Elizabethan England and Shakespeare

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Elizabethan England and Shakespeare
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What happened since Chaucer?

• End of the War of the Roses (the English Civil
  War)
• The Tudor family rules England for 117 Years
• King Henry VIII (A Tudor) is king from 1509-1547
  cant decide on a wife, so he has six.
• Henrys marital unhappiness causes England to
  break with Catholic church
• The Church of England is established so Henry can
  get a divorce
• This causes split in country between Catholics
  and members of the Church of England
• King Edward IV (1547-1553) brings peace with
  France
• Died at the age of fifteen
• Queen Mary I (1553-1558) re-establishes
  Catholicism
• Persecutes Protestants
• Burned 300 dissenters at the stake, earning her
  the name Bloody Mary
• Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
• Also known as the Golden Age and was at the
  height of the Renaissance
• Art, Music, Poetry and Drama flourish
• Restores Protestant Church
• England and France invade each other a lot.
  Also wars with Scotland, Spain, and Ireland

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Who is Queen Elizabeth?

• Ruled from 1558-1603
• Became queen at age 25
• Daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII
• One of the most successful and loved rulers of
  England

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Who is Queen Elizabeth?

• Ruled during the Renaissance Period (aka The
  Elizabethan Period)
• Especially loved music, dance, and the theater
• Nickname the Virgin Queen
• Never married
• Had many marriage proposals
• Never had any children
• Used her flirtatious nature to get what she
  wanted from male rulers of other nations

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Who is Queen Elizabeth?

• Was Anglican (Church of England) like her father
• Completely opposed to Catholicism because she
  blamed the pope for her being called a bastard
• TOLERATED Catholics because she knew that if she
  allowed some religious freedom she would have her
  subjects loyalty

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How did people live?The Church

• Life was governed by two important factors-
  religion and social structure.
• Queen Elizabeth I established The Church of
  England, officially splitting from the Catholic
  Church
• Laws regarding religion were established
• Everyone is required to attend church service
  every Sunday and on holidays
• People were fined for not attending church
• It was illegal to be a Catholic priest

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How did people live?Social Class

• The Elizabethan period in England had a daily
  life based on social order the monarch as the
  highest, the nobility as second rank, the gentry
  (landowners) as third, merchants as fourth,
  yeomen (an officer in the army) as fifth and
  laborers as sixth. The queen was believed to be
  Gods representation here on Earth.
• England was a largely rural society
• as much as 90 of the population lived in the
  countryside.
• The Gentry owned the majority of land, and were
  by birthright the natural leaders of the
  community.
• This group counted for just 1 of the population

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How did people live?Dwellings

• Made of wood
• Type of house and amount of furniture depended on
  social class
• Typical Tudor houses were timber framed with
  thatched straw roofs, the gaps were filled with
  wattle and daub (twigs covered in a mud and dung
  plaster) or bricks for those who could afford it.
• Houses started to be built for comfort, not just
  protection
• More windows
• Built around courtyards and gardens
• Most of the furniture was made of wood.
• Only important people had chairs, the rest had to
  sit on stools or benches.
• Rich people had big wooden four poster beds.
• Many poor people would probably just have had a
  straw mattress to sleep on and a pot to cook
  their meals in.

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How did people live?Food

• The richer you were, the more variety of food you
  had, but it depended on what foods were in
  season.
• Food was salted or smoked to preserve it, and
  often spices were added to hide the taste of
  rotten food.
• Meat, fish, bread and cheese were popular
• Vegetables and fruit were not eaten as much
  because it was thought they were not good for
  you.
• Ale and cider were common drinks, even for the
  children, as the water was dirty.
• Most households had two meals a day one at about
  11am - Noon, the other about 6-7pm.

