A. L. Rowse. The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 2000. 362 pp. $17.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-56663-315-4.

A. L. Rowse. The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Cultural Achievement. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 2000. 432 pp. $17.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-56663-316-1.

Reviewed by James H. Forse (Professor of History and Theatre, Bowling Green State University)
Published on H-Albion (April, 2002)

This two-volume paperback reissue of Rowse's two-volume Elizabethan Renaissance (first published 1971, 1972) is attractive and a quality printing job at a reasonable price. The illustrations are numerous and useful. But one must not be deceived by the sub-titles of the volumes. The Life of the Society is not a social history. Nor does it give a depiction of lifestyles of various ranks of society. To be sure the volume is full of interesting anecdotes about the colorful and interesting personalities of Elizabethan England, and purports to tell us of the attitudes and manners of all ranks of society about food, witches, sex and marriage, sports and leisure, but for the most part the focus throughout most of the book is upon the upper classes. For instance, Rowse states that child-marriages for family economic considerations were prevalent. Yet he fails to note that this practice was exclusively among the upper classes, and, as demographers have shown, the average age of marriage for most sixteenth-century English men and women was in the mid-twenties.

The Cultural Achievement, likewise, centers upon the elite, and its primary focus is literary. Discussions of Raleigh, Donne, Hooker, Harvey, Jonson, Marlowe, and above all Shakespeare are the meat of Rowse's notion of cultural achievement. And as such it almost seems that Elizabethan culture completely revolved around the London theatre. Yet even with this emphasis, there is little to tell us why there was such an appeal to theatre for that popular audience for whom Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare wrote. Nor is there discussion of the extremely commercial nature of the London theatre. To its credit, this volume too, is replete with interesting anecdotes Rowse has culled from his wide readings of Elizabethan sources.

Nonetheless, both volumes should be read (or re-read). They do serve to remind us that history has an appeal because it is about colorful and interesting people and events. Rowse's witty, and catty, observations about literary scholarship still have a ring of truth. And his contentiousness itself brought forth some good work from others if for no other reason than to react to Rowse's traditionalist interpretations. Sometimes we need to look back at where we were to give some direction to where we may be going.

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Citation: James H. Forse. Review of Rowse, A. L., The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society and Rowse, A. L., The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Cultural Achievement. H-Albion, H-Net Reviews. April, 2002.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=6173

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