0:00:06 > 0:00:09'In the sixth year of Elizabeth I's reign,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13'a young ambassador was summoned to the Queen's palace
0:00:13 > 0:00:18'for what turned out to be an unexpectedly intimate encounter.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25'The ambassador was led through a series of rooms.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29'Each one took him closer to the heart of the palace,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32'and to the heart of the Queen.'
0:00:35 > 0:00:38First he was led through the public rooms,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40where the general court gathered.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Then he passed through into the Presence Chamber,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50which was for select courtiers only.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59And then the Queen herself emerged and led our man,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02astonishingly, into her bedchamber.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11Once inside, they talked of politics for a while and then
0:01:11 > 0:01:15she led him over to a little cabinet, and opened it.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Inside the cabinet were some mysterious objects
0:01:21 > 0:01:23enclosed in paper.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Elizabeth picked out one of these objects.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28She carefully unwrapped it.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And then she revealed to the ambassador one of her most
0:01:32 > 0:01:37treasured possessions - a tiny, exquisite painting.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46What the Queen showed the young man was a miniature -
0:01:46 > 0:01:51a small, precious portrait meant for her eyes only.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57'Discreet, private, even intimate.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00'Like so much in the Elizabethan Renaissance,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04'this was an art that looked inwards -
0:02:04 > 0:02:07'the art of a people obsessed with secrets.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14'This was an age when poets wrote in codes,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17'when artists filled paintings with mysterious symbols...
0:02:23 > 0:02:27'..and even buildings spoke in riddles.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31'In this series, I argue that
0:02:31 > 0:02:36'Britain had a renaissance as exciting as anything in Europe.'
0:02:38 > 0:02:39A renaissance with its own style...
0:02:41 > 0:02:43..sometimes eccentric...
0:02:44 > 0:02:45..often dazzling...
0:02:47 > 0:02:49..and peculiarly British.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52And in the Elizabethan age,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55we discovered a new sense of who we were...
0:02:56 > 0:02:59..and our place in the world.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'The year 1564, the year the ambassador called on the Queen,
0:03:26 > 0:03:31'was a special year in the history of the Renaissance.'
0:03:33 > 0:03:35It was the year that Michelangelo -
0:03:35 > 0:03:38the last great figure of the Florentine Renaissance - died.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41And it was also the year that William Shakespeare -
0:03:41 > 0:03:45the greatest figure of the British Renaissance - was born.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49Now, it was a coincidence, of course, but it was a revealing
0:03:49 > 0:03:53coincidence and, for me, it symbolises a baton being passed -
0:03:53 > 0:03:57the moment when the British finally acquired the confidence
0:03:57 > 0:03:59to take the Renaissance their own way.
0:04:02 > 0:04:061n 1564, the country was at a crossroads.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Isolated in Catholic Europe,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Protestant England cut its ties with the continent
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and turned in on itself.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20'And it was not long
0:04:20 > 0:04:24'before a distinctive native art form emerged.'
0:04:26 > 0:04:27In that year,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31a dashing young man was working as an apprentice in London.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35His name was Nicholas Hilliard.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38He would become the first great British painter...
0:04:40 > 0:04:42..although he didn't start out as one.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Nicholas Hilliard was from a family of goldsmiths.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53His grandfather was a goldsmith. His father was a goldsmith.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57His uncle was a goldsmith. Two of his brothers were goldsmiths.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00He married the daughter of a goldsmith.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04And not wanting to rock the boat, Hilliard also became a goldsmith.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Hilliard was apprenticed to the Queen's personal jeweller.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18And when he began to paint miniatures,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22he brought the painstaking precision of the goldsmith to his work.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26He set up a small studio in the city,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and before long, the capital's guildsmen, lawyers
0:05:29 > 0:05:34and aristocrats were clamouring to have him paint their portraits.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39For Hilliard's intricate work was head and shoulders
0:05:39 > 0:05:45above the competition, and unlike anything seen on the continent.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49He was very skilful, very talented.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52He was the first portrait miniaturist to really create
0:05:52 > 0:05:55jewels on the painted surface.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57No miniaturist had done that before him.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00So, Alan, do you want to show us what's in your box?
0:06:00 > 0:06:05'Alan Derbyshire at London's Victoria And Albert Museum knows
0:06:05 > 0:06:09'Hilliard's techniques like the back of his own hand.'
0:06:09 > 0:06:13So this is a portrait miniature by Nicholas Hilliard.
0:06:13 > 0:06:14Wow. She's smiling at us.
0:06:14 > 0:06:15Unknown woman,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18we don't know who the sitter is, and we can place it under
0:06:18 > 0:06:21a microscope and have a look at the techniques that Hilliard used.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24This is exciting. Oh, and it's coming up there.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28I think one of the key things Hilliard did when he was painting
0:06:28 > 0:06:31these miniatures, he has almost a three-dimensionality to them.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34You can imagine in the 16th century, when someone picked up a miniature,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37they would have held it in the hand and turned it
0:06:37 > 0:06:40with candlelight or light coming from a window and got
0:06:40 > 0:06:44a real sense of the structure and the texture of the miniature.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47'What Alan finds most striking about Hilliard's
0:06:47 > 0:06:50'pictures are the exquisite painted jewels.'
0:06:51 > 0:06:55This is the earring. And that's a pearl, a drop pearl.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58And you can see, it's been created using lead white.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02The black dot would actually have been a silver highlight.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06He must have had incredible eyesight and an incredibly steady hand.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08I think so. I mean, sometimes I wonder whether
0:07:08 > 0:07:12some of those touches were placed using magnification of some kind.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14And here we've got what remains of a ruby.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17So do you think you've figured out how he painted his rubies?
0:07:17 > 0:07:19We think we've got a good idea, yeah.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23The first thing he would have done is take some silver paint.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Why would your foundation be silver?
