1. THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD
Formerly referred to as:
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE
THE ELIZABETHAN AGE
See pages
There are different ways to look at this period, depending on whether we are referring to the development of the language or the characteristics of the literature. In describing the development of the English language, Burnley (2000, viii), for instance, states that the Early Modern English extends from 1500 to 1800, and therefore includes the Elizabethan Age, extends beyond the Renaissance and comprises the Restoration and the 18th Century, as far as literature is concerned.

2. PERIODS OF BRITISH LITERATURE
Time has no divisions to mark its passage,
there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets
to announce the beginning of a new month or year.
Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
Thomas Mann, novelist, Nobel laureate ( )

3. Literary Periods : Anglo-Saxon Period : Medieval Period : The Early Modern Period : The Restoration Period : The Romantic Period : The Victorian Period : The Modern Period present: Postmodern Period
Consider other possibilities:
1945-present: Postmodern Period
1960- Post Modern and Contemporary Period

4. Discovery of America (1492) Henry VIII (1509-47)
CHRONOLOGY
Ruler
Historical Events
Literary Events
1500
Henry VII ( )
Discovery of America (1492)
Henry VIII ( )
Dissolution of Monasteries
( )
Tyndale’s Bible
Edward VI ( )
Mary ( )
Loss of Calais 1558)
Elizabeth I ( )
(Burnley xxi)

5. East India Co founded (1600) Union with Scotland (1603)
CHRONOLOGY
Ruler
Historical Events
Literary Events
1600
James I ( )
East India Co founded (1600)
Union with Scotland (1603)
First American Colonies
Shakespeare First Folio (1623)
Charles I ( )
The Commonwealth ( )
(Burnley xxi)

6. William (1689-1702) and Mary (1689-94)
CHRONOLOGY
Ruler
Historical Events
Literary Events
1600
Charles II ( )
Paradise Lost (1667)
James II ( )
William ( ) and Mary ( )
(Burnley xxi)

7. Population and Trends
In 1500, the population of England was 3.3 million (London, abt. 50,000). By 1700 it was 5.6 million (London, abt. 575,000).
Today, London is over 7.6 million
In 1665, 55,797 Londers died of the plague
See page 624 for clothes and drinks

8. Changing Conditions in the Development of English
Printing Press
Rapid spread of popular Education
Commerce, transportation and rapid means of communication
Growth of specialized knowledge
Emergence of various forms of self-consciouness about language (Baugh 200)
Baugh

9. Factor 1: Printing introduced into England about 1476 The printer's device of William Caxton, 1478.
See page 635
Invention of printing from movable type exercised a far-reaching influence in the vernacular languages of Europe.

10. Factor 1: Printing Press Effects on the English Language
Standardization of the English language (that is, homogenizing regional dialects).
Expansion of English vocabulary.
Development of inflection and syntax
Ever-widening gap between the spoken and the written word.
DURING THE CENTURY and a half of the English Renaissance, the printing press became the indispensable disseminator of the written word and its use was accompanied by a corresponding spread of popular education and literacy.

11. Factor 2: Rapid Spread of Popular Education
In 1500, 10% of males and 1% of females can sign their name
In Shakespeare’s London of % of males, and 10% of women in all of England are literate
Text reference, Baugh 201
Cartoon:

12. Factor 3: TRADE, COMMERCE, COLONIZATION
Exchange of commodities and exchange of ideas are stimulating to language.
Extension of trade enlarged vocabulary.
Unification results from ease of travel and communication.
Baugh 201

13. Factor 4: GROWTH OF SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE
New knowledge requires new vocabulary
Latin less the vehicle for learning
(Baugh 2o2)

14. Factor 5: SELF-CONSCIOUNESS ABOUT LANGUAGE
INDIVIDUAL: Adopting language standards to improve social level (similar to conformity to fashions).
See page 644

15. House of Tudor: Tudor Dynasty 1485-1603
Henry VII
Henry VIII
Edward VI
Mary I
Elizabeth I
See page 636
Allegory of the Tudor dynasty (detail), attributed to Lucas de Heere, c.1572: left to right, Philip II of Spain, Mary, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth. 1485–1603
Preceded by Plantagenet period Followed by Stuart Period

16. 1485-1509 Reign of Henry VII First of the Tudor Dynasty
His reign marks the end of Middle English
Reign of Henry VII, first of the Tudor dynasty, which marks the end of Middle English. (Nyst 210)

17. Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) King of England and Lord of Ireland,
Later King of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France, from 1509 until his death.
Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.

