Year: 2018

Bear-baiting was a popular form of entertainment in London in the sixteenth century. The bear-baiting pits on the south bank of the Thames frequently attracted large crowds to watch the blood-sport. The Bear Garden was one of the amphitheatres that staged the blood-thirsty spectacle of a chained bear defending itself against the mastiff dogs trained […]Continue reading

0

The English author Robert Greene died on 3 September 1592, and a posthumous  pamphlet was published at his dying request. It was titled Green’s Groatsworth of Wit, bought with a million of repentance. Describing the folly of youth, the falsehood of makeshift flatterers and mischiefs of deceiving courtesans. In this pamphlet, Greene supposedly refers to […]Continue reading

0

  Elizabeth I’s physician-in-chief, Rodrigo Lopez, was executed in 1594 for allegedly conspiring to poison the queen. Lopez was born in Portugal to parents of Jewish descent. He was raised a Catholic before he moved to London in 1599 and became the queen’s physician-in-chief in 1581. Unfortunately, he mortally offended some of Elizabeth I’s courtiers, […]Continue reading

0

Dr Dee was an astrologer and mathematician who became an influential scholar in Elizabeth I’s court. As the royal astrologer, he advised the queen, Francis Walsingham, Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake on matters ranging from national security to navigation at sea. Dr Dee was even consulted to find the most auspicious day for Elizabeth I’s […]Continue reading

0