Generations in History
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WEBSITE RESOURCE LIBRARY Generations in History Arthurian refinements. ENGLISH:( Thomas More, Thomas Linacre, (Hero, born 1433–1460) This generation grew up during John Colet, Cardinal Wolsey, Stephen Gardiner; England’s demoralizing retreat from France, an era of a Foreign: Michelangelo, Copernicus) rising pessimism and civil disorder. Raised amid elder hopes that they might save the kingdom, the Arthurians Reformation came of age with a civil war that did not end until (Prophet, born 1483–1511) This generation began life sur- 28-year-old Henry Tudor established his “new monar- rounded by the advantages of order and affluence. They chy.” Entering midlife, they closed ranks around a manly rebelled as youth, prompting first the colleges (in the new era of prosperity (led by wool exports), social dis- 1520s) and then an egocentric young king and his cipline (led by busy local magistrates), and strong cen- Parliament (in the 1530s) to join in a religious upheaval. tral government (led by the new Star Chamber). By the time passions cooled, the Catholic Church was Entering old age, they enclosed fields, printed books, liquidated, the clergy shattered, the masses armed with and planned voyages to the New World—securing a Bibles, and the Anglican faith unshackled from Rome. reputation for chivalric teamwork immortalized in In midlife, their insolence hardened into severe princi- Morte Darthur, their generation’s treasured epic. ple. With women figuring prominently, they became (ENGLISH: King Edward IV, King Henry VII, John “commonwealth” moralists, “family of love” mystics, Cabot, William Grocyn, John de Vere; Foreign: “Calvinist” (or “Romist”) proselytizers, and unrepen- Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher Columbus) tant martyrs burned or hanged for their heresies. Deep in elderhood, many lived to see the nation gravitate to Humanist the “Puritan Settlement” they had worked so long to (Artist, born 1461–1482) This generation passed a shel- inspire. (ENGLISH: King Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, tered childhood during a bloody civil war, many of the John Knox, Elizabeth Barton, William Tyndale, Nicholas elite attending safer schools abroad. Coming of age, they Ridley; Foreign: Martin Luther, John Calvin) understood their mission was to embellish the new order. As young adults, they became the “new Reprisal humanists”—Greek tutors, international scholars, bal- (Nomad, born 1512–1540) This generation spent child- lad-writing poets, law-trained prelates, and literate mer- hood amid religious frenzy and a widespread erosion of chants and yeomen. Hit during midlife by the social authority and came of age in a cynical, post-Awak- Reformation, they adjusted awkwardly. Some wrapped ening era of cut-throat politics and roller-coaster mar- themselves in Wolseyan opulence and refused to pay kets. They built a gritty young-adult reputation as attention. Others waffled. A few (like the famed “Man swaggering merchants, mercenaries, spies, and “sea-dog” for All Seasons”) exquisitely satirized the reigning privateers who pulled off stunning “reprisals” through hypocrisy, stood firm for the old order, and paid the luck and pluck. Entering midlife just as their Queen (a ultimate price. In old age, they were startled by a ruthless shrewd orphan herself ) squared off with Imperial Spain, new radicalism that overwhelmed their own gracious these daredevil adventurers knew how to “singe King VIRGINIA NEW YORK CALIFORNIA 9080 Eaton Park Road www.lifecourse.com • (866) 537-4999 Great Falls, VA 22066 Philip’s beard” while stealing his gold. Making simple Puritan appeals to national honor, they aged into worldly-wise (Prophet, born 1588–1617) This generation basked as elder stewards of English solidarity whose sacrifices children in the post-Armada peace. Overcome by spiri- made possible a glorious new era. (ENGLISH: Queen tual “conversions,” many came of age zealously denounc- Elizabeth I, Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Thomas ing the spiritual emptiness of their elders’ Jacobean Gresham, William Cecil Burghley, Francis Walshingham; achievements. While some later led England through a Foreign: Catherine de Medici, Michel de Montaigne) civil war that culminated in the beheading of King Charles I, others were called by God to lead a Great Elizabethan Migration to America. These young-adult “Puritans” (Hero, born 1541–1565) This generation benefited as established church-centered towns from Long Island to children from an explosive growth in academies intended Maine. In midlife, fearing the corrupting influence of to mold them into “perfect paragons” of civic achieve- the Old World on their own unconverted children, they ment and teamwork. Coming of age with the great wars turned from the “law of