Book Reviews and Analysis

Its interesting that, English (a language spoken by approximately 20% of the world population) couldn't be called popular further afield from England in the 16th Century. The English - preferring to travel the Continent, were more likely to pick up other European languages than vice versa. Roughly spanning much of the literary Renaissance period. 

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Burdened by wars and feuds in the 15th century (namely the War of the Roses) culture, literature and linguistic development took a back seat. But when the Earl of Richmond was crowned King Henry VII un 1485 having killed the Yorkist King Richard III, a greater emphasis wa on the monarchy and stability what with the Church backing the Crown and few strong opposers, they were relatively stable. The Royal Court held much of the nation's power despite still needing the go-ahead from the Parliament in vital matters. But the royal court became the epicentre from which all other outer zones adopted fashionable culture of the time, with music, theatre, masque, fashions, painting and literature trickling outwards from the source. 

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Court culture fostered great poets due to the paranoid, duplicitous atmosphere around volatile kings. Instead their language became coupled with double and triple entendres. 2 Books were almost the manuals for surviving court intricacies:

- Il Principe (Machiavelli) - about techniques for gaining and keeping power

- Il Cortegiano (Castiglione) - conceal the effort behind trying to accumulate power

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International trade flourished. Around about 1475 the art of printing was introduced by William Caxton - Despite nullifying the communal aspect of reading it made reading more accessible (though still expensive). However, unusually there was a 'stigma of print' making works less special and facilitating the fraudulence rampant within literature without the restraints of copyright. 

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1485 inaugurated the Tudor Era - bred a fondness for the past despite modern technology nullifying their relevance. Medieval was more fashionable in Court than modern e.g. old chivalric code, jousts and tournaments. 

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1509 - death of Henry VII - accession of Henry VIII

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1603 - Death of Elizabeth I inauguration of Stuart Dynasty