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Shakespeare. Life in Elizabethan Times. Filling the time. There is nothing as dangerous as a bored nobleman. These are some of the ways a courtier at Court might fill his or her time. Gossip. Attend the Theatre. Have players in. Take lessons. Embroider. Play board or card games. Sing.
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Filling the time There is nothing as dangerous as a bored nobleman. These are some of the ways a courtier at Court might fill his or her time. • Gossip. • Attend the Theatre. • Have players in. • Take lessons. • Embroider. • Play board or card games. • Sing. • Prepare a presentation. • Visit Tailor. • Sit for a portrait. • Visit Bear pit. • Practice riding and other Tourney sports.
Form of address for non-nobles • Gentry • Gentles • Yeoman • Tradesmen • Craftsmen • Peasants • Knights
Patronage • Young men go to Court to find a Patron Patron Young Man
Woman • A noble lady has waiting woman. • Helps unmarried girls find suitable husbands. • Take care of the household and children with the help of gentlewomen.
Ranks The ordinary ranking of the English Court, disregarding various offices, parents, patents, or orders of knighthood is as follows: Men Women Duke Duchess Marquis (MAR-kwis) Marchioness (MAR- shon-ess) Earl Countess Viscount (vEYE-count) Viscountess (vEYE- count-ess) Baron Baroness Knight Knight's lady
Honour and Duelling Tempers were short and weapons easy to hand. The basic characteristics of the nobility, like those of the poor, were ferocity and childishness and lack of self control. -Lawrence Stone in “Crisis of The Aristocracy.”
In homes Names Marriage and Family Boys may marry at 14, and girls at 12. A brides parents must give her husband a dowry. • Englishmen do not have a middle name. • The most common for girls are those of Henry VIII's wives and daughters: Katherine, Anne, Jane, Mary, and Elizabeth. • Rather than waste a name when a child dies, the next child may be given the same one
In general • Children are the property of their parents. • Wives are the property of their husbands. • Widows can own and run their own businesses. • Divorce is very difficult as a Protestant. • Male primogeniture is the rule. • A bastard is a child born out of wedlock and is deemed illegitimate.
London • The river Thames ran through the city and had only one bridge across it. • Criminals were chained to the banks of the river. • Houses were crammed together and the streets were slimy with the contents of chamber pots that were thrown out windows. • The city was full of loud noises. • No one drank water. Ale was the standard drink and the better sort drank wine.
Food • In general people ate 2 meals a day; • Dinner around midday • Supper in the evening • Those who woke early would eat in the morning as well. • Wine was sweet and heavy and would have to be strained before being drunk. Beer was made without hops and was usually flat.
Religion • The official religion was the Church of England. • Being Roman Catholic was not a crime, but there was a fine for not attending Protestant services. • It was illegal to be a Catholic Priest in England.
Schooling • Only boys went to school. • Girls education was at home. • Richer families hired private tutors.
Monarchy Most of Shakespeare's career unfolded during the monarchy of Elizabeth I, the Great Virgin Queen from whom the historical period of the Bard's life takes its name as the Elizabethan Age.
William Shakespeare The man himself
Born: 23rd April 1564 Died: 23rd April 1616 Place: Stratford-on-Avon
England in the 16th Century • Was mainly rural. • Pop: 3 million • Economy was mainly agricultural • Time of fear and upheaval
Parents Mother: Mary Arden – daughter of a local gentry. Father: John Shakespeare – a glover and tenant farmer of yeoman class.
Shakespeare's eventual fame and success spilled over to his parents in the form of both money and title. On the eve of John Shakespeare’s death in 1601, Queen Elizabeth granted the Bard's father a "gentleman's" family coat-of-arms.
Education • Probably attended Stratford Grammar School where he would have learnt: • Greek and Latin Literature • Rhetoric • Christian ethics • Left school in 1579 at the age of 15. • Did not attend university and was not considered to be a truly learned man.
After school • In 1582 (18yrs) he married Anne Hathaway who was 8yrs his senior. • 6 months later their daughter Susanna was born. 2yrs after that, twins Hamnet and Judith arrived. • Speculation has that Shakespeare was not happy in his marriage. • There is a period of 7 years (1585- 1592) from which there is no primary source materials about Shakespeare. • During this time he travelled back and forth between London and Stratford, and by the time sources can be found again he was living almost full-time in London.
Life in London • Before he took up a career as a playwright Shakespeare had many and varied other jobs. • He most probably worked with his father in commercial trade, as a law clerk and served as a soldier or sailor as England was threatened by Spain.
His plays • Between the early 1590’s and 1620’s Shakespeare composed the most extraordinary body of works in the history of world drama. • He moved roughly from comedies to histories to tragedies. • His farewell to the stage was The Tempest.
Personal Tragedy • As Shakespeare’s success and popularity were on the rise, his son Hamnet died in 1596 from drowning.
The Globe Theatre • The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613.A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. • A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 230 metres from the site of the original theatre.
