The Tudor Usurpers • Look up the word ‘usurp’ • The Tudor Royal family took over the throne of England after the Wars of the Roses, a civil war between the families of York and Lancaster who both had claims to be kings of England. • The Wars ended when Henry VII (a Lancaster) defeated the last York king, Richard III and married a York princess, uniting the families. Their children included Margaret (who went on the marry the king of Scotland) and Henry (who became Henry VIII – the one who had six wives). • There was a popular folk tale that the Tudors should never have taken the throne and that the family was cursed to die out – which they did with the death of Elizabeth I. Religious Allusion • Look up the word ‘allusion’ Shakespeare used lots of stories in his plays that the audience would recognise. The Christian church was very powerful in Medieval and Tudor England, so everyone would have known the creation story of Adam and Eve. • The story goes that God created a man called Adam, and from him, made a woman to be his companion. They lived a beautiful place called The Garden of Eden and we allowed to do whatever they wanted, except to eat the fruit of The Tree of Knowledge. • One day, a snake persuades Eve that they should eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. She, in turn, persuades Adam to join her. They eat the fruit. • Their god is angry and he expels the humans from the garden, forcing them to live a life of hardship. Religious leaders also believed that God further cursed Eve, and all women after her, with the pain of childbirth. The Story of the Scots • The area we know as Scotland was split into many areas and ruled over by many different Kings throughout the Medieval period. • There used to be a distinction between the people known as the Picts and the people from the Alba tribes. They eventually all became known as Scots. • In the 1300s, Scotland broke away from English rule and became more unified. • The Stewart family had ruled Scotland since 1371, although James VI’s family were a minor branch of the royal house that ended with his mother Mary I, Queen of Scots. • Although we now know that Banquo and Fleance are invented characters – from an earlier written history of the story of Macbeth - in Shakespeare’s time, it was widely believed that King James I was directly descended from them. Witches and Witchcraft 1 • Look up the word ‘patriarchy’ • Medical understanding was very limited during the Medieval and Tudor era, and physicians (doctors) were very expensive, and they often didn’t help. • In small towns and villages, most people would have known who to go and see if they had a stomach upset or an infected cut – this was often a woman who had knowledge of herbs and what we would consider ‘natural remedies’. • Women also dealt with a lot of ‘life and death’ duties – including the birth of children and the laying out of the dead. • It is likely that in a society where the church and the patriarchy increasingly wanted to control ordinary people’s lives, these kinds of wise women were viewed with suspicion – if an ‘educated’ churchman didn’t know how to clear up an infection, how would a simple uneducated woman know? She must be in league with the devil! Witches and Witchcraft 2 • James VI first became interested in witchcraft in the 1560s, but by the 1590s, and a few witch trials later, he was obsessed with the threat posed by witches. • He wrote a book, Daemonologie, in 1597. • Here are a few of the helpful signs to help decide if you are a witch or not: 1. You are a woman 2. You are poor/can’t support yourself financially. 3. You are rich or financially independent 4. You have one or more female friends 5. You’ve had an argument with one of those female friends 6. You are old... Or young 7. You have a lot of children 8. You are married without children 9. You have a mole, birthmark, 3rd nipple 10.You have old milk in your pantry 11.You have had sex out of wedlock 12.You have broken any rule of the bible (e.g. Planting more than one kind of seed in your garden, getting raped, having plaits in your hair) The Real Macbeth Full name: Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (dob: unknown – dod: 1057) • Lord/Thane of an area called Moray (1032-1057), which came under the jurisdiction of the King of Alba (King Duncan), when his cousin, the king, invaded in 1040. • King of Alba/Scots (1040-1057): Crowned after the defeat of King Duncan in battle at Moray. For 14 years, Macbeth seems to have ruled equably, imposing law and order and encouraging Christianity. In 1050, he is known to have travelled to Rome for a papal jubilee. He was also a brave leader and made successful forays over the border into Northumbria, England. • Death: Duncan’s son, Malcolm, supported by the English, took the title King of Strathclyde in 1054, and later fought and defeated Macbeth in 1057. • Wife: Gruoch • Children: Lulach (Gruoch’s son from a previous marriage), was crowned after Macbeth’s death but only survived a few months before being killed by Malcom too. • Macbeth’s family line died out within a few generations. King James I (1566-1625) • King James was already the king of Scotland when Elizabeth I died – he was her second cousin. He was already known as King James VI. • James’ mother was Mary I, Queen of Scots. She was heir to the Scottish throne and was quite feisty and ambitious – she had made a claim to the throne of England in the past (it’s complicated, but Henry VIII’s sister was her grandma). • She was found to be plotting to kill Elizabeth I so the queen had her executed when James was 21 and already King of Scotland (he couldn’t save her – again, complicated). • In 1605, he was the target of The Gunpowder Plot, which is still commemorated every Bonfire Night..