A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement

California’s Home for the Classics

California’s Home for the Classics

California’s Home for the Classics Table of Contents

Dating Shakespeare’s Plays 3 Life in Shakespeare’s England 4 Elizabethan Theatre 8 Working in Elizabethan England 14 This Sceptered Isle 16 One Big Happy Family Tree 20 Sir John Falstaff and Tavern Culture 21 Battle of the Henries 24 Playing Nine Men’s Morris 30

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2 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Dating Shakespeare’s Plays

Establishing an exact date for the Plays of Shakespeare. She theorized that authorship of Shakespeare’s plays is a very Shakespeare (a “stupid, ignorant, third- difficult task. It is impossible to pin down rate play actor”) could not have written the exact order, because there are no the plays attributed to him. The Victorians records giving details of the first production. were suspicious that a middle-class actor Many of the plays were performed years could ever be England’s greatest poet as before they were first published. they placed great importance on education “…beyond and one’s status in society was largely all date, Scholars have based their suppositions on dependent upon what level of education the following information: one had. Contemporary writers like Henry even to James and Mark Twain were converts to this 1) historical events and allusions to the theory. eternity.” events in the plays 2) records of the performances of the plays Sonnet: CXXII So, if not from by contemporary diarists, such as John Stratford, then who? Delia Bacon suggested manningham, Thomas Platter and Philip that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare’s henslowe plays. Others said that it was probably 3) entries in the Stationers’ Register Christopher , Edward de Vere 4) Studies of the playwright’s writing style or Thomas Looney. Some said that the over a period of time plays were written by a group of people. 5) Publication dates of sources Some have even said that in her spare 6) dates that the plays first appear in print time wrote these masterworks of English literature. He may have not For example, a performance of was attended university like Bacon or Marlowe, recorded in 1589. Is it Shakespeare’s play but most likely Shakespeare’s plays and or is it a source? Experts say it must be sonnets were written by one William a source and date Shakespeare’s Hamlet Shakespeare, originally of Stratford-upon- to 1599-1601. The legend of Hamlet first Avon. ❖ appears in the 13th century, written by Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum. The If you are interested in finding out more story was known to Elizabethans in François about these conspiracy theories, check out de Belleforest’s Histoires Tragiques, the following websites: written in 1570. There are mentions of a performance of Hamlet or Ur-Hamlet both in PBS’ Frontline has explored the topic: ’s 1594 diary and in Thomas www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ Lodge’s 1596 diary. Shakespeare’s Hamlet shakespeare appears in the Stationers’ Register in July of 1602 as having been “lately acted” and was Shakespeare Oxford Society: published in 1603. www.shakespeare-oxford.com The Question of Shakespeare’s Authorship Sir Francis Bacon’s New Advancement of There is a continuing debate about who Learning: www.sirbacon.org wrote Shakespeare’s plays. This question is a relatively modern one, first broached Shakespeare Authorship: by the American writer Delia Bacon in www.shakespeareauthorship.com her 1857 book The Philosophy of the

3 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Life in Shakespeare’s England

Our perception of life in Tudor and A typical city day would begin at 5am, when Jacobean England has been largely carts filled with goods from neighboring influenced by motion pictures such as villages would enter the city gates. , A Man for All Seasons, The social hierarchy of London was led Elizabeth and others. Hollywood conjures by merchants. London was divided into up a picture of Elizabethan life filled with twenty-six areas, or “wards”, each led stately homes, wealthy courtiers and by an alderman of the city. The aldermen beautiful ladies, but the reality was very were elected officials who held the office different. “This for life. The twenty-six aldermen elected from among them a Lord Mayor and In the time of Elizabeth I, the population blessed appointed a “recorder”, or legal advisor, of England was approximately five million to run the city’s affairs. Each alderman plot, this people: 80% of the population lived in was a freeman of the city and belonged to the country and 20% lived in the cities. In earth, this one of the livery companies: the merchant addition to London, Manchester, Leeds, tailors, clothmakers, mercers, grocers, realm, this Birmingham, Sheffield, and Newcastle drapers, fishmongers, goldsmiths, skinners, were centers of manufacturing and trade. England.” haberdashers, salters, ironmongers, York was an established city, having been stationers, vintners, cordwainers, dyers or King Richard II, II, i founded by the Vikings, and was the plasterers. administrative capital of the northern part of England. Livery companies evolved from the medieval guilds and were the real powerhouse of Life in Tudor England was hard for the the city. No one was allowed to buy, sell or average person. Plague and pestilence practice any sort of trade or craft without ravaged the cities and even infiltrated the belonging to one of the livery companies. villages. Poverty and famine were rife. In addition to accepting dues from each member, the livery company also set City Life standards for goods being sold throughout London was an ancient city founded the city. They also helped widows and by the Romans in AD 50 (the city was orphans and those members who had fallen called in Roman times). It on hard times. They ran schools and alms was protected by the river Thames and houses. Some companies, like the Merchant bordered by its Roman and medieval walls Tailor’s, sponsored promising students and and fortresses. To look at the city today, one provided funds to enable talented young would not think of London, with its inland men the opportunity to set up a business. location, as a major port, but it was one of the busiest ports in Europe. In the time If the north side of the Thames was the of Elizabeth, London had approximately business area, then the south side of the 200,000 inhabitants. river became the Las Vegas of its day. Generally out of the control of the city, The city was filled with great mansions, but gaming houses, entertainment areas for also great squalor. Raw sewage ran down cockfighting and bull and bear baiting, the narrow streets and rat-infested houses brothels and theatres were built on the were packed closely together. These streets south side. became frequently congested, and there was a constant noise and clatter from carts Village Life and traffic. The urban poor who inhabited Village life in Elizabethan England was these areas were largely country dwellers very insular and people rarely desired or who had come to London to seek work, needed to travel beyond the confines of discharged soldiers, vagrants, and misfits. their village. At the center of each town These people supported themselves by was the village green. If you travel through petty crime, begging and casual labor.

4 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement rural England today, these village greens still remain (flexible twigs woven together and packed with mud) and retain their position as the heart of the town. Each and plastered with mortar and whitewashed. Homes town had a weekly market on the green or market were taxed, not by total square footage, but by the square where goods would be traded and bartered. amount of ground space they occupied. Hence, on The community numbered only a few hundred people, most Elizabethan buildings you will see larger second and everybody knew everybody. The villages were and third stories. Only upper- and middle- class homes largely self-sufficient, and each necessary trade was could afford glass windows. Glass was a very expensive represented. Property and lands were handed down commodity, and making windows was a long process. from generation to generation. First, the glass had to be blown and cut into small pieces while it was still hot, then pieces were joined As in the cities, there was a definite hierarchy among together with lead. society in the villages. At the top was the Lord of the Manor. Very often, villages would be built in the Middle- or lower- class homes had thatched roofs. vicinity of a large estate. Some living in the village were Materials used to make thatched roofs were straw or servants to the household of the lord. Next were the reeds. Bundles of straw measuring 24-27 inches x 3-7 landed gentry — gentlemen who owned land. Yeomen, feet were piled onto the frame of the roof. A good freemen who had roles of responsibility in the town quality straw roof can last for up to 50 years. (jurors, church wardens, etc.), were next on the ladder. Then came tenants. These were people who lived on Education and worked land owned by the lord or landed gentry. Only children of the wealthy were able to go to school, Skilled laborers were next on the ladder. These people because common children had to help their parents by were craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, working. Some children were apprenticed to tradesmen. builders, etc. At the bottom of the list were unskilled Students were taught in Greek and Latin, as well as workers, called landless laborers. French. At least one hour per day was spent learning Women were not exempt from work and looked after Bible scriptures and catechism. Girls were not allowed the animals or spent their days cooking, weaving, to become doctors, clergymen or lawyers. spinning and mending clothes. They were responsible As pencils were not invented until the 18th century, for growing herbs for medicines. It was up to women to writing was done with quill pens and ink, which meant keep their households and to look after the children. that mistakes could not be easily corrected. The average day began at 3am, when the cock crowed. Rules in school were very strict, and schoolmasters Laborers were in the field by 5am. After a midday meal, disciplined their students with the help of regular workers were entitled to a break from work before they whacks of a cane or whip. If a student was late to class, went back to their jobs and worked until 7pm or dusk. he would not be sent to the office, but would instead be hit hard on the hands or on another part of his Elizabethan Homes body. He would be similarly punished for not learning Elizabethan homes are distinctive in style. The his lessons or for turning in a messy paper. No student architecture of middle class homes was similar to would have dreamt of talking back to the schoolmaster. traditional medieval styles. Houses were framed with Punishment for that offense was expulsion from school large, vertical timbers and supported by diagonal which would cause shame upon his family. timbers. The walls were made of wattle and daub

