Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan era is the period of English history when Queen Elizabeth I ruled England (1558-1603). This era is often considered the "Golden Age" of England because it was a time of immense progress, stability, and national pride. During Elizabeth's reign, England flourished politically and economically. The country also began extending its reach to the New World, solidifying its status as a world power. Protestant England became more unified than ever after the defeat of the Catholic Spanish Armada in 1588. The period is also considered one of the most prolific eras of the English Renaissance, which saw an outpouring of poetry and drama, most notably that of William Shakespeare. The Elizabethan era significantly shaped the future of England and culminated in the dawn of the British Empire.

Overview: Political and Religious Triumphs

The Elizabethan era commenced in 1558 when Queen Elizabeth I took the throne. The queen quickly earned a reputation for being highly intelligent and politically capable. During her early years, she negotiated peace with several opposing nations and managed to stay out of expensive wars. Elizabeth also resumed the Reformation movement by integrating Protestant religious policy into the Church of England. Despite Catholic animosity toward this decision, the queen did not persecute Catholics during her early years. In fact, the Church of England preserved many traditional Catholic ceremonies and doled out mild punishment for those who refused to attend church services. Elizabeth's leniency did not prevent Catholic unrest, however. In 1569, the Revolt of the Northern Earls was launched in an effort to restore Catholicism and oust Elizabeth as monarch. The revolt was a failure, but the attempt made the queen more watchful of Catholic traitors. After Pope Pius V labeled Elizabeth a heretic and an illegitimate monarch in 1570, England's peaceable religious state was upended. Parliament installed a series of measures that removed Roman Catholics from all positions of power. Elizabeth had Catholic officials hunted down, imprisoned, and at times, executed. Anti-Catholic sentiment also influenced the rise of radical Puritanism throughout England, which was staunchly opposed to any form of Catholic observance.

Though she managed to keep ongoing Protestant/Catholic conflicts at bay for many years, Elizabeth was eventually forced to deal with the threat presented by Catholic Spain and the Catholic uprisings against English rule in Ireland. Elizabeth had Catholic rival Mary, Queen of Scots, executed in 1586 after evidence implicated her in a murder plot against the queen to gain control of the throne. After her death, Spain led Catholic opposition in its attempt to restore Catholicism to the throne. Spain invaded England in 1588, but England swiftly defeated its fleet. The victory served to unify Protestant England like never before, garnering support for the war against Ireland known as the Nine Years War (1594-1603). Though the war ended after Elizabeth's reign, England came out victorious, further bolstering its global supremacy.

English Expansion

Defense against the Spanish attacks and war with Ireland was very costly. England had strengthened its international reputation, however, and used this influence to extend its reach beyond its own coastlines. The queen hoped that colonization would provide the Crown with treasures and resources to make up for what it had lost in battle. Explorers such as Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh travelled to the Indies, Newfoundland, and North America to claim lands in the name of England. Raleigh's initiatives included the establishment of the Roanoke Colony in 1586. The colony suffered from the beginning and ships were sent back to England to gather more supplies. When they returned, the Roanoke inhabitants had vanished. Their disappearance remains unexplained. These early explorations led to greater colonization efforts throughout the seventeenth century, however, setting in motion the formation of the British Empire.

Early colonization also opened many new trading routes and gave England greater access to exotic goods such as silk and sugar. Eager to seize control of the spice trade in the East Indies, the queen commissioned the East India Company in 1600. By the nineteenth century, the company had established trading posts all over India and controlled much of the Indian subcontinent.

English Renaissance

The Elizabethan era is most widely known for being the greatest period of the English Renaissance. Elizabeth was a major supporter of the humanities and her encouragement led to an onslaught of plays, poetry, music, and fine arts. The queen's court regularly hosted a number of painters and writers and her patronage resulted in vast artistic progress.

The fine arts saw immense support during the Elizabethan era. The Crown became a generous commissioner of both native and foreign Renaissance painters. As a result, artists produced an abundance of portraits depicting English nobles in their rich apparel. The art of portraiture evolved from minimalist representation to complex imagery during this time, and many works contained symbolic undertones.

Poetry also experienced a revival by writers such as Edmund Spenser and Thomas Wyatt. One of the most significant developments of the Elizabethan Renaissance was the proliferation of the sonnet, a fourteen-line poem centered on a single theme such as love or friendship. The period's most prolific sonnet writer was the famous playwright William Shakespeare, who composed more than 150 sonnets.

Shakespeare wrote many of his most famous plays during Elizabeth's reign. England's first permanent theater was built in London in 1576. Shakespeare's theater company later rebuilt the theater along the Thames and renamed it The Globe. The Globe hosted some of the most renowned playwrights in English history including Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson. Elizabethan playwrights revolutionized English drama and the theater transformed into a place where all classes of people could come for entertainment. Elizabethan theater became one of the most influential eras of English theater history.

Race Relations

England during the Elizabethan era was well-connected to the rest of the world through economic and political links. While the country had only just began establishing the massive empire that came to dominate much of the world by the end of the nineteenth century, these early global connections contributed to the establishment of a small Black community in England during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. This community was rather small, numbering roughly 360 known individuals between 1500 and 1640, but, given its size, was fairly well-documented in contemporary historical records. Most Black people in England at this time came from either North or West Africa.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Britain emerged as one of the leading players in the transatlantic slave trade, which involved enslaving African people and trafficking them across the Atlantic Ocean for forced labor in the Americas. Many English merchants profited from this trade and significant numbers of enslaved African people were forced to work in England and other parts of Britain. However, the Black community in Elizabethan England predated the country's widespread adoption of slavery; as a result, Black people in England at this time were legally recognized as free citizens, could be found in a range of professions and positions in society, and were generally treated according to their social class rather than their race. Conversion to Christianity and intermarriage with English people were both common practices. Black people in England at this time typically worked in agriculture, domestic service, and other rather ordinary professions, but others held more prominent roles. For example, the royal courts of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and James I were all known to have employed Black people in different positions.

Bibliography

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Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Elizabethan England." Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web. 19 Aug. 2014, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/liza/hd‗liza.htm.

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