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http://www.literarygenius.info/education-of-william-shakespeare.htm,

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Clothing wasn't just merely an insignificant thing in the days of Elizabethan England. In fact, it is quite significant that there is even an Elizabethan law related to it. These laws stated the colours as well as the type of clothing an individual was allowed to own and wear.

These laws were called 'Statutes of Apparel" and was enforced by the Queen herself in Greenwich on June 1574. The intent was to maintain the social structure as well as to keep a firm restrain on the people's expenditure towards clothing.

Basically, Elizabethan Clothing was a part of the social order. It is also indicative of a particular person's status not only reflecting how wealthy or poor they are but also of their social reputation. For example, back then it is absurd for a peasant to copy more well off individuals through "luxurious" clothing which was only worn by upper classes.

Royalty Clothing in the Elizabethan Era

The materials used for the clothes worn by the royals were very expensive and mostly imported. the women wore gowns which had many parts and layers. They also had shoulder pads. Starch was used to stiffen the fabrics. A farthingale to make the skirts and gowns look extended was also very common.

Men mostly wore a loose-fitting shirt, buttoned-down and cuffed. For pants, they wore short breeches that were puffy. women's clothes were designed to make them look slimmer and men's clothing was loose and baggy.

Social Class and Clothing

The Elizabethan era clothing materials varied according to social status. The upper class of Elizabethan England wore elegant and luxurious clothing that was made of expensive velvet, exotic silk and satin. Only the members of the Royal Family were allowed to own robes which were trimmed with ermine. Less noble folk wore clothing trimmed with either fox or otter.

Elizabethan Era Peasant's Clothing

Quite the contrast to the luxurious clothing of the affluent was the clothing worn by peasants and the lower classes. They wore clothing made of simple materials such as English cotton, wool and leather. Woollen clothing was in fact quite popular among the working as well as domestic classes since it was rather cheap and the wool trade saw an increase during the period.

Middle-Class Clothing

People of middle-class status in the Elizabethan era mostly wore clothes made of cotton, linen and broadcloth. They wore a short top called chemise which would protect the lower clothes from sweat. These chemises were like vests on which the bodice was worn. Petticoats were used to keep the body warm.

Middle-class people also used cloaks and overcoats. They wore hats in public and women often used perfumes because the streets were extremely filthy. The poor people wore doublets and jerkins. The men wore doublets over their shirts and the sleeves were detachable from the doublets.

Colours used in Elizabethan England

The dyes that were used to colour the lavish clothing of the noble of Elizabethan England cost quite a bit. In one of Elizabeth I's surviving portraits, she was shown wearing a crimson robe. The deep crimson colouring was obtained from an insect which was only found in the Mediterranean.

The brightest colours demanded a higher price tag and were only available to the upper class. The brightness of the colour and its richness are the determining factors as to how expensive it would be. The working class or peasants wore clothes dyed in yellow, orange, green, pale blue, pink and russet.

Accessories For Men and Women

Elizabethan clothing accessories for women usually consisted of gowns, underclothing, corsets, hats, ruffs, collars and shoes. The men wore doublets, underclothing, breeches, ruffs, collars, hats and shoes.

Women often wore fancy jewellery but for both men and women ruffs were an indispensable item that adds to their elegant look. The Queen herself wore many elaborate collars. The ruffs were worn around the neck or wrists and became significantly larger later on.

Rich Elizabethan women's clothing

Rich Elizabethan women also wore thick petticoats and on top of this came the corset and skirts. Their skirts were held up with hoops and are often padded at the hips. Then on top of all the was an outer bodice and a skirt or a fine dress and to finish it off, the women wore a coat or a dressing gown which went all the way down to the floor.

What Influenced Elizabethan Era clothing?

Queen Elizabeth herself was the greatest influencer of fashion during her time. Elaborate and ostentatious in her clothing choices, Queen Elizabeth even kept a detailed account of the expenditure for her clothing. Her clothing accounts listed exactly how much materials were bought, from whom and what purpose it was used for.

Elizabeth's fascination for foreign styles of clothing had a huge influence on the fashion of that era. French, Spanish, Italian, and even German fashion seeped into the clothing trends in England. Gowns and accessories worn by the Queen were imitated by women from all social classes and hence, similar clothes with cheaper materials were made.

Elizabeth's influence, however, was not only limited to women's wardrobe but also reached men's fashion. the courtiers competed with each other to show up in the most expensive, sparkly outfit possible. They started using rich fabrics and wore clothes that would broaden their shoulders. Bright colours and elaborate embroidery was made to display wealth and class.

An astute politician, Queen Elizabeth even knew how to use fashion for political ends. When negotiations for her marriage were being made with the Anjous, she sent a portrait of herself to Catherine de' Medici where she is dressed in the most elaborate and flashy French clothes. It was met with commending response and the negotiations were successful.

Talk about grandiose and not to mention heavy. But one must remember, that just like their art and architecture, clothing in the Elizabethan Era was also an indicator of a person's wealth and status.

More info on- Elizabethan era Clothing Law for Women, Clothing Styles of different Classes, Hairstyles

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Elizabethan Era Clothing, Costume: Men, Women, Kids

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Clothing wasn't just merely an insignificant thing in the days of Elizabethan England. In fact, it is quite significant that there is even an Elizabethan law related to it. These laws stated the colours as well as the type of clothing an individual was allowed to own and wear.

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William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April (see When was Shakespeare born), which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.

Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeare's plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not all he wrote. Shakespeare's poems also remain popular to this day.

Shakespeare's Family Life

Records survive relating to William Shakespeare's family that offer an understanding of the context of Shakespeare's early life and the lives of his family members. John Shakespeare married Mary Arden, and together they had eight children. John and Mary lost two daughters as infants, so William became their eldest child. John Shakespeare worked as a glove-maker, but he also became an important figure in the town of Stratford by fulfilling civic positions. His elevated status meant that he was even more likely to have sent his children, including William, to the local grammar school.

William Shakespeare would have lived with his family in their house on Henley Street until he turned eighteen. When he was eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-six. It was a rushed marriage because Anne was already pregnant at the time of the ceremony. Together they had three children. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born six months after the wedding and was later followed by twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died when he was just 11 years old.

Shakespeare in London

Shakespeare's career jump-started in London, but when did he go there? We know Shakespeare's twins were baptised in 1585, and that by 1592 his reputation was established in London, but the intervening years are considered a mystery. Scholars generally refer to these years as ' The Lost Years '.

During his time in London, Shakespeare's first printed works were published. They were two long poems, 'Venus and Adonis' (1593) and 'The Rape of Lucrece' (1594). He also became a founding member of The Lord Chamberlain's Men, a company of actors. Shakespeare was the company's regular dramatist, producing on average two plays a year, for almost twenty years.

He remained with the company for the rest of his career, during which time it evolved into The King's Men under the patronage of King James I (from 1603). During his time in the company Shakespeare wrote many of his most famous tragedies, such as and , as well as great romances, like The Winter's Tale and The Tempest.

Shakespeare's Works

Altogether Shakespeare's works include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that we have about half of the plays at all. They collected them for publication after Shakespeare died, preserving the plays. These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio ('Folio' refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36 of his plays, but none of his poetry.

Shakespeare's legacy is as rich and diverse as his work; his plays have spawned countless adaptations across multiple genres and cultures. His plays have had an enduring presence on stage and film. His writings have been compiled in various iterations of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which include all of his plays, sonnets, and other poems. William Shakespeare continues to be one of the most important literary figures of the English language.

New Place; a home in Stratford-upon-Avon

Shakespeare's success in the London theatres made him considerably wealthy, and by 1597 he was able to purchase New Place,the largest house in the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon. Although his professional career was spent in London, he maintained close links with his native town.

Recent archaeological evidence discovered on the site of Shakespeare's New Place shows that Shakespeare was only ever an intermittent lodger in London. This suggests he divided his time between Stratford and London (a two or three-day commute). In his later years, he may have spent more time in Stratford-upon-Avon than scholars previously thought.

Watch our video for more about Shakespeare as a literary commuter:

On his father's death in 1601, William Shakespeare inherited the old family home in Henley Street part of which was then leased to tenants. Further property investments in Stratford followed, including the purchase of 107 acres of land in 1602.

Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23 April 1616 at the age of 52. He is buried in the sanctuary of the parish church, Holy Trinity.

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William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April (see When was Shakespeare born), which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.

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https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tudor-england/the-poor-in-elizabethan-england/

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Elizabethan Era Occupations & Jobs By: Rebecca Menard Middle/Low Class Yeomanry- Middle class including farmers, tradesmen and craftsmen. Laborers- Artisans, shoemakers, carpenters, brick builders or anyone doing work with their hands are part of this society. The Poor Popular

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Shakespeare's Education and Childhood
Shakespeare probably began his education at the age of six or seven at the Stratford grammar school, which is still standing only a short distance from his house on Henley Street. Although we have no record of Shakespeare attending the school, due to the official position held by John Shakespeare it seems likely that he would have decided to educate young William at the school which was under the care of Stratford's governing body. The Stratford grammar school had been built some two hundred years before Shakespeare was born and in that time the lessons taught there were, of course, dictated primarily by the beliefs of the reigning monarch. In 1553, due to a charter by King Edward VI, the school became known as the King's New School of Stratford-upon-Avon. During the years that Shakespeare attended the school, at least one and possibly three headmasters stepped down because of their devotion to the Catholic religion proscribed by Queen Elizabeth. One of these masters was Simon Hunt (b. 1551), who, in 1578, according to tradition, left Stratford to pursue his more spiritual goal of becoming a Jesuit, and relocated to the seminary at Rheims. Hunt had found his true vocation: when he died in Rome seven years later he had risen to the position of Grand Penitentiary.

