The English Renaissance, a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the early 16th century to the early 17th century, is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century.

This era in English cultural history is sometimes referred to as "the age of Shakespeare" or "the Elizabethan era," taking the name of the English Renaissance's most famous author and most important monarch, respectively; however it is worth remembering that these names are rather misleading: Shakespeare is not an especially famous writer in his own time, and the English Renaissance covers a period both before and after Elizabeth's reign.Poets such as Edmund Spenser and John Milton produce works that demonstrate an increased interest in understanding English Christian beliefs, such as the allegorical representation of the Tudor Dynasty in The Faerie Queen and the retelling of mankind’s fall from paradise in Paradise Lost; playwrights, such as Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, compose theatrical representations of the English take on life, death, and history.

Nearing the end of the Tudor Dynasty, philosophers like Sir Thomas More and Sir Francis Bacon publish their own ideas about humanity and the aspects of a perfect society, pushing the limits of metacognition at this time.

England comes closer to reaching modern science with the Baconian Method, a forerunner of the Scientific Method.