The World in Which Shakespeare was Born

The beginning of the Tudor reign marked the end of the medieval period. During this transition the power balances switched: the church became more separate from the state, the economy was different and new worlds were being discovered, e.g. the Americas. The printing press was invented. Religious movements, Protestants as well as the formation of the Church of England, were sweeping through Europe. Hypocrisy that the Catholics started was diluting. There used to be very poor people and very rich people with little-to-no middle ground, but during the reformation the middle classes were invented. This period is known as the Renaissance or the Enlightenment. It was a period of great creativity, fuelled by a revival for classical culture: art, science, literature and philosophy. Existing beliefs were questioned and nothing was taken for granted. The country was still mainly a catholic country, yet it was a chance to end the hypocritical nature of the Catholic Church.

Henry VIII, in order to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon, broke away from the Catholic Church and created the Church of England. He filled the country’s wealth from the church into the state funds, executed anyone who failed to do what he said or anyone who was still very faithful to Catholicism. Henry died in 1547 and his son Edward VI inherited the throne, at the mere age of 9. Edward died of TB in 1553 at the age of 15. Edward was Protestant, and nominated Lady Jane Grey as his successor in his will, bypassing his catholic half-sister Mary. Lady Jane Grey, known as ‘The Nine Days Queen’, was deposed 9 days after taking the throne, when the Privy Council decided to change sides and proclaim Mary I as Queen. During Mary’s 5 year reign, 300 heretics, Protestants refusing to conform, were burned at the stake, earning Mary the nickname ‘Bloody Mary.’ Mary died childless in 1558. There are theories that the nursery rhymes ‘Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary’ and ‘Three Blind Mice’ were based on Mary I’s life and executions. In 1558 Elizabeth I became Queen. She was a Protestant and was obsession with keeping peace and civil security. In Elizabethan England everyone was watched by the crown and transgression from the law of the land came at great cost. It was a policed state.