Like all of the great poets and dramatists of the time, Shakespeare learned his basic reading and writing skills from an ABC, or horn-book. Robert Speaight in his book, Shakespeare: The Man and His Achievement, describes this book as
a primer framed in wood and covered with a thin plate of transparent horn. It included the alphabet in small letters and in capitals, with combinations of the five vowels with b, c, and d, and the Lord's Prayer in English. The first of these alphabets, which ended with the abbreviation for 'and', began with the mark of the cross. Hence the alphabet was known as 'Christ cross row' -- the cross-row of Richard III, I, i, 55. A short catechism was often included in the ABC book (the 'absey book' of King John, I, i, 196). (10)
In The Merry Wives of Windsor, there is a comical scene in which the Welsh headmaster tests his pupil's knowledge, who is appropriately named William. There is little doubt that Shakespeare was recalling his own experiences during his early school years. As was the case in all Elizabethan grammar schools, Latin was the primary language of learning. Although Shakespeare likely had some lessons in English, Latin composition and the study of Latin authors like Seneca, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, and Horace would have been the focus of his literary training. One can see that Shakespeare absorbed much that was taught in his grammar school, for he had an impressive familiarity with the stories by Latin authors, as is evident when examining his plays and their sources. Please see the article Shakespeare's School Days for an extensive list of the books Shakespeare would have read.

Even though scholars, basing their argument on a story told more than a century after the fact, accept that Shakespeare was removed from school around age thirteen because of his father's financial and social difficulties, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that he had not acquired a firm grasp of both English and Latin and that he had continued his studies elsewhere. The famous quotation from Nicholas Rowe's notoriously inaccurate biography of Shakespeare (written in 1709), where he claims that Shakespeare "acquir'd that little Latin he was Master of" and that Shakespeare was prevented by his father's poor fortune from "further Proficiency in that Language", should be read with an extremely critical eye.

There are other fragmented and dubious details about Shakespeare's life growing up in Stratford. He is supposed to have worked for a butcher, in addition to helping run his father's business. There is a fable that Shakespeare stole a deer from Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlecote, and, instead of serving a prison sentence, fled from Stratford. Although this surely is a fictitious incident, there exists a few verses of a humorous ballad mocking Lucy that have been connected to Shakespeare. "Edmond Malone records a version of two verses of the Lucy Ballad collected by one of the few great English classical scholars, Joshua Barnes, at Stratford between 1687 and 1690. Barnes stopped overnight at an inn and heard an old woman singing it. He gave her a new gown for the two stanzas which were all she remembered":

Sir Thomas was so covetous

To covet so much deer

When horns enough upon his head

Most plainly did appear

Had not his worship one deer left?

What then? He had a wife

Took pains enough to find him horns

Should last him during life. (Levi, 35)

Shakespeare's daily activities after he left school and before he re-emerged as a professional actor in the late 1580s are impossible to trace. Suggestions that he might have worked as a schoolmaster or lawyer or glover with his father and brother, Gilbert, are all plausible. So too is the argument that Shakespeare studied intensely to become a master at his literary craft, and honed his acting skills while traveling and visiting playhouses outside of Stratford. But, it is from this period known as the "lost years", that we obtain one vital piece of information about Shakespeare: he married a pregnant orphan named Anne Hathaway.

For a fascinating look at what Shakespeare's daily life would have been like growing up in Stratford, please see the book excerpt Country Life and Character in Elizabethan Enlgand.

How to cite this article:
Mabillard, Amanda.Shakespeare's Education and Childhood. Shakespeare Online. 12 Sept. 2000. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/shakespeareeducation.html >.

References
Bentley, Gerald Eades. Shakespeare: A Biographical Handbook. New Haven: Yale UP, 1968.
Speaight, Robert. Shakespeare: The Man and his Achievement. New York: Stein and Day, 1977.

Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron
King James I of England: Shakespeare's Patron
The Earl of Southampton: Shakespeare's Patron
Going to a Play in Elizabethan London

The Shakespeare Sisterhood - A Gallery
Worst Diseases in Shakespeare's London
Preface to The First Folio

Shakespeare's Pathos - General Introduction
Shakespeare's Portrayal of Childhood
Shakespeare's Portrayal of Old Age
Shakespeare's Attention to Details
Shakespeare's Portrayals of Sleep

Publishing in Elizabethan England
What did Shakespeare drink?
Ben Jonson and the Decline of the Drama
Publishing in Elizabethan England

Alchemy and Astrology in Shakespeare's Day
Entertainment in Elizabethan England
London's First Public Playhouse
Shakespeare Hits the Big Time

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More Resources

More to Explore
Shakespeare's Ancestry
Shakespeare's Parents
Shakespeare's Birth
Shakespeare's Sibings

Shakespeare as Actor
Shakespeare's Lost Years
Shakespeare's Marriage

Shakespeare's Children
Shakespeare's Death
Shakespeare's Burial

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Did You Know? ... An invaluable work from a celebrated head-master in the early seventeenth century gives us a wealth of information regarding what was being taught in the primary schools in Shakespeare's day. Charles Hoole, one of England's most respected and popular teachers wrote a thesis on the state of English schools entitled A New Discovery of the Old Art of Teaching Schoole. Read on...

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Was Shakespeare Italian?
How Many Plays Did Shakespeare Write?
What Did Shakespeare Look Like?

Shakespeare's Religion
Shakespeare's Contemporaries: Top Five Greatest
Shakespeare's Audience: The Groundlings
Four Periods of Shakespeare's Life

Shakespeare's Language
Words Shakespeare Invented
Shakespeare's Reputation in Elizabethan England

Shakespeare at the Globe
Shakespeare's Impact on Other Writers
Quotations About William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's Boss: The Master of Revels

Daily Life in Shakespeare's London
Life in Stratford (structures and guilds)
Life in Stratford (trades, laws, furniture, hygiene)
Stratford School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read?

Games in Shakespeare's England [A-L]
Games in Shakespeare's England [M-Z]
An Elizabethan Christmas
Clothing in Elizabethan England

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shakespeare's schooling where shakespeare went to school stratford school shakespeare

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Shakespeare probably began his education at the age of six or seven at the Stratford grammar school, which is still standing only a short distance from his house on Henley Street.

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William Shakespeare Quotes Page 6 - BrainyQuote

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Enjoy the best William Shakespeare Quotes Page 6 at BrainyQuote. Quotations by William Shakespeare, English Dramatist, Born April 23, 1564. Share with your friends.

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Visit this site dedicated to providing information about Globe Theatre Plays.Fast and accurate facts about Globe Theatre Plays. Learn about Globe Theatre Plays.

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The Elizabethan Theatre - Globe Theatre Interior

Elizabethan Theatre and the Globe Theatre Interior.

The Galleries

The Entrance

Stairs and Access

The Stage

The Pit, the Yard, the Galleries

The Heavens, the Frons Scenae, Lord's rooms, Gentlemen's rooms, Tiring House and the Hut

Globe Theatre Interior - the Pit or Yard

The Pit, or yard, was the area located around the stage. There was no seating - the cheapest part of the Globe Theater and the audience had to stand. The stage structure projected halfway into the ' yard ' where the commoners (groundlings) paid 1 penny to stand to watch the play. They would have crowded around the 3 sides of the stage structure. They were referred to as Groundlings and were Elizabethan Commoners who paid 1 penny admission to stand to watch the play. During the height of the summer the groundlings were also referred to as ' stinkards ' for obvious reasons.

Globe Theatre Interior

Elizabethan Theatre Interior

The Pit

The Galleries

The Entrance

Stairs and Access

The Stage

The Pit, the Yard, the Galleries

The Heavens, the Frons Scenae, Lord's rooms, Gentlemen's rooms, Tiring House and the Hut

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

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Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Globe Theatre Interior

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The Elizabethan Theatre - Globe Theatre Interior Elizabethan Theatre and the Globe Theatre Interior. The Galleries The Entrance Stairs and Access The Stage The Pit, the Yard, the Galleries The Heavens, the Frons Scenae, Lord's rooms, Gentlemen's rooms, Tiring House and the Hut Globe Theatre Interior - the Pit or Yard The Pit, or yard, was the area located around the stage.

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During the Elizabethan era festivals were a major part of everyday life. Times were hard so one can say that it gave people events to look forward to. The costumes that were worn on these days were based off of the church. These festivals and celebrations were held on the same year everyday so people had time to plan something annually. All Elizabethans were expected to attend church every Sunday so they were aware of the celebrations that were based off of the church calender. Many of these holidays are still common today but they one major difference is that some celebrations have branched away from the church.

vIDEOS OF eLIZABETHAN CELEBRATIONS

Examples of Annual Holidays

The church took responsibility for most of the events and gave the lower class work that did not require reading since they were illiterate. In January, there were feasts that celebrated the visit of the wise men which followed the birth of Jesus. In February, there was Saint Valentine's Day which was a day to celebrate love. In March, Easter was celebrated and plays that showed the Crucifixion of Jesus were held. On April, there was April fools day which just was a day full of jokes. There was also May Day which was one holiday that had not been taken over by the Christian Church. On that day young villagers would go into the woods and throw a party and the next day they would return to their village with a huge tree trunk. They would decorate the tree trunk which would be the , maypole and dance around it. There were many other Elizabethan holidays that were celebrated but these were just a few.