5 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Most students lived at their schools, so the given the consideration of a private beheading within schoolmaster had a great deal of power over his the confines of the . students. Meals were eaten at school. Students started classes at 6am with prayers and then went to breakfast. Hygiene, Medicine and the Plague They worked on their studies until noon, when dinner In Elizabethan times, it was considered lucky to reach was served, and after dinner they worked until 5pm, the age of thirty. The poor were not expected to live when supper was served. They then sang a hymn and longer than twenty-five and those who reached the age attended a short religious service. of forty were considered extremely old. In Elizabethan times, baths were not taken very often. Crime and Punishment This was due for the most part, to the inconvenience of How you were treated if you were accused of a crime filling a tub with hot water, rather than an ambivalence depended largely upon your status in society. toward hygiene. However, hands, wrists and faces were There were no police forces at that time and criminals washed every day. Upper classes used expensive soap were apprehended by the magistrate or bailiff. balls imported from Italy. Middle class households Punishments ranged from public humiliation to hanging made their own soap. Teeth were cleaned by rinsing the or beheading. A person found wandering the streets mouth with a mixture of vinegar and water and then drunk would have probably spent a day in the stocks. were rubbed with a dry cloth. Toothpicks were used Serious crimes would incur a public whipping or to clean between teeth. Hair was combed and washed branding with a hot iron. Murder, highway robbery and with scented water, and beards were lathered with soap burglary were considered felonies and were punishable and water and were shaved with a razor. by hanging. Toilet facilities consisted of a chamber pot (a wide jug One of the most common crimes in London was with a handle). The contents were tossed into a cesspit “cutpursing”. This was similar to pick-pocketing. or a dung heap — or just thrown out of the window into Clothing of the time did not have pockets, and coins the street. were carried in purses that hung from the belt or waist. Most illnesses were caused by the lack of sanitation. A thief would take a person’s money by cutting open Waste and sewage was dumped into the river, and the the purse or putting his hand into it. source of water was…you guessed it — the river. This Hooking was another common crime. There were led to regular outbreaks of typhoid and dysentery. no glass windows, and a hooker would walk around Smallpox was another dreadful disease epidemic. carrying a wooden pole about two meters long that had Sufferers of this disease were left scarred with a hole drilled into one end and a hook placed into the pockmarks. People also suffered from scurvy, which hole. The hooker would use this device to reach inside was caused by a lack of vitamin C and from malaria, open windows to remove clothing or purses. which thrived in the marshes on the of the Thames. About 1560, people began to have great fear of witches. Witches were thought to be companions of Medicine was very basic. Most of what doctors knew the devil, and laws were passed against practicing was based on the writings of Aristotle and Hippocrates. witchcraft. Just practicing witchcraft could get you The Tudors believed that food was connected with a year in prison. Causing a death by witchcraft could astrology and that when used in the right way, herbs, cause the witch to be hanged or burned to death. plants and flowers could provide all kinds of health Dishonest horse dealers and gamblers were common. A benefits. Everything in the universe was thought to majority of those in prisons were there for owing debts. consist of earth, air, fire and water. Each of these was A debtor would be imprisoned until his debt had been hostile to the other, but could co-exist when in the paid. This practice continued right up through the 19th correct proportions. Since the human body was of century. The debtor would not be given food, and he the earth, medical practice of the day emphasized was on his own to get someone to bring it to him. the need to understand how these four elements worked together. Earth was therefore identified as High treason, or plotting to overthrow the queen, was black bile, air was identified as blood, fire was bile and the most serious crime of all. The punishment for this water was phlegm. Each of these produced a different was hanging and drawing and quartering. The traitor temperament which could be determined by looking at was hanged, taken down before he was dead, dragged a person’s complexion. Too much of the earth element face downward through the streets by a horse’s tail produced a melancholic humor, too much air a sanguine and then cut into four pieces. Quite often the head was humor, too much fire a choleric humor and too much placed on a spike and displayed at as a water a phlegmatic humor. If the humors were well- warning to others. balanced, the person was in good health, but if one Noblemen were never hanged. Instead, they were element became stronger than the others, the person beheaded with an axe. Those with royal blood were could become mentally and physically unbalanced.

6 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Physicians wore impermeable clothing from head to unrest also manifested itself in the church life of people. foot. Although it made them appear like very sinister Although people had prayed for deliverance from the characters, it probably saved them from various plague, their prayers had not been answered. This led diseases. The most distinguishing feature was the mask to a period of political turmoil and religious questioning. with a large “beak”. The beak was filled with a sachet Comments such as “avoid it like the plague” and even of bergamot oil which protected the doctors from any the children’s song Ring Around the Rosies (referring airborne contagion. Before treating a patient, it was to the swellings on the neck that are symptoms of the the custom for doctors to douse themselves in vinegar, disease) come from this time. which has disinfecting properties. They wore amulets of dried blood and ground up toads around their waists. Outbreaks tended to occur in the spring and summer and to subside in the winter, when fleas are dormant. Medical treatment depended on your class and Even when the worst outbreaks seemed over, smaller status. The wealthy could afford a university-educated outbreaks would occur, not just for years, but for physician. Upper classes would engage a surgeon who centuries. The plague spread very quickly due to the belonged to a livery company of barber surgeons. The lack of hygiene and to daily contact with rats in the Middle classes would go to a barber who was allowed open sewers. to pull teeth (without anesthetic) and let blood. The Sufferers were sealed in their houses and the doors apothecary, who belonged to the Grocer’s Guild, locked from the outside. The quarantine lasted for a would dispense drugs and also sold candy, cosmetics minimum of twenty days and the only way to get food and perfume. The church provided some comfort to was to lower an empty basket from an upper window the poor, and the local wise woman or the ordinary to the watchmen, hired to guard plague houses, who housewife produced homemade medicines from herbs. would fill the basket. Death Cart workers would have The Black Death or Bubonic Plague first arrived in the horrible task of dumping the dead bodies into a cart London in 1384, brought by fleas living on rats which and burying them in large plague pits that had been came ashore from trading ships arriving from Asia. dug far away from the confines of the city. In London It was called the Black Death because of the way it today, there are several areas that were once large appeared on the body. Swellings first appeared in plague pits. One of the largest was Shepherd’s Bush the neck, groin or armpits; then large black splotches Green, and legend has it that nothing but grass has spread all over the body. When the patient died, the ever been able to grow on it. body became a black, smelly mess. The plague took When an outbreak of the plague occurred in 1593, seven days to kill its victims. nearly 20,000 people in the died. Theatres were closed in an effort to avoid having This terrible killer claimed 25 million people in five people congregate and therefore spread the disease. years—one third of Europe’s population —from which society never really recovered. It had a profound effect Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, died from the disease when on the economy. In fact, so many people died that the epidemic spread to Stratford in 1596. there were labor shortages all over Europe. People If someone managed to survive the Black Death, they demanded higher wages which landlords refused to would have to obtain a “Certificate of Health” in order pay. By the turn of the century peasant revolts had to be able to resume a normal life. ❖ broken out in England, France, Belgium and Italy. This

7 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Elizabethan Theatre

Acting in Shakespeare’s Day the City of London) was the state-sponsored Queen’s Men. Other companies had to Actors in the time of Shakespeare were perform across the river, where a majority not considered celebrities as are actors of of theatres was located, at private homes today. In fact, a government act of 1572 or in the provinces. Entertainments were stated that common players in “interludes “tolerated”—they could not play at night & minstrels” who were not affiliated with a or on the Sabbath and they could be closed patron would be regarded as “rogues, vaga- down if plague threatened. bonds and sturdy beggars.” Males played Before a play could be staged, it had to be “All the all the characters, as women were not al- approved by the king’s or queen’s censor— lowed on the stage. However, with clever the Master of Revels. This person judged world’s make-up and convincing wigs, it was easy each play at the expense of the production a stage…” for a young male to pass for a female. company. Plays considered morally or politi- Actors were generally members of a com- cally offensive could be banned under threat : II, vii pany, and during the time of Shakespeare of imprisonment. there were several companies either based in London or touring the provinces. Com- Elizabethan Theatre Companies panies were usually under the patronage of Earl of Pembroke’s Men – company under a wealthy noble. Each company had their the patronage of Henry Herbert, Second leading or “star” actors and their actors Earl of Pembroke. The Earl of Pembroke who specialized in playing the fool (akin to had a company as early as the 1580’s and today’s stand-up regularly performed at the court of Eliza- comics). Actors had to beth I. Shakespeare may have spent time perform their own stunts both as a writer and actor for the company and wield weaponry with before 1592. convincing skill. They also had to know the popular The Queen’s Men – a state-sponsored dances of the day and of company founded in 1583. A group of earlier times as dances hand-picked actors and the only company would quite often be allowed to perform in the City of London. incorporated into the ac- Queen Elizabeth I was its patron. tion of a play. There were no microphones in Shake- The Admiral’s Men – company patronized speare’s day, so actors by Charles Howard, Second Baron Howard had to have a voice of of Effingham. The company first performed substantial power to be heard above the din at court between 1576 and 1579 under the of the audience. (Audiences of the day were name Lord Howard’s Men. When Howard not quiet and well-behaved like today’s was appointed Lord High Admiral in 1585, audiences. They were loud and rude.) the name was changed to The Admiral’s Men. They played mainly at The government was always trying to Theatre. When Howard was created Earl of regulate theatre, trying to control what Nottingham, the company was alternately kinds of plays were produced and demand- known as Nottingham’s Men. Patronage ing that companies be licensed. The only of the company eventually switched to company allowed to perform in the City of Prince Henry, eldest son of James I, and London (the square mile which comprised was renamed Prince Henry’s Men. After the