0:07:25 > 0:07:27It's going to act as a reflector.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30So it gets the light shimmering through the jewel.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Exactly, yeah. And then we're going to burnish it, using a burnisher
0:07:33 > 0:07:35made from a little animal tooth.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41So, now we need to take the body of the ruby.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46That's made by mixing turpentine resin with the pigments.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Silly me thought that Hilliard's miniatures were painted
0:07:51 > 0:07:53- with paintbrushes. He's got a needle as well.- Yep.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57So you're just dropping it on top of the silver.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01So what you might see as well is that you're getting a little
0:08:01 > 0:08:07tail with the varnish, so that's gone back into a nice, globular shape now.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10So can we take a look at your handiwork under the microscope?
0:08:10 > 0:08:11We can.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14It's not going to be as good as Hilliard's, but we can have a look.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16That is incredibly impressive, actually.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22And Hilliard was clearly a very clever man.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28'Hilliard's miniatures were not intended for public display.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33'They were private gifts, exchanged between lovers,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35'held close to the heart.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38'And Hilliard filled them
0:08:38 > 0:08:42'with a secret symbolism that the Elizabethans adored.'
0:08:44 > 0:08:49Now, this is one of Hilliard's most perplexing images.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52It shows a man, a very elegant young man,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56clutching an anonymous hand from the clouds.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Now, we don't know who he is,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01although virtually every man in Elizabethan England has been
0:09:01 > 0:09:05a candidate, including, actually, the young William Shakespeare.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08But we're pretty certain about its meaning, that this
0:09:08 > 0:09:11miniature is a gesture of devotion.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16There is a Latin inscription on it and it reads,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19"Attici amoris ergo."
0:09:19 > 0:09:21"Eloquent because of love."
0:09:23 > 0:09:25Now, it's probably some kind of in-joke.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28It's probably this man saying to the owner of that hand,
0:09:28 > 0:09:33"I'm crazy about you and I can't stop talking about it".
0:09:34 > 0:09:39'But Hilliard's most recognisable miniature is surely this one -
0:09:39 > 0:09:44'Young Man Amongst Roses, painted in 1587.'
0:09:46 > 0:09:52Now, I'm going to make a confession. If I could steal any artwork
0:09:52 > 0:09:55from any art gallery, it would probably be this one.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Like so many of these images, it is a declaration of love -
0:10:00 > 0:10:03this man is clutching his heart.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Now, we don't know for certain who he is,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10but we're pretty sure who he's in love with.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12You just have to follow the clues.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17So he is surrounded by white roses,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and white roses were the flowers of the Queen.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23And he is wearing black and white clothes -
0:10:23 > 0:10:26a rather fetching black fur jacket, some white tights -
0:10:26 > 0:10:30and black and white were the colours of the Queen.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34So, this man is in love with Queen Elizabeth.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41But there's a problem - he is clearly in his early twenties,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44and when this picture was painted, Elizabeth was not only in her
0:10:44 > 0:10:48fifties, but, Virgin Queen, famously unavailable.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52And that's why, at the top, there's a motto in Latin that reads,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55"My praised faith brings suffering."
0:10:56 > 0:10:58In short, he's lovesick.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06Hilliard's little miniatures are a world away from the extravagant
0:11:06 > 0:11:11frescoes and vast statues of the Italian Renaissance.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Intimate, private, coded,
0:11:15 > 0:11:19they have a distinctly British discretion.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31But not everyone wanted to be discreet.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34The Elizabethans didn't just want coded portraits
0:11:34 > 0:11:39in their pockets - increasingly, they wanted them on their walls.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Elizabethan portraits have always had a bad press.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Again and again, they've been compared to work by the great
0:11:53 > 0:11:58Italian masters, and, again and again, they've been found wanting.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02They've repeatedly been branded provincial, primitive,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04and second-rate. Yet I think
0:12:04 > 0:12:08they were, in their own way, masterpieces of the Renaissance.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11We just need to look at them differently.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18These were pictures for Britain's newly rich.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28And neither artists nor subjects cared if they looked life-like.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Take the Cholmondeley sisters.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38They look like they've just been assembled from a flat-pack.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45But for the artist, it was pattern, not personality, that counted.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52The Elizabethans also crammed their portraits with Latin
0:12:52 > 0:12:55inscriptions and arcane symbols.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58The results were often very odd.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04This picture celebrates the marriage of two devout Christians...
0:13:04 > 0:13:06complete with special guest.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15'But, above all, Elizabethan portraits told stories -
0:13:15 > 0:13:19'the stories of their Renaissance sitters.'
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Now, I want to ask you about this one. This is one of the most
0:13:25 > 0:13:28unusual Elizabethan paintings that survives.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32This is a portrait of Henry Unton, who is an ambassador
0:13:32 > 0:13:35and a soldier under Elizabeth I's reign.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38- With a very big head. - A huge great head.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41But I think what's lovely about this picture is that it's
0:13:41 > 0:13:44commissioned by his wife after this death.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48It's a visual obituary, if you like, of Unton's life.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52It starts off right down here, and he's being born here
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and this is his mother. And then you next see him
0:13:55 > 0:13:59when he goes up to Oxford, and there he appears again.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Is this him sitting in the window doing his studies?
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Yes, he's at Oriel College in Oxford in the 1570s.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08And then he goes to Venice, across the Alps,
0:14:08 > 0:14:13but, later on, in the 1580s, he fights in the Low Countries, and
0:14:13 > 0:14:17there is an encampment, and a battle fighting with the Earl of Leicester.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22And then he becomes ambassador to France, and you see France here.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24- So this top bit, this is like his CV?- It is absolutely.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27This is all of the wonderful public work that he's done
0:14:27 > 0:14:29in the service of the Crown.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32And what you see in this little room here is this tragic scene
0:14:32 > 0:14:36of Unton's death, and he's in his deathbed.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38And this is the hearse, and the horses,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42which are draped in black, as you can see here, and it's coming
0:14:42 > 0:14:46into the house, and then you have the funeral procession along here.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49All these remarkably haunting figures in black.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53This isn't just a painted portrait, it's a painted biography, isn't it?