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During the Elizabethan era festivals were a major part of everyday life. Times were hard so one can say that it gave people events to look forward to. The costumes that were worn on these days were based off of the church.

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Society of Classical Poets | A community of poets dedicated to traditional poetry

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Various Shakespeare portraits.

By David B. Gosselin

William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564 - died April 23, 1616) is arguably the greatest writer in any language. His poetry is not only one of the most exalted examples of what an immortal sense of creative identity can accomplish, but it is in a sense a kind of symbol for the immortality of the artist and the idea of timelessness itself. From this standpoint, the idea of classical poetry and classical culture was never to be understood as something based "in time," as if from a certain period, but rather, it was considered classical because of the nature of the ideas it advanced, ideas which the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley referred to as "profound ideas concerning man and nature"; it was classical because of the way in which it chose to represent these ideas, namely, through beauty. Every great culture which has had the opportunity to fully develop its potential has likely had a "classical" period. In a word: a work assumes the title of classical, of a "classic," because of the quality of soul which emanates from it; it says something about the human condition in ways which make it stand as if outside of time and space - it is a "classic".

In this context, while there are myriad websites listing Shakespeare's top 10 sonnets, and no two lists are likely to be the same, the relevant issue in defining 10 of Shakespeare's greatest sonnets is that of selecting those which give us a glimpse into the higher order of meaning weaved through the series of sonnets as a whole; it means selecting those sonnets which capture the depths of Shakespeare's insight into the nature of man. It also means considering what is often overlooked by the more "popular" or academic readings of Shakespeare.

Too often Shakespeare readings are weighed down by an overly romanticized or sentimental reading, focusing on the sonnets as solely isolated pieces dedicated to the infatuation with some literal subject. What happens is one fails to see what Shakespeare is actually trying to accomplish. We are of the opinion that no such top 10 list could be compiled, which does not take into account or recognize the higher order of meaning, which governs the totality of the series - just as the star, which governs the orbits of all its planets and moons. In this light, we have attempted to select 10 of Shakespeare's greatest sonnets.

10. Sonnet #1

Some might suggest Shakespeare's idea of beauty is only skin deep, but right from the first two lines it's stated that this beauty fades and that even the fairest of creature's is no match for Time. He says we are all attracted to beauty and long for it, "from fairest creatures" we desire 'increase,' i.e. to reproduce, yet in recognizing that this kind of beauty fades, Shakespeare prepares you to discover an even higher order of beauty: the power to create new beauty! Herein lies the germ of Shakespeare's entire theme as he develops it throughout the series. However, he warns us and the ostensible person he is addressing, that to be preoccupied with one's own beauty, is to be blind to this qualitatively higher order of beauty, which lies in the future.

Thus right from the beginning we are faced with the question of our mortality and the contemplation of what comes after us. Shakespeare begins with this question because he knows that it is the only way in which we can be brought to contemplating a higher level of idea: our immortality.

9. Sonnet #130

It was very popular to use all sorts of exaggerated comparisons to define one's love, whether it be with the sweetness of a summer day, to the softness of the winds, with the brightness of the sun, ultimately always only using this as a device by which to declare their love surpasses all such comparison. By turning it on its head, Shakespeare develops a metaphor which allows us to contemplate a completely different quality of beauty, one which goes beyond simple sense perception. Shakespeare is going beyond the tendency of many of the Romantic poets who would simply be content with titillating our senses and reveling in a thousand pretty images of the beloved - his love is located in something higher.

How might this higher quality be attained?

8. Sonnet #17

The creation of beauty, as opposed to one's obsession with one's own beauty as some fixed thing, becomes a self-developing process - it becomes the higher hypothesis of our existence. This theme is thoroughly developed from sonnets 1-16, but now in sonnet 17 (closely related to sonnet 16), something begins to happen - there is a singularity or what we might call a discontinuity in mathematical terms, in regards to the hypothesis that came before:

Shakespeare has been elaborating his concept of beauty through poetry and now begins to allude to his conception of explicitly capturing it in his verse. However he casts doubt on whether he has the ability to keep their beauty alive through verse alone and thus urges them to take fate into their own hands. Despite procreation, he fears that beauty may still not survive, or that he wishes he could better protect it against Time, an idea also present in Sonnet 16:

Thus Shakespeare introduces a new element into the process of generating beauty, saying "But were some child of yours alive that time / You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme." We are now witnessing a doubly connected hypothesis, where the creation of beauty becomes twofold. There is another level he is defining here, a higher level of cardinality, where art itself can play a role.

We will come back to the sonnets following this one later in the list.

7. Sonnet 116

In many of the popular readings of Shakespeare, there is a tendency to get lost in some of the romantic characteristics. However beautiful and pleasing, Shakespeare's sense of subtly and layered meaning was usually used to allude to more than a simple romantic or pretty theme which makes happy lovers sigh. Despite that, Sonnet 116 is a true emblem of the marriage vow, often being recited at weddings and used as the quintessential declaration of true love. In it, Shakespeare develops the idea of love as something that transcends time and space. Man and woman, through love, assume a kind of strength which is unvanquishable and can in a certain way overcome all elements. Love in this sense partakes in the eternal, the one, and so through Love, we also may participate in this eternal, this one. Like Shakespeare says: "Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks / Within his bending sickle's compass come." However, Shakespeare starts the sonnet by saying something rather peculiar for the discerning eye, whose significance becomes much clearer in a proper recitation where one is challenged to communicate the intent of the first two lines: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments." Why would he be an impediment to the marriage of true minds? Which minds is he referring to?

Sonnet 116 is too often read without regard for what came before it, or what comes after it with the "dark lady" sonnets. While there are some who would insist that it doesn't matter, and that one should just enjoy the sonnet alone, without having to know all the auxiliary circumstances and meanings, in this case, with the advent of some relatively new scholarship which brings to light the identity of the dark lady Shakespeare was writing about, it makes this sonnet 116 all the more powerful, real, and gives it a real sense of biting irony.

Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel, a German Shakespeare scholar who has been known for an exceptionally scrupulous rigor in her scholarly work, bringing together elements of literary scholarship, iconography, forensic sciences, along with the use of botanical and medical expertise, put forward the hypothesis that this dark lady is none other than Elizabeth Vernon, the wife of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton. Only ten weeks after they were married, Elizabeth gave birth to a girl.

Hammerschmidt-Hummel goes through some rather compelling evidence, using portraits from that time, including a famous one known as "The Persian Lady," along with a previously lost sonnet (which she claims is the last and final sonnet in Shakespeare's series) and inscriptions from the portrait. In terms of all the possible people Shakespeare might have been addressing (including Shakespeare's connection to the Earl of Southampton), she concludes that this child was most likely Shakespeare's son. It would also explain certain intrigues around that time. It is not our purpose to try and convince people of these findings. That being said, availing ourselves of such a hypothesis in order to situate the context of this later series and account for the irony at the beginning of Sonnet 116, proves to be surprisingly useful. It becomes helpful in aiding one picture the possibilities and scenarios which speak to the kinds of sub-narratives Shakespeare explicitly refers to throughout many of the sonnets in the series. Moreover, it also gives meaning to the two opening lines, which we're otherwise forced to believe are just some superfluous rhetorical device which otherwise have nothing to do with the content of the sonnet. In the case the hypothesis is relatively correct, then Sonnet 116 becomes a formidable example of that biting irony which is so characteristic of the bard.

We recommend the reader at least give the sonnet a genuine reading aloud and try to play around with the different possibilities involved in its recitation. In this light, it becomes interesting to follow this sonnet up with these lines from Sonnet 117:

Book both my wilfulness and errors down,
And on just proof surmise accumulate;
Bring me within the level of your frown,
But shoot not at me in your wakened hate;
Since my appeal says I did strive to prove
The constancy and virtue of your love.

6. Sonnet #129

Here we have a denunciation of lust, its effects, in the midst of developing the theme of the "dark lady," warning us:

Shakespeare is reflecting on the conflicting battle of one's infatuation with a beautiful thing, the feeling of being enthralled to it, and the strong desire to "possess" it as though it were some object, some "thing" we wish to claim. The woman he loved, has yet chosen another course for her life it seems, but he cannot seem to let go (whether the Elizabeth Vernon narrative be entirely accurate or not); he is conflicted with the different feelings of desire, fear, loss. He is sharing all this with us, he is an open book, and in saying all this he is warning the reader to look beyond their immediate feelings, their impulses, no matter how noble they may seem - do not be so blind as to not recognize "the heaven that leads men to Hell."

Thus the struggle with sense perception, and of overcoming even the greatest sense of power which our unbridled feelings might have, leads us to the contemplation of mind and its role in our true happiness. Whether the narrative of Elizabeth Vernon is fully correct or not, is in this case secondary to understanding the sonnet in its context, however it does help to serve as a kind of predicate, or device by which to imagine the sort of circumstances under which this kind of series of hypothesis and of conflicting emotions might have arisen. It also helps to humanize Shakespeare, and helps us to not be so vain as to imagine some great individual above all human folly and error.

In our estimation, it is not diminutive to speculate on these kinds of issues about Shakespeare, it is all the more powerful to consider that such a human being, who struggled with many of the complexities of life which all our fellow human beings struggle with, was yet able to overcome himself, through his commitment to creativity, and ascend to the awesome heights of the immortal bard. This series is the record of his journey.

