FICHE DE COURS : The Renaissance in England Place dans les

FICHE DE COURS : The Renaissance in England
Place dans les programmes du lycée : cette séance correspond au chapitre d’histoire intitulé
« Humanisme et Renaissance en Europe au XVIe siècle ». On peut facilement transposer ce chapitre en
DNL dans la mesure où, si elle n’est pas un berceau de l’Humanisme, l’Angleterre du XVIe siècle offre
des particularismes intéressants à étudier dans tous les grands thèmes du chapitre : la Renaissance
culturelle, la découverte du monde, et surtout les transformations religieuses. Dans l’adaptation que je
propose ici, j’ai largement élargi les bornes chronologiques du chapitre au XVIIe siècle, afin d’insister
sur le renouveau philosophique et politique de la pensée anglaise, qui a précédé de plusieurs décennies
les Lumières françaises. Ainsi, la deuxième partie de ce chapitre créée un lien fort entre la Renaissance
et la Révolution française, en donnant au XVIIe siècle anglais une place plus importante qu’il n’en a
dans les programmes en français. Dans cette périodisation de la période moderne, il offre ainsi
articulation entre le XVIe siècle européen, le XVIIe siècle anglais, et le XVIIIe siècle français, qui restera
à étudier.
Objectifs de contenu et linguistique : avec la Renaissance, l’Humanisme et les Lumières, ce chapitre
étudie des courants fondamentaux de l’histoire européenne. La partie portant sur la religion, par
exemple, permet une démarche comparative entre l’adaptation de la Réforme aux réalités de différents
pays. Par ailleurs, avec le parlementarisme et les libertés individuelles, il met en valeur un héritage
politique et philosophique que l’Europe et le monde doivent en grande partie à l’Angleterre.
Du point de vue linguistique, le chapitre permet d’aborder les champs de la politiquer et de la religion,
et éventuellement d’aborder Shakespeare dans un travail interdisciplinaire en collaboration avec le
professeur d’anglais.
Place dans le plan du cours : le plan de la séquence que je propose est le suivant. Je détaille dans ce
document l’étude des Ambassadeurs de Holbein correspondant au paragraphe A du grand I. Le
tableau, projeté au mur, permettant un cours dialogué et une implication optimale des élèves dans un
jeu de questions/réponses, l’étude occupe une heure de cours.
16th AND 17th CENTURIES IN ENGLAND
I – Humanism and Religion
A – The Renaissance in England
Doc. – Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors, 1533
Doc. – Thomas More, Utopia, 1516
B – The Birth of British Maritime Power
Doc. – Francis Pretty, The Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577
Doc. – Map of Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the world
C – Henry VIII’s Great Matter
Doc. – The Act of Supremacy, 1534
Doc. – Thomas More’s interview during his trial, 1535
D – Elizabeth I’s Settlement of Religious Issues
Doc. – Elizabeth I as The Prime Mover in an engraving by John Case, 1588
II – The Failure of Absolutism and Triumph of Parliamentary Monarchy
A – Hobbes’ Idea of Absolute Power / Louis XIV of France
Doc. – Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651
B – The Outbreak of the Civil War and the Commonwealth
C – The Enlightenments : Locke, the Habeas Corpus and the Bill of
Rights
Doc. – English Bill of Rights, 1689
Doc. – John Locke, Second Treaty on Government, 1689
Doc. – Habeas Corpus Act, 1679
I – Humanism and Religion
A – The Renaissance in England
1 – Holbein’s Ambassadors
Doc. 1 – The Ambassadors, Holbein the Younger, 1533, The National Gallery
Q 1 – What is the nature of this document ? What kind of a painting is it ?
A 1 – This is a two meter high canvas : the characters represented are in real, natural size. It was
painted by Holbein the Younger in 1533, a Dutch painter working at the court of king Henry VIII. It
looks like an official painting, probably commissioned by the two characters. They are Swiss and
French ambassadors. It is kept at the National Gallery, London.
Q 2 – Look at the items displayed on the central shelves : how do they connect to the Renaissance ?
A 2 – First, it features modern tools and instruments : a sundial (it looks like a five-face dice : you
don’t need to know where the North is : you just aim at the sun, and the right time is on depending on
the way the faces are lit by the sun light) ; globes showing the New World discovered only very
recently (recall dates and details) ; a maths book (opened). They all refer to the recent discoveries in
astronomy and geography, to the power of man’s intellect and his capacity to extend his knowledge
of the world, and to control it : there is a strong humanist (or humanistic) stance, emphasized by the
natural size of the two men.
Q 3 – From a formal point of view, what makes it a Renaissance painting ?
A 3 – Although the scene appears at first sight rather flat, the marble ground indicates that the artist
knows perspective, which was developed since the end of the fourteenth century and over the
following one by Italian artists, and in Northern Europe by people like Albrecht Dürer in the late 15th.
Secondly, the breathtaking rendering of materials like the fabrics (furs, velvet, silk) is typical of the
Dutch fashion of the time : such refinement was made possible by improvements of the painting
technique, as artists resorted to oil painting rather than tempera since Van Eyck in the 1420s.
Eventually, the realistic way the faces are depicted (you can tell one character from the other) is also
a common trend shared by Flemish artists, as opposed to the idealistic bent of Italian Renaissance.
Q 4 – What topic generally expected in medieval art seems to be missing here ?
A 4 – There is no clear sign of religion : the two men are the central (and apparently only) subject of
the painting. This apparently contrasts with the tradition of the Middle Ages, when art was above all
conceived as a means to convey a religious message.
Q 5 – Now, what is the weird stain on the foreground ? What purpose does it serve ?
A 5 – It is a skull. It is a vanity : a way to remind people that, however great man may be, however
beautiful art may appear, all things must pass, and one shall die (‘memento mori’). So after all, there
is a moral hidden message that shows people were still pious. But why did Holbein paint it in that
strange manner ?
It is in anamorphosis : to see it right, you should stand on the right side of the painting and blink.
This was a way for Holbein to prove his skills and show how good at perspective he was. Then, there
is more to it than just technical trick : looking up and carefully at the picture, you make eventually
realize that there is a hidden crucifix, behind the green hanging, facing you (it is in profile if you
face directly the painting). This discloses a more profound religious thought to this apparently
profane, secular, painting : if you look at it facing it, you only see the surface of things, no
perspective (beauty, rich ornaments, might of man’s willpower) ; but if you contemplate, and learn to
see it correctly from another angle, you get to see the axis made by God, Death and Man (the latter
being you, the observer), and you find wisdom. Eventually, it seems to imply that reason, along with
art, can help one to find a moral way : this is a very modern stance.