8 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Prince’s death in 1612, the company was pa- Respectable citizens also objected to the tronized by Frederik V, Elector Palatine, and rise in crime, the bawdy nature of some was known as Palgrave’s Men. The company of the plays, fighting, drinking and risk of was disbanded in 1631. plague spreading. In order to get away from restrictive jurisdiction, troupes would have Lord Strange’s Men – company formed to perform outside of the city walls. Troupes by retainers from the household of Lord headed for the suburbs. soon Strange. The company toured England became the area of choice for theatres, as it before appearing at court in 1582. From was located in London’s top entertainment 1588 – 1594 they were associated with the quarter. This was a fairly seedy area of town Admiral’s Men. They mainly performed at that was a haunt for prostitutes, thieves and and the Rose Theatre. other unsavory characters. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men – After the death of Lord Strange in 1594, Lord London Theatres Strange’s Men found a new patron in Henry Because of the restrictions placed on Carey, The Lord Chamberlain. This group playhouses, theatrical entrepreneurs performed at The wanted to give theatre a legitimate feeling. Theatre and the This is reflected in the design concept of the Curtain. In 1599 physical theatre and the subject matter used they moved to the by contemporary playwrights. Plays with Globe. By 1600 they classical characters such as Shakespeare’s were considered the , and Antony and leading company in Cleopatra and Marlowe’s and London and in 1603 Hero and Lysander were popular with both were granted a royal the Master of Revels and the public. This is patent and became not to say that there were no references to The King’s Men. The contemporary events—they were just thinly company continued disguised. successfully until the Permanent theatres were built in the style closing of theatres in 1642. Shakespeare of Greek and Roman amphitheatres thus was a member of this company and may linking Elizabethan theatre to the classi- indeed have been an original member. cism of the Greeks and Romans. All of the Earl of Worcester’s Men – company under Elizabethan amphitheatres were built to a the patronage of the Earl of Worcester play- similar design. The audience capacity of an ing mainly at the Rose Theatre. Early in the Elizabethan Theatre was anywhere between reign of James I, the company was amal- 1500 and 3000. There was no heating in gamated with Oxford’s Men to form Queen the theatre. Plays were performed in these Anne’s Men. amphitheatres during the summer months and went indoors to Blackfriars (a monas- tery that had been converted to a theatre) So where were plays performed? or another indoor theatre in the winter. Like the touring circuit of today, traveling There was generally no special lighting in actors would go from town to town. Shake- the theatre. Plays were performed in the speare’s hometown of Stratford was one of afternoon to take advantage of natural the places frequented by traveling players. light. There was some artificial lighting to The company carried all of their props and provide atmosphere for night scenes. There costumes, risked being unwelcome (remem- were no intermissions, and there were no ber, this was a time of plague and outsiders toilet facilities—people relieved themselves were looked on suspiciously) and subsist outside. on a low income. Many troupes wanted a The stage of the Elizabethan amphithe- permanent home in London. atre was raised to a height of 4 to 6 feet Theatrical companies first started perform- and generally projected halfway into the ing at local pubs in the city, but this practice pit. The floor was made of wood and was was less than popular with the city sometimes covered with rushes. Trap doors government. Plays were banned from the on the floor facilitated additional special ef- city. Many Londoners were Puritans who fects. The actors dressed in a ‘tiring house’ hated the theatre and all it represented. behind the stage. A storage room known

9 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement as ‘the hut’ was located above the tiring piece by piece and transported house. over the Thames to build the Globe.

The only known contemporary drawing of The Curtain – Built by Henry Lanman in an Elizabethan playhouse. This is 1577 in . The Curtain was the as drawn by Johannes de Witt in 1596: second amphitheatre-styled playhouse to be built in London. The Lord Chamberlain’s men performed there prior to moving to the Globe. The Curtain was in use from 1557 to 1622, when it was closed by the Puritans.

Newington Butts Theatre – This theatre was in use from around 1580. It is believed that money for building this venue came from Philip Henslowe. In 1594, the Cham- berlain’s Men gave their earliest perfor- mances of Hamlet, and , and The Admiral’s Men also performed there. Due to its loca- tion nearly a mile from the river and far outside the city, it was not a very successful theatre.

The Rose – Built in 1587 by Philip Henslowe in , very near the river’s edge. The building was 72 feet in diameter, built of timber, lath and plaster and covered with thatch. It had an open yard measur- There were twelve important London ing 36 feet in diameter, galleries, a 15ft x amphitheatres that had varying degrees of 32ft stage, a tiring house, heavens and a success. The theatres were not exclusive to flagpole. The stage was painted. Not much any one company and were available to any is known about the theatre for the first five group wishing to use them. years of its existence, but we do know that The first purpose-built theatre in London the theatre was occupied by Lord Strange’s was the Red Lion in Stepney (now the East Men (later Lord Chamberlain’s Men), who End). This temporary structure was built in opened at the Rose on Feb 19, 1592 and 1567 and was probably not meant to stand played there until June of that year, when for more than a few performances. all theatres in London were closed following a spate of riots in the area. The theatre was The Theatre – the First Elizabethan closed off and on until December 1593, due Amphitheatre. Built by to the outbreak of plague. In June of 1594 in 1576 and located in Shoreditch. The the Admiral’s Men moved back to the Rose, Theatre was described as an octagonal which they occupied exclusively. In 1600, building having between eight and twenty- the Privy Council issued and order closing four sides. The open air arena was called the down all playhouses with the exception of ‘pit’ or ‘yard’. The stage projected halfway the Globe and the Fortune. The building into the ‘pit’. There was galleried seating was eventually torn down in 1606. Recent around. Up to this point, plays were per- excavations have uncovered the foundations formed in inn-yards, and Burbage, being of the Rose. entrepreneurial, wanted to cash in on the profits made by the plays performed in The Swan – Built by and England. When Burbage’s lease on the site opened in 1596 in Southwark. It was built ran out in 1596, the theatre was dismantled very cheaply and extremely quickly, taking

10 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement only six months to construct. Pembroke’s The Hope – Built by Philip Henslowe in Men played here, and after staging an of- 1613, the Hope was located in Southwark fensive play, by Thomas on the site of a Bear Garden. The stage Nashe and , was a moveable one, because the venue (an actor in the play) and others were put was also used as a bear-baiting ring. After in prison. Langley was also in trouble for Henslowe’s death in 1616, the players left, allowing the play to be staged. The Swan of- leaving the venue to the more profitable fered other popular entertainments such as bearbaiting which continued until 1656 bearbaiting but was demolished in 1632. when the Hope was closed after a series of bearbaiting accidents. The Fortune – Built in 1600 in Cripplegate by Philip Henslowe with the profits from the Rose Theatre. The theatre was named for the Roman goddess Fortuna, who promised wealth and abundance, and a statue of her graced the entrance to the theatre. The Admiral’s Men played here. This theatre was the main rival of the Globe. The build- ing was destroyed by fire in 1621 and was rebuilt in brick (the first brick-built theatre ever constructed) and opened in 1623. The theatre was closed by the Puritans in 1642 and torn down in 1661. The Boar’s Head – This theatre in Whitecha- pel (the ) was originally an inn owned by a widow named Mrs. Poley. *Bearbaiting was a gruesome “entertain- From 1557, it was used as an inn-yard, but in ment” in which a bear was chained by the 1595 Mrs. Poley leased the space to a man neck or leg and was attacked by dogs. Bull by the name of Oliver Woodliffe on condi- baiting was also enjoyed by Elizabethan tion that he would spend money converting audiences. In this, a bull’s nose was primed it into an amphitheatre. This task took four with pepper to excite it. Dogs were then years, and in 1599 the theatre was licensed loosed one at a time to bite the bull’s nose. and was to play host to Worcester’s Men. Bear- and bull- baiting were eventually out- For whatever reason, this relationship was lawed in 1835. short-lived, and the company moved to the The Globe Rose. Totus mundus agit histrionem (All the The Red Bull – Built in 1604 and located in world’s a stage) –Motto of the Clerkenwell. It had the worst reputation of The most famous of the Elizabethan amphi- all of the playhouses, as there were frequent theatres. What we know of the first Globe brawls there. Queen Anne’s Men (formerly and its successor is based on 17th century Worcester’s Men) played there and occu- descriptions and drawings. The Globe was pied it until 1617. The theatre was closed by built in 1599 by the Burbage brothers and the Puritans but reopened with the Restora- was located on Bankside. tion. It was demolished in 1665. and his brother Cuthbert had inherited the The Beare Garden was both a theatre and Theatre from their father, James and. when a bearbaiting* arena located in Southwark. the lease for the site of the Theatre ran out, The original Beare Garden was demolished the brothers dismantled it and built the by Philip Henslowe to build the Hope in Globe using timber from the older venue on 1613. the other side of the river. The Bull Ring – This venue was primarily a The stage of the Globe measured ap- Bear- and Bull-baiting venue. proximately 40feet wide x 30 feet deep.