See sonnets 147-150 for a full depiction of the battle between sense and mind, between the commitment to truth and love, and the deceptions of lust and ego -

"Oh me, what eyes hath Love put in my head
Which have no correspondence with true sight!" (Sonnet 148)

5. Sonnet #55

In Sonnet 55 Shakespeare asserts the primacy of his poetic power, as that force, which defies the elements - that which is immortal. In the context of epic historical changes, of harrowing battles and of the crashing down of monuments, through a sweeping depiction of the vicissitudes of life, despite this, Shakespeare's rhyme partakes of something higher, which these monuments, these stones, these princes cannot, because they do not possess creativity.

Of all the subjects he chooses to write about, he chooses love, and as a show of his love, his rhyme becomes the vehicle by which to immortalize it. On a higher level, this also demonstrates the power of love itself, of Agape, of selfless love, and of love for mankind, which is that force which moves one to create that which overcomes all worldly obstacles.

4. Sonnet #18

Arguably the most famous of the Shakespeare sonnets, and definitely one of the most beautiful, Shakespeare uses the device of making a series of comparisons, which shows up in its inverted form in Sonnet 130, in order to show how his Love yet surpasses any idea of comparison. In that sense, the only way to go beyond, is to write that which exceeds all these notions of beauty, whereby, through his art, which captures what nothing else can, he immortalizes his love. Because of the tenderness and ideality of this particular sonnet, its use of such delicate images to convey this great sense of beauty, we are compelled to say it is truly one of the most beautiful.

3. Sonnet #59

Shakespeare here contemplates, how do we know something as beautiful as his love has not already been written? He alludes to the biblical reference right from the beginning "there is no new thing under the sun" (Eclesiastes 1.9), creating a sort of crisis. Is what he is attempting to do all in vain? If only he could somehow go into the past and see, and "prove" his is different and that his special. Yet he concludes, as an artist, who's nature is to create, who is in a very real sense a "co-creator": "Oh sure I am the wits of former days / To subjects worse have given admiring praise."

Shakespeare stands at the point of a new Renaissance, he stands in the shadow of the ancient Greek renaissance, and in the shadow of the Italian Golden Renaissance, whose sonetto form he has adopted and fitted to the English language. He has borrowed the sonetto form in order to communicate a new paradigm of "profound ideas concerning man and nature." However, like many of the sonnets, they often come in pairs, like pairwise electrons or diatomic molecules, and here 59 is one which serves to set up the next one:

2. Sonnet #60

Shakespeare here asserts the primacy of the artist, of the creative mind, and his ability to create something "new under the sun." This becomes fundamental for recognizing Shakespeare's acknowledgement of where he is in history, that despite 500 courses of the sun, he is creating something new. Moreover, not only is he creating something new, but he is actually redefining the directionality of clock time, where rather than fade with the passing of time, in times to come, his "verse shall stand / Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand." In fact, his verse will not only stand, it will increase in greatness: rather than wear his rhyme out, each 500 new courses of the sun will increase its worth, by 500 courses of the sun. Thus Time increases its worth! This concept defines the true nature of immortality, which every individual human being may partake in.

1. Sonnet #65

Here the balance of historical time, of clock time, is counterposed with the most delicate images: how can such things hold a plea, when even the greatest of monuments must yield to Time? This is the question every mortal must ask in contemplating the purpose of their lives.

In this sonnet, along with Sonnet 18, one see's how the most fragile images, those most vulnerable to the indiscriminate blows of fate and nature, have ironically, the ability to move us in the most powerful of ways, because they have the ability to invoke in us the greatest sense of humanity. In having gone through a series of hypotheses, from physical beauty, the belief in sense perceptions, the trappings of lust and the gluttony of Time; having considered the crashing down of monuments, the fortunes of princes, one's legacy carried on by their offspring, the vicissitudes of mortality and our desires for all those things which must ultimately flee, we are yet compelled to ask: "how shall beauty hold a plea?" This becomes the most important question; by what great agency, by what saving grace, by what miracle, can Time be overcome:

O! none, unless this miracle have might,
That in black ink my love may still shine bright.

The power of Love and creativity combined, are the force, which can in a very real sense move mountains, and have the power to accomplish that which seems impossible. Were Shakespeare just another skilled versifier, moved by nothing other than his wish to titillate our senses and relish in a thousand beautiful images of his beloved, his poetry would have none of the power it has today. The reason for this is simple:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. -1st Corinthians 13

Shakespeare understood this in its most profound sense.

Conclusion

Shakespeare's work is not some sentimental romanticizing of his love; nor is it really a love of an individual in the strict sense of the word; just as Petrarch's Laura (meaning laurel in Italian) and Dante's Beatrice, they are archetypes, predicates, by which to elaborate a qualitatively higher conception of love which is truly universal i.e. Agapic. Though this love can be expressed towards another individual, the difference is Shakespeare is not coming from a place of Eros, of wanting to possess such a love, in fact he's had to go through the process of grieving the loss of that love and the trappings of his senses; the source of this inspiration is coming from what the ancient Greeks referred to as Agape, self-less love, which came to be translated as charity in the King James version of the Bible. It comes from the power Shakespeare has to address his fellow man, demonstrating through the work of his own creative process, his working through of the paradoxes of love, loss, mortality, and the pursuit of happiness - it is the selfless act, which Shakespeare puts before his audience.

In summation, Shakespeare should not be approached as some towering immortal God who stands above us all, quite the opposite, he is our fellow mortal. The essence of Shakespeare's work, the hypothesis which underlies the higher hypothesis, is this acceptance of his mortality. It is the realization of those paradoxes which define the mortal life, our passions, and our desires to possess, whether it be people, things or love; it is the world that opens up as we come to the ultimate realization of having to let go of all these things - that is Shakespeare.

If we wish to know him, we need only undertake this same journey.

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10 Greatest Shakespeare Sonnets: An Immortal Series | Society of Classical Poets

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Various Shakespeare portraits. By David B. Gosselin William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564 - died April 23, 1616) is arguably the greatest writer in any language. His poetry is not only one of the most exalted examples of what an immortal sense of creative identity can accomplish, but it is in a sense a kind of symbol for the immortality of the artist and the idea of timelessness itself.

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A guide for scholars interested in the study of Shakespeare's life and works

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yeah yeah

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How many children did Shakespeare have?

William Shakespeare and his wife Anne had three children. The eldest, Susanna, was baptised on 26 May 1583. They also had twins, Judith and Hamnet, baptised on 2 February 1585.

Shakespeare had four grandchildren who all died without heirs, so there are no direct descendants of his line today.

Susanna married John Hall in 1607, and had one child, Elizabeth, in 1608. Elizabeth was married twice, to Thomas Nash in 1626, and to John Barnard in 1649. She had no children by either husband.

Hamnet died at the age of 11 and was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon on 11 August 1596. The cause of his death is unknown.

Judith married Thomas Quiney in 1616, and the couple had three sons: Shakespeare Quiney, who died in infancy, and Richard and Thomas, who both died in 1639 within a month of each other. Neither of them married or had children before they died.

It is possible to claim a relationship to Shakespeare through his sister, Joan. There are many descendants of Joan and William Hart alive today, in both the male and female lines.

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William Shakespeare and his wife Anne had three children. The eldest, Susanna, was baptised on 26 May 1583. They also had twins, Judith and Hamnet, baptised on 2 February 1585. Shakespeare had four grandchildren who all died without heirs, so there are no direct descendants of his line today.

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Advancements in the practical skills of navigation allowed explorers to thrive during the Elizabethan era. The main benefit of exploration around this time was to open up trade routes with countries around the world. There were a number of famed explorers who led these voyages.

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake was the most famous seaman of Elizabeth's reign. His career has been interpreted in different ways, ranging from national hero to villain. He grew up as a who hated Catholics and he was very anti-Spanish. His first voyage in 1566 was as a slave trader. He was attacked in 1568 by the Spanish at San Juan de Ulua in Mexico, losing four ships and over 300 men. He sought to take revenge on the Spanish after this.

Notable expeditions

Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world, the globe between 1577 and 1580. He went on to play a role in the Spanish Armada by attacking Cadiz in 1587 and delaying preparations. He was also vice-admiral during the Armada.

Launched successful attacks on the Spanish empire, bringing back gold, silver and jewels, making a huge profit.

Claimed new lands for England and made valuable trading contacts with the Spice Islands.

Knighted by Elizabeth and made an admiral.

John Hawkins

He was a navigator and slave trader who was Sir Francis Drake's cousin.

Notable expeditions

He made three voyages during the 1560s, capturing Africans and selling them into slavery in Central America to Spanish settlers.

After this he returned to England and designed and built ships for the navy. Elizabeth appointed him as a vice-admiral fighting against the Spanish Armada.

Developed a new type of fighting galleon which was faster, lighter and better able to withstand harsh weather conditions than ships in the Spanish fleet.

His innovative designs were important in helping to lead England to victory.

Walter Raleigh

He was a famous sailor, explorer and courtier. The queen invested in his privateering expeditions against the Spanish. He wanted to establish for Elizabeth in North America. The area was thought to have an inexhaustible supply of wine, oil, sugar and flax and would reduce England's trading dependence upon Europe.

Notable expeditions

In 1584 he obtained a royal to establish a colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. He organised two expeditions to take settlers to the colony. The first group came home after a year; the second were left there but later disappeared. There is no conclusive proof of what happened to the colonists - perhaps they were forced to leave, ran away or lacked food. The reasons for their disappearance are unclear and Roanoke is sometimes given the name 'The Lost Colony'.

