INTRODUCTION
Shakespeare’s age is the latter part of the Renais-
sance, a period in Western culture that began during
the fourteenth century in Italy. The name Renaissance
(French for “rebirth”) describes both a renewed inter-
est in ancient Greek and Roman culture and a flour-
ishing of art, literature, and learning inspired by
that interest. The Renaissance was stimulated by the
remains of ancient civilizations and by a growth of
trade that brought Europeans into contact with one
another and with peoples of other parts of the world.
For example, the Venetian Marco Polo traveled back
and forth to China, which traded such items as silk
and gunpowder. The Europeans fought and traded with
Islamic societies, which possessed advanced learning
and technology and maintained libraries that had
preserved some Greek and Roman manuscripts.
European explorers also traveled to America and
other areas previously unknown to them. The ongoing
Renaissance was fueled by the Europeans’ discoveries,
not only of new lands, peoples, and products, but also
new ideas and inventions—in particular, the printing
press, which facilitated the dissemination of writings
and ideas and led to increased literacy and learning.
The Renaissance was accompanied by a steady but
sometimes dramatic decline in the monolithic hold of
the Catholic Church over Western Europe. For centu-
ries during the medieval period the Catholic Church
William Shakespeare’s Age
Harold branam
William Shakespeare’s plays have been performed in numer-
ous languages, and throughout the world. (Ridpath, John
Clark, Ridpath’s History of the World, 1901)
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