11 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Actors could make for special effects during a performance of dramatic entrances Shakespeare’s Henry VIII set the thatched from trap doors on roof on fire. A second Globe (with a tiled the stage. The area roof) was built in 1614. The theatre was underneath the closed in 1642 by the Puritans and was stage was called demolished in 1644. Between September ‘the cellarage’ or 2nd and 5th, 1666 the Great Fire of London sometimes ‘hell’, consumed the foundation and whatever was since supernatural left of the theatre. beings entered and A reconstruction close to the original site is exited the stage a living testament to the work of the world’s from these points. Two large columns greatest playwright. This reconstruction on either side of the project was the brainchild of American actor and was opened in 1992. It stage supported stages productions of plays by Shakespeare a roof over the and his contemporaries from May to Octo- rear portion of the stage. The ceiling ber each year. the Globe Theatre was called ‘the heavens’ and may have been painted to resemble the sky. A trap door in Other Venues the heavens allowed performers to fly or de- Some of Shakespeare’s plays were first scend using some form of rope or harness. performed in one of the four Inns of Court. (all barristers were required to join one of There were three doors at stage level the four inns: Gray’s Inn, Middle Temple against the back wall of the stage that led Inn, Lower Temple Inn and Lincoln’s Inn). into the tiring house. The balcony housed Shakespeare was intrigued enough by the musicians and could be used for scenes Inns of Court to make them the setting for a requiring a second level, such as the bal- scene in Henry VI Part 1. cony scene in . Props and scenery were minimal, and costumes were The Great Hall at Grays Inn (which dates whatever was the fashion of the day. Most from 1556) was a big ‘party place’, and law of the emphasis was placed on acting and students who resided there were required on the words. People would sometimes talk to attend compulsory suppers there. Resi- about going to the theatre ‘to hear’ a play. dents were not allowed to go out of the Inn The original Globe burned down in 1613, for fun and were forced to produce their when flames expelled from a cannon used own in-house entertainment, which included

the Globe Theatre

12 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement plays and masques to accompany meals. Whitefriars Gray’s Inn was definitely the “in” place to Whitefriars was so named because it used be, as aristocrats would send their sons to be the monastery for the Cistercian there to be educated. One of Shakespeare’s monks, who wore white habits. The refec- patrons, the Earl of Southampton, sent his tory hall was converted into a private the- son to Gray’s Inn. In 1594, Shakespeare’s atre in 1606 and hosted companies of child Comedy of Errors was played in the Great actors. Hall of Gray’s Inn as part of their Christmas celebrations—probably starring the author. Theatre Going in Shakespeare’s Day The Middle Temple was built between 1562 People would flock to the theatres for and1573. Festival times such as Christmas entertainment. It was relatively cheap to and Candlemas were important, and the attend and a great social outing. Audiences Middle Temple hosted entertainments knew what type of play was playing by the to celebrate these events. In 1602, The color of the flag flying at the top of the the- Chamberlain’s Men were invited to perform atre. If a tragedy was playing, the flag was and gave the first recorded performance black, for a comedy, the flag was white and of , and it is thought that the if a history play was onstage, the flag was author was in the cast. red. All performances had to end before The Whitehall Theatre was the most elite dusk so that patrons could return home of all theatres. The building was designed safely. There were no performances during by Inigo Jones, and the queen herself was Lent or outbreaks of plague. a patron of the theatre. It was a sumptuous Patrons entered through one main entrance building, and it was here that Royal Com- and put a penny into a box at the door. At mand Performances took place. The Lord the start of the play, the admission collec- Chamberlain’s Men did perform here. tors put the boxes in a backstage room Blackfriars was so named because it used to called the ‘box office’. be the monastery for the Dominican monks The cheapest tickets were for places in the who wore black habits (all monasteries were pit or ‘yard’, where people paid a ‘gatherer’ dissolved by Henry VIII when he broke with penny to stand in the hot sun or threatening Rome to divorce Catherine of Aragon, and clouds to watch the performance. Around the buildings were destroyed, converted the yard were levels of covered, galleried or left to decay and the property was sold seating that were more expensive. At the or leased). James Burbage purchased the Globe, there were three tiers of seating: the property in 1596 and converted the build- first two were called Two Penny Rooms and ings into an indoor or private playhouse. In the top level was called the Penny Gallery. 1600, Richard Burbage leased the property The balcony directly behind the stage was to a third party but took the lease back in also used as the Lord’s Room, where high 1608 when Shakespeare and other mem- paying patrons could pay to be seated, bers of the company became part owners more to be seen than to see the play. of the 70-seat venue. Although commoners were allowed to attend, Blackfriars catered Being an audience member in Shakespeare’s to the wealthy, as tickets cost double the day meant being involved. Audiences were price of the Globe. The Chamberlain’s Men packed in to the theaters. They were loud, spent their winters here and the summer rude and noisy during the performance at the Globe. The theatre continued with and would sometimes throw things at the much success until 1642, when it was closed stage. Although today’s audiences are more during the Civil War. The playhouse fell into respectful of actors and other audience disrepair and was eventually demolished in members, going to the theatre is as uplift- 1655. ing an experience as it was for those audi- ences nearly 400 years ago. ❖

13 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Working in Elizabethan England

Your profession depended largely upon where you lived (either in the country or the city) and what your father did for a living. It was quite normal for sons to work for their fathers and to be groomed to take over the family business. England under the Tudors was a very successful time economically. The country was quickly becoming a world power and the government was running smoothly. Its justice system was working well and taxes were regularized. It wasn’t the court, but the average citizen who contributed most to this boom. It wasn’t the highest jobs in the land that kept the country ticking, but those who were prepared to perform the most menial and least desirable jobs in history.

Below are some basic job descriptions of some of the less desirable jobs of Tudor and Stuart times. Construct an advertisement for a job opening requesting expressions of interest.

Spitboy/Turnbrooch Duties: to roast the meat for the king and his court. To turn the spit by hand for hours at a time. Supervision: Spitboys are supervised by a team of 12 cooks under the control of a master cook. Perks: The successful applicant will get a nice tan (even in winter) as he will sit in front of one of six huge fires. Leftovers may be offered to you after the king, noblemen, stewards, cooks, maids and dogs have had their share and you will be given beer or porter to drink to keep you (somewhat) hydrated.

Groom of the Stool Duties: to see that the ‘house of easement be sweet and clear’. Basically, to clean the royal rear (keep in mind toilet paper has not yet been invented, so hands will be used) and bathroom. To look at the king’s stool and lay it in a dish to be examined by the royal doctor. Also administer enemas and laxatives. Perks: Plenty of one-on-one time with the monarch. Note: This job is for noblemen only—peasants would not be allowed to be that close to the monarch.

Pin-maker Duties: Making sewing and fastening pins by bending tiny pieces of wire and soldering heads on to the shafts. Salary: Loaf of bread daily Perks: You will get a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that you helped the rich look really good in their fancy clothes. Note: you will probably get lung disease from the high solder fumes.

14 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Woad* Dyer Saltpetre* man *Woad is a common weed that was used to produce a *Saltpetre is crystallized Potassium Nitrate and blue dye. was used to make gunpowder. Ammonia from the Duties: to process the weed and extract the color decomposition of urea and other nitrogenous materials using a few simple pieces of equipment, urine and would undergo bacterial oxidation to produce nitrate. wheat bran. Duties: collect as much urine as possible by going Perks: Plenty of ‘alone time’ in the country as the door to door to your friends and neighbors. smell of cabbage mixed with urine and excrement Perks: You are free to break into homes, if need be, makes it difficult to make friends. to collect the urine. Note: Having a criminal record of breaking and Whipping Boy entering is a bonus. Duties: As the king is ruling by divine right (in other words, chosen by God to rule), any heir to the throne Sedan-chair bearer is also divine. It is therefore illegal to punish a prince Duties: carrying your employer through the city (or or princess by spanking or whipping if they have from city to city) in a covered chair. You will be one- done anything wrong. So a ‘stand-in’ would be hired half of a team and will have your choice of being in to take the punishment for the heir to the throne. the front or the back. Perks: Food, lodging and clothing are supplied Perks: Regular exercise in the great outdoors without by the king. Satisfaction in knowing that you are going to the gym. Great workout for the upper body protecting the royal behind. Nit Picker Food Taster Duties: picking lice out of the wigs of the gentry…by Duties: Tasting the food before it passes the hand. monarch’s lips. You never know who could be trying Perks: As good as a desk job—you can sit down for to do the king or queen in. There is always the most of the day. chance that you will die protecting your sovereign, but hey, it’s the least you can do for your country! Seeker of the Dead Perks: Satisfies your taste for rich foods. Satisfaction Duties: Manhandle and examine corpses to that you are protecting the monarch. determine cause of death to be published in the Bills of Mortality. Using your investigative eye noting Royal Washerwoman marks on the body and interviewing the deceased’s Duties: Carrying water from its source (the moat) nearest and dearest. to the washroom in a heavy yoke and two buckets. Salary: 3-4 pence per corpse, which is a pretty good Making soap by filtering water through wood-ash wage to create lye. Pounding the wet clothes with a Note: some people died of very contagious diseases, battledore. so there is some chance of catching something nasty. Perks: By having access to the royal bed linen and clothing you will also have access to highly private Plague burier details of court life. Duties: Collecting bodies from houses, taking them to cemeteries where they will be thrown into pits and Violin String Maker covered with quicklime. Duties: Pulling 30 feet of warm intestines from a Perks: Lifting and carrying requires lots of upper recently dead sheep. Separating the warm guts from body strength, so you will get an instant workout. its surrounding fat and getting rid of the excrement Job takes place primarily at night. Good pay – still inside. Soaking guts in cold water, stripping, chances are pretty good that you will catch the crushing and fumigating them (with burning sulphur – plague so why not earn some extra money to enjoy yum) and twisting them into strings. your last days. ❖ Perks: Satisfaction in knowing that a Stradivarius wouldn’t sing without your work. For more information on these and other horrible jobs in history, log onto www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/ worstjobs