18. Katharine of Aragon, m. 1509 – 1533 Divorced 1485 –1536; Spanish: Henry's first wife.
After death of Arthur, her first husband and Henry's brother, papal dispensation necessary to enable her to marry Henry
Catherine bore him a daughter in 1516, Mary I, but no sons who survived past infancy since they were miscarriages and stillborn.
By Michael Sittow, c1502. Captured in a pensive mood.
Perhaps she had a glimpse of her future?

19. Anne Boleyn m.1533 - 1536 Executed 1501/1507–19 May 1536
Second wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Elizabeth I of England.
Henry's marriage to Anne, and her execution, made her a key player in the political upheaval that was the start of the Reformation.
Accused of treason and incest
The daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (born Lady Elizabeth Howard), Anne was of nobler birth than either Jane Seymour or Catherine Parr, two of Henry's later wives. She was educated in Europe, largely as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France. She returned to England in 1522.

20. Jane Seymour m.1536 – 1537 Died Birth: c.mid-1508 Death: 1537
Henry's third wife.
One of Anne Boleyn's ladies-in-waiting.
She gave him his only male heir, later Edward VI, but died shortly after birth of puerperal fever.

21. Anne of Cleves m.1540 Jan – July Divorced (1515 – 1557)
Henry's fourth wife, for only six months in 1540.
Known as "The Flanders Mare" (the king disliked her appearance).
She was given the name "The King's Sister“ (friend to him and his children.
She outlived both the king and his last two wives.
Her pre-contract of marriage with Francis, Duke of Lorraine, was cited as grounds for an annulment. Anne agreed to this, claiming that the marriage had not been consummated, and she was given a generous settlement, including Hever Castle, former home of Henry's former in-laws, the Boleyns.

22. Kathryn Howard (1520? –1542) m.1540 – 1542 Executed
Henry's fifth wife
Sometimes known as "the rose without a thorn".
Henry was informed of her alleged adultery with her secretary on November 1, 1541.
After being deprived of the title of Queen, she was beheaded at the Tower of London.
The night before, Catherine spent hours practicing how to lay her head upon the block, and her last words were for mercy for her family and prayers for her soul. She was buried next to her cousin Anne Boleyn. Her ghost is said to have haunted Henry for years later, and was even heard screaming by others.

23. Katherine Parr (1512 – 1548) m.1543 – 1547 Widowed
The sixth and last wife of Henry VIII
The most married queen of England: four husbands in all; Henry was her third spouse.
After Henry's death, married Thomas Seymour, had one child by Seymour, Mary, and died in childbirth.
Also spelled Katharine. After Henry's death, she married Thomas Seymour, uncle of Edward VI, to whom she had formed an attachment prior to her marriage with Henry. She had one child by Seymour, Mary, and died in childbirth. Mary's history is unknown, but she is believed to have died as a toddler.

24. Edward VI (son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour).

25. Lady Jane Grey (1536 – 1554) Reign 6 July/10 July 1553 – 19 July 1553
Predecessor Edward VI
Successor Mary I
Consort Lord Guilford Dudley
Detail l Titles and styles
HM The Queen Lady Jane Dudley Lady Jane Grey
Born Died February 12, 1554 (aged 16) Tower of London (executed)
Burial St Peter ad Vincula, London
Crowned in attempt to prevent the Catholic Mary from taking the thrown
The Streatham Portrait, discovered at the beginning of 21st century, is believed by many to be among the first posthumous portraits of Lady Jane Grey.