Raleigh didn't play a major part in the Armada campaign.

Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower of London in June 1592 for marrying one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting, He was released in August 1592 to lead a very successful naval attack against the Spanish. Following the attack, Raleigh was sent back to the Tower but was released the following year and became a Member of Parliament.

Whilst imprisoned in the Tower, Raleigh wrote many poems and even wrote a history of the world.

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Explorers - Francis Drake, John Hawkins and Walter Raleigh - Life in Elizabethan England - AQA - GCSE History Revision - AQA - BBC Bitesize

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Advancements in the practical skills of navigation allowed explorers to thrive during the Elizabethan era. The main benefit of exploration around this time was to open up trade routes with countries around the world. There were a number of famed explorers who led these voyages.

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Information about what people did for entertainment during Shakespeare's time.

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Shakespeare: General Q & A

What types of entertainment did they have in Elizabethan England?

In Elizabethan England, during the times when plays were not completely outlawed, going to the theatre was the favourite activity of the masses. When disease ravaged London, actors would travel across the English countryside, entertaining farmers. There were also many days devoted to feasting, such as Mad Day, Midsummer Day, and Ascension Day (just to name a few), when people would drink and make merry. Dances were popular, whether you lived in London or in a small town, and so was getting together at the local pub for sing-alongs. Games like chess, checkers, and tennis were extremely popular; Miranda plays chess in The Tempest and Queen Elizabeth herself was known to love the game. For a comprehensive list of Elizabethan sports and games, please click here. Reading was also very popular, and most educated people could read their favourite books in more than one language.

The upper classes engaged in tournaments of fencing and hunted for sport. All classes seemed to delight in the vicious form of entertainment known as bear-baiting, but it was without doubt Queen Elizabeth's favourite pastime:

Elizabeth took especial delight in seeing the courage of her English mastiffs pitted against the cunning of Ursa and the strength of Taurus. On the 25th of May 1559, the French ambassadors 'were brought to court with music to dinner, and after a splendid dinner, were entertained with the baiting of bears and bulls with English dogs. The queen's grace herself, and the ambassadors, stood in the gallery looking on the pastime till six at night.' The diplomatists were so gratified, that her majesty never failed to provide a similar show for any foreign visitors she wished to honour.
Much as the royal patron of Shakespeare and Burbage was inclined to favour the players, she waxed indignant when the attractions of the bear garden paled before those of the theatre; and in 1591 an order issued from the privy-council forbidding plays to be acted on Thursdays, because bear-baiting and such pastimes had usually been practised on that day. This order was followed by an injunction from the lord mayor to the same effect, in which his lordship complained, ' that in divers places, the players do use to recite their plays to the great hurt and destruction of the game of bear-baiting, and such-like pastimes, which are maintained for her majesty's pleasure.' ( The book of days 58).

Shakespeare alludes to bear-baiting in Macbeth: "But, bear-like, I must fight the course" (5.7.2).

You can read more about Elizabethan England in the theatre section.

Reference
Chambers, Robert. The book of days: a miscellany of popular antiquities. London: W. & R. Chambers, 1883.
How to cite this article:

Mabillard, Amanda.Entertainment in Elizabethan England Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/faq/entertainment.html>.

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shakespeare's bear baiting chess shakespeare fun in shakespeare england characters

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Entertainment in Elizabethan England - bear baiting, chess, and more

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What types of entertainment did they have in Elizabethan England? In Elizabethan England, during the times when plays were not completely outlawed, going to the theatre was the favourite activity of the masses. When disease ravaged London, actors would travel across the English countryside, entertaining farmers.

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stratford grammar school

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Shakespeare's Education and Childhood
Shakespeare probably began his education at the age of six or seven at the Stratford grammar school, which is still standing only a short distance from his house on Henley Street. Although we have no record of Shakespeare attending the school, due to the official position held by John Shakespeare it seems likely that he would have decided to educate young William at the school which was under the care of Stratford's governing body. The Stratford grammar school had been built some two hundred years before Shakespeare was born and in that time the lessons taught there were, of course, dictated primarily by the beliefs of the reigning monarch. In 1553, due to a charter by King Edward VI, the school became known as the King's New School of Stratford-upon-Avon. During the years that Shakespeare attended the school, at least one and possibly three headmasters stepped down because of their devotion to the Catholic religion proscribed by Queen Elizabeth. One of these masters was Simon Hunt (b. 1551), who, in 1578, according to tradition, left Stratford to pursue his more spiritual goal of becoming a Jesuit, and relocated to the seminary at Rheims. Hunt had found his true vocation: when he died in Rome seven years later he had risen to the position of Grand Penitentiary.

Like all of the great poets and dramatists of the time, Shakespeare learned his basic reading and writing skills from an ABC, or horn-book. Robert Speaight in his book, Shakespeare: The Man and His Achievement, describes this book as
a primer framed in wood and covered with a thin plate of transparent horn. It included the alphabet in small letters and in capitals, with combinations of the five vowels with b, c, and d, and the Lord's Prayer in English. The first of these alphabets, which ended with the abbreviation for 'and', began with the mark of the cross. Hence the alphabet was known as 'Christ cross row' -- the cross-row of Richard III, I, i, 55. A short catechism was often included in the ABC book (the 'absey book' of King John, I, i, 196). (10)
In The Merry Wives of Windsor, there is a comical scene in which the Welsh headmaster tests his pupil's knowledge, who is appropriately named William. There is little doubt that Shakespeare was recalling his own experiences during his early school years. As was the case in all Elizabethan grammar schools, Latin was the primary language of learning. Although Shakespeare likely had some lessons in English, Latin composition and the study of Latin authors like Seneca, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, and Horace would have been the focus of his literary training. One can see that Shakespeare absorbed much that was taught in his grammar school, for he had an impressive familiarity with the stories by Latin authors, as is evident when examining his plays and their sources. Please see the article Shakespeare's School Days for an extensive list of the books Shakespeare would have read.

Even though scholars, basing their argument on a story told more than a century after the fact, accept that Shakespeare was removed from school around age thirteen because of his father's financial and social difficulties, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that he had not acquired a firm grasp of both English and Latin and that he had continued his studies elsewhere. The famous quotation from Nicholas Rowe's notoriously inaccurate biography of Shakespeare (written in 1709), where he claims that Shakespeare "acquir'd that little Latin he was Master of" and that Shakespeare was prevented by his father's poor fortune from "further Proficiency in that Language", should be read with an extremely critical eye.

There are other fragmented and dubious details about Shakespeare's life growing up in Stratford. He is supposed to have worked for a butcher, in addition to helping run his father's business. There is a fable that Shakespeare stole a deer from Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlecote, and, instead of serving a prison sentence, fled from Stratford. Although this surely is a fictitious incident, there exists a few verses of a humorous ballad mocking Lucy that have been connected to Shakespeare. "Edmond Malone records a version of two verses of the Lucy Ballad collected by one of the few great English classical scholars, Joshua Barnes, at Stratford between 1687 and 1690. Barnes stopped overnight at an inn and heard an old woman singing it. He gave her a new gown for the two stanzas which were all she remembered":

Sir Thomas was so covetous

To covet so much deer

When horns enough upon his head

Most plainly did appear

Had not his worship one deer left?

What then? He had a wife

Took pains enough to find him horns

Should last him during life. (Levi, 35)

Shakespeare's daily activities after he left school and before he re-emerged as a professional actor in the late 1580s are impossible to trace. Suggestions that he might have worked as a schoolmaster or lawyer or glover with his father and brother, Gilbert, are all plausible. So too is the argument that Shakespeare studied intensely to become a master at his literary craft, and honed his acting skills while traveling and visiting playhouses outside of Stratford. But, it is from this period known as the "lost years", that we obtain one vital piece of information about Shakespeare: he married a pregnant orphan named Anne Hathaway.

For a fascinating look at what Shakespeare's daily life would have been like growing up in Stratford, please see the book excerpt Country Life and Character in Elizabethan Enlgand.

How to cite this article:
Mabillard, Amanda.Shakespeare's Education and Childhood. Shakespeare Online. 12 Sept. 2000. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/shakespeareeducation.html >.

References
Bentley, Gerald Eades. Shakespeare: A Biographical Handbook. New Haven: Yale UP, 1968.
Speaight, Robert. Shakespeare: The Man and his Achievement. New York: Stein and Day, 1977.

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Preface to The First Folio

Shakespeare's Pathos - General Introduction
Shakespeare's Portrayal of Childhood
Shakespeare's Portrayal of Old Age
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Did You Know? ... An invaluable work from a celebrated head-master in the early seventeenth century gives us a wealth of information regarding what was being taught in the primary schools in Shakespeare's day. Charles Hoole, one of England's most respected and popular teachers wrote a thesis on the state of English schools entitled A New Discovery of the Old Art of Teaching Schoole. Read on...

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An Elizabethan Christmas
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shakespeare's schooling where shakespeare went to school stratford school shakespeare

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Shakespeare probably began his education at the age of six or seven at the Stratford grammar school, which is still standing only a short distance from his house on Henley Street.

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https://www.history.com/news/queen-mary-i-bloody-mary-reformation

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https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/life-and-times/historical-context/theatrical/performances-at-court/

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https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/life-and-times/historical-context/political/elizabeth-i/

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This resource gave a background of Shakespeare's private life and the Religion he might've followed

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Assurances of Faith: How Catholic was Shakespeare? How Catholic are his Plays?