15 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement This Sceptered Isle

Shakespeare’s life straddled the reign of Hertfordshire. Her half-sister Mary, daughter two monarchs: Elizabeth I and James I. of Catherine of Aragon, had been stripped During his lifetime, Shakespeare saw a of her title of Princess of Wales and had renaissance of art, science and exploration. been declared illegitimate as the result of “Never On the other hand, with the accession of her parents’ divorce. She was ordered to go James I, it was an immensely unstable time to Hatfield as one of her baby sister’s ladies was politically in England. in waiting. This would form the basis for a monarch lifelong resentment toward her younger better sister. Elizabeth herself was declared illegiti- fear’d and mate at the age of two when her mother was executed on Tower Green. However, loved.” Henry’s new wife, Jane Seymour, was eager King : II, ii to embrace both Mary and Elizabeth into the Royal Household. Upon the birth of her brother, Edward, Elizabeth was reinstated in the line of succession behind her brother and her sister, Mary. Upon the death of their father in 1547, Edward succeeded to the throne. He had never been a strong child and eventually died of consumption (tuberculosis). A strug- gle for the crown ensued. Since the divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon, England had been a Protestant country. Many did not want the crown to fall to the Catholic Mary. On Edward’s death in 1553, his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, was proclaimed Queen by her father and father-in-law. Nine Elizabeth I days later, she was deposed and was even- (September 7, 1533 – November 17, 1558) tually executed on Tower Green by Mary’s Gloriana, Good Queen Bess, the Virgin supporters. Queen, the Faerie Queen — these are Mary was thirty-seven when she ascended names that epitomized the love and devo- the throne. Shortly after her accession, she tion which her people felt for Elizabeth I. married Prince Philip of Spain, which made Her childhood was turbulent. Born on the Catholic Queen even more unpopular September 7, 1533 in Greenwich Palace, with her people. Elizabeth was the only child of Henry VIII Elizabeth’s life during Mary’s reign started and his second queen, Anne Boleyn. Her off well, but there were great differences parents had longed for a son, and her father between them. Protestants, who were now was bitterly disappointed that he had a persecuted under Mary, saw Elizabeth as daughter. their savior. The threat of a Protestant upris- As tradition for royal children dictated, at ing unsettled Mary, and in 1554 she had the age of three months, Elizabeth was giv- Elizabeth imprisoned in the Tower of Lon- en her own household at Hatfield House in don. Two months later, she was released. On her deathbed, Mary accepted Elizabeth

16 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement as heir to the throne. After Elizabeth, the several bishops and many members of the one with the strongest claim to the throne public felt that a woman could not be head was the Mary, Queen of Scots, who had of the Church. recently married François, the Dauphin of France. In order to keep England out of The subject of her marriage, or lack thereof, French hands, it was in the best interest of was a regular topic of debate and discussion Mary’s husband Philip and of Spain to pro- throughout her reign. She never did marry claim Elizabeth as rightful heir. and took on the image of a virgin who was married to her country and her people. Mary died on November 17, 1558, and Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster The Queen found in Mary Stuart, the Abbey on January 14, 1559. Catholic Queen of Scotland, a dangerous ri- Elizabeth was incredibly intelligent and was val. Mary was less than a year old when she fluent in six languages. She was taught was crowned Queen of Scotland in 1543. theology, history, philosophy, sewing and Mary, too, was famed for her beauty but rhetoric. She loved dancing, hunting and was an insecure and unstable ruler. She had riding and she played several instruments. been sent to France when she was five to be She was famous for her beauty and vivacity. raised as a consort for the Dauphin. Upon Elizabeth’s accession in 1559, Mary had She was a great patron of the arts, and they briefly declared herself Queen of England thrived during her reign. Composers like with French support. At the death of her John Dowland (1563-1626), William Byrd husband Francois II, Mary returned to Scot- (1543-1623), Anthony Holborne (1545-1602) land. Several plots to overthrow Elizabeth and Thomas Tallis (1505 – 1585) wrote their ensued, and after an eighteen-year impris- greatest works. Explorers such as Sir Francis onment, Mary was eventually executed at Drake, who circumnavigated the world from Fotheringay Castle in 1587. 1577-1580, Sir Walter Raleigh who established the colony of Roanoke in Vir- “I know I have the body but of a weak ginia in 1584, Sir Humphrey Gilbert who and feeble woman; but I have the heart discovered Newfoundland and John Hawk- and stomach of a king, and of a king of ins, who explored parts of West Africa and England too, and think foul scorn that South America brought far away lands and Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, new innovations to England. They were pio- should dare to invade the borders of my neers in expanding the British Empire – an realm; to which rather than any dishon- empire “on which the sun never set”. This our shall grow by me, I myself will take empire would last until well into the 20th up arms, I myself will be your general, century. In addition to Shakespeare, writ- judge, and rewarder of every one of your ers such as , Edmund virtues in the field.” Spenser, Thomas Campion and Ben Jonson were prolific in their work under Elizabeth. —Speech to the Troops at Tilbury to repel the anticipated invasion of the Spanish Armada. Previous rulers had left England in a state of bankruptcy, and the country was in religious Despite various uprisings, Elizabeth avoided chaos by the time Elizabeth became queen. war for most of her reign. She had seen Elizabeth did not want to earn a reputation how, from her father’s constant involvement for religious persecution like her half-sister in war, England could suffer financially. She who had earned the nickname “Bloody took a keen interest in affairs of state and Mary” for the number of Protestant execu- did not like dealing with Parliament. The tions ordered during her reign. She passed only war in which she was forced to engage a number of Acts to ensure religious stabil- was with the Spanish, who sent their ships, ity, including the Elizabethan Settlement, the Armada, to invade England in an effort declaring that she did not care what men to overthrow the queen and reestablish believed, just as long as they attended the Catholicism. England’s smaller, faster ships Church of England. The Act of Uniformity defeated the heavy, sluggish Spanish ships. of 1559 required the use of The Book of Common Prayer in church services. She also Elizabeth was adored by her subjects. She passed the Act of Supremacy, in which she made regular trips throughout her realm declared herself supreme governor of the so that her people could see her. By the church, rather than supreme head, because

17 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement turn of the century, her age and frailty were beginning was forced to abdicate the throne on July 24 of that to show, and on the 24th of March 1603, she died. On same year in favor of James. the 28th of April, she was given a huge state funeral. Her coffin was drawn through the streets. On top of the James was crowned as James VI, King of Scotland, at coffin was an effigy of the queen dressed in state robes the Church of the Holy Rood on July 29, 1567 at the age and wearing her crown. She was buried in Westminster of thirteen months. James was brought up as a member Abbey next to her half-sister, Mary. of the Protestant, national Church of Scotland.

A mourner wrote: Knowing that he was a potential successor to the throne “Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all of England, James sought to remain in favor with Queen sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads Elizabeth I. Henry VIII had feared that his crown would and gutters, that came to see the obsequy, and when go to a Scot, so in his will he excluded Margaret Tudor they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was and her descendents from the succession. Even though such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the technically excluded, both Mary Queen of Scots and like hath not been seen or known in the memory of her son were serious claimants to the English Crown as man, neither doth any history mention any people, time Elizabeth I’s closest relatives. or state to make like lamentation for the death of their sovereign.” He continued to pave his way to the English throne by reducing the influence of Roman Catholic nobles in It was only shortly before her death in 1603 that she Scotland. He secured Protestant support by marrying named her successor as James of Scotland, son of her Anne of Denmark and Norway. The couple produced former rival, Mary, Queen of Scots. eight children, with only three surviving infancy.

Upon the death of Elizabeth I, James and Anne were crowned on July 25th, 1603 at Westminster Abbey. Although James styled himself King of Great Britain in 1604, Scotland and England remained separate states until 1707, when the Acts of Union combined the two states into The Kingdom of Great Britain.

Throughout his reign, James fought constantly with Parliament. He was extravagant in his spending. So much so that Parliament refused on occasion to disburse funds to him. He imposed various duties and taxes without parliamentary consent and, in order to lessen his debts, sold honors and titles to raise funds. When the differences between them increased, James dissolved Parliament and ruled without them for seven years. He grew increasingly unpopular with Protestant England when he married off the Prince of Wales to the daughter of the King of Spain and executed Sir Walter Raleigh, the great explorer, writer and statesman. From 1618 the Thirty Years War engulfed Europe. James was forced to be involved, because his daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Frederick V of Bohemia.

