Category:The renaissance

The English Renaissance is a '''lso referred to as the Early Modern Period. Renaissance is a french word which means “rebirth”. The time is characterized by widespread religious wars, geographical discovery and colonization, and major reforms of state. '''

In the early 1500’ s the people of England all practised The Roman Catholic Church. The practices of the Catholic religion were questioned during the Reformation and the beliefs of men such as the German Martin Luther prompted a new religion called Protestantism. Protestantism had been finally established as the national religion the year before Shakespeare was born.

The English Renaissance hugely influenced Shakespeare's writing, and at the same time, Shakespeare greatly impacted the direction of the Renaissance movement. As people in England moved away from the restrictive ways of living in the Middle Ages, artists were free to express themselves. The Shakespeare Renaissance movement brought people together to watch plays, listen to music and enjoy the arts. At the center of this movement was Shakespeare himself, writing plays, sonnets and even a few poems. Shakespeare embraced the English Renaissance movement through his works in many ways.



Puritanism is a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th century that sought to “purify” the Church of England of remnants of the Roman Catholic “popery” that the Puritans claimed had been retained after the religious settlement reached early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

The puritans became noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation. Their efforts to transform the nation contributed both to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in America as working models of the Puritan way of life. 

The Puritans believed that the Bible was God's true law, and that it provided a plan for living. The established church of the day described access to God as monastic and possible only within the confines of "church authority". Puritans stripped away the traditional trappings and formalities of Christianity which had been slowly building throughout the previous 1500 years. Theirs was an attempt to "purify" the church and their own lives.

Most of the Puritans settled in the New England area. As they immigrated and formed individual colonies, their numbers rose from 17,800 in 1640 to 106,000 in 1700. Religious exclusiveness was the foremost principle of their society. The spiritual beliefs that they held were strong. This strength held over to include community laws and customs. Since God was at the forefront of their minds, He was to motivate all of their actions. This premise worked both for them and against them.