The Tudor and Elizabethan times

In 1547, it was the end of the medieval period. It was the beginning of the early modern period. The power balance in England began to shift with a bigger separation between church and state. This was when the printing press was invented. New worlds were being discovered, such as the Americas.

As well as this the protestant movement was on the move. Henry V11 was in power and he broke away from the catholic church, in order to divorce his current wife Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. He then named himself head of the church of England. This movement away from the catholic church meant that the corruption and hypocrisy of the catholic church was ending.

Before this, the divide between the rich and poor was huge. During this time the middle classes were created and this meant there was more class mobility and less of economic divide. This was known the renaissance or enlightenment period. This was when people were moving further away from religion and starting to ask more questions. There was more interest in art, philosophy and literature.

Although Britain was now protestant many people still held the beliefs of Catholicism. Some saw the new church as a way of reforming the country despite their beliefs and so supported it. The King Henry was some what of a 'tyrannical' leader. After reforming the church he took any money from the catholic churches and put it back into state funds. He then executed anyone who openly disagreed with the protestant church or appeared faithful to Rome and the Pope. Protestants who tried to reform the country too much were also prosecuted.

Henry died in 1547 at the age of 55, he was severely obese and from this suffered various health problems. His only legitimate (born in wedlock) son, Edward took over the thrown. He was only 9 at the time and so was not able to have full power. A party of 16 executors were selected to Edward Seymour to become the 'Lord Protector' until Edward Henry's son, was able to take the thrown aged 18.   Taking over from him was Lady Jane Grey who only served 9 days. She was then arrested for high treason and eventually executed.

In 1558 Queen Elizabeth took to the thrown, she is famous for many things among them is never marrying or having children. This meant she was the last to reign in the Tudor/Elizabethan period.  Her reign focused greatly on peace and civil security. In this time lots of people were heavily monitored by the crown. It was similar to what we would now know as a police state. If you broke the law you would be severely punished. For example stealing bread may result in your hand being chopped off.

Shakespeare was born in 1564 so after Henry's reign, during Elizabeth's and the reform of the church had already happened. However, the repercusions of which were still felt.