love” to the love of law. Their against Spain, they soldiered with dazzling valor and moral authority remained unchallenged through old courtly show. During their “Gloriana” midlife, they age, as they provided the elder die-hards of the great regulated commerce, explored overseas empires, built Indian Wars and the Glorious Revolution. (COLONIAL: stately country houses, pursued “new” science, and Anne Hutchinson, John Winthrop, Simon Bradstreet, wrote poetry that celebrated an orderly universe. Roger Williams, John Harvard, William Berkeley; Historian William Esler explains that “ambitious proj- Foreign: Oliver Cromwell, René Descartes) ects of breath-taking scope and grandeur” distinguished these “overreachers” from the “burned-out generation” Cavalier before them. In old age, many lived to see their hearty (Nomad, born 1618–1647) This generation grew up in an and expansive “Merrie England” repudiated by prickly- era of religious upheaval and family collapse. In New conscienced sons and daughters. (ENGLISH: William England, they were the isolated offspring of spiritual Shakespeare, Walter Raleigh, Phillip Sidney, Francis Vere, zealots; in the Chesapeake colonies, they were the Francis Bacon, Edward Coke; Foreign: Cervantes, indentured English youth whose parents’ death or pov- Galileo Galilei) erty consigned them to disease-ridden ships bound for the tobacco fields. Notoriously violent and uneducated, Parliamentary they came of age taking big risks—many dying young, (Artist, born 1566–1587) This generation passed through others becoming the most renowned merchants, trap- childhood in an era of foreign threats and war. Coming pers, mercenaries, rebels, and pirates of their century. In of age with the dawn of imperial peace and prosperity, midlife, they struggled bravely against threats to their they built impeccable credentials in law, scholarship, communities from Old World tyrants and New World religion, and arts and crafts guilds. In country houses, native tribes. As politically-tainted elders, they seldom they swelled the influence of the newly literate gentry. protested the vendettas (such as the Salem witchcraft At Court, they became apologists for the byzantine frenzy) that mainly targeted their own peers. policies of James I. In Parliament, they promoted polite- (COLONIAL: Increase Mather, William Stoughton, ness and insisted on precedent, due process, and full Benjamin Church, Metacomet, William Kidd, Nathaniel disclosure. In midlife, their incrementalist ethos was Bacon; Foreign: King Louis XIV, John Locke) shaken by younger calls for radical reform. Their Arminians argued yet resisted; their Parliamentarians Glorious applauded yet hedged. Eloquently indecisive in speech (Hero, born 1648–1673) This generation entered a pro- and sermon, they watched England veer toward a spiral tected childhood of tax-supported schools and new laws of hysteria and violence they felt powerless to stop. discouraging the “kidnapping” of young servants. After (ENGLISH: King James I, John Donne, William Laud, proving their valor in the Indian Wars and triumphing Inigo Jones, George Villiers, John Selden; Foreign: in the Glorious Revolution, they were rewarded with Claudio Monteverdi, Peter Paul Rubens) electoral office at a young age. As young adults, they took pride in the growing political, commercial, and scientific achievements of England—and viewed the 2 of 6 Generations in History passion and poverty of their parents as embarrassments Liberty to be overcome. In midlife, they designed insurance, (Nomad, born 1724–1741) This generation struggled for paper money, and public works—and (in the South) parental comfort in an era of Hogarthian child neglect. founded a stable slave-owning oligarchy. As worldly Coming of age with an economic bust, land pressure, elders, they received the colonies’ first war-service pen- and rising immigration, they cut a swath of crime and sions and land grants—while taking offense at the spir- disorder. As young adults, they joined the rough-hewn itual zeal of youth. (COLONIAL: Cotton Mather, John Green Mountain, Paxton, and Liberty Boys—and Wise, William Randolph, Robert “King” Carter, Hannah became the unthanked footsoldiers and daring priva- Dustin, Peter Schuyler: Foreign: William of Orange, teers of the French and Indian War. Proclaiming “Don’t Czar Peter the Great) Tread on Me” and “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death,” they entered midlife supplying the bravest patriots Enlightenment (including most signers of the Declaration of (Artist, born 1674–1700) This generation grew up as pro- Independence) as well as the worst traitors of the tected children when families were close, youth risk Revolution. As elders, they led with caution, suspicious discouraged, and good educations and well-connected of grand causes, while their “Anti-Federalists” restrained