rtin
Luther (1483-1546) was in the same age issuing his famous protests
against religious abuses. Edward VI. (1547-1553) espoused the
Protestant cause. An order was given to introduce into all the
churches an English prayer book, which was not very different from
that in use to-day in the Episcopal churches. Mary (1553-1558) sought
the aid of fagots and the stake to bring the nation back to the old
beliefs.

[Illustration: HENRY VIII. GIVING BIBLES TO CLERGY AND LAITY. _From
frontispiece to Coverdale Bible_.]

While this period did not produce a single great poet or a statesman
of the first rank, it witnessed the destruction of the majority of the
nobility in the Wars of the Roses, the increase of the king's power,
the decline of feudalism, the final overthrow of the knight by the
yeoman with his long bow at Agincourt(1415), the freedom of the serf,
and the growth of manufactures, especially of wool. English trading
vessels began to displace even the ships of Venice.

In spite of the religious persecution with which the period began and
ended, there was a remarkable change in religious belief, the
dissolution of the monasteries and the subordination of church to
state being striking evidences of this change. An event that had
far-reaching consequences on literature and life was the act of Henry
VIII. in ordering a translation of the _Bible_ to be placed in every
parish church in England. The death of Mary may in a measure be said
to indicate the beginning of modern times.

Contrast between the Spirit of the Renaissance and of the Middle
Ages.--One of the most important intellectual movements of the world
is known as the Renaissance or Revival of Learning. This movement
began in Italy about the middle of the fourteenth century and spread
slowly westward. While Chaucer's travels in Italy; and his early
contact with this new influence are reflected in his work, yet the
Renaissance did not reach its zenith in England until the time of
Shakespeare. This new epoch followed a long period, known as the
Middle ages, when learning was mostly confined to the church, when
thousands of the best minds retired to the cloisters, when many
questions, like those of the revolution of the sun around the earth or
the cause of disease, were determined, not by observation and
scientific proof, but by the assertion of those in spiritual
authority. Then, scientific investigators, like Roger Bacon, were
thought to be in league with the dev