JUNE HistoryCAT: 1500 to 1600 CE: Culture & the Arts

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I've probably written this intro a half dozen times; but each time it came across almost like a syllabus! While it's useful to have some points plotted on the timeline, and some reading suggestions, it captures nothing of the excitement and richness of the time! It's the first part of the Early Modern period in European history: Ships are expanding the known horizons & trade routes; Copernicus and Galileo are challenging man's concepts of the heavens & our relationship to God; Michelangelo is painting the Sistine Chapel while the (de) Medicis and the Vatican display political muscle and indulge in eyebrow raising levels of excess; and The Tudors are running riot with spies, court intrigue, and Shakespeare! Everywhere, ideas are spreading in no small part owing to the success of Gutenberg's movable type about fifty years before we pick up the narrative LT-style!

Yes, there were things going on in other parts of the world, and there's a great overview on Wikipedia for those who might be interested in the goings-on outside of Europe; but I admit that the following list of books is Euro-centric. It happens to be where my personal interest lies in this time frame (I read Medieval and Early Modern European History in grad school), though I'll be interested to see if any of you pick up titles about the early Colonial days in the New World, or the Orient.

Some Authors Who Wrote in the 16th Century

• William Shakespeare ("A Midsummer's Night Dream"; The Sonnets; "Romeo and Juliet")
  
• Christopher Marlowe ("Tamburlaine" (Parts 1 & 2); "Doctor Faustus")
  
• Edmund Spenser ("The Faerie Queene")
  

Some Authors Who Wrote about the 16th Century (Non-Fiction)

• Alison Weir ('The Princes in the Tower'; 'Elizabeth of York')
  
• Antonia Fraser ('Mary, Queen of Scots'; 'Cromwell, Our Chief of Men')
  
• Thomas Penn ('Winter King')
  

Some Authors Who Wrote Historical Fiction set in the 16th Century

• Alison Weir ('Innocent Traitor'; 'Captive Queen')
  
• Margaret George ('Autobiography of Henry VIII'; 'Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles')
  
• Philippa Gregory ('The Other Boleyn Girl'; 'The Boleyn Inheritance')
  

Some Key Figures in the Arts Fields in the 16th Century

• Music: Thomas Campion, John Bull
  
• Art: Michelangelo, Titian
  
• Theater: Shakespeare, Marlowe
  

I could keep adding to and fussing with the lists for days and days; but I think it'll do for a starting point! :-)

EDIT: 02JUN2015 - Added titles of one or two works after each author's name
EDIT: 03JUN2015 - Added image, "The Quarrel of Oberon and Tatiana"(by Sir Joseph Noel Paton, 1849) - Imagined scene from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream" - Public Domain image sourced from Wikipedia
EDIT: 05JUN2014 - Removed image as it was too wide and compromising the touchstone column; Added image of Elizabeth I ("Rainbow Portrait", circa 1600-1602)
EDIT: 28JUN2015 - Corrected date of the "Rainbow Portrait" from "16090 - 1602" to "1600 - 1602"

My book for June will be The Stripping of the Altars : Traditional Religion in England 1400 - 1580.

I am planning on Shakespeare by Anthony Burgess, and possibly the audio of at least one of Shakespeare's plays.

In keeping with both the time and the theme of arts and culture, I am going to be reading The Ruby Ring by Diane Haeger. Set in 16th century Rome, it is based on the life of painter Raphael.

>2 MarthaJeanne: That book is on my TBR list! I'll be interested to see what you think of it.

Eyeing somewhat warily The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney

>6 Robertgreaves: I had to read that for a class in college. Not as bad as The Faerie Queene, if that helps! :)

It will teach me of the perils of buying books sight unseen. Having ordered it online I had no idea it was such a hefty tome.

>8 Robertgreaves: Next time check the publishing details. 869 pages!

I don't have much of anything on my tbr that will fit for the theme (in a historical context), let alone both the theme + time period.

The one for theme that fits:
- The Monuments Men / Robert M. Edsel

For time period, I have lots. Some frontrunner possibilities include:
- The Second Empress / Michelle Moran
- Dangerous Inheritance / Alison Weir
- The Concubine / Norah Lofts

I have a book that fits both time period and theme! How To Be Both by Ali Smith.

How funny is this...

I was looking at my library wishlist and saw Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and I thought, gee that time period must be coming up soon and went to the wiki and found that it was not just the right time period for June, but the right theme and someone else was going to read it!

I 'm planning to read Magdalena & Balthasar: An Intimate Portrait of Life in 16th Century Europe Revealed in the Letters of a Nuremberg Husband and Wife by Steven J. Ozment. What a title. Fits the time period, but, alas, not the theme.

>13 Dejah_Thoris: The touchstone goes to the wrong book.

Magdalena and Balthasar

I've got My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk lined up for June. Off-hand I don't remember anything about, but last fall when I selected this book for June's read I thought it fit both the time period and the theme. Can anyone verify or dispute that?

>14 MarthaJeanne: Thank you! I couldn't remember how to force the match.

