of Europe's population, the surviving people were ready to move on with a new attitude. If you narrowly escaped a period when one out of every three people died, how would you feel?

Many say the Renaissance began in Italy when the Catholic church began commissioning artists. An example with which you are probably familiar is when Pope Julian II hired Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The new theories about life, philosophy, religion, and art were strengthened by a group known as the Humanists, who studied Latin and Greek classics to find answers to live better lives. This was the beginning of the Renaissance's turn from the Catholic Church. This turn, better known as The Reformation, was strengthend even furhter with Johannes Guthenberg's invention of the printing press.

The printing press was immediately important because it lowered the cost of books and other printed items. Before the press, monks copied most of the books. This was time consuming and extremely expensive. Once the press was invented, more people could buy books, mostly Bibles, and this helped raise the literacy rate throughout Europe. When people started reading their own Bibles, things started changing quickly. They no longer relied on the Pope to translate the messages in the Bible for them -- this lead to many people doubting the power of the Catholic church, and soon many protestant religions formed to rival the Catholic church.

Another big blow to the church came when England's King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic church to start the Church of England. He wanted to divorce one of his wives, but the Pope would not allow it. He decided to start his own protestant church instead. He eventually had six wives in all: two he divorced, two he had beheaded, one died on her own, and one outlived him (lucky her). There is an interesting website about his six wives here. My aunt once proved that my mother's family is related to Henry VIII -- enough about me . . .

Things got really interesting once Henry VIII died. At the time of his death, he had three children: Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward, who was nine years old. The succesion laws said that the sons had to be crowned first, so for the next six years, England was ruled by a child (Edward VI)-- actually he ruled in name only; his sisters called the shots. Edward was a sickly boy who died before his sixteenth birthday.

The next ruler of England was Mary, who would rule for five years. Mary's mother was the princess of Spain, and Mary held tight to her Catholic roots. She would come to be known as "bloody Mary" since she set out to rid England of protestants. She had many executed and burned many more alive.

When she died, her younger sister, Elizabeth became queen. She would rule England for the next forty-five years. She never married, and she used the many princes and kings from other countries who wanted to marry her to England's advantage. She restored the Church of England, and was a lover of art. Many historians speculate that she was the one who actually wrote Shakespeare's plays.

When Elizabeth died, the Renaissance was already coming to an end. She was followed by King James, who you might recognize as the person who commissioned the English translation of the Bible that is still popular today. James was a dull man in comparison to Elizabeth -- he did not care for the arts as much as she did, either.