Augustan age and Rise of the novel
Eventi del 700 in Inghilterra e descrizione della novella e i vari tipi (2 pagine formato doc)
THE AUGUSTAN AGE (1714-1760)
The beginning of the Hanoverian dynasty
In 1714 queen Ann died without child and the next to the throne was the German George of Hanover, that became king as George I, starting the Hanoverian dynasty.
George I was made kink in order to prevent a return from Scotland of the exiled Catholic successors of James II. He was an unpopular king, because of his attachment to Germany: he couldn’t speak English, he didn’t know the UK’s culture and he didn’t want to live in England, so he went back to Germany. At this point Parliament thought that was better to elect a politic man that could help the king, so Robert Walpole became the first minister. Walpole was a Whig very able minister, a very good politician, and started the tradition of the ‘cabinet’, because he chose a group of ministers to consult about important decisions.
Even if he was accused of corruption because of this practice, he improved the economy of England. He had this office during the reign of George I and George II, but in 1757 he was substituted by William Pitt, the Elder. He understood that England had to found new trades, for this reason he supported the mercantilist policy, improving the mercantile fleet and the colonial expansion. British supremacy was confirmed by the victory in the Seven Years’ War against France, which started In 1756. It was a colonial war not fought in England, but in the colonies and was important for England because it won the control of new lands in India, an important territory because was rich in spices and silk, and in the North of America.
The Augustan Age
The Augustan Age started in the puritan period, in which the middle class is very important and took its name from the first Roman Emperor Augustus, whose reign was characterized by great political stability, thanks to his Pax. In fact also in this period there was a stable climate that allowed new social classes to start becoming influential. The Augustan Age was characterized by the Enlightenment, a philosophical, scientific and rational movement, that arose in Europe and refused the middle ages that believed in magic and superstition.