The Early Tudors (1485–1558)

Abstract

One would have supposed that since the pipeline that brought new dialogues of Plato from Italy to England had flowed so profusely between 1423 and 1483, it would surely have brought in the complete Works of Plato when they were published in 1484, especially since the government expressly opened the border in 1484, for the first time, to foreign books, booksellers and printers (Plomer, 1925). Between 1484 and 1535 the open border provided a rare window of opportunity when England could have caught up rapidly with the revival of classics on the continent. But it did not. Because of the Wars of the Roses and their after-effects, the country instead turned inward.