>15 sjmccreary: Yes, it should fit both. It's about book illumination in the 16th century.

>17 cbl_tn: Yes, I remember now. And dealing with the Muslim prohibition on likenesses, too, right? So maybe I can get it to fit in my "religion" category.

I am thinking of reading The House of Doctor Dee which will fit the time period but I am not sure about the theme.

>18 sjmccreary: Yes, and I think it would be a good fit for your religion category.

Putting together my monthly recap has helped me settle on one of Shakespeare's plays for this challenge: A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was first published in 1600 so is at the very end of the time period. And since it is a play, I considered it appropriate for the theme of Culture and Arts as well.

>21 rabbitprincess:, I might try to join you and read A Midsummer Night's Dream. I want to read more Shakespeare so looks like a good month to do so.

>21 rabbitprincess: >22 Kristelh: You know what? I think I'm going to go pick up a paperback edition of "A Midsummer's Night Dream" too! I hadn't decided on what I was going to read; and it's been years since I've read or seen the play! :-)

>11 RidgewayGirl: I'm so glad you pointed out How to Be Both - it showed up with a green check mark, and I was thinking I don't have that book, but indeed I do, and it looks very interesting. Thank you!

>1 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Am I the only person having trouble reading the touchstone column because of the width of the picture?

>25 MarthaJeanne: I don't know! I'm not having an issue, and haven't heard from anyone else; but I've replaced it with an image of Elizabeth I which is in portrait format. Hopefully that will resolve the problem! :-)

>26 Tanya-dogearedcopy: It's also possible to specify a width for a picture.

But this works. Thank you.

>27 MarthaJeanne: LOL, I thought about trimming the MSN painting, but since I didn't have the same problem, I couldn't figure out how much to trim. I'm inherently lazy, so it was easier for me to find a portrait :-D

Starting Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Starting Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling.

I've read Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World by Thomas Cahill which fits both time (for the most part) and theme.

COMPLETED Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel.

My review:
The political manoeuvring to bring down Anne Boleyn and replace her with Jane Seymour, told from the point of view of Master Secretary, Thomas Cromwell.

Tense account. Although the author sometimes glosses 'he' as Thomas Cromwell in this second book of a planned trilogy, presumably in response to those who complained about how difficult it was to be sure who 'he' was at various points in "Wolf Hall", I found it more difficult with 'he' being sometimes glossed but not always.

Starting Elizabeth by David Starkey.

Completed The House of Doctor Dee by Peter Ackroyd, I read this because it is set in the 1500s. So what did I learn? This book explores some culture of the time. It starts with a play that John Dee is setting up. He used mechanics in such a way that the populace accuse him of black magic. I checked out the author’s book Tudors which is his historical account of the time period, the Renaissance. Entertainment consisted of bear baiting (the book covers this), rich fabrics and garments (the book includes this) and dancing. Queen Elizabeth enjoyed dancing. There are lists of dancing. The time period was extravagant in its appetites.

John Dee was one of the most learned men of the times. He was a college graduate. Had a large library and proposed a public library to Queen Mary which was not taken up. He also was friends with Edward Kelley and pursued scryering (crystal ball gazing). He wrote books but his strong desire to communicate with angels led him to this friendship with Edward Kelley. The book explores that relationship and does take some license in the accuracy but it was a relationship where Kelley may have been deluding Dee and Dee was gullible.

>33 Kristelh: John Dee FTW! A couple of years ago, I read what I thought was going to be a historical-fiction novel set on Roanoke Island; but instead I got a truly awful paranormal tale involving a megalomaniacal John Dee resurrecting himself on the shores of America! My friends and I, in the course of talking about J.D. and historical fiction were joking that we should write a James Bond-esque series of thriller set in Tudor England, featuring John Dee (He was the original 007!) Imagine the thrilling barge chases down the Thames! :-D

* The paranormal book was called Blackwood (Strange Chemistry #1; by Gwenda Bond) - It's a YA paranormal tale set in contemporary times...

>33 Kristelh: Oooooo, that sounds good!

Apparently Dr. Dee's scrying stone and manuscripts were stolen from the Science Museum in 2004 by a man in a long coat and later recovered. Perhaps he couldn't get it to work.

>36 Robertgreaves:, Thats interesting. Kelley was always trying to steal from Dr. Dee, guess a few thousand years doesn't change much.

>37 Kristelh: To make it even more interesting, during the hiatus in the 1990s a Dr. Who audio drama was made with Dr. Dee as one of the main characters.

COMPLETED Elizabeth by David Starkey

My review:
Subtitled "Apprenticeship", this book focuses on Elizabeth I's life before she came to the throne, taking us up to her first parliament and the religious settlement, with a brief overview of the recurrent issue of religion and the succession in the rest of the reign in the last chapter.

I found it a very easy and enjoyable read, though the book could have done with some more careful editing in places.

