Renaissance background英国文艺复兴.pptVIP

The Age and Its Literature 1. Political Background The century and a half following the death of Chaucer (1400-1550) saw a lot of social turmoil and changes. Barely after the end of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) England was blown into the whirlwind of civil war, the Wars of Roses (1455-85) between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Ironically, the struggle between the lords of feudal for the highest power ended in a thorough weakening of feudalism since it killed off most of the feudal nobility in England, and swept the way for the development of a bourgeois society. Henry VII and Henry VIII laid the foundation of a centralized monarchy which met the needs of the rising bourgeoisie. 2. Economical Background During the Middle Ages, England was an agrarian society which exported a lot of wool. Then from the 15th century on it changed from an exporter of wool to a manufacturer of cloth. The increase in the export of cloth stimulated the greed of the moneyed classes to seize more land from the peasants to raise more sheep. Hence the Enclosure Movement deprived the peasants off their lands and drove them into the newly-arising cities to become low-paid laborers. 3. Religious Background The establishment of the Anglican Church In the dark Middle Ages (1066-1485), there was a whole work of Church government, the Christendom. The Church had a supremacy over the kings of European nations and had a right to interfere into political affairs whenever it considered necessary. Mens thought was strictly bound by religious belief. If they dared to think differently, they would be condemned as heretics and burned to death. The Religious Reformation However, this religious rule over kings and individuals was torn down by religious reformation. People ceased to look upon themselves as living only for God and a future life after death. These elements roused each individual from mental stupor and servility to intellectual freedom and inquiry. In 1531, England brok