There were a number of plots to overthrow the king, James VI of Scotland, perhaps the most notable being the Gunpowder Plot. (Much of the recent film, V for Vendetta, is inspired James I of England by this historic moment in British history.) In this 1605 (June 19, 1566 – March 27, 1625) plot, Catholic extremists hatched a plan to blow up the chamber of the House of Lords where the king and James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots and of members of both Houses would be gathered for the her second husband, Henry Stuart, Duke of Albany, State Opening of Parliament. The conspirators sought commonly known as Lord Darnley. Both of James’ to replace James with his daughter, Elizabeth, whom parents were descendents of Henry VII through his they could then force to convert to Catholicism. One great grandmother, Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. of the conspirators leaked information, and the plot James’ father was murdered in 1567, and his mother was foiled. The man in charge of executing the plot,

18 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Guy Fawkes, was tortured on the rack until or unmake, at his pleasure, to give life or he revealed the names of his accomplices. send death, to judge all and to be judged To this day, to celebrate the foiled plot, an nor accountable to none; to raise low things effigy of Guy Fawkes is burned on the 5th and make high things low at his pleasure, of November, also known as Bonfire Night. and to God are both souls and body due. Before every State Opening of Parliament, And the like power have kings: they make the Yeomen of the Guard, or Beefeaters, and unmake their subjects, they have power still search the cellars beneath the Palace of of raising and casting down, of life and Westminster by the light of candle-lanterns. death, judges over all their subjects and in It has been said that for superstitious all causes and yet accountable to none but reasons the State Opening of Parliament God only.” has never (with one exception), since 1605, been held on November 5th. These sentiments did not help James to win friends and influence people. A contrary James’ religious tolerance permitted the doctrine formed by judges appeared, continued existence of Catholicism in stating that the king of England was the England and Scotland, the continuation creation of the law of England and therefore of Calvinism in Scotland and growing subject to that law. This dispute ultimately Puritanism in England. The King James would lead to the English Civil War, the Bible became the standard edition of the execution of Charles I (James’ son), the Bible throughout the English-speaking downfall of the monarchy and the institution world, replacing earlier translations. of the Commonwealth from 1649 – 1660. However, James was extremely paranoid about witchcraft and appointed a Witch- Shakespeare continued to write under finder General. This appointment led to James I as he had in the reign of Elizabeth. the execution of a great number of people, One of his most popular plays written mostly women. during this period, , shows a would-be-king beset by witches. James was intelligent and well-read; however, he was paranoid and believed Exploration continued during James’ staunchly in the Theory of Divine Right. He reign, and the Virginia Colony Jamestown, wrote, established in 1607, and the James River were named for the king. “The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only James died of a stroke in 1625 after ruling God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon Scotland for fifty-eight years and England God’s throne, but even by God himself are for twenty-two years. called gods. Kings are justly called gods, for that they exercise a manner or resemblance The consensus is that that James was a not of divine power upon earth: for it you will bad king, but was just not equipped with his consider the attributes to God, you shall see Scottish background to fit into a rapidly how they agree in the person of a king… changing society. ❖ God hath power to create or destroy, make

19 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement One Big Happy Family Tree

20 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Sir John Falstaff and Tavern Culture

Old, fat, lazy, selfish, dishonest, One more word, I beseech you. If you corrupt, manipulative and lecherous be not too much cloyed with fat meat, — these are adjectives used to our humble author will continue the describe perhaps the most enduring of story, with Sir John in it, and make you Shakespeare’s comic characters, Sir John merry with fair Katherine of France Falstaff. He appears in Henry IV Parts 1 and where, for any thing I know, Falstaff 2. The character of Falstaff became famous shall die of a sweat, unless already almost as soon as he appeared on the stage a’be killed with your hard opinions; for of the in 1597. Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. It is said that Queen Elizabeth I enjoyed this character so much in these plays that she particularly asked for another play in which The Inspiration for Falstaff the character fell in love. Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor for (1375-1417) was a soldier the Garter Feast and includes Falstaff as and companion of Henry V. He joined the the central figure, although he is a much Lollard movement and was imprisoned different character, and he is referred to in in the Tower of London for heresy. He Henry V. escaped and led a rebellion against King Henry. He was eventually recaptured Although he is a fictional character, he has and burnt at the stake for his treasonous his roots in reality and there is evidence actions. Many Protestants considered that Shakespeare had originally named the him a martyr. An anonymous play of the character Sir John Oldcastle. Following 1580’s, The Famous Victories of Henry V one of the early performances of the includes Oldcastle as Henry’s companion. play, Baron Cobham, a descendant of Oldcastle’s history is also included in Oldcastle’s, complained to the Master of Holinshed — the source for Shakespeare’s Revels about the usage of his forebear’s histories. name for a character with such questionable morals. Shakespeare was forced to change What remains unclear, however, is if the the name for the second part of the play nature of the character of Falstaff was to Falstaff. Cobham was at the time the meant to satirize Oldcastle himself or the Lord Chamberlain and father-in-law to Cobham family. Baron Cobham was a Robert Cecil, a favorite of the queen, and common figure in contemporary (but thinly his influence was very evident at Court. veiled) satire. He appears in Ben Jonson’s Cobham could never quite shake off the . incident and he was forever known as “Sir John Falstaff” at Court. When Shakespeare was forced to change the name of his character, he chose a play Textual evidence for this original on the name of another medieval knight, nomenclature exists in Henry IV, Part 1 also a Lollard, Sir John Fastolfe. Fastolfe when Hal refers to Falstaff as “my old lad fought against Joan of Arc in the Battle of of the castle”. Also in the first part of Henry Patay. Although he was a respected soldier, IV, the meter is irregular when using the he was a scapegoat after this battle, which name Falstaff, but regular when the name the English lost. Although there is no of Oldcastle is inserted. real evidence of cowardice on Fastolfe’s part at this battle, he was one of the few When Henry IV, Part 1 was printed in the survivors and was temporarily stripped of first quarto, the name of the character his knighthood. Shakespeare uses part of is Falstaff and when the epilogue to the this story in Henry IV Part 1. Fastolfe died second part was published in 1600, it without descendants making his name safe contained this clarification: for usage by Shakespeare.

21 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement The eminent Shakespearean scholar Stephen imported from various parts of Europe and the city was Greenblatt suggests that Robert Greene may have notorious for “the immoderate drinking of the foolish”. been the inspiration for the character. Greene, a By the fourteenth century there were 354 taverns and contemporary of Shakespeare and author of the story 1334 breweries. By the fifteenth century, a guild, the on which Shakespeare based The Winter’s Tale, was London Company of Brewers had been established noted for his questionable lifestyle similar to that of regulating this popular libation and by 1574, the Falstaff. number of breweries had decreased to twenty-six.

Falstaff is the fulcrum in the two parts of Henry IV. He However, the number of taverns was astonishing. is a character whom we laugh with and at. The role of Thomas Platter wrote in the early 1600’s that: “There Falstaff in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 consist of more than are endless inns, beer and wine shops for every 1,200 lines making it the second largest role in all of imaginable growth, alican, canary, muscatels, clarets, Shakespeare — next to that of Hamlet. Spanish, Rhenish.” Some writers of the period describe London’s topography by lists of alehouses. By the way, Why do we love Falstaff as a character? Well, we all ever wonder why those London pub signs and names know a person with characteristics like Falstaff who are so colorful? Pub culture grew in a time when a influences our decisions in life. Falstaff is a repulsive majority of the population could not read and a sign character, but his frankness, and his self-determination with an illustration was easy to understand. make him a loveable. Although he has so many negative qualities, his real affection for Prince Hal The Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap is the home- redeems him in our eyes. away-from-home of Sir John Falstaff. Eastcheap was the place of the Elizabethan meat markets. Here in the Harold Bloom in his book, Shakespeare: The Invention abattoirs animals were slaughtered and heretics were of the Human, cites Falstaff as one of Shakespeare’s burned at the stake. freest characters because he is one of the most intelligent of Shakespeare’s personages. He finds According to the noted historian Peter Ackroyd, a very human side to the character demonstrating “Certain alehouses of the period were so identified a mastery of language and wit calling him “a comic with London itself, both in ballad and drama, that Socrates”. He talks of Hal as “Falstaff’s masterpiece: they became representative of the city. “The Boar’s a student of genius who adopts his teacher’s stance Head in Eastcheap so impressed itself upon the folk of freedom in order to exploit a universal ambivalence memory of Londoners that it was generally agreed and turn it into a selective wit.” that Shakespeare himself must have drunk on the premises.” In the eighteenth century it was the site of Shakespeare did not create Falstaff to be the comic a literary club, which assembled there to play the roles relief in the play. He is necessary to aid Hal’s character of the tavern dwellers in Henry IV, Part 1 and attracted development. Hal develops as a character because of pilgrims long after its destruction. Falstaff’s wit, antics and humor. Why did Shakespeare set scenes from Henry IV Part I in The noted Shakespearean scholar Edmond Malone this particular Eastcheap tavern? Perhaps Shakespeare claimed that the role of Falstaff was written for John was paying homage to his theatrical past, as the real Heminges. However the role was played by Will Boar’s Head was a performance space before the Kempe, the clown in his company, in mind for the role. theatres were fashionable. The actual Boar’s Head In the second part of Henry IV there is a stage direction tavern was demolished in 1829 to make way for King “Enter Will” a few lines before Falstaff sings the ballad William Street. “When Arthur first in court….” Obviously, a cue for Kempe to enter. In Henry V, Falstaff is discussed, but The American author Washington Irving wrote a never appears. Many people have interpreted this delightful sketch, “Boar’s Head Tavern Eastcheap” in absence in different ways, but it could have a more 1819 in which he searches for the haunt of Falstaff and logical reason: Will Kempe left the company in the time Mistress Quickly: between Henry IV, Part II and Henry V and there was no one in the company to assume the role. “A thought suddenly struck me: ‘I will make a pilgrimage to Eastcheap,’ said I, ‘and see if the old Boar’s Head Tavern still exists. Who knows but I Tavern Culture may light upon some legendary traces of Dame Quickly and her guests; at any rate, there will be a 4,000 years ago, inhabitants of London first made their kindred pleasure, in treading the halls once vocal own type of beer. Londoners have been drinking it with their mirth, to that the toper enjoys in smelling ever since. In the thirteenth century wines were being to the empty cask once filled with generous wine.”

