In William Shakespeare's 1601 play, Richard II, the ageing John of Gaunt has a speech in which he expresses both his love for England and his worries about the nation's future. Some of its lines – such as 'This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,/This Earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,/This other Eden, demi-paradise ... This precious stone set in a silver sea' – aptly sum up how patriotic Elizabethan Englishmen see their country, which in the 16th century is an embattled island, threatened by invasion from without and rebellion from within.

Kingship and kinship

Most English people believe that the monarch is anointed by God and has to be obeyed at all costs. For this reason, the type of religion that the monarch chooses is followed by most subjects.

Politics are really personal, and are affected by the character of the king or queen, and by the temperament of aristocrats, known as 'overmighty subjects'. England is ruled by a small number of powerful families, and family jealousies and rivalries give political conflicts a bitter edge.

Of crucial importance is the ability of royal wives to bear children – particularly of the male variety. Because Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, does not bear him a son after 18 years of marriage, he breaks with Rome and provokes the change from Catholicism to Protestantism known as the Reformation. Because his second wife Anne Boleyn also does not have a son, Henry accuses her of adultery and has her executed.

The inability of the Catholic Mary I (Catherine of Aragon's daughter) to have any children at all means that England becomes Protestant when her younger sister, Elizabeth I, a Protestant, inherits the throne in 1558.

Humanism and hymns

Although, at the start of the 16th century, England is an insular nation, an island dangling on the edge of Europe, continental trends do affect the intellectual and cultural life of the country. Of prime importance is the Renaissance, an intellectual movement in which scholars rediscover the ideas of ancient Greece and Rome.

The new spirit of humanism results in works of art – such as the paintings of Holbein and the plays of Shakespeare – that put humans at the centre of the world and examine what makes them tick. An intellectual such as Sir Thomas More attacks stale traditional ideas. This intellectual ferment, in which old medieval theories are questioned, leads to the desire to reform the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, which many people think is run by corrupt clergy and lazy monks, who just promote superstitious ideas.

But despite the preaching of many reformers, nothing happens until Henry VIII decides to divorce his first wife. But although he proclaims himself the supreme head of the English Church, he only makes small reforms.

Under his son, Edward VI, a devout Protestant, much deeper reforms are made, partly in response to a growing grassroots movement of evangelical Christians inspired by the teachings of European reformers such Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin.

When, however, the Catholic Mary I becomes queen, these reforms are reversed and Catholicism becomes the official religion. 'Bloody Mary' begins a counter-reformation that results in more than 300 Protestants being burnt at the stake. Under Elizabeth I, the official religion is once again Protestantism, and fear of Catholic plots becomes a central feature of politics.

Having grown up during her half-sister Mary's reign, Elizabeth is all too aware of the risks of religious fanaticism and decides early in her rule not 'to make windows into men's souls'. Instead, she tries to steer a middle course between the mass of conservative believers and the small band of radical reformers. The Anglican Church, which survives until modern times, is the result of this compromise.

Rogues and vagabonds

The main thing to remember about Tudor England is that the population doubles between the reigns of Henry VII and Elizabeth I. Along with this comes unemployment and rapid price inflation. During the 1530s, Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries results in, among other things, much Church land being put on the market, thousands of ex-monks being released into society and the end of career opportunities for well-off women who once lived in nunneries and monastic charity and welfare.

In 1566, London beggar Nicholas Jennings is caught with a bag of blood that he uses to paint fake injuries on his head. In a day, he makes 13s 2d – two weeks' workman's wages. He is severely punished. Beggars and vagrants are regularly put in cages or sent to London's Bridewell prison to be reformed by hard work. Although 16th-century England becomes increasingly rich, the population boom brings with it a dramatic rise in poverty and crime.

The main attempt to tackle these problems is the Poor Law Act, which in 1601 codifies previous Tudor legislation. This makes each parish responsible for its own poor, and parish vestries are authorised to raise a rate to pay for their relief. Care of the poor varies from place to place: in some areas, the homeless are housed in cottages or a poor house; in others, a dole in money or kind is given to poor people in their own homes.

More dangerous are itinerant 'rogues and vagabonds', who roam the highways begging and stealing. These are dealt with by savage punishments. Take care when travelling.

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