26. Mary I in 1554 by Anthonis Mor, Prado. Reign:1553 - 1558
Husband: Philip II of Spain
Catholic

27. Elizabethan era (1558–1603)
See pages 634 & 635

28. 1558-1603 Reign of Elizabeth I Spectacular growth of British power
Immense language development
Immense literary achievement
Reign of Elizabeth I, period of the most spectacular growth of British power and of immense language development and literary achievement (Nyst 211)

29. Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess
The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed three years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate
Protestant
“The Virgin Queen”
“The Bastard Queen”
Defeated the Spanish Armada
Longest reigning monarch since Henry I

30. House of Stuart 1603-1714 James I Charles I Charles II
(The Commonwealth)
Charles II
James II
William III & Mary
Anne
See pages 637, 638, and 649
Allegory of the Tudor dynasty (detail), attributed to Lucas de Heere, c.1572: left to right, Philip II of Spain, Mary, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth. 1485–1603
Preceded by Plantagenet period Followed by Stuart Period

31. 1611 Publication of the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible
One of the greatest literary influences on the subsequent development of English.
(Nyst 211)
Picture 1: James I of England from the period 1603–1613, by Paul van Somer I (1576–1621)
Picture 2: The Holy Bible, King James version

32. Engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament.
Charles I (1600 –1649) King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution.
Engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament.
Advocate of the Divine Right of Kings.
Levying of taxes without Parliament's consent, caused widespread opposition.
He was canonized in 1660.
The second son of James VI, King of Scots and Anne of Denmark and Norway, Charles was born at Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600,[3][8] and, until the age of three, was unable to walk or talk. His paternal grandmother was Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been beheaded by Elizabeth I of England on 8 February

33. 1649 Charles I is beheaded.
Picture 1: Sir Anthony Van Dyck: Charles I painted in April 1634
Picture 2: This contemporary German print depicts Charles I's decapitation.

34. Important Dates History of Early Modern English Perspective
See pages
Cf. Nyst

35. Important Dates 1460-1529 Life of John Skelton
Clergyman, satirist, and poet.
Typifies the enormous growth in the English vocabulary.
Introduces about 1500 new words into the language.
Text (Nyst 210)
Life of John Skelton, clergyman, satirist, and poet, who typifies the enormous growth in the English vocabulary, for Skelton introduces about 1500 new words into the language. (Nyst 210)

36. 1550 Spelling practices
<u> and <v> different forms of the same letter. Typographically, <v> was used at the start of a word and <u> elsewhere;
vnmoued (for modern unmoved)
loue (for love).
<i> and <j> were also not yet considered two distinct letters, but different forms of the same letter.
"ioy" for "joy"
"iust" for "just".
The sound /ʌ/ was often written <o> (as in son). Hence sommer, plombe (for modern summer, plumb).

37. Important Dates 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada
1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada leads to the European su­premacy of Britain and to the global importance of English. (Nyst 211)
Picture: Defeat of the Spanish Armada, August 8, 1588 by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, painted in 1797, depicts the battle of Gravelines.
This leads to the European supremacy of Britain and to the global importance of English.

38. Important Dates 1604 Publication of Robert Cawdrey's The Table Alphabeticall of Hard Words
First English Dictionary.
It marks the beginning of English lexicography.
1604 Publication of Robert Cawdrey's The Table Alphabeticall of Hard Words, which marks the beginning of English lexicography. (Nyst 211)
Robert Cawdrey (ca after 1604) produced one of the first dictionaries of the English language, the Table Alphabeticall, in
Picture: Brief Description
The first English dictionary, published in This was not a book for scholars but rather a guide which would unlock the mystery of hard English words for educated gentlefolk. This edition includes an introduction setting the dictionary in its historical, social and literary context, and exploring the unusual career of its author.

39. Important Dates 1607 Captain John Smith founds Jamestown, Virginia.
Symbol of the transplanting of English to the colonies of the growing British Empire
1607 Captain John Smith founds Jamestown, Virginia, symbol of the transplanting of English to the colonies of the growing British Empire. (Nyst 211)
Captain Sir John Smith (c. January 1580–June 21, 1631) Admiral of New England was an English soldier, sailor, and author. He is remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, and his brief association with the Native American girl Pocahontas during an altercation with the Powhatan Confederacy and her father, Chief Powhatan. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony (based at Jamestown) between September 1608 and August 1609, and led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay.

40. Map of Virginia published by John Smith (1612)

41. OUTSTANDING PERSONS
Significant contributions to literature and the development of the English Language
See pages 627, 645, and 646

42. Outstanding Persons Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1616)
Father of the English essay and a key figure in developing a clear, economical, and precise Eng­lish prose style.