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- Exactly.- And that's why, when people criticise Elizabethan portraits,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and they say they're not creating great likenesses,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00this is... This is a different kind of likeness,
0:15:00 > 0:15:02but it's an extraordinary likeness,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05because we've got his whole life told in the space of just one panel.
0:15:05 > 0:15:06And it's absolutely charming.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10When would you get this much detail, visual detail, about someone's life?
0:15:10 > 0:15:13You often hear through letters and things what people did,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15but actually seeing this is absolutely extraordinary,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18because it captures a real flavour of the Elizabethan period.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33'But, for me, the most intriguing of all Elizabethan portraits
0:15:33 > 0:15:35'is virtually unknown.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41'For years, this beguiling Renaissance image has been locked
0:15:41 > 0:15:45'away in the stores of the Northampton Art Gallery.'
0:15:47 > 0:15:51So this is a portrait of one of Queen Elizabeth's favourite
0:15:51 > 0:15:54courtiers, Sir Christopher Hatton.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57But it's very much more than a portrait.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Because Hatton, with his marvellous moustache,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01of which I'm very jealous,
0:16:01 > 0:16:07is surrounded by a complex array of figures, inscriptions and emblems.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10So, up here on the right, that is a coat of arms,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13and it has, if you look closely, the golden hind - that's where
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Francis Drake got the name for his famous ship.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21And down here, we have an artist painting a painting of Hatton,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24so there's a kind of picture within a picture here.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28So, at first sight, this painting seems to be a great big
0:16:28 > 0:16:30British Renaissance status symbol.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34But it's more than that,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38because this painting isn't just a portrait of Hatton's present -
0:16:38 > 0:16:41it's also a portrait of his future.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Surrounding Hatton are personifications of the seven
0:16:45 > 0:16:50planets, and, outside them, the 12 signs of the zodiac.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54So this is essentially Hatton's horoscope.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57And his destiny is very promising indeed,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59because underneath here, an inscription,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03the speech bubble, if you like, reads, "destined for eternity".
0:17:05 > 0:17:07But don't be fooled by the optimism,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09because this great confident image of a Renaissance man
0:17:09 > 0:17:11is completely overturned...
0:17:11 > 0:17:13when you look at the other side.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29So, here on the back is a figure of Father Time, Tempus,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33and underneath him are the three ages of life.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38On the left, youth is represented by a dancing couple -
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Hatton was a famously good dancer, perhaps the best in England.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47Middle age is represented by a woman unrolling the thread of life,
0:17:47 > 0:17:52and on the right, death is represented by an urn.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55But even more astonishing is the inscription down here,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57because at the very end of that inscription,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00the painting reveals its true purpose.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04"Hoc me vestibulo posuit...debuit hoc pigros sollicitae viros".
0:18:04 > 0:18:09"I was put in this room as a lesson to rouse lazy men"!
0:18:09 > 0:18:13And this painting would probably have hung in the entrance hall
0:18:13 > 0:18:16of Hatton's house, and it would have greeted his visitors
0:18:16 > 0:18:18with the message, "Come on, guys, seize the day,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21"you haven't got long before you die."
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Hatton's portrait proves that British Renaissance painting
0:18:27 > 0:18:31was far from primitive and backwards.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33It was rich, and clever,
0:18:33 > 0:18:40and sophisticated - art for an urbane and educated society.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51'But the Elizabethans loved complexity in all art forms.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54'They were obsessed with double meanings, treble meanings.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58'And they revelled in riddles, puzzles and wordplay.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03'Cleverness permeated absolutely everything they did.'
0:19:05 > 0:19:10So this is a poem by the celebrated Elizabethan writer Sir John Davies.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14And it essentially describes the British Renaissance itself as
0:19:14 > 0:19:18a golden age that is healing all the world's problems.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21So, who is responsible for this golden age?
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Who is responsible for this Renaissance?
0:19:25 > 0:19:29There's a code written in this poem that provides us with the answer.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34All you have to do is look at the first letters of every single
0:19:34 > 0:19:38sentence and they spell "Elisabetha Regina",
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Queen Elizabeth.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Davies's code was not just a display of intelligence.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It was a pledge of allegiance.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57But Elizabeth's Golden Age had a darker side.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Clever codes began to be used to conceal things from the Queen
0:20:02 > 0:20:04and her agents.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13And one Elizabethan rebel turned disguise into an art form.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20Thomas Tresham was rich, well educated, and well connected.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23He was undoubtedly one of the cleverest men in England,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and he could easily have been one of its most powerful.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28But there was a catch.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33Tresham was also a devout and unwavering Catholic.
0:20:33 > 0:20:34And he paid the price for it.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40With Catholic Spain threatening to invade Protestant England,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44English Catholics became potential enemies of the state.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49'For most of his adult life, Tresham lived under surveillance.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53'And he spent the best part of 20 years in prison.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57'Yet Thomas Tresham's will could not be broken.'
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Now, in the many years he spent locked up in prison, away
0:21:03 > 0:21:08from his home, away from his family, Thomas Tresham was busy planning,
0:21:08 > 0:21:14drawing, and plotting an audacious and dangerous act of defiance.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16It was an act that, in my opinion,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19would result in some of the most fascinating
0:21:19 > 0:21:23and perplexing architecture of the entire Renaissance.
0:21:31 > 0:21:37'When Tresham returned home from prison in 1593, he started to
0:21:37 > 0:21:41'build this lodge for his rabbit warrener in a secret
0:21:41 > 0:21:43'corner of his estate in Northamptonshire.'
