Reformation and Renaissance

The Tudors – British Reformations, 1527-1603

In this course, Professor Alec Ryrie (Durham University) explores different aspects of the English Reformation c1527-1603 and the culture that it created. In the first module, we look at the relationship between the Reformation and the Renaissance, two large religious and cultural movements which profoundly impacted Europe during the early modern period. In the second module, we then shift focus to the English Reformation and the impact that it had upon women and children. In the third and fourth modules, we situate the English Reformation in its British context, comparing it first to the Reformation in Scotland and then to the Reformation in Ireland. Finally, in the fifth module we take a look at the impact that the Reformation had upon English political culture, in particular the role and authority of the monarch.

Reformation and Renaissance

In this lecture, we look at the relationship between the Reformation and the Renaissance, focusing in particular on: (i) the problems surrounding the view that the Renaissance led to the Reformation; (ii) the impact of humanist scholarship upon the English Reformation, in particular Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) and his influence upon Henry VIII and Thomas More (1478-1535); (iii) the scholastic traditions drawn upon by the Catholic Reformation and how these were used in the Council of Trent from 1545-63; and (iv) the influence of scholasticism and Erasmus under later Protestant English monarchs.