PAUL J. VOSS

The Catholic imagination - the imagination that allowed Shakespeare to sprinkle his plays with references to Catholic religious beliefs and practices in meaningful ways - also helped to create the fictive worlds of Denmark, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Illyria. The imagination that made him Catholic also helped make him the greatest writer in the English-speaking world.

William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)

Shakespeare stands as a wonderful anomaly. It could be argued that no artist in the history of the Western world enjoys both the critical and popular esteem of Shakespeare. His poems and plays continue to enchant generation after generation; his rich language saturates modern speech - whether we realize it or not. What accounts for this enduring fascination? How can we explain the beauty of his writing or the power of his imagination?

Perhaps we cannot. Perhaps we must remain silent in the face of genius, simply accepting the precious gift. Yet that answer somehow fails to satisfy scholars and critics. We want to know more - that is, after all, our calling. We want to ask challenging questions, and we expect convincing responses.

Recently, a number of scholars have revisited the question of Shakespeare's religious impulses. Scholars long ago accepted, perhaps begrudgingly, that religious belief can serve as a powerful stimulant for the creative process. Religious devotion contributes to art, music, and literature in manifold ways. Yet the recent attention given to Shakespeare's possible Catholicism is not a welcome development for many in the academic community. The dominant voices in that community, the avatars of postmodernism, generally ignore the religious dimension of art while concentrating instead on the holy trinity of race, class, and gender.

Why Ask the Question

Many Shakespeareans ignore the religious dimension of his plays. They believe that Shakespeare was somehow above the pettiness of religious belief. The eminent critic Harold Bloom, author of the best-selling Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (Riverhead Books, 1999), finds the whole question of Shakespeare's religious commitments laughably irrelevant. Bloom argues that "Shakespeare seems too wise to believe anything" political or religious. He adds, "I am baffled when critics argue as to whether Shakespeare was Protestant or Catholic, since the plays are neither." According to Bloom, Shakespeare could not have any religious convictions and still remain Shakespeare.

Stephen Greenblatt, the influential founder of New Historicism, has been criticized for his failure to acknowledge the importance of religious belief in Elizabethan literature. New Historicism, unlike the English Renaissance culture it often interprets, tends to have a radically secular perspective. Interestingly, Greenblatt's most recent book, Hamlet in Purgatory (Princeton University Press, 2001; see David A. Murray's review in the February 2002 issue), attempts to explore complex religious questions, but not with a sympathetic imagination. Greenblatt focuses his considerable intelligence on debunking Catholic beliefs rather than trying to understand them.

The turn toward a "Catholic Shakespeare" evidently bothers some professors at Catholic universities as well. Michael A. Mikolajczak, professor of literature at the University of St. Thomas, considers the very question in bad taste: "[I]n my view, this question is not decidable nor even very interesting; and I suspect it of the sin of pigeonholing and perhaps triumphalism." While Mikolajczak's obscure theology creates some confusion (what is the sin of pigeonholing?), more disturbing is his bald assertion that scholars interested in the question of Shakespeare's religious orientation are somehow sinful. His posture reflects a lack of curiosity and a type of intellectual sloth: He finds the question of little interest and therefore others should as well. He seems to hope that if we do not investigate the question, it will simply go away.

Yet scholars and critics of all stripes have long conceded the importance of religious belief in the production of art, literature, and drama. Mikolajczak might perhaps be forgiven for his hostile indifference to the question - he is not, after all, a Shakespearean scholar - but to dismiss, prima facie, the connection between religious belief and imaginative literature smacks of bigotry.

Other more sensible objections exist. For example, Rev. Paul Murray, O.P., notes: "It would not, I think, be helpful to characterize Shakespeare formally as a religious dramatist. The fact is that he chose, by and large, to leave religion alone." This is half true: Shakespeare was not a religious dramatist. But Father Murray assumes that Shakespeare chose not to address religious issues in a concerted, conspicuous fashion. In fact, the choice was not Shakespeare's.

Strict laws regulating theater prohibited any explicitly religious or current political events from being represented on stage. No playwright writing for the public during the English Renaissance could be formally considered a religious dramatist. Protestant reformers had recently put an end to the centuries-old tradition of religious drama, including miracle and mystery plays. Yet key questions remain unanswered. Why does Shakespeare make repeated references to Catholicism in his plays? Why would Shakespeare risk his freedom to portray Catholicism in a sympathetic fashion?

Of course, too much emphasis on religion (or politics or sex or philosophy) in Shakespeare may lead to a reductive appreciation of his art: He was, obviously, not writing dramatic homilies. Still, it would be equally unwise to neglect or ignore the conspicuously religious language, themes, and characters found in his plays. Some scholars have contended that Shakespeare incorporated these religious attributes in a strictly universal way, free of any clannish meaning or color. But this position requires one to ignore numerous and repeated references to specific religious practices, especially to proscribed Catholic rituals.

The theory that Shakespeare was Catholic rests on two types of evidence: the archival/historical record and the sentiments culled from his plays. Both sources of evidence have their limitations: The archival record from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods is far from comprehensive, and ascribing personal convictions to an artist on the basis of his work remains a complicated business. Nonetheless, both sources of information also have been useful.

What History Tells Us

The archival/historical evidence for a Catholic Shakespeare is circumstantial but significant. We do not have a sworn testimony signed by Shakespeare, advertising his religious affiliations. But we do have less direct indications. One could cite, for example, the religion of his mother's family, the Catholic Ardens, and the spiritual testament signed by his father, John Shakespeare, sometime before the elder Shakespeare's death in 1601. In the testament, which follows the formula of St. Charles Borromeo's Last Will of the Soul, John makes a formal profession of his Catholic faith. Both of Shakespeare's parents appear to have conformed to Catholicism despite the risks to personal wealth, freedom, and life. Although England's final break with Rome was still within living memory, the Elizabethan government expected outward conformity from all subjects. To make a public vow of Catholicism during this period required great measures of faith and courage.

One could also point out that Shakespeare's teachers at the Stratford grammar school all had contacts with the "Old Faith." Simon Hunt, his first schoolmaster, from 1571 to 1575, left Stratford to matriculate at the University of Douai in the summer of 1575 and later become a Jesuit. One of Shakespeare's classmates from Stratford, Robert Dibdale, abruptly left with Hunt, was also ordained a priest, and was martyred in 1586.

The next two schoolmasters at Stratford were Thomas Jenkins and John Cottom. According to Park Honan, Shakespeare's most recent biographer, both men "had strong Catholic connections." Jenkins, if not Catholic himself, had many friends who were; Cottom's younger brother, Thomas, was, in fact, martyred in 1582 as a seminary priest. Remarkably, all of Shakespeare's grammar school teachers (if he indeed attended Stratford's grammar school, as is universally assumed) were active Catholics or had close connections with the "Old Faith."

Shakespeare's last will and testament also provides a glimpse into Shakespeare's life and faith. Although the will itself, like the vast majority of wills drawn up in Jacobean England, follows the current Protestant formula (with no references, for example, to the Blessed Mother or the communion of saints), the document also reveals Shakespeare's intriguing pattern of friendships with known Catholics.

Of the ten non-family members specifically mentioned in Shakespeare's will, the religious inclinations of three are not known (Hamnet Sadler, Francis Collins, and Richard Burbage); two were Anglicans (John Hemminges and Henry Condell); and five were Catholic or Catholic sympathizers (Thomas Combe II, William Reynolds, Anthony Nash, John Nash, and Thomas Russell). Obviously Shakespeare continued to remain close friends with recusant Catholics - Catholics cited, fined, or imprisoned for their faith.

The most recent theory to support Shakespeare's Catholic education comes from Richard Wilson. According to his argument, first made in 1937 and revisited occasionally during the next 50 years, the "William Shakeshafte" who lived with the Catholic Houghton family in Lancashire is really young William Shakespeare from Stratford. This theory got a boost with the recent discovery that John Cottom belonged to the Lancashire gentry, who were relatives of the Houghtons. This possible connection created a significant buzz among students of Shakespeare, leading to a major international conference in July 1999, attended by more than 200 scholars and critics.

It would be mistaken to draw absolute conclusions about Shakespeare's religious status from his teachers, classmates, friends, and family. It would be equally mistaken, however, to ignore this rich archival record and the rather extraordinary nexus of Catholic friends and acquaintances it reveals. The archival/historical record makes it abundantly clear that Shakespeare knew and felt comfortable around Catholics. The Old Faith had not disappeared from his life.

His Dramatic Vision

A more productive strategy for appreciating Shakespeare's religious sensibilities centers on the conspicuously Catholic elements included in his plays. What do these allusions to the faith tell us about his drama?

Perhaps we can appreciate Shakespeare's imaginative universe more clearly by looking at the Catholic imagination overall. In a recent book titled The Catholic Imagination (University of California Press, 2000), Rev. Andrew Greeley explores the differences between the Catholic imagination (or, as he terms it, the metaphorical imagination) and the Protestant imagination (or, according to Greeley, the dialectical imagination) Although Greeley's conspicuous animus against Catholic orthodoxy distorts his conclusions, he raises some crucial questions: Do Catholics, exposed to a sacramental worldview, experience reality in a different way than non-Catholics do? And if so, can this difference be identified and demonstrated?

Greeley believes, with some empirical evidence to support his claim, that the Catholic imagination allows poets, artists, parents, priests, farmers, and others the opportunity to see God in all creation, in all pleasures, in human love, and even in sickness. This metaphorical, sacramental perspective may help account for Shakespeare's dramatic vision. For even if Shakespeare was not a practicing Catholic, his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were.

