III.1 - Thomas Paynell, The Despising of the World (1532)

Summary

Each entry in Part III represents a salient aspect of the death arts in Renaissance England’s humanistically orientated publications, from Tudor times to the co-regency of William III and Mary II; from the veneration of the classics, sententiously sprinkled throughout original treatises and literary exercises, to a more vitalist worldview where experimental science and pragmatic philosophy would hold sway. Death played a vital role in Renaissance humanism, and archeological discoveries sparked renewed interest in old sarcophagi, tomb sculptures, and inscriptions, consistent with the general effort to reconstruct a body of knowledge from long-dead civilizations otherwise consigned to oblivion. Part of this growing interest involved filtering and repackaging the pagan classics. Consistent with the humanist impulse to extend the boundaries of what can be known and accomplished was an ever-widening view of the world occasioned by mercantile voyages aimed principally at opening trade routes and maintaining outposts; and, correlatively, the ruthless enforcing of the colonial project when subduing people from other lands and cultures was deemed expedient.