0:21:45 > 0:21:49But it wasn't really a lodge for his rabbit warrener.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53It was a stunningly elaborate architectural code that
0:21:53 > 0:21:57spelled out his Catholic defiance.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Now, there's one instantly recognisable thing about this
0:22:01 > 0:22:04building. It's obsessed with the number three.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07So, it's triangular, so it has three sides.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11And each of these sides, each of these walls, is 33 feet long.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15There are three sets of windows, and each of these windows is constructed
0:22:15 > 0:22:19out of the three-sided triangle and a three-parted trefoil.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23There are three storeys, and on top of these storeys is a roof,
0:22:23 > 0:22:29constructed of three gables, each of which has three sides.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34And in case all of that escaped you, here above the door is
0:22:34 > 0:22:39the Latin phrase, "Tres Testimonium Dant," and that means,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41"the number three bears witness".
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Now why this obsession with the number three?
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Well, it could be just a play on words.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Tresham's nickname was Tres. But I think it's more than that,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54because three is also the number of the Holy Trinity.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03God himself was threefold - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09But this wasn't just a Christian Trinity. It was a Catholic Trinity.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13Throughout the building are coded references to Catholic beliefs
0:23:13 > 0:23:14and rituals.
0:23:15 > 0:23:21The letters beneath the angels are a secret code for Catholic prayers and
0:23:21 > 0:23:27the chimney is filled with symbols of the forbidden Catholic mass.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Tresham wrote his Catholic faith deep into the fabric
0:23:44 > 0:23:45of this building.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48It really is one of the most cryptic structures in Britain.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50It is filled with riddles,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54secrets, codes, many of which are yet to be deciphered.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57But, for Tresham, this was only the beginning.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13After yet another spell in prison,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Tresham embarked on an even more ambitious building project
0:24:17 > 0:24:22in Northamptonshire, a retreat for himself and his family.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27It may well be my favourite building in the country.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31It is called Lyveden New Bield.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Now, in many ways, the most remarkable thing about this building
0:24:38 > 0:24:41is that Tresham never finished it.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45In September 1605, construction work here ceased,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47and it never started again.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51So, what we're actually looking at is essentially a building site -
0:24:51 > 0:24:54a Renaissance masterpiece that's been held in a kind of
0:24:54 > 0:24:57suspended animation for more than 400 years.
0:25:03 > 0:25:09But despite its incomplete state, Lyveden is still packed with hidden
0:25:09 > 0:25:13religious meanings, many of which relate to the Passion of Christ.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19So all around this ground floor frieze, there are these emblems and
0:25:19 > 0:25:24all of them refer to the Passion of Christ. So, here we have the 30
0:25:24 > 0:25:27silver pieces surrounding the money bag - that was the money that Judas
0:25:27 > 0:25:30was paid to betray Christ. There are the spears, the lantern -
0:25:30 > 0:25:33these were the things that were used to arrest Christ
0:25:33 > 0:25:34in the Garden of Gethsemane.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38There's the garment that was taken by the Roman soldiers.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Finally, there is the crucifix,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45with the ladder, with the nails,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48with all those things that were used to kill Christ.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51So we have the whole story of the Passion
0:25:51 > 0:25:54told around the perimeter of this building.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Above the frieze are inscriptions in Latin
0:26:01 > 0:26:04that celebrate Christ's sacrifice.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06But this is only to scratch the surface.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09As with the Triangular Lodge before it,
0:26:09 > 0:26:13the meaning of this building is embedded within its structure.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18Now, this building is made up of five equal squares,
0:26:18 > 0:26:20and that was for a reason.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Five was the number of wounds that Christ suffered -
0:26:23 > 0:26:27two in the hands, two in the feet, one in the abdomen.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30But Thomas Tresham took it further. Take a look at this bay window.
0:26:30 > 0:26:37There are five sides, and each of these sides is five feet long.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Five times five is 25
0:26:39 > 0:26:42and 25th was Christ's birthday.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50And from the air, the meaning of Tresham's building is complete.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55Based on the form of a cross, its shape reminds the heavens
0:26:55 > 0:26:59that its owner is always thinking about the Crucifixion.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Lyveden New Bield would have been one of the great Renaissance
0:27:06 > 0:27:09buildings in Europe.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13But Tresham's unlucky life came to an unfortunate end.
0:27:15 > 0:27:23On 11th September, 1605, he died, in terrible pain, and in huge debt.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27And that is why he never finished his masterpiece.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Thomas Tresham had a miserable life, but for me he embodies
0:27:36 > 0:27:41everything that's wonderful about the British Renaissance -
0:27:41 > 0:27:46its cleverness, its quirkiness, its desire to hide rather than reveal.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51And, perhaps above all, its stubborn but brilliant rebelliousness.
0:28:05 > 0:28:10Tresham was one of the most ingenious men in Britain,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12but he was not the most ingenious.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18That prize should surely go to a Welshman called John Dee,
0:28:18 > 0:28:23the man who would lead the country out of its isolation.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28Dee was what one might call a Renaissance man - mathematician,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32astrologer, scientist, secret agent.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36And he also liked to dabble in the supernatural.
0:28:38 > 0:28:44John Dee is famous today for his magic, for his crystal ball,
0:28:44 > 0:28:48and for his apparent ability to communicate with angels.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Now, I personally don't believe a word of all that,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56but Dee was a brilliant showman.
0:28:58 > 0:28:59'As a young man,
0:28:59 > 0:29:04'Dee staged a production of a Greek play at Trinity College, Cambridge.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08'His opening scene was unforgettable.'
0:29:09 > 0:29:12The seats were packed with students and academics,
0:29:12 > 0:29:14all waiting for the show to start.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17And, by God, did it start.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23The lights revealed an actor climbing on to
0:29:23 > 0:29:27the back of a huge mechanical beetle.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29And if that wasn't enough,
0:29:29 > 0:29:33the beetle then took off and flew around the room.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39The audience must have thought it was magic, but Dee had
0:29:39 > 0:29:43actually produced the illusion with mirrors, ropes and pulleys.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48And Dee's ingenuity would not go unnoticed.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56He soon became an advisor to the Queen herself.
