Merrie England (First Turning, 1594–1621) was an age of optimism and prosperity, full of dreams of empire yet tempered by a wariness of enemies abroad. For the arts, this was the true English Renaissance and for literature, the glorious “Age of Shakespeare.” After succeeding Elizabeth in 1601, James I encouraged learning, exploration, and trade. His elaborately polite relations with the Commons began to wear thin late in the second decade of his reign.

• Reprisal entering elderhood
• Elizabethans entering midlife
• Parliamentarians entering young adulthood
• Puritans entering childhood