Not sure whether to count this or not, but I am currently reading Hamlet, Revenge by Michael Innes. It is a murder mystery set in the 1930s (when Innes was writing), and the murder takes place during an attempt to mount an Elizabethan-style staging of Hamlet. I've only read about a quarter so far and there has been a lot of discussion of the play, styles of acting, and Elizabethan staging. Enough to make me lay it one side and read "Hamlet" when I can get my hands on a copy.

>40 Robertgreaves:, Hamlet well worth the read

>40 Robertgreaves: And Hamlet, Revenge! is a very satisfying read in the end! Although for me it was hard to get into the book, since there were so many characters to keep straight, I really enjoyed the payoff.

I was disappointed in my HistoryCat read for this month, I found The Ruby Ring by Diane Haeger to be more of a juvenile love story than an interesting story about the Italian Renaissance artist.

Fits the time period

The Concubine / Norah Lofts
3.5 stars

This is a fictional account of Anne Boleyn from the time she came back to England from France (where she grew up) and met Henry VIII to just after she was beheaded.

It was good. It (probably no surprise) picked up in the last 1/3 of the book once Henry turned his attention to Jane Seymour and was looking for a way to get rid of Anne. Anne's not my favourite of Henry's wives, but I do feel badly for how it all ended for her. I wonder, though, if I'm getting tired of reading about the Tudors, or if I just need to read more about some of the Tudors I've read less about. Anne is probably who I've read the most about. It was still good, overall, though.

I love reading about the Tudors. It's unfortunate I've only managed one book this month. I had hoped to also get to one about Lady Jane Grey, but I'm reading something else altogether instead.

>43 DeltaQueen50: I considered getting this book on my Kindle but decided against it. Kind of glad I did now.

>46 mamzel: I think it was a case of my expectations being too high. I have read this author before and quite enjoyed her stories. This one just didn't resonate with me at all.

I read Henry V by Shakespeare and two books by Angus Armitage on the life and times of Copernicus (1473-1543) who developed his planetary systems in our time period and whose work was published in the year of his death. The two books were quite different from one another!

Fits "culture" in the anthropological sense

Down With the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster / Steven Biel.
2 stars

This book isn't so much about the Titanic itself, as about the effect the sinking of the ship had on culture after the disaster. It looked at such things as gender, class and race; also, songs and poems written about the Titanic; also, the books, tv, and movies that came about (this was published before James Cameron's movie, however).

I wish I would have noticed the subtitle before requesting it from the library (or even before putting it on my tbr... did I? It was too long ago). It just wasn't what I was interested in. I skimmed though a lot of it. Probably the most interesting chapter to me was the one that mainly focused on William Lord's book (written in the 1950s), A Night to Remember. Overall, though, it just wasn't interesting to me.

I finished reading "A Midsummer's Night Dream" (by William Shakespeare) last night. Even though I'm still annoyed at Oberon for having succeeded in his plan; overall the play ended very satisfactorily! In my mind, the play is a combination of an actual Globe-era play, a romcom, and fantasy... and somehow it all works!

We have a local Shakespearean company here (The Oregon Shakespeare Festival ) but alas! They are not performing this play this season! Netflix has a 1996 version available online, and even though it doesn't have very good ratings, I think I just might watch it anyway :-)

I have started The Stripping of the Altars. It is very good, but the chances that I will finish it today are not good. I'm not quite half way through.

>50 Tanya-dogearedcopy: If you can get your hands on it, there's quite a fun film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream from 1999 with Kevin Kline as Bottom.

>51 MarthaJeanne: Done now. What a good book! Obviously only if you like the idea of 600 pages of liturgical details. My July book is much shorter.

This update is embarrassingly late but I did manage to complete two books for this challenge. The first is David Starkey's Henry: Virtuous Prince, which is different from most other books about Henry VIII in that the focus is his early life, which is still interesting if not quite as fascinating as the period that follows Anne Boleyn's arrival on the scene.

The second book is Shakespeare's Hamlet and I saw the Canadian Stratford Festival's production of the play after I finished reading it. I'm now intrigued by Hamlet, revenge! mentioned upthread. I'll have to look for this one.

It's never too late! I have to say, I envy your ability to see "Hamlet" at CSF: Not only is "Hamlet" my favorite play of Shakespeare's; but to be able to see it live is a bonus! The Oregon Shakespeare Festival performed it here a couple of years ago; but it was done hip-hop style... I don't mind seeing innovative stagings; but this one went a bit too far out of my wheelhouse :-/

>54 mathgirl40: Wikipedia gives a range from 1599 to 1602 for when Hamlet was written so you could count it for June's or July's challenge.

>55 Tanya-dogearedcopy: A hip-hop Hamlet would be ... ummm ... interesting. The Stratford Festival once did a spaghetti-Western version of The Taming of the Shrew that I absolutely hated. On the other hand, they did a modernized version of A Midsummer Night's Dream last year that my daughter and I really enjoyed. It had a great dance scene set to New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle". I think some of the plays work better than others in modernized settings, and I'd seen MND so many times before that I was happy with a different take on it. The Hamlet production I saw was set in the early 1900's, so it wasn't that much of a stretch.

>56 Robertgreaves: Ah, good point!