0:29:56 > 0:30:03And on 28th November, 1577, he brought her an astounding proposal.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09Today, it's kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Now, Dee's proposal would be of momentous importance
0:30:13 > 0:30:14to British history.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17It would come to define our national ambitions as well
0:30:17 > 0:30:20as our identity for the best part of 400 years.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24And it would prove to be a turning point in the British Renaissance.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Dee outlined his proposal in a book.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35And the title page, which Dee himself designed,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39cloaked that proposal in yet another fiendish Renaissance code.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43And this is it.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51And, of course, it's deliberately confusing,
0:30:51 > 0:30:53probably because Dee didn't want the Queen's enemies
0:30:53 > 0:30:56to decipher its contents.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58There is a phrase that translates as
0:30:58 > 0:31:00"More is concealed than revealed."
0:31:00 > 0:31:02And that may well be a defining
0:31:02 > 0:31:05characteristic of the British Renaissance.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07So, what does it show?
0:31:07 > 0:31:12Well, here is Queen Elizabeth with her courtiers, and above her
0:31:12 > 0:31:18is the moon, with a slightly funny face, ten stars and the sun.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22And to the right, this thing called the Hebrew Tetragrammaton,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25which was the sacred four-letter word of God,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28and you can see here that it is filling her sails with wind.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34And underneath, this is probably the New World, the Americas.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38There's a woman here on her knees with an inscription in Greek
0:31:38 > 0:31:41that says, "Send forth an expedition,"
0:31:41 > 0:31:44and above her is this semi-naked woman,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47a figure of Opportunity beckoning Elizabeth on.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49And there are these other symbols,
0:31:49 > 0:31:52symbols that, hundreds of years later, we still haven't deciphered,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55like this piece of wheat that's upside down,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58and this skull that's half out of the image.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02So, what is John Dee saying? Well, I think he's telling Elizabeth
0:32:02 > 0:32:06to build a navy, to send that navy around the world,
0:32:06 > 0:32:08to challenge the French and the Spanish,
0:32:08 > 0:32:10to lay claim to the New World,
0:32:10 > 0:32:14to bring Protestantism to the uncivilised, to form colonies.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17John Dee is telling her to create a British empire.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28Dee was, in fact, the very first to use the phrase British Empire.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32His idea would be a turning point in British history.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34'And a turning point in the British Renaissance.'
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Dee's proposal unleashed a wave of exploration.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44This was the moment when Britain took the lead
0:32:44 > 0:32:46in the discovery of new worlds -
0:32:46 > 0:32:51the moment we stopped looking inwards and started looking out.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58In 1580, Francis Drake became the first Englishman to sail
0:32:58 > 0:33:02around the world. Other explorers voyaged to Africa,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04the Arctic and the Americas.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10And their travels inspired a new generation of artists,
0:33:10 > 0:33:12scientists and craftsmen.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23One of the finest was the mathematician and
0:33:23 > 0:33:26instrument-maker Emery Molyneux,
0:33:26 > 0:33:28who had his workshops in South London.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33Emery Molyneux had accompanied Francis Drake on some
0:33:33 > 0:33:36of his voyages around the world, so he really knew his stuff.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38And after his return,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42he secured funding to embark on a remarkable project.
0:33:45 > 0:33:50He did years of research. He met with navigators and explorers.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55He collaborated with mathematicians, cartographers, artists...
0:33:57 > 0:34:00..and, eventually, Emery Molyneux produced something
0:34:00 > 0:34:03no Englishman had ever produced before...
0:34:05 > 0:34:06..a globe.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12'James Bissell-Thomas is a globe-maker who still uses
0:34:12 > 0:34:14'the techniques that Molyneux pioneered.'
0:34:16 > 0:34:18We know he used papier-mache.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23Flour makes a very good glue, so it's something that the Tudors would
0:34:23 > 0:34:26have had, and I know that Molyneux on his smaller globes,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28which were used on ships,
0:34:28 > 0:34:33in order to avoid dampness of the humidity of the areas where
0:34:33 > 0:34:38they were - these flour globes he was making actually withstood that.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40I've got one here which is actually dry.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43It's looking really good, I love the Shakespeare on the front.
0:34:43 > 0:34:44There he is.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48The next stage is the joining of the globe and applying the plaster.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51- Straight on down to the right. - Down here, OK.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55In fact, James, if you can hold that...
0:34:56 > 0:35:01- It fits extremely well.- Right. - So the world is complete.- It is.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03It is like playing God, isn't it?
0:35:03 > 0:35:06You are the master of the universe at this moment, James.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Exactly, just in the space of a minute - northern hemisphere,
0:35:08 > 0:35:10southern hemisphere united.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13Indeed. It's casting plaster, so it will dry quickly.
0:35:13 > 0:35:19It is a very easy way to make a good spherical globe.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22Now, once this is fully covered,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25if I can take that down a sec, you will then end up with
0:35:25 > 0:35:27a beautiful plaster sphere.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Then, once it's dried, you then apply the gauze.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32- You stick each one on individually? - That's right.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35And due to the talent of the engraver, they all align beautifully.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37So, with Molyneux's globe, with this engraving,
0:35:37 > 0:35:39how long would this engraving have taken?
0:35:39 > 0:35:42I think the engraving would have taken, yeah, a good year.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45And he was doing it with such limited technology at the time,
0:35:45 > 0:35:46and yet it's beautiful.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50And the most important thing is that they've stood the test of time.
0:35:50 > 0:35:51They're still standing today.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04In 1592, Emery Molyneux released the first printed English-made
0:36:04 > 0:36:08globes and the largest the world had ever seen.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14I've come to Petworth House in Sussex to see the earliest
0:36:14 > 0:36:16surviving example.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23It's believed that this globe once belonged to Sir Walter Raleigh
0:36:23 > 0:36:26when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32This is the first British-made globe in history.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35And the thought that Walter Raleigh might have pored over this
0:36:35 > 0:36:40very object 400 years ago in the Tower of London is enough to
0:36:40 > 0:36:41send shivers up the spine.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48My very favourite thing about this globe is the fact that
0:36:48 > 0:36:51there's virtually no Britain left on it, and I think the reason
0:36:51 > 0:36:54for that is that Walter Raleigh's fingers, and many fingers after him,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57kept pointing at the bloody country, saying, "That's Britain,
0:36:57 > 0:36:59"that's where we are."