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How did people live?Clothing

• Wealthy Men wore
• a shirt and doublet (a bit like a jacket), and
  padded hose, like thick tights.
• Wealthy Women wore
• long sleeved dresses with skirts to the floor. It
  was fashionable to make the skirt stick out using
  a cage or bumoll (padded material tied around the
  hips).
• Poor people wore simple, loose-fitting clothes
  made from woolen cloth.
• Most men wore trousers made from wool and a tunic
  which came down to just above their knee.
• Women wore a dress of wool that went down to the
  ground. They often wore an apron over this and a
  cloth bonnet on their heads.
• Clothing was regulated by Sumptuary Laws
• Dictated what color and type of clothing, furs,
  fabrics, and trims were allowed to persons of
  various ranks or incomes
• Created to control extravagant clothing and to
  make sure people dressed within their social class

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How did people live?Education and Work

• Education
• Few people went to school, those that did were
  the sons of the wealthy (not the daughters)
• The boys would go to grammar school everyday but
  Sunday
• They would learn Latin, religious studies, Greek,
  arithmetic and music.
• Majority of the population was illiterate and not
  educated
• Work
• Most children and adults worked each day tending
  their crops and animals
• Most men and boys worked in the fields, and would
  hunt and keep animals to provide their meat.
• Some men had special jobs such as blacksmiths
  making tools.
• Women and girls looked after the home, cooking,
  washing, making clothes and candles, milking the
  cows and growing herbs for medicines and cooking.
• There was a rise of modern commerce with cloth
  and weaving leading the way.
• A prosperous merchant class emerged, causing many
  people to move to cities like London and
  Birmingham

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How did people live?Cities

• London
• largest city in Western Europe
• Most important trading city in England
• City was dangerous and filthy
• Great risk of fire because most buildings made of
  wood
• A large population and the lack of a structured
  sewage system, meant that all waste was simply
  dumped into the River Thames
• There was a lot of disease
• The government didnt help the poor, so crime was
  high
• After the Protestant Reformation (and creation of
  Church of England) theaters and other forms of
  entertainment were banned in the City
• Theaters, bear baiting dens, dance halls, and
  other establishments moved across the River Thames

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Elizabethan Theater

• During Elizabeths reign theater changed
• New dramas were called Elizabethan Dramas
• Designed to entertain the masses
• Plays had religious undertones, but were not
  designed to teach religion or morality
• Contained historical allusions that the audience
  would understand

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Elizabethan Theater contd

• Commoners liked the occasional comedies or the
  comic relief in serious plays
• They were called groundlings because they paid
  very little money (a penny) to stand on the
  ground to watch plays
• One ticket would pay for a day at the
  theaterusually three plays in one day
• There were no female actors in Tudor times. Boys
  played women's parts.

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William Shakespeare

• April 23, 1564-April 23, 1616
• Born in Stratford-on-Avon, England
• Married to Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and she
  was 26
• Three children
• Susannah
• Judith
• Hamnet (died in childhood)

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Shakespeare contd

• 1584-1594completely missing from any historical
  records
• Believed to have left his home and traveled with
  a traveling drama troupe performing at carnivals
  and fairs all over England and Scotland
• The next records of him show him in London. He
  never lived at home with his family again.

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Shakespearean Theater

• 1594records indicate Shakespeare was in London
• Joins The Lord Chamberlains men
• 1598Shakespeare and his troupe build The Globe
  Theatre

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The Globe

• Nicknamed The Wooden O because it was not
  rectangular but oval in shape
• Could hold 2000-3000 people
• Most expensive seats were closest to the stage
• Very important guests were often seated ON the
  stage

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What did Shakespeare contribute to society?

• He wrote tragedies, comedies, and histories that
  are still read, studied, and performed today
• He wrote 154 sonnets about love and life
• He added words and phrases to the English
  language

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Shakespeares Writing

• Tragedy A dramatic play that ends in
  catastrophe, often death for the main character.
• Tragic hero The main character in a tragedy who
  has a tragic flaw, which is a weakness that leads
  to their downfall.
• Comic Relief Follows a serious scene with a
  lighter, humorous one.