The Renaissance was considered a time of renewal in art, philosophy, and scholarship. But in Elizabethan England, there were many upheavals in society that were not compatible with this "rebirth" in thinking and expression.
Sir Walter Raleigh and the earl of Northumberland, Lord Henry Percy, led a group of intellectuals, courtiers and educated commoners, that included mathematicians, astronomers, voyagers, philosophers and poets. The group was kept in secrecy because The School of Night dared to discuss new and inventive ideas that frightened authorities.
Who were these select individuals that dared to think beyond prescribed ideas? The group included Thomas Harriot, nicknamed the "Wizard Earl," for his passion with experimenting with chemistry; Christopher Marlowe, controversial poet and playwright; John Florio, accomplished linguist, lexicographer and translator of Montaigne's works; and John Dee, hermetic astrologer who often counseled Queen Elizabeth.
In order to understand the secrecy of this group of individuals, it is important to reflect on the times. As in many societal conflicts, the church, the state, and intellectual freedom were all bound together in a bid for supremacy over what citizens could do or say.
The School of Night seemed to deepen the already wide schism between scientific thought and church dogma. Fearing the interest in scientific discovery that displaced the geocentric concept of Ptolemy - which stated that the static Earth was the center of the universe which the sun orbits, Ecclesiastical authorities were in the forefront of staunching scientific inquiry, sometimes brutally so. Church dogma upheld this earth-centered viewpoint as reality, citing Holy Scripture from the Bible as proof.
Some members of the School of Night, such as Christopher Marlowe, were discredited as atheists, a dangerous slander back in the Elizabethan era. In this time period the word had a broader connotation that it does today. Most Elizabethans used the term to mean immoral or corrupt, or even nonconformist.
And because of the breaking away from the Catholic Church starting with Henry VIII, England was in a vulnerable position in regards to the rest of Europe that practiced Catholicism, in particular, Spain and Italy – two countries that would have liked to overthrow Elizabeth and install a Catholic monarch. In reaction to this, the Queen and her counsel were in constant fear of too much freedom of thought and expression - radical new ideas might destabilize the monarchy.
Yet Raleigh was one of the queen's favorites, and although Elizabeth favored scholarship and great literary works, she walked a fine line between what might destabilize England, and what might promote England as a great literary and intellectual power. And although England stood in fear of Italy, the Italian Renaissance was highly revered.
Did Queen Elizabeth know of the School of Night? She may have. There was not too much Elizabeth was not privy to in her realm, thanks to the extensive spy network develop by Sir Francis Walsingham.
And like the queen, the School of Night walked a fine line between literary and scientific progress and the constant fear of condemnation by church and state authorities. But because of the dedication of its members, this secret society in the Elizabethan era was able to able to induce and promote this turbulent "rebirth."
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