The Crucial Role of the Clergy

Consider, for example, the depiction of the Catholic clergy in his plays. In Elizabethan England, Catholic priests found on English soil were considered guilty of treason and executed. Elizabeth I's government executed scores of priests for this "crime." English Protestants would see all Catholic priests as guilty, ipso facto, without shading or nuance. Many plays written by Shakespeare's contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, and Francis Beaumont, make this reductive characterization when depicting Catholics and Catholic clergy as simple, one-dimensional villains.

Shakespeare presents Catholic clergy in a more complicated fashion. Friar Laurence from Romeo and Juliet plays a crucial role in the unfolding plot. Although a bit long-winded at times, he offers moral counsel and faithful friendship, finally agreeing to marry the young lovers and hoping that "this alliance may so happy prove / To turn your households' rancor to pure love." Although the friar readily admits his complicity in the tragedy and freely accepts punishment, the prince exculpates him, telling him, "We still [always] have known thee for a holy man." Friar Laurence is a complex character, but he is no villain.

Friar Francis plays a smaller role in Much Ado About Nothing (he speaks fewer than 85 lines), but he can be seen as the pivotal figure who moves the play from potential tragedy toward a comic resolution. In the play, Hero is about to marry Claudio. Yet Claudio, falsely believing Hero unfaithful, renounces her at the altar. Hero swoons, tempers flare, and threats ensue. The play hovers near the brink of chaos. Then Friar Francis interrupts the proceedings with a defense of the innocent Hero. He alone defends the maiden, calling on his experience as a confessor and confidant. He ends his plea by wagering his reputation on Hero's innocence and his ability to determine right from wrong:

Call me a fool;
Trust not my reading, nor my observations,
Which with experimental seal doth warrant
The tenure of my book; trust not my age,
My reverence, calling, nor divinity,
If this sweet lady lie not guiltless here
Under some biting error. [emphasis added]

Friar Francis offers the legitimacy of his vocation as potential ransom for Hero. Ultimately, Hero is proved innocent, and she weds the repentant Claudio. And Friar Francis and his vow are vindicated along with Hero: Shakespeare endorses his role as a priest to the community.

We must not ignore the uniqueness of this representation. If a real Friar Francis were to have walked off the stage at the Globe Theater and practiced his faith in public, he would have been immediately arrested and eventually executed. This irony often escapes critics either unwilling or unable to accept this radical departure from the Protestant orthodoxy.

Doctrine and Sacraments

Shakespeare also mentions the Catholic sacraments in profound ways. During the discussion between Hamlet and the ghost of Hamlet's dead father, the ghost describes the horrors of his current situation, which strongly resemble the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. Unspecific circumstances forbid the ghost from disclosing all information about his plight, but if he were allowed to "tell the secrets of my prison-house," the story "would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood / Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres." Clearly, the idea of purgatory continued to interest Shakespeare.

The ghost then relates the most painful aspect of the murder: He was killed before he had a chance to confess his sins; he was unable to receive the Eucharist, spiritual preparation, or anointing of the sick:

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhous'led, disappointed, unanel'd;
No reck'ning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!

The archaic language should not obscure the thrust of the passage. The ghost complains of his dying "unhous'led" (without the Eucharist) and "unanel'd" (unanointed, without extreme unction). Moreover, he died with "no reck'ning made" (without confession). Suddenly the enormity of the crime becomes more obvious. Not only was King Hamlet deprived of his earthly joys; his lack of spiritual preparation compromised his heavenly happiness as well. Although it is merely a few lines of dialogue in an extended discussion, this passage gives power and vitality to the whole speech. If the ghost merely missed the earthly comforts of bed and food, his despondency would lose an important dimension. Shakespeare raises the stakes considerably. He makes this a question of eternal life and death. The deprivation of the sacraments - of God's presence in our lives - underscores the injustice of the murder, compelling Hamlet to seek revenge. Hamlet's consciousness of eternity motivates the action and intensifies the drama of the story.

Though not a religious dramatist per se, Shakespeare sprinkled his plays with myriad references to the sacraments. While he uses the word "sacrament" on only eight occasions, usually meaning "to receive the holy sacrament" of the Eucharist, Shakespeare also mentions confession and shrift (confession plus absolution) and unction (as in anointing with oil). Individually, the words may seem to be isolated instances of a fossilized piety; collectively they suggest a more dynamic and animated sense of the sacred.

The Sacramental Nature of Marriage

Consider also the presentation of marriage in his plays. During this turbulent period, Catholic and Protestant practices differed. After 1558 and the accession of Elizabeth I, the Church of England no longer considered marriage a sacrament. Queen Elizabeth, the child of an illegitimate second marriage, obviously had a vested interest in the desacramentalization of marriage. For the English church, marriage customs became much simpler. Although variations existed, a couple had only to make a vow of marriage or intent to marry in front of witnesses and consummate the union. Obviously, such limited ecclesiastical oversight created a host of problems. According to legal expert A.G. Harmon, this situation "could wreak all sorts of havoc with secret promises, hand-clasping, and ring-giving."

At the Council of Trent, which ended in 1563, the year before Shakespeare's birth, the Catholic Church continued to insist on the sacramentality of marriage. Although the council underscored the role of the bride and groom in conferring the sacrament on one another, the council also mandated that all Catholic marriages must be contracted in the presence of a priest.

Shakespeare, outside a few extraordinary plot devices, opts for the Catholic practice of marriage in his plays. Whether set in pagan or Christian times, in Catholic or non-Catholic countries, marriage is generally depicted as sacramental in nature. Consider Twelfth Night, a play about mistaken identity set in Illyria. During the play, Lady Olivia falls in love with Cessario (actually Viola disguised as a man). Olivia happens upon the recently arrived Sebastion (Viola's twin brother, believed to be dead) and, thinking Sebastion is really Cessario, asks the stunned Sebastion for his hand in marriage. Despite the rashness of the request, Sebastion agrees to marry the lovely Olivia. She directs the action:

Blame not this haste of mine. If you mean well,
Now go with me and with this holy man
Into the chantry by: there, before him,
And underneath that consecrated roof,
Plight me the full assurances of your faith;
That my most jealous and too doubtful soul
May live at peace. [emphasis added]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "chantry" (defined as a chapel, altar, or part of a church where one or more priests sang daily Mass for the souls of the founders or others specified by them) carried specifically Catholic associations.

In Julius Caesar, a play set in pagan times, Portia confronts Brutus, asking him to reveal the source of his anxiety. Brutus repeatedly attempts to dismiss the questions, referring to fatigue or ill health. Portia demands the truth, and she appeals to the validity and transcendence of their marriage vows:

No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offense within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy.

Brutus tries one final time to appease Portia without divulging his plans. He pleads, "Kneel not, gentle Portia." She responds with one of the most stirring defenses of marriage found on the Renaissance stage:

I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bonds of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort of limitation,
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Portia makes it abundantly clear that the "great vow" exchanged between them transformed their very nature - two into one. As a result, Brutus owes a responsibility to Portia far exceeding a mere contractual arrangement. The difference between a covenant and a contract helps explain both his profound attachment to his wife, and the pathos felt by Brutus when he learns of Portia's death later in the play.

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare again emphasizes the sacramental nature of marriage. Before their marriage, Romeo and Juliet both receive the sacrament of reconciliation. Friar Laurence will not leave the young lovers alone "till Holy Church incorporate two into one." Later, when the nurse audaciously recommends bigamy to Juliet, she is horrified and opts to kill herself rather than break her marital vow to Romeo. The power and transcendence of their union comes, in part, from the transcendent nature of that vow. If either Romeo or Juliet considered their marriage simply a contract, they would not opt to die for one another, and we would have less reason to be moved by their sacrifice.

Shakespeare continued to insist on the sacramental nature of marriage long after his queen, his country, or the English church. As anyone in the pro-life community understands, continuing to insist on the sanctity of the once sacred can get you labeled as extreme, excessive, and even intolerant. In his sympathetic depiction of the sacraments, Catholic teaching, and Catholic clergy, Shakespeare was a radical.

The Imagination of a Catholic

The Catholic imagination - the imagination that allowed Shakespeare to sprinkle his plays with references to Catholic religious beliefs and practices in meaningful ways-also helped to create the fictive worlds of Denmark, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Illyria. The imagination that made him Catholic also helped make him the greatest writer in the English-speaking world.

The question of Shakespeare's religious sensibilities is not simply a matter of academic thumb-wrestling. Much more is at stake for the readers of the plays. Not only does the Catholic imagination allow for great art, music, and literature to flourish, it allows Catholics today to use the transcendent truths of our faith in profound ways. We, as Catholics, need not observe the world with the blinders of fundamentalism, rejecting everything not found within a narrow worldview. Moreover, the Catholic imagination mitigates against an unfettered relativism that is skeptical of any truth, no matter how obvious. The Catholic imagination, anchored in the truth of beauty and the beauty of truth, seeks connections between God and His creation, between His truth and our understanding Shakespeare's plays grant us a glimpse of that imagination at work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Paul J. Voss. "Assurances of Faith: How Catholic was Shakespeare? How Catholic are his Plays?" Crisis 20, no. 7 (July/August 2002): 34-39.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Morley Institute a non-profit education organization. To subscribe to Crisis magazine call .