22 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Irving writes social groups. In Henry IV, Part 1, notice that he finds how Hal observes groups in other spaces where the of the tavern, but does not necessarily tavern once socialize with them. As much as tavern life stood along is celebrated in Henry IV Part I, they are with persons dismissed in Henry IV, Part II. Instead of who could using the tavern to just waste his time, have been descendents of the fictional Hal’s visits to the tavern actually help him characters: grow into the great king that he becomes with a deeper understanding of the lives “Suffice it to say, the neighbors, one and hardships of his future subjects. and all, about Eastcheap believe that Falstaff and his merry crew actually Operating an inn, tavern or alehouse was lived and reveled there. Nay, there are not restricted to men and were generally several legendary anecdotes concerning family-owned and run businesses. It was him still extant among the oldest not unusual for a woman, such as Mistress frequenters of the Mason’s Arms, which Quickly, to run the business, even though they give as transmitted down from the majority of their patrons were men. their forefathers.” Crime and prostitution thrived in alehouses Taverns were the social hub of Elizabethan and taverns. People were enticed into England and were places that people met, entering taverns to waste their time and conducted business, drank and whiled the become unproductive. The alehouse culture time away. They were also ideal spaces for did not work well with the Protestant ideals criminals to ply their trade. and ethical society of the day. Clocks and watches had become more accessible to Following the social order of the day, public the masses and highlighted the fact that drinking houses or “pubs” as they came one of the main functions of an alehouse or to be known, had their own hierarchal tavern was to waste time. By the beginning structure: inns, taverns and alehouses. The of the seventeen century, society had inns were where those of higher social become so fed up with the wastrel nature status spent the night while traveling or of this growing sector of society that where respectable businessman met. Inns Parliament passed the 1604 act against would have a formal host and servants who “inordinate Haunting and Tipling in Inns, would see to the needs of their guests. Alehouses” and ruled that drinking houses were strictly for the “Receit, Relief and In sharp contrast, alehouses were dank, Lodging of Wayfaring People traveling dirty, filled with crime and prostitute ridden from Place to Place and “not meant for offering the cheapest sort of ale and food. Entertainment and Harbouring of lewd and Alehouses were generally patronized by the idle People to spend and consume their lower classes, although they did offer social Money and their Time in lewd and drunken refuge for working tradesmen far from manner.” home. This did much to quell the immediate The taverns were a happy medium of the problem, although the rise of the gin two establishments. They offered wine houses a hundred years later created a instead of spirits and consisted of several new type of hard and dangerous drinking rooms segregating different types of culture. ❖

23 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Battle of the Henries

The Battle of Shrewsbury, July 21, 1403

The battle of Shrewsbury wasn’t one of those major events like Hastings, Agincourt or Bosworth, which changed the course of history. However, it is thanks to Shakespeare and Henry IV Part I that this battle lives in infamy.

The Battle of Shrewsbury is significant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it decided who would rule England. However, the Battle did nothing to change the status quo — Henry was the king at the start of the battle and remained the king at the end of the battle.

Secondly, it was the first battle fought in which English bowmen faced each other, not a foreign army, or in other words, the French. The battle was fought between an army led by King Henry IV and Prince Hal and a rebel army led by the Percy family of Northumberland.

24 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement In a twist of irony, the main players, with semi-royal powers and rights). Chester was the exception of the Welsh leader Owain a fairly rough place that was fiercely loyal Glyndwr were all named Henry: King Henry to Richard II. It was also where the famed IV, Henry, Prince of Wales (who we will call Cheshire Archers, bodyguards of the late Hal), Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy, not to mention king, hailed from. Cheshire was also the the mastermind behind the rebellion, Henry only area to resist Henry’s usurpation of the Percy, Hotspur’s father. crown.

Being the king in the Middle Ages meant Hotspur was a great military hero and keeping your friends close and your had experience far greater than the king. enemies even closer. It was politically But his troops (with the exception of crucial to make powerful landowners feel the Cheshire Archers) were quite green. rewarded and special and the Percy’s were Although most of Hotspur’s troops and the most powerful landowners in the whole leaders came from Chester, many came of England. In the months leading up to from Shropshire, Flintshire, Herefordshire, the Battle of Shrewsbury, the relationship Lancashire, Yorkshire and Northumberland. between the king and the Percy’s declined He aimed to link forces with the Welsh from one of trust to all out hatred. leader Owain Glyndŵr to create a powerful fighting machine. Why? Meanwhile, in Nottingham, King Henry was There are many possibilities for this: on his way to Northumberland to help the • Although the Percy’s had helped Henry Percy’s in their fight against the Scots when to gain the throne, there were other news of the rebellion of Percy and Glyndŵr claimants, including Edmund Mortimer reached him. He redirected his troops Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy who was related by marriage to Hotspur. eastward via Derby, Burton and Lichfield Perhaps they wondered if they had recruiting troops along the way. backed the right person. Percy supporters wore Richard II’s emblem • The Percy’s fought and won a of the White Hart and gathered at tremendous victory for the king against Sandiway in Cheshire on July seventeenth. the Scots, but the king refused to give Some accounts say that they were promised them enough money to cover their costs. that they would see a vision of Richard II and would be joined by a large army raised • Perhaps the Percy’s successes on the by Hotspur’s father — they encountered Scottish front just went to their heads. neither. They marched through Whitchurch towards Shrewsbury. Again, Hotspur’s army Before we begin our tale of the Battle of was told they would see a vision of Richard Shrewsbury, it is important to remember II at Prees Heath, which of course they that it is the winners of a battle who get didn’t. to write the history of it. There are no definitive accounts of this particular battle Why Shrewsbury? Well, Shrewsbury was a and some accounts didn’t appear until main crossing point over the Severn River decades after the event and Shakespeare’s and close to the Welsh border. The king play was not written until two hundred wanted to take the city of Shrewsbury years after the event. before the Percy’s and Glyndŵr could combine their forces. When Hotspur Early in July of 1403, Hotspur said goodbye reached Shrewsbury on the nineteenth or

to his father and marched south along twentieth of July 1403 he found the town with 200 men including his uncle, the Earl was held by Prince Hal who had erected of Worcester, and the Scottish Earl of a small garrison which stood in the way of Douglas. He headed for Cheshire in the Hotspur linking up with Glyndŵr and his Midlands, which was a natural recruiting Welsh army. Surprised, his army retreated ground for any revolt against Henry IV. to Berwick-on-the-Severn to camp for the The County of Chester actually saw itself night. It is likely that he chose Berwick as as a separate entity to the rest of England it was easy to cross the river at that point. because it was ruled by an Anglo-Norman Also, it was an ideal spot to meet up with palatinate (an administrative area having

25 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Glyndŵr. Unfortunately for Hotspur, this meeting never that Hotspur was very inclined to accept the King’s happened. terms of surrender, but was deterred by his uncle Thomas. In any case, two hours before sunset, the Henry IV’s forces arrived from the east on July order to advance was given. twentieth, crossed the Severn at Atcham and marched into Shrewsbury. In the evening, they crossed the The battle opened with a massive archery barrage, Severn at Uffington and spent the night at Haughmond killing or wounding many of the men before they could Abbey. On the morning of July twenty-first the King’s get to the field. One chronicler described the sky as forces found themselves in a wide-open pea field where “so full of arrows that they looked like a thick cloud they could best use their large numbers. Hotspur’s which blotted out the sun, and the men at the tip of forces arrived from the north and were forced to take a the royal advance fell like apples fallen in the autumn… more unfavorable position. when stirred by the south west wind.” Hotspur’s Cheshire bowmen were infinitely superior to those of Hotspur was an incredible soldier, but here he was the king. seriously outnumbered. The Royalist army had 10,000 men while Hotspur had between 5,000 and 7,000. If The king’s forces greatly outnumbered Percy’s army. Hotspur had chosen to retreat he would have probably Hotspur tried to even the balance of power and led been pursued by the royalists anyway so he chose to his men in a charge down the hill into the ranks of the stand and fight. royal army. When they finally met on the battlefield for hand-to-hand combat, Hotspur gathered some of his There is a story that Hotspur (who was very most trusted men around him and advanced toward superstitious) had been told by a fortuneteller that he the king’s standard. Historians feel that he must have would die “before Berwick”. Hotspur assumed that this come very close to the king, but he obviously did not meant Berwick-on-Tweed in Northumbria. Hotspur’s get close enough. He was fatally wounded by an arrow. lucky charm was a crescent handled sword in battle. When he was told that by his squire that his sword had Prince Harry then arrived with his division who had been left behind in Berwick where they had spent the been untouched by Hotspur’s charge. They attacked previous night, Hotspur went pale. the right flank and rear of the rebel army. Prince Hal was hit by an arrow to the face, but he carried on and Hotspur knew that he would have to fight defensively supported his men. and the best place to do that was from high ground. He found a ridge ninety meters above sea level. The News of Hotspur’s death spread quickly through the Royalists did the same, finding a similar spot 500 yards rebel army and their resistance crumbled. The fighting away, out of shot from the longbows. had lasted nearly three hours. Over 300 knights and another 20,000 men at arms fell. Thousands more died It took until midday for the armies to form up and by of injuries over the next few weeks. that point no one was very eager to fight. At that point the abbots of Shrewsbury and Haughmond tried to On Sunday the twenty-second of July the dead lay mediate between the two enemies. Historians suggest everywhere — on the battlefield and scattered over