0:37:03 > 0:37:05But this isn't really a piece of cartography.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08What it really is is a piece of propaganda,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10and I'll show you why.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Round here are two little lines.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15A little blue line, with the initials TC,
0:37:15 > 0:37:19and a little red line, with the initials SFD.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24TC was Thomas Cavendish, SFD Sir Francis Drake.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27So these lines actually chart rather painstakingly
0:37:27 > 0:37:31the route that those two men made as they voyaged round the globe.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34So this globe is really the perfect opportunity for the British
0:37:34 > 0:37:36to show off.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43And right round here there is a great big British coat of arms
0:37:43 > 0:37:46planted over North America.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50So this globe is a symbol of a newly confident nation.
0:37:50 > 0:37:51But it's more than that.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55For me, this globe also reflects an entirely new Renaissance
0:37:55 > 0:37:58world view, a new way of seeing the world -
0:37:58 > 0:38:00no longer a world as a mysterious,
0:38:00 > 0:38:03boundless place that's so much bigger than us,
0:38:03 > 0:38:07but a place that is finite, a place that one can own,
0:38:07 > 0:38:08a place that one can manipulate,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11and a place that can be traversed...
0:38:12 > 0:38:14..with a single finger.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25But explorers weren't the only ones out exploring -
0:38:25 > 0:38:28artists were globetrotting as well.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31And one of them was John White.
0:38:31 > 0:38:37He may have had an ordinary name, but what he did was anything but.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43Now, John White was given the commission of a lifetime -
0:38:43 > 0:38:46perhaps even the commission of a generation.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50He was asked to make drawings of the unfamiliar, all the exotic
0:38:50 > 0:38:54plants, animals and people that he encountered in the Americas.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Now, the drawings that he made would be of momentous importance
0:38:58 > 0:39:00and momentous originality,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02but they would almost destroy him in the process.
0:39:12 > 0:39:18In July 1587, White landed on the east coast of America
0:39:18 > 0:39:22to found the first British colony in the New World.
0:39:32 > 0:39:38White wasn't alone. He brought 115 nervous settlers with him.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42And among them was his son-in-law and his 20-year-old daughter.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46It must have been an exhausting journey for them all,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49particularly his daughter, who was heavily pregnant.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52But White was convinced this would be a fresh start
0:39:52 > 0:39:55for the family - a place to find wealth, to find comfort,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58and maybe even to find happiness.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04'A month after their arrival in Indian territory,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07'White's daughter gave birth to a girl.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10'They called her Virginia,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14'the first English child to be born in the Americas.'
0:40:20 > 0:40:23And John White's drawings of this new world
0:40:23 > 0:40:26caused a sensation in the Elizabethan court.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31Those drawings are held in the British Museum.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37They are not only the first British artworks of the New World,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41they may also be the first watercolours in British history.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44And they are breathtaking.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Now, there was nothing too small for John White to paint.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54This is surely one of my favourites, this most delightful image
0:40:54 > 0:40:58of fireflies, and I love the way that John White has arranged them
0:40:58 > 0:41:00on the page, three of them just staring at each other.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03And in the middle, this inscription, which, to me, reads more like poetry
0:41:03 > 0:41:05than anything else.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08"A flye which in the night semeth a flame of fyer."
0:41:12 > 0:41:16And here we have these exotic creatures that John White
0:41:16 > 0:41:17would have encountered...
0:41:19 > 0:41:21..the loggerhead turtle...
0:41:23 > 0:41:25..the pelican...
0:41:27 > 0:41:31..and this unforgettable image of the flamingo.
0:41:34 > 0:41:39They are such sensitive portraits of these very unusual animals.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41But you shouldn't be too fooled by that,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43because pretty much the first thing John White did
0:41:43 > 0:41:46after he painted these animals was eat them.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48And flamingo was one of his favourites.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51He thought the tongues were delicious.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59But White's most remarkable images are of the native people
0:41:59 > 0:42:03he met there - the Algonquian Indians.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14This is probably the most fascinating,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16and certainly the most macabre.
0:42:16 > 0:42:21It depicts the Algonquian equivalent of a charnel house, and it is filled
0:42:21 > 0:42:24with all the dead bodies of chiefs.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27But it isn't quite what it looks.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30Because these bodies have actually had their skin pulled off,
0:42:30 > 0:42:32the flesh taken out,
0:42:32 > 0:42:36sun-dried and then put into these little boxes at their feet. Then,
0:42:36 > 0:42:41the skeletons were covered with leather and the skin pulled back on.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44And what's remarkable about this is this is John White
0:42:44 > 0:42:48glimpsing something that no-one from Europe had ever seen before -
0:42:48 > 0:42:50looking right into the most private,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53intimate parts of the Algonquian lifestyle.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59Now, this is a portrait of an Indian chief, and you can tell he's
0:42:59 > 0:43:03a chief because he is covered in symbols of his status.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05The body paint, the jewellery, the feathers,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09and, perhaps best of all, the puma tail.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11And it's got so many lovely details.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14You can see that the man has shaved one side of his head,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16so it doesn't get caught in his bow.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19It's an extremely unusual image, of course, but, for me,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22this is a great Renaissance portrait.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27John White was painting an entirely alien culture, a culture that
0:43:27 > 0:43:31must have seemed un-Christian, uncivilised, un-English,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33and yet here in these paintings,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36there is no judgment, and there is no racism.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42John White's little paintings may not look like Michelangelo's
0:43:42 > 0:43:45or Leonardo's, but they are just as much
0:43:45 > 0:43:47a result of the Renaissance...