THE AUTHOR

Paul J. Voss is professor of English and vice president for academic affairs at Southern Catholic College in Dawsonville, Georgia. He can be reached at pvoss@southerncatholic.org

Copyright © 2002 Crisis

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Assurances of Faith: How Catholic was Shakespeare? How Catholic are his Plays?

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The Catholic imagination - the imagination that allowed Shakespeare to sprinkle his plays with references to Catholic religious beliefs and practices in meaningful ways - also helped to create the fictive worlds of Denmark, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Illyria. The imagination that made him Catholic also helped make him the greatest writer in the English-speaking world.

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This resource provides detailed information on multiple punishments common in Tudor England.

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There were no police during the Tudor times. However, laws were harsh and wrongdoing was severely punished. In Tudor times the punishments were very, very cruel. People believed if a criminal's punishment was severe and painful enough, the act would not be repeated and others would deter from crime as well.

Entertainment

A public execution was an event not to be missed and people would queue through the night to get the best places. There was always a carnival atmosphere and pie sellers, ale merchants and producers of execution memorabilia did a good trade.
How many people were executed (put to death) during the reign of Henry VIII?
Some 70,000 people suffered the death penalty during the reign of Henry VIII.

Punishment used during Tudor times,
if someone broke the law

Methods of execution

Beheading ("Death by the Axe")
This was a punishment that resulted in your head being chopped off! The heads were sometimes placed on spikes along London Bridge or other places.

Beheading was considered less degrading than hanging, and it usually killed more quickly. Noblemen (rich) who committed crimes were more likely to be beheaded than hung.

Hanging from the gallows.
A piece of rope was put around the neck making it hard for the person to breathe. The person would be hung from the rope until he/she had stopped breathing and was dead. People were hung for crimes such as stealing, treason, rebellion, riot or murder.

Hanging

Burning
Women found guilty of either treason or petty treason were sentenced to be burned alive at the stake

Being 'pressed' (crushed)

Boiled alive
For attempting to murdering someone you could be boiled alive in a big bowl of hot water.

Lesser punishments for committing crime
included:

Whipping (flogging)
Many towns had a whipping post. The victim was chained to the post, stripped to the waist and whipped.
You could be whipped for stealing a loaf of bread!

Whipping

Branding with hot irons
Hot irons were used to burn letters onto the skin of offenders hand, arm or cheek. A murderer would be branded with the letter 'M', vagrants with the letter 'V', and thieves with the letter "T".

The pillory (standing)
The pillory was a T shaped block of wood with holes for the hands in the crossbar of the T. The person being punished would have to stand in the device in the middle of the market to be ridiculed by passersby.

The Pillory

The stocks (sitting)
Stocks were used in the same way as the pillory, except that with stocks, the feet were bound. The stocks were a block of wood with two holes for your feet to go in. Local people threw rubbish and rotten eggs at people in the stocks.

The ducking stool (Punishment for women)
Accused witches were dunked into a river, to see if they were innocent or guilty. If they floated, they were considered guilty and burnt at the stake. If they sank, they were innocent but died anyway, by drowning. Either way, they perished.

Ducking Stool

The Brank, (the gossip's bridle)
The brank was a punishment enacted on women who gossiped or spoke too freely. It was a large iron framework placed on the head of the offender, forming a type of cage. There was a metal strip on the brank that fit into the mouth and was either sharpened to a point or covered with spikes so that any movement of the tongue was certain to cause severe injuries to the mouth.

The Brank

Limbs cut off
Some people who stole things from shops had their hands cut off.

The Drunkard's Cloak
This was a punishment for public drunkenness. The drunk was forced to don a barrel and wander through town while the villagers jeer at him. Holes were cut in the barrel for the person's hands and head, causing it to become like a heavy, awkward shirt.

The Drunkard's Cloak

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Tudor Sports | Tudor Music | Executions | Theatres

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There were no police during the Tudor times. However, laws were harsh and wrongdoing was severely punished. In Tudor times the punishments were very, very cruel. People believed if a criminal's punishment was severe and painful enough, the act would not be repeated and others would deter from crime as well.

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This resource provides extensive detail on 5 methods of execution during the Tudor era.

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Life was often nasty, brutish and painful for criminals in Tudor England, with a host of fiendish punishments dished out by the state to wrong-doers, including some new methods of execution dreamt up by King Henry VIII himself.

Here are 5 of the most petrifying execution methods employed by the authorities in the 16th century.

1. Boiled alive

Hanging was the usual punishment for serious crime, including murder, in Tudor England but it could often be a messy affair.

Contemporary writer William Harrison might have assured us that those who were hanged went 'cheerfully to their deaths', yet executions were amateurish compared to those performer by professional hangmen of later centuries.

They often ended in strangulation, rather than a broken neck, resulting in a protracted death. However, when compared to some other methods of Tudor execution, it was probably still preferable.

In 1531, paranoid about being poisoned himself, Henry VIII forced through the Acte of Poysoning in response to the case of Richard Roose. He was a Lambeth cook accused of serving poisoned gruel to two people in a botched attempt to assassinate John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, who himself survived.

The new law made being boiled alive a punishment for the first time, reserved specifically for poisoners. Roose was duly executed by being plunged into a cauldron of scalding water in London's Smithfield until he was dead.

A contemporary chronicler tells us that he 'roared mighty loud' and that many of the spectators were sick and appalled. Sadly Roose wouldn't be the last to suffer the terrible fate until the act was abolished in 1547.

2. Pressed to death

We think of legal technicalities as something modern, but in Tudor times you could not face a jury unless you entered a plea of guilty or not guilty.

Sometimes those who tried to avoid justice this way were simply starved in prison until they changed their minds. But by Tudor times this had morphed into a practice even more ghastly - being pressed to death.

Also known as 'peine forte et dure' it involved the placing of heavy stones on to the accused until they either decided to make a plea or expired under the weight. Even at the time it was acknowledged by Sir Thomas Smith that being crushed like this was 'one of the cruellest deaths that may be'.

Incredibly, because of another legal loophole, some people still opted for it. Although they would die of course, these unfortunate souls hoped to avoid the confiscation of lands that usually followed a conviction by the courts.

In this way the families of murder suspect Lodowick Greville (1589) and Margaret Clitherow (1586), arrested for harbouring Catholic priests, kept their inheritance.

3. Burnt at the stake

Often associated with witches (though most of those were actually hanged), this gruesome form of execution was also used for murderers, specifically women who had killed their husbands or servants who killed their masters or mistresses.

In fact, in a sign of just how unequally women were treated at the time, this type of crime was actually considered more heinous than other types of murder and branded 'petty treason'.

Hanging was considered too mealy mouthed a form of execution. If they were lucky, those condemned to be burnt at the stake were strangled first, by having a cord tightened around their neck, then left to the flames. Otherwise they would die from smoke inhalation or in agony from burns.

Alice Arden, who masterminded the notorious conspiracy to murder her husband Thomas, the former mayor of Faversham, Kent, would be burned at the stake on 14 March, 1551 in Canterbury.

4. Broken on the wheel

It fell to the Scots in the 16 th century to introduce a punishment arguably even more bizarre and barbaric than those being used south of the border.

Being 'broken on the wheel' was a form of both torture and punishment adopted from continental Europe. The condemned individual would be tied, alive, to a wooden wheel in spread eagle fashion.Their limbs would then be broken with a metal rod or other instrument.

Once their bodies had been shattered, the condemned person would either be strangled, given a mortal blow or simply left to die in agony. The wheel might also be paraded through the town bearing its bludgeoned victim and once they were dead it was often raised up on a pole bearing the mangled corpse.

Killer Robert Weir faced this punishment in Edinburgh in 1600, as had Captain Calder in 1571 found guilty of murdering the Earl of Lennox.

5. Beheaded by the Halifax Gibbet

In Tudor England members of the nobility found guilty of serious crimes were given the benefit of being beheaded - probably the 'cleanest' death by execution of the era. But in Yorkshire common thieves might have their heads lopped off too using a novel device known as the Halifax Gibbet.

You might associate the guillotine with Revolutionary France, but the Halifax Gibbet - essentially a large axe attached to a wooden block - was its forerunner by more than 200 years. It inspired another device which first started being used in Scotland during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots.

Known as the Maiden, the bladed contraption was used to behead murderers and other felons in Edinburgh. Ironically, the Earl of Morton, who first introduced it to Scotland, would become one of its victims, decapitated in June 1581 for his part in the murder of Lord Darnley, the Queen's husband.

James Moore is a professional writer who specialises in bringing to life forgotten aspects of history. He is also the author and co-author of several books; The Tudor Murder Files is his most recent work and is out now, published on 26 September 2016, by Pen and Sword.

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The 5 Most Gruesome Tudor Punishments and Torture Methods

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Life was often nasty, brutish and painful for criminals in Tudor England, with a host of fiendish punishments dished out by the state to wrong-doers,...

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This resource provide basic information about Anne Hathaway

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Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) - Wikipedia

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Anne Hathaway (1556 - 6 August 1623) was the wife of William Shakespeare, the English poet, playwright and actor. They were married in 1582, when he was 18 and she was 26 years old. She outlived her husband by seven years.

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This resource allows you to explore and experience the history of the Tower of London virtually.

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virtual tour of the tower of london virtual reality

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virtual tour of the tower of london in virtual reality

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Virtually explore Virtual tour of the Tower of London in a fully immersive 360-degree experience.

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This resource provides information about the Globe Theatre by allowing viewers to explore the location virtually.

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Step inside the Globe Theatre

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Walk around the Globe Theatre at Shakespeare's Globe with our online virtual tour and 360 iOS app.