FCLLI4_the_renaissance

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The king and The Church – a delicate relation 
The Renaissance ( or rebirth of learning), which began in Italy in the 14th century, 
affected English artistic attitudes toward arts from approximately the year of 1485, 
the accession of the Tudor monarchs, to 1660, when Charles II was restored to the 
throne. Before Caxton – who is thought to be the first English person to work as a 
printer and the first to introduce the printed press in the country - printed his first 
book in English, no more than two percent of the English people could read. 
Afterwards, this situation has changed profoundly. Learning increased rapidly, from 
the Crown to the commoner: Henry VIII wrote poetry and composed songs; Elizabeth I 
spoke five foreign languages and encouraged drama and the arts. New schools were 
founded throughout Britain, in rural villages as well as cities. 
 
How was the influence of the Humanists during Renaissance? 
Enlightened by the classics of Greece and Rome, the Humanists emphasized human 
potential, not God ´s power, believing one’s role in life should be action, not 
religious contemplation. After the publication of The Wycliffe Bible (the name now 
given to a group of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the 
direction of, or at the instigation of, John Wycliffe. The mentioned work appeared 
over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395. These Bible translations were the 
chief inspiration and chief cause of a pre-Reformation movement that rejected many 
of the distinctive teachings of the Roman Catholic Church), Humanists influenced a 
critical and scholarly study of the scriptures, which partly led to a challenge of 
Roman Catholicism and the emergence of English Protestantism.