John Calvin was one of the primary leaders of the Protestant Reformation. His Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) describe the tenets of his theology, including the concept of predestination.

Rudyard Kipling wrote many famous works of British literature at the turn of the twentieth century. They often centered around the British imperial experience, particularly in India. Although he was widely beloved in his time period and his works continue to be influential to this day, he has often been criticized in the last century for his belief in the "civilizing" missions of British imperialism.

William Pitt was Prime Minister of Britain. Napoleon Bonaparte was Emperor of France. The famous Gillray print depicts the two carving up the world for their respective kingdoms.

Seen as the primary symbol of French extravagance and excess, Marie-Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI, was executed in 1793.

After his father Charles I's execution in 1649, Charles II lived in exile for eleven years as "King" while the Puritan Oliver Cromwell ruled England in a republic as "Lord Protector." Cromwell's stern moralism and harsh rule combined to see most forms of popular entertainment banned in England, including the theater, bear baiting, and even public holidays such as Christmas. Upon Charles' Restoration to the throne in 1660, the theater was brought back, and saw a period of flourishing in comedies, works often known as "Restoration comedy."

Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene is the long epic allegorical poem to which this question refers. The eponymous Faerie Queene can be read as allegorically representing Queen Elizabeth I, and numerous other characters in the work relate similarly to individuals famous in Spenser's era.

First, let's briefly examine what is meant by “elite culture.” For much of European history, the experience of the wealthy nobility and the experience of the common people have been wildly different. Within the same country, the wealthy (or "elite") might speak different languages or dialects, have different religious beliefs, and likely have completely different cultural experiences than those of lower socioeconomic classes. So, when we talk about “elite culture,” we are talking about the cultural experience of the very wealthy and the nobility. The Courtier was written as a guide for gentlemen in Europe; the book was essentially a handbook for how to be a renaissance nobleman. As the book was directed towards, and deeply entrenched in the customs and practices of, the cultural elite of its time, it makes sense that this book would resonate most heavily with that group.

The Canterbury Tales, for instance, specifically includes characters from all socioeconomic classes, and is not particularly favorable in its treatment of the wealthy. The Inferno, concerned as it is with celestial matters of heaven and hell, might well have appealed to wealthy elites, but since it was not a handbook directed specifically at this particular group, it can safely be assumed to carry less specific resonance with elite culture than The Courtier did.

Of the major European countries, Russia became industrialized most slowly, and did not really begin the process of industrialization until the 1890s. For the rest of the nineteenth century, the life of common people in Russia was much like it had been for the previous thousand years. Most people were rural peasants who worked on small land holdings. For the first half of the nineteenth century most people were serfs, forced to work the land of a nobleman. Tsar Alexander II “The Emancipator” abolished the institution of serfdom in the 1860s.

Leon Trotsky is the most famous of the Russian revolutionaries never to rule as General Secretary of the Communist Party. He led the Red Army during the tumultuous years after 1917 and helped ensured the survival of the Soviet Union. Some expected him to succeed Lenin following the latter’s death in 1924; however, Trotsky was distrusted by much of the Russian population. Trotsky Jewish in a furiously anti-Semitic society, and he was considered to be an “out-of-touch intellectual” by many. Trotsky lost the battle with Stalin for leadership of the party and the country and fled the Soviet Union. Eventually he was assassinated, almost certainly on Stalin’s orders, while on the run in Mexico.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German storytellers whose main focus was on collecting and preserving popular culture. During the nineteenth century popular culture, as distinct from elite culture, was being identified and analyzed throughout Europe. Many feared that social homogenization as a logical offshoot of the increases in literacy. The possible result of this social homogenization was that popular (largely oral) culture would be lost forever. The Brothers Grimm (as they are popularly called) collected folks tales and fables from German popular culture (previously passed along over generations in oral formats) and preserved them for posterity.