Religion & Entertainment
A drawing of a performance of one of Shakespeare's plays during the RenaissanceChurch was an important element in people’s lives during the Renaissance; entertainment, such as music, was incorporated into the church. Patronage, which was support, financial aid and encouragement that kings, popes and the wealthy provided to artists, was “broadened to include the Catholic Church [and] Protestant churches and courts…all were sources of income for composers”.17 Religious festivals were also a large source of entertainment for people in Europe, during the Renaissance-era; there were Catholic and Protestant festivals for various holidays, some of which included: Christmas, Easter, and Lent. In Venice, Italy, there were many large, elaborate festivals which many people took part of; “Venetian pageants and rituals honoured Church feasts, especially those of Holy Week and Easter”.18 Another source of entertainment was literature or plays; some of the most famous Renaissance-era plays came from William Shakespeare. In many of Shakespeare’s plays, he has religious symbolism or connotations within his texts; Hamlet refers to the deeply divided Europe in the sixteenth century, regarding religion. Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Measure for Measure, also have some religious backgrounds in their texts.19 Religion was embedded in Renaissance society, especially regarding entertainment; through music, plays, and festivals, many of them had religious undertones or were done for religious reasons.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Arkenberg, Rebecca. “Music in the Renaissance.” Met Museum, October 2002. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm.
18 Mulryne, J.R. “Festivals in Italy.” The British Library, March 31, 2005. https://www.bl.uk/treasures/festivalbooks/italy.html
19 Cummings, Brian. “The Reformation in Shakespeare.” The British Library, March 15, 2016. https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/the-reformation-in-shakespeare.
