The new market for translated texts created an urgent demand for individuals capable of reading the ancient languages. The “rediscovery” of these languages and the advent of printing allowed access to knowledge not only secular (the pagan Classics) but also sacred (the Bible in its original languages). Scholars in Italy, Holland and elsewhere perfected the Latin of Cicero and learned Greek and Hebrew. Translations of ancient texts exploded in the 15th century. But during James’ reign, they were expressed in a very different forum: translation. Eventually, in the 1640s, these bitter disputes would become catalysts of the English Civil War. The Anglican Church was thus under attack from Puritans and Calvinists seeking to do away with bishops and their hierarchy. Elizabeth, as Queen, affirmed the legitimacy of her father Henry VIII’s Anglican Church, but maintained a settlement by which Protestants and Puritans were allowed to practice their own varieties of the religion. Just about 50 years before he came to power, Queen Elizabeth I’s half-sister, Queen Mary I (“Bloody Mary”), a Catholic, had executed nearly 250 Protestants during her short reign. He inherited a contentious religious situation.
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