43. Outstanding Persons John Donne (1573-1631)
Master of metaphysical poetry and the eloquent sermon.
See bottom of page 647

44. Outstanding Persons Ben Jonson (1573-1637)
Chief dramatic rival of Shakespeare, master of comic realism

45. Outstanding Persons John Milton (1608 -1674)
Last of the great Elizabethans and first of the great Puritans, Milton is a transitional figure in Early Modern English.
See page 639

46. Outstanding Persons Sir Thomas More (1478 -1535)
One of the "Makers of English," even though his most famous work (Utopia, 1517) is written in Latin, the international language of Renaissance scholars.
Saint Thomas More - Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (1527)

47. Outstanding Persons Edmund Spenser (1552 -1599)
Greatest narrative poet of the Eng­lish Renaissance (The Fairie Queene, )
See page 637
Poet Laureate

48. Johannes Gutenberg (c.1398 – 1468)
German goldsmith and printer who is credited with being the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439, and the global inventor of the mechanical printing press. His major work, the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), has been acclaimed for its high aesthetic and technical quality.
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c – February 3, 1468) was a German goldsmith and printer who is credited with being the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439, and the global inventor of the mechanical printing press. His major work, the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), has been acclaimed for its high aesthetic and technical quality.

49. Gutenberg's Press (1439)
The mechanical systems involved were probably first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johann Gutenberg around 1439,based on existing screw-presses used to press cloth, grapes etc., and possibly to print woodcuts, which were printed in Europe before Gutenberg.
Picture: In this woodblock from 1568, the printer at left is removing a page from the press while the one at right inks the text-blocks
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were probably first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johann Gutenberg around 1439,[1] based on existing screw-presses used to press cloth, grapes etc., and possibly to print woodcuts, which were printed in Europe before Gutenberg. Although both woodblock printing and movable type printing technologies were already developed in ancient China and later Korea in East Asia several hundred years previously, they did not use a press like that of Gutenberg.

50. Works Cited and Sources
Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. Fifth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.
Bevington, David, ed. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Updated Fourth Edition. USA: Longman, 1997.
Bloomfield, Morton W., and Leonard Newmark. A Linguistic Introduction to the History of English. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964

51. Works Cited and Sources
Brook, G.L. A history of the English Language. New York: Norton Library, 1958.
Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Fourth Edition. London: Penguin Books, 1999.

52. Works Cited and Sources
Damrosch, David, ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Volume A. 2nd Compact Edition. London: Longman, 2004.
David Burnley. The History of the English Language. 2nd ed. London: Pearson Education, 2000.
Glatthorn, Allan A., Charles W. Kreidler & Enerst J.Heiman. ­The Dynamics of Language. Book 4. USA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1971.

53. Works Cited and Sources
Jordan, Constance, and Clare Carroll. “The Early Modern Period.” The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch. Vol.A. London: Longman,
Miller, James E., Jr., Myrtle J. Jones, and Helen McDonnel. England in Literature. Macbeth Edition. London: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1973.
Nist, John. A Structural History of English. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1966.

54. Videos and Films
Elizabeth I the Virgin Queen. By Paula Milne. Perf. Anne-Marie Duff, Tom Hardy, Hans Matheson, Ian Hart, et al. Masterpiece Theater. BBC/Power and WGBH Boston Video, 2005.
Samuel Johnson.. Dir. Malcolm Hossick. The Famous Authors Series. Videocassette. USA: Kultur.

55. Videos and Films
Schama, Simon. “The Body of the Queen.” A History of Britain. The History Channel. VHS Documentary. BBC. New York: New Video, ,
Twelfth Night. By William Shakespeare. Dir. Trevor Nunn. Perf. Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E.Grant, Nigel Hawthorne, Ben Kingsley, Mel Smith, Imelda Staunton, Toby Stephens, Imogen, Stubbs. USA: Fine Line Features. Image Entertainment.

56. Works Cited and Sources
Internet Sources
Sixteenth Century Renaissance English Literature ( )A comprehensive guide to British literature of the Renaissance with over 100 original pages, biographies, and works never before published on the web.