Elizabethan England

Shakespeare’s Stage

Golden Age

• The Elizabethan Era is the time period marked by the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's reign lasted for 50 years (1558-1603).

• In the Golden Age for England, money allowed artistic and creative ideas to flourish. Europe was bombarded by new inventions and innovations. Numerous authors, playwrights, and poets surfaced, including Shakespeare.

• Just before Elizabeth took the throne, Protestants and Catholics were constantly at war. During her rule, these two Christian groups were at peace.

Government

England was ruled by a monarch – a royal person – who ‘earned’ rule by being part of a royal family. Elizabeth was the last of six Tudor monarchs to rule the country.

Wealth

People showed their wealth with clothing, expensive food and homes.

Society was divided into classes. Nobility were at the ‘top’ with lavish lifestyles, parties and events. Next came the gentry with a lot of wealth from land. Then, merchants gained wealth from sales items. Finally, the yeomen and laborers worked with their hands to make a living.

Religion

In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther criticized the Roman Catholic church for the tradition of accepting money to absolve sins, thinking it was too much like trying to pay off God. The new Christians who followed Luther called themselves ‘Protestants’ because they protested against the Catholic Church.

Ideas

• In 1543, Copernicus published a revolutionary theory that Earth is not the center of the universe. Rather, he realized that Earth and the other planets orbit around the Sun

• 16th century firsts o Flush toilets become

available in 1500o Peter Henlein designs

the pocket watch in 1510

o Bottled beer appears in London around 1568

Religious response

Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh. Joshua declaimed: “Sun stand still over Gibeon, / and, moon, you also,

over the Vale of Aijalon. / And the sun stood still, and the moon halted, / till the people had vengeance on

their enemies.” (Joshua 10:10-15)

“There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must needs invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth.” – Martin Luther

A moving Earth?!?!

As Martin Luther’s words suggest, neither Catholics nor Protestants were happy about Copernicus’ new idea. They were sure that their observations (the ground beneath their feet never seemed to be moving) and the word of God (according to Joshua, especially) assured them that Earth was indeed the center of the universe. Copernicus was therefore seen as blasphemous and someone who was trying to undermine Christianity.

Galileo Galilei, an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher made improvements to the telescope. His telescope improved astronomical observations, and new evidence from those observations supported Copernicus’ ideas.

Crime

In the 15th and 16th century, criminals – even royalty and nobility – faced violent and cruel punishments, like public execution. Many events were witnessed by hundreds; Tudors treated these as exciting events. Popular methods included beheading, hanging and quartering, and burning at the stake.

The greatest punishment

“The greatest and most grievous punishment used in England […] they are hanged till they be half dead, and then taken down, and quartered alive; after that, their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and thrown into a fire, provided near hand and within their own sight, even for the same purpose.”

-- William Harrison

Disease

Garbage and human waste was rarely moved or treated. The nasty environment attracted rats, fleas, and bacteria. People’s hygiene was awful, and they got sick often. A plague epidemic, in which a sweeping disease overtakes huge parts of a population, occurred about every four years. Diseases included smallpox, measles, malaria, typhus, diphtheria, Scarlet fever, chickenpox, and the bubonic plague

Life …

“Nowadays, alas, if a

man may approach

to forty of sixty years

men repute him

happy and

fortunate.”

-- Thomas Paynel,

1541

Entertainment

Without electricity, often people got up when it was light and went to bed when it was dark. They worked most of the day and week so entertainment – sports (like bear baiting and jousting), music, theater and public executions – was saved for Sundays.

Imagine | Homework

• Picture yourself as an aspiring writer at this time. Describe Elizabethan England.

• Think about Shakespeare …– What might Shakespeare have wanted to write

about?– What did he find odd, funny, sad or dramatic?– Shakespeare had to convince people to stand in the

mud to see plays, and not go to public executions or bear-baiting. How might Shakespeare have made his audience feel sad? Laugh? Want to return to see another play?