English Law and the Renaissance The Rede Lecture for 1901

The work opens with a vivid portrait of the early sixteenth‑century world—Henry VIII on the throne, the great Renaissance flourishing across Europe, and the modest yet influential figure of Sir Robert Rede, a judge whose name now graces a university lecture series. From this backdrop the author asks a striking question: how could English law, rooted in medieval doctrine, stay remarkably intact while art, philosophy and science were being reshaped around it?

Drawing on the writings of Sir Edward Coke, Sir Thomas Littleton and other legal giants, the lecture traces the evolution of legal thought through the reign of James I and beyond. It shows how the common law’s deep‑seated principles survived the era’s intellectual upheavals, offering listeners a clear, engaging narrative that links the continuity of legal practice with the broader currents of Renaissance humanism.