0:43:48 > 0:43:52..the product of a society looking afresh at the world
0:43:52 > 0:43:58with sensitivity and, above all, with curiosity.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07'But the story of John White would end in disaster.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11'Famine forced him to abandon his family
0:44:11 > 0:44:14'and return to England for supplies.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17'It would be two frustrating years
0:44:17 > 0:44:20'before he was finally able to get a ship to return.'
0:44:25 > 0:44:28In 1590 he arrived at the Colony.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32But he was horrified by what found.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37Nothing.
0:44:38 > 0:44:39That's what he found.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42The houses were gone.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45His possessions were scattered.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48And, worst of all, the people were gone too.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53There was no sign of anybody...
0:44:53 > 0:44:56no settlers, no daughter, no granddaughter.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00All John White found were ruins.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04And on a tree...
0:45:05 > 0:45:12..a mysterious inscription, the three letters "CRO".
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Now people have been trying to decipher
0:45:16 > 0:45:21that enigmatic code ever since, but they haven't yet succeeded.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24And John White certainly didn't.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32John White never found his family.
0:45:33 > 0:45:38His colony, the very first in the Americas, had vanished.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43To this day we have no idea what happened to it.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56The ship on which John White first sailed to America
0:45:56 > 0:45:59should be as famous as Charles Darwin's Beagle...
0:46:00 > 0:46:05..for travelling with White was another genius, of a different sort,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08a young scientist called Thomas Harriot.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12Today, Harriot is almost forgotten,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15but he should be remembered as one of the greatest
0:46:15 > 0:46:17minds of the entire Renaissance.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Thomas Harriot's CV is utterly mind-boggling.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26He was the country's leading navigator,
0:46:26 > 0:46:30he was a brilliant mathematician who pioneered new forms of algebra.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34He was the first man to truly understand the science
0:46:34 > 0:46:37of rainbows and he may well have been the first
0:46:37 > 0:46:41recorded person in history to die as a result of tobacco.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45As John White was drawing the Algonquin Indians,
0:46:45 > 0:46:48Thomas Harriot was actually speaking to them -
0:46:48 > 0:46:53the first Briton to learn a Native American language.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56But this was a language without writing
0:46:56 > 0:47:00and so Harriot devised a pioneering alphabet of his own.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06Now Harriot's alphabet consisted of 36 characters, that's ten more
0:47:06 > 0:47:09than in our current alphabet and that is because Harriot's
0:47:09 > 0:47:14alphabet was a phonetic alphabet - each character denoting a sound.
0:47:14 > 0:47:20So...this one over here, this is an "unng" sound,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23the next one is an "ae" sound as in "name"
0:47:23 > 0:47:27and I must say it does look like an A and an E squashed together.
0:47:28 > 0:47:34And this one over here...this is a "th", a hard "th", as in "thy" or "the".
0:47:35 > 0:47:37And Harriot in his papers experimented with
0:47:37 > 0:47:40lots of different sentences constructed out of these characters.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44And one of his most evocative sentences is this one.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48This sentence translates as if I can do it...
0:47:48 > 0:47:51"Our Father which...
0:47:52 > 0:47:57"..art in..." - you can guess the final word "heaven".
0:47:57 > 0:47:58And this word here...
0:47:59 > 0:48:02..is "which" and he's produced the beginning...
0:48:02 > 0:48:03I mean, it's a very complicated
0:48:03 > 0:48:06sound to produce, the beginning of the word "which".
0:48:06 > 0:48:09He begins it with an "H" - this is an "H" sound.
0:48:09 > 0:48:10And this is a "W" sound.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14And that's because Harriot pronounced the word "which" as "hwich".
0:48:15 > 0:48:19So this is, "Our father 'hwich' art in heaven."
0:48:23 > 0:48:26Harriot was nothing if not ambitious for his new creation.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30He dreamed it would become a universal alphabet,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32one for the whole world.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37In a sense, it was yet another Elizabethan code.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42But this one wasn't being used to conceal, but to communicate -
0:48:42 > 0:48:46the perfect symbol of a new, expansionist British Renaissance.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55Harriot was a shy, retiring figure and never published his alphabet.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58In fact, he published hardly anything, not even what was
0:48:58 > 0:49:01surely his greatest discovery...
0:49:02 > 0:49:04..and Harriot's first step towards that
0:49:04 > 0:49:10discovery was taken on 17th September 1607.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15That night Harriot, like the rest of Renaissance Europe,
0:49:15 > 0:49:18saw Halley's Comet soaring through the night sky.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Now Thomas Harriot was completely inspired by what he saw
0:49:25 > 0:49:27and he became convinced that the real New World was
0:49:27 > 0:49:31not across the oceans, but beyond the skies
0:49:31 > 0:49:34and, to this end, he somehow managed to obtain the most cutting edge
0:49:34 > 0:49:37contraption in Renaissance Europe...the telescope.
0:49:40 > 0:49:47On the night of 26th July 1609, he did something utterly unprecedented.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53It was about nine o'clock when the clouds finally cleared -
0:49:53 > 0:49:56this was the British Renaissance, after all.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59And Harriot got out his telescope, pointed it at the sky
0:49:59 > 0:50:01and looked through it at the moon.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04And then he did something no human being had ever done before.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Harriot began to sketch what he could see through the telescope...
0:50:12 > 0:50:18..and astonishingly, Harriot's revolutionary little drawing still survives.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29And this is it! Harriot's first drawing.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32The first time anyone had drawn the moon through a telescope.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35This is nearly four months before Galileo did it
0:50:35 > 0:50:39and Harriot has been very precise about the labelling.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Top left, "26th July 1609, 9pm" that's exactly
0:50:43 > 0:50:45when he made this drawing.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47Top right, "five days."