26 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement a three-mile radius. A chronicler wrote: The Cheshire Archers “Those who were present said that they Richard II chose this ferocious group of never saw or read in the records of archers as his personal bodyguards. Christian times of so furious a battle in so short a time or of larger casualties than A chronicler of the time, Adam of Usk, said, happened here.” “…the king…kept in his following four hundred men of the county of Chester, Most of the dead were buried in a very evil, and in all places they oppressed mass grave on the battlefield. Hotspur his subjects unpunished and beat and was originally buried at Whitchurch in robbed them. These men, whithersoever Shropshire, but rumors spread that he was the King went, night and day, as if at war, not really dead. The king, who wept over kept watch in arms around him; everywhere the death of his one-time ally therefore, had committing adulteries, murders and other him disinterred. His body was displayed in evils without end. And to such a pass Shrewsbury impaled on a spear between did the King cherish them that we would two millstones and later quartered and the not deign to listen to anyone who had a various parts put on show complaint against them; nay, rather he in Newcastle, London, Chester and Bristol. would disdain him as an enemy. And this His head was displayed in York. In was a chief cause of his ruin.” November his body was returned to his Why were these men particularly so good widow and he was buried in York Minster. at archery?

Hotspur’s comrades: the Earls of Worcester Most came from the Welsh marches, and Douglas, Sir Richard Vernon and Sir an area that constantly needed to be Richard Venables, had been captured. defended. After the crisis was over, these Douglas was ransomed, but the rest were men would return to their farms. tried for treason on July twenty-third, and Many of the archers who fought and hung, drawn and quartered. Worcester’s survived Shrewsbury were considered too head was displayed on London Bridge until useful to be punished and many went on to December when it was buried alongside the serve Henry V when he became king. rest of his body at Shrewsbury Abbey.

Henry acted fast to ensure that upstart rebellions did not spring up again. Weapons of Mass Destruction Messengers were sent to all corners of Medieval warfare was not organized nor England announcing Hotspur’s death and a was it refined. Many of the weapons that royal army marched to Northumberland to were used had their origins in ancient times deal with Henry Percy. with little design alterations to make them fit the scenario. When combined into one Percy was pardoned, but didn’t learn from huge war machine, the resulting army was his lesson and continued to participate in powerful and deadly, fighting in a mass plots against the king. Five years later he force. was killed in another rebellion. Other rebels were pardoned as well, in hopes that they The Longbow might be loyal to the king, most weren’t The earliest known longbows were used however and many participated in later in northern Germany approximately rebellions. 10,000 years ago. The English use of it as a weapon of war was not so much a Three years after Shrewsbury, Henry technical development as it was social. ordered the building of a church, St Mary Longbowmen were vulnerable to calvary Magdalen Battlefield for the offering of attack and were best suited for light prayer for those killed in the battle. It was skirmishes. Using it for war required finished in 1409. many years of training, recruitment and maintenance of an incredibly large number Henry never got his wish to rule in peace. of men to make its use effective. It also Glyndŵr was always around starting up a formed only a part of a military machine rebellion of some sort and ten years after and needed to be combined with other the battle, Henry died. types of troops. Typical battle formation

27 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement of the period would include swordsmen at depending upon his prowess. Young boys the front, followed by heavy infantry armed were employed to run additional arrows to with poleaxes and behind them, traditional longbow archers. archers and crossbowmen. Cavalry were situated either on the flanks to protect On the battlefield, English archers would against attacks or in the center to counter stab their arrows upright into the ground at any breakthroughs. Longbowmen their feet reducing further the time it took were usually on the sides. to notch, draw and loose their arrow. The arrows used had chisel or bodkin The use of the longbow had been heads with tips like lengthened pyramids. so effective during the Anglo- Each arrow weighed approximately eighty Norman invasions of Wales and grams. This is two to three times the weight on the battlefields of France of today’s wooden or aluminum arrows. and Scotland that King Edward During times of peace, possession of a I banned all sports but archery chisel pointed arrow was a hanging offense. on Sundays to make sure that Specialized arrows were created to deal every Englishman could handle a with different types of armor. Arrows with longbow. thin and sharply slanted heads were used to pierce chain mail suits, breaking one The English longbow (also called ring and popping a huge hole in the armor. the Welsh longbow) was about six Some arrows had heads that were only and a half feet long and was used attached with a small blob of wax so that for both hunting and as a weapon if they were to be removed, only the shaft of war. The English developed would come out, leaving the head lodged the weapon with a draw weight in the victim most certainly causing an of up to one hundred and sixty pounds. So infected wound. intense was the training that the bodies of medieval archers physically changed to Gerald of Wales described the effects of cope with the weapon. Recent excavation the longbow: “…in the war against the has unearthed the graves of some of these Welsh, one of the men of arms was struck longbowmen and found that some of the by an arrow shot at him by a Welshman. skeletons appear lopsided with higher bone It went right through his thigh, high up, density and more muscles on one side than where it was protected inside and outside on the other. the leg by his iron cuirasses, and then through the skirt of his leather tunic; next it Longbows were usually made from yew. penetrated that part of the saddle which is The range of the medieval version of the called the alva or seat; and finally it lodged weapon is unknown but some scholars in his horse, driving so deep that it killed estimate it to be between one hundred the animal.” Itinerarium Cambriae (1191) and eighty to two hundred and forty-nine yards. By today’s standards, the longbow Heavy steel plate armor was less penetrable had long range and accuracy, but not at the against arrows than chain mail. However, same time. Keep in mind that most of the there were weak points in the joints that time longbowman would not be shooting at arrows could still penetrate. Plate armor targets, but at armies. Longbowmen armies was very expensive and only used by the would aim at an area and shoot a rain of nobility. Horses were even less protected. arrows hitting indiscriminately. In its day it Longbowmen wearing chain mail were also was considered fairly accurate. more agile than their armored colleagues as armored knights whose horses were killed An archer during the fourteenth or fifteenth in battle could not quickly move. century was expected to shoot at least ten to twelve aimed shots per minute. An If one received an arrow wound and did not experienced longbowman was expected instantly die, arrows could be removed, but to shoot twenty aimed shots per minute. the process was incredibly painful. A piece A typical military longbow archer would of cloth, soaked in boiling water or another be provided with approximately sixty sterilizing substance would be tied to the arrows at the time of battle. This would end of the arrow which would be pushed last the archer from three to six minutes through the victim’s wound and out the

28 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement other side. There were specialized tools used to extract The lance was long, heavy and tapered and turned a arrows in places where bone prevented the arrow medieval cavalry charge into a frightening war machine. being pushed through. The Shield When Prince Hal was hit in the face with an arrow, he The shield is a most basic defensive weapon. It had was given the best medical attention. The hole made been used by the Greeks and Romans and was first by the arrowhead was widened by inserting wider used in Britain during the Iron Age. Men would form a and wider wooden dowels soaked in honey (a natural shield wall involving rows of infantry interlocking their antioxidant) down the entry point of the arrow. The shields to create a barrier. The average weight of a royal physician then inserted a special tool that he had shield was eight to twelve pounds and it was made of a created — smooth tongs which were inserted into the lime-wood base covered by leather and a central metal wound at the rear of the arrowhead. The tongs gripped boss. the walls of the arrowhead and extracted it. The wound was then dressed in a poultice of barley, honey The Armour Harness and turpentine. After three weeks the wound was free Armour was tailor made for the individual and was from infection. Henry however, had a large scar on his extremely expensive. Originally armor was made of face for the rest of his life. links of chain mail creating a woven iron fabric. By the thirteenth century knights started to add metal plates Longbows were in use until the sixteenth century when for extra protection and by the fourteenth century, firearms proved more effective. knights appeared clothed head to toe in armor. The main centers of armor production were in Italy and Archers would have been in the front of each formation Germany. Weight of a suit of armor could be anything with foot soldiers armed with swords, crossbows and up to eighty pounds. any other weapons capable of stabbing, impaling, hacking, slashing or bashing an enemy. The combination of these components was a deadly war machine which remained effective until the advent The Longsword of gunpowder. ❖ This weapon had been used since the Bronze Age. It is effectively a steel bar with a cutting edge and stabbing point. In medieval warfare the weapon had a double- To read more about medieval warfare, may we edged blade that tapered to a fine point. It also had suggest the following books: a counterweight pommel for balance. The average weight was three pounds and was also called the hand- Armies and Warfare of the Middle Ages by Michael and-a-half or ‘bastard sword’. Prestwich English Warfare 1511-1642 by Mark Charles Fissel The Lance The principal of this weapon was to take a simple Medieval English Warfare by Roger Raymond Sellman spear, which had been around since prehistoric times and combine it with the power and might of a horse.

29 A Noise Within Study Guide Shakespeare Supplement Playing Nine Men’s Morris

Nine Men’s Morris (in some form or other) was actually played by the ancient Egyptians. During the bronze age, the game was brought to Ireland by Greek traders and made its way to Europe. It is known by many other names: Merels, Merelles, Muehle, Jeu de Moulin, etc.

Number of Players: Two Materials needed: Game board and 18 playing pieces – two differ- ent colors (nine of each) Pennies or dimