The complete destruction of one of the most popular playhouses in early modern London was due to a freak accident during a performance of one of Shakespeare’s plays. The Globe had been built on the south side of the Thames out of the pieces of the old Theatre when it was dismantled in 1598. […]Continue reading
Baron Waldstein visited London on 3 July 1600 during his travels. He recorded in his diary that he ‘went to see an English play at a theatre based on the ‘Roman plan’: ‘it is built of wood and is so designed that he spectators can get a comfortable view of everything that happens in […]Continue reading
From mid-July to mid-August 1606 Christian IV of Denmark made a state visit to England. In August 1606 a masque titled The Two Kings’ Entertainment was performed at court for two kings: James I and his brother-in-law Christian IV of Denmark. The Danish king was entertained by plays and banquets during his visit to […]Continue reading
Elizabeth I and her court visited the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth Castle in July 1575. The Earl welcomed her with a series of lavish and elaborate entertainments which included banquets, plays and pageants, and water displays and musical fireworks. On 18 July, a water pageant based on the Lady of the Lake took place, […]Continue reading
When the Gunpowder Plot was discovered in 1605, Shakespeare’s playing company, the King’s Men, were out of London on tour in the provinces. They had undertaken lengthy tours during outbreaks of the plague in London in the early 1600s, and in 1605 they were again on tour. Despite being absent from London, the Gunpowder Plot […]Continue reading
John Shakespeare was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon on 8 September 1601 after becoming an influential and important member of the town. He had moved to Stratford-upon-Avon with his wife, Mary, in 1551. He worked as a glover and become a well-known member of the Stratford town council. When his eldest son William was four years […]Continue reading
Susanna and her husband, Dr John Hall, filed a lawsuit for slander against John Lane at the Consistory Court at Worcester on this day in 1613. The twenty-three-year-old Lane had accused Susanna, who was thirty-one years old at the time, of committing adultery with a haberdasher named Rafe Smith. He also claimed that she had […]Continue reading
A play with the title Love’s Labour’s Won is thought to be one of the lost plays of Shakespeare. We know that a play with this title existed during Shakespeare’s lifetime, but unfortunately there are no records of the play in performance and no script of the play that has survived. A manuscript dated […]Continue reading
In October 1608, Shakespeare stood as godfather to William Walker, the son of one of the bailiffs in Stratford-upon-Avon. Earlier that year, Henry Walker had presided over a court case in which Shakespeare sued John Addenbrooke for the sum of £6. Shakespeare became his son’s godfather during a ceremony at Holy Trinity Church a few […]Continue reading
During Shakespeare’s lifetime, players were required to operate under the patronage of noblemen who would request permission for their company of players to perform at different towns and cities outside London. A warrant, signed by the Duke of Lennox on 14 October 1604, is an example of such a request. It is addressed to ‘all […]Continue reading