0:50:47 > 0:50:49That's how old the moon was when he drew it.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53And down here, "6/1", that's the magnification.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55Harriot's telescope was very primitive -
0:50:55 > 0:50:58he could only make the moon six times larger than it actually was
0:50:58 > 0:51:01and that probably explains why, quite frankly, it looks a bit
0:51:01 > 0:51:05more like an overused tennis ball than a celestial body.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08But my favourite is probably this one over here,
0:51:08 > 0:51:12because underneath this delicious drawing of the moon is an apology.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16He writes down here, "I could not get done the figure of all
0:51:16 > 0:51:18"because I was troubled with the rheum."
0:51:18 > 0:51:22Basically he had a cold and, no wonder - he was up on the roof all night.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25Harriot, however, tinkered with his telescope,
0:51:25 > 0:51:30and his moon drawings became better, and better, and better.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35This is surely Harriot's masterpiece?
0:51:35 > 0:51:38And it was done with 30 times magnification,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41so he'd increased the power of his hardware by five-fold.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45It's a staggeringly detailed map, it's a map that holds up even today.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48So you've got here the Ocean of Storms,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51the largest sea on the moon 1,600 miles across.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55And right in this spot, that there, is right at the very edge
0:51:55 > 0:52:00of the Sea of Tranquility, and that is exactly where Neil Armstrong
0:52:00 > 0:52:04and the crew of Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10Now these drawings may not be masterful works of art
0:52:10 > 0:52:15but they do remind me of Leonardo's infinitely more famous drawings
0:52:15 > 0:52:19because they are about looking at the world in a fresh way
0:52:19 > 0:52:24and about using two eyes, one pen and a piece of paper to do it,
0:52:24 > 0:52:28and surely if the Renaissance is about anything, this is it.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47By 1610, the country had undergone a cultural revolution.
0:52:47 > 0:52:52Only a few generations earlier, it had been isolated and inward-looking.
0:52:52 > 0:52:57Now, however, its horizons had expanded beyond its own shores,
0:52:57 > 0:52:59beyond Europe, even beyond the Earth.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06It was from that surge of exploration, ingenuity
0:53:06 > 0:53:12and creativity that a remarkable, well, unique, figure emerged.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15He was surely the greatest figure of the British Renaissance.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18He was probably the greatest figure of the European Renaissance.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22And he may well be one of the great figures in the history of Western culture.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25You know his name.
0:53:27 > 0:53:33But William Shakespeare was not the isolated genius we often imagine.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37He was a man alive to the upheavals and discoveries of his time.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41In 1610, as Thomas Harriot was mapping the moon,
0:53:41 > 0:53:45William Shakespeare began work on his last, great play.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54It was a tale of magic, wonder and anxiety
0:53:54 > 0:53:57and it perfectly captured the spirit of the age.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05The Tempest begins like a Hollywood action movie.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09A ferocious storm engulfs a small ship at sea,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12and amid the thunder, amid the lightning,
0:54:12 > 0:54:18amid the wailing winds, a terrified crew does all it can to stay alive.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20But this is no normal storm.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25This has been conjured by a magician called Prospero.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
0:54:29 > 0:54:33Now I'm convinced that Shakespeare's inspiration for Prospero was
0:54:33 > 0:54:35none other than John Dee.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38He was, after all, the real magus of Renaissance Britain,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41the man who could make beetles fly,
0:54:41 > 0:54:43the man who could commune with angels, and the man who
0:54:43 > 0:54:47inspired countless ships to sail these seas in search of colonies.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56In fact, Prospero's storm is designed to lure the ship's
0:54:56 > 0:54:59crew to his own private colony -
0:54:59 > 0:55:03an island where he has enslaved the only creature on it.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09Shakespeare knew about Britain's colonisation of the New World.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13He must have read Thomas Harriot's account of his voyage to Virginia.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18He must have seen John White's watercolours of the Algonquin Indians
0:55:18 > 0:55:21and he must have heard all those rumours about storms
0:55:21 > 0:55:24and shipwrecks and vanished sailors around the seas.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30Shakespeare famously pillaged the facts, the fictions,
0:55:30 > 0:55:35the tall tales, the anecdotes, and the gossip of this dramatic era.
0:55:36 > 0:55:42To my mind, it's impossible not to see The Tempest as a kind of mirror,
0:55:42 > 0:55:48however obscured or refracted, of Renaissance England itself.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53For like his fictional crew, this tiny little island,
0:55:53 > 0:55:59which had once been so insular, was now hurtling into uncharted territory.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Shakespeare was asking, and answering,
0:56:12 > 0:56:15the great questions of Renaissance Britain.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17In a phrase from the play itself,
0:56:17 > 0:56:21"what would this brave New World be like?"
0:56:26 > 0:56:31In the 50 years between 1564 and 1611,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34something extraordinary happened in Britain -
0:56:34 > 0:56:39its artists, writers, architects and scientists embarked on their
0:56:39 > 0:56:43own voyages of discovery, and they took the Renaissance their own way.
0:56:43 > 0:56:48In doing so, they produced a Renaissance that was wayward,
0:56:48 > 0:56:54eccentric often maddeningly complex, but one that was as brilliant as anything in Europe.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00All voyages, however, come to an end...
0:57:02 > 0:57:05..even the glorious voyage of Elizabethan Britain.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11"Our revels now are ended."
0:57:13 > 0:57:21"These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air...
0:57:21 > 0:57:22"..into thin air.
0:57:23 > 0:57:27"And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
0:57:27 > 0:57:30"the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32"The solemn temples,
0:57:32 > 0:57:34"the great globe itself...
0:57:35 > 0:57:39"Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43"And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
0:57:43 > 0:57:45"leave not a rack behind.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51"We are such stuff as dreams are made on.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57"And our little life is rounded with a sleep."
0:58:03 > 0:58:08Next time, the British Renaissance enters its final phase.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14As Britain opens its doors to Europe again, a battle begins...
0:58:15 > 0:58:19..a battle for the heart and soul of British culture.