Renaissance Literature
Miguel
de Cervantes
1547-1616
Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcalá,
Spain in 1547. In 1571 he fought in Italy and was wounded and almost lost
his left hand. While traveling back to Spain, he was captured by Algerian
corsairs and became a slave for the following five years. Throughout that
time, he tried to escape four times but was eventually ransomed and returned
to his family. La Galatea was his first novel, which was written
in 1585. Then, in 1605, he published the first part of Don Quixote,
his best known work. The last nine years of his life was spent writing various
works, including the second part of Don Quixote which appeared
in completed form in 1615. He died on 22 April, 1616.
For more of his biography, click here.
Works of Miguel de Cervantes:
Angelo Poliziano
1454-1494
Angelo Poliziano was a Florentine classical
scholar and poet, and a translator of Virgil, Epictetus, Hippocrates, Galen,
Plutarch, and Plato. His father, Benedetto, a judge, was murdered by political
antagonists for adopting the cause of Piero de Medici; and this circumstance
gave Angelo the opportunity to join the household of Lorenzo de Medici, who
secured him a respected position at the University of Florence. Poliziano
became a tutor of the Medici children. In 1470 he translated four books of
the Iliad into Latin hexameters.
Italian works of Angelo Poliziano include:
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Niccolo
Machiavelli
1469-1527
Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 in
Florence, Italy. At the time of his birth Italy was divided between four
city-states, constantly facing threats from foreign governments. The Medici,
a family of powerful bankers, ruled Florence. They were briefly overthrown
by a republican reform movement under the influence of Girolamo Savonarola,
a charismatic Dominican Friar in 1494. Although Lorenzo de Medici was his
patron, the young Machiavelli became a disciple of Savonarola. When the
Medici family returned to power, Machiavelli was tortured and banished.
It was in this period of his life that he began work on History of Florence
and The Prince. Machiavelli hoped to regain the favor of the Medici
with this work, but it was not to be. The Prince was not published
until after his death.
For more of his biography,
click here.
Machiavelli's works:
History of Florence
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Thomas
More
(1478-1535)
Thomas More, recognized sixteenth-century
lawyer, Christian humanist, and classical scholar, was born in London
on February 7, 1478 and was the son of judge Sir John More. After attending
Oxford University, he studied law at New Inn. He was elected into Parliament
at the age of 26, and at 27 he married Jane Colt and had four children
over the next five years. When he was 33 and at the height of his career,
Jane died, leaving More with four young children. One month later, he
married again for the sake of his children. When he started work as a
judge, at the age of 32, he became a well-known and loved London citizen
because of his gifts of intellectual genius and endearing wit and virtue.
More was a writer as well as a philosopher. He also
served as King Henry VIII’s personal secretary for a time, with
some administrative and diplomatic responsibilities. He became Chancellor
in 1529 when he was 51, but resigned after thirty-one months, because
Henry VIII and Cromwell manipulated the Parliament to take away the traditional
freedom of the Church, a freedom that had been written into English law
since the Magna Carta. After 15 months of imprisonment in the Tower of
London, he was executed on July 6, 1535 because he refused to sign the
oath accepting Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church in England.
He has become a symbol of professional integrity and was made a saint
(canonized) on May 19, 1935.
To learn more about Thomas More, click
here.
Works of Thomas More:
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William
Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
(1564-1616)William Shakespeare was
born some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. We have no
record of his birth, but his baptism was recorded by the church, so
his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April. His father was a prominent
and prosperous alderman in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare
married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and they had three children. When James
1 came to the throne in 1603, he named Shakespeare's troupe of actors
"The King's Men." They performed for ten more years until
the Globe Theater burned down. Although the theater was rebuilt, Shakespeare
retired. He was a prolific writer of plays and poetry, writing ten tragedies,
seven histories, and seventeen comedies.
For more of his biography, click here
Shakespeare's works
include:
Tragedies:
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Martin
Luther
1483-1546
Martin Luther is best known for his 95
theses. On Halloween of 1517, he demonstrated his intolerance for the Roman
Catholic corruption on Halloween of 1517 by nailing his 95 theses to the
door of the church. He was exiled for this, and translated the New Testiment
into German for the first time from the 1516 Greek-Latin New Testament of
Erasmus, and published in 1522. He also published a German Pentateuch in
1523, in the 1530’s he would go on to publish the entire bible in
German.
For more of his biography, click here.
Works of Martin Luther:
Translation
of the Bible from Latin to German.
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Elizabeth
I
(1533-1603)
Elizabeth I was born in 1533 to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Although she
had many marriage proposals she never married nor had children. Elizabeth,
the last of the Tudors, died at seventy years of age after a very successful
forty-four year reign. Elizabeth inherited a dilapidated throne conflict
between Catholics and Protestants tore at the very foundation of the kingdom.
Many doubted Elizabeth's claim to the throne. Elizabeth appeared tranquil
in her political capabilities carrying out the royal prerogative. The last
Tudor excelled at rising to challenges and emerging victorious.
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