E X T E N S I O N THE ELIZABETHAN ERA Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan Era, the period during which Queen Elizabeth I ruled England, from 1558 to 1603. The period is often referred to as a golden age because the country enjoyed relative peace, prosperity1, and political stability. The 16th and early 17th century also coincide2 with the English Renaissance, which started with a new interest in the study of the classics. Its consequence was a rebirth3 of the English culture, in particular its literature, poetry, music and especially drama, which reached its highest point in that period. The Darnley Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, 1585 ca Elizabeth I was a Tudor. The Tudor family had come to the throne with Henry VII in 1485, after the Wars of the Roses which had lasted thirty years. Henry VII had managed to put an end to them, unifying the country under a strong central government. He maintained peace and made the state nances strong again. After his death, his son Henry VIII became king in 1509. When the Pope refused him the divorce from his rst wife who had not been able to give him a male heir4, he broke with the Roman Catholic Church and set up the Church of England in 1534. With the Act of Supremacy, he declared himself Supreme Head of the Church and closed down monasteries5 and convents6, transferring all their lands and gold to the Crown7. Henry VIII married six times. After his death in 1547, his three legitimate children Edward, Mary and eventually Elizabeth came to the throne. They ruled one after the other as Edward VI (1547-53), Mary I (1553-58), and Elizabeth I (1558-1603). 1. prosperity: a situation in which you are rich and successful. 2. to coincide: to happen at the same time. 3. rebirth: a period of new growth of something. 4. heir: someone who will legally receive the money and property of someone else when they die. 5. monastery: a building in which a group of religious men live and pray. 6. convent: a building in which a group of religious women live and pray. 7. the Crown: the governing power of a country which has a queen or king. 20