The Renaissance was like no other time in history. It was, as its name implies, a re-birth from the dark years of the Middle Ages, when knowledge and art and beauty were all suppressed and fear and ignorance prevailed in Europe. It was as if the beauty and creativity repressed by years of darkness suddenly burst forth. Some of history's greatest poets, playwright, explorers, inventors, and scholars lived during the sixteenth century.

Queen Elizabeth I helped make England a fertile ground for creativity, sponsoring such men as William Shakespeare, Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. Her reign was marked by an emphasis on fashion and manners, during which the sonnet was perfected and the play evolved into an art form. Parallel with the Renaissance was the Reformation, during which the Church of England was firmly established as an entity unto itself, separate not just from the Church of Rome, but from all other Protestant churches in Europe.