Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1525 to 1634) Histoiical References Frotide, J. A. History of England. (To be used with caution.) Green, J. R. Short History of the English People. Creighton, M. Age of Elizabeth. 1879. Creighton, M. Tudors and the Reformation, 14S5-1603. Rye, W. B. England as seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and James I. 1S65. Church, R. W. Life of Bacon and Life of Spenser. (E. M. L.) Froude, J. A. English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century. Froude, J. A. Divorce of Catharine of Aragon. Prothero, G. W. (Ed.) Select Statutes and Other Constitutional Documents illustrative of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I. 2d ed. Hinds, A. B. The Making of the England of Elizabeth. Beesley, E. S. Queen Elizabeth. 1S92. Henry VIII. died in 1547. The short reigns of his son Edward VI. and his daughter Mary were followed by the Historical ong reign of his daughter Elizabeth (1558- Sketch. 1603). The Scotch Stuart, James I., occupied the throne from 1603 to 1625, and his son Charles I. succeeded him. From the literary point of view the culmination of the period lies between the years 1590 and 1610, as Shakespeare's greatest works were produced then. But the preceding years were preparatory, the forces were gathering, and their influence was continued after the death of the preeminent genius who gave them the fullest expression. Milton's " Comus " was presented in 1634, and may be regarded as the last great literary production of the age. The later years of the reign of Charles I. may fairly be put in the Puritan age because the Puritan spirit became dominant before the execution of the king and the establishment of the Commonwealth. During this period England became Protestant, and, although historically the working of the Re...