Marriage

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The Renaissance period (14th -17th centuries) saw a revival of learning of the ancient Greek and Roman culture. This period emphasized reason and the individual, contrary to the medieval period when faith and salvation was the main concern of the people. During the Renaissance period, individuals focused their attention on secular society and its pleasures, such as the arts, literature, and science. This new way of thinking was called Humanism, a system of education that emphasizes classical literature and Latin and Greek. In comparing Florence and England, the humanistic ideas developed differently. The Renaissances originated in Florence, Italy in the late thirteenth century, and under the leadership of a powerful banking family, the Medici especially Lorenzo the Magnificent (1469-1492), the Renaissance reached its highest point in Florence. Humanistic ideas began to spread to France, Germany, and England. The Renaissance reached England during the sixteenth century. There are historical documents, personal writings and novels that illuminate how this important period developed differently in these two different areas. The two fiction works that we have read, The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, did help me to better comprehend the people, issues, and events of the past, because they help me integrate historical documents and personal writing, they illuminate the time period covered, and they present the complexity of issues in a way that we can understand. The Birth of Venus, brings alive the Renaissance period in Florence under the leadership of the Medici family, from the point of view of Alessandra Cecchi (Sister Lucrezia), a young woman who wants to be an artist but ends up a nun. And, Wol...

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...ect had to swear that they recognized Anne Boleyn as their Queen and her son as the successor of the throne of England.
In Wolf Hall we see how the Boleyn family what it meant for Anne Boleyn that she marry Henry. According to Anne’s father, “he deserves some special title, and has let it be known it would not be disagreeable to him to be known as Monseigneur.” Even before Anne and Henry marry, he had granted her and her family many expensive gifts and titles. This marriage was advantageous to both parties, since Henry had the opportunity of having his male heir, while Anne and her family received the benefits of being family with the King of England. Women in general, were used to gain benefits. Parents arranged the marriages of their daughter with families from whom they could get benefits, such as status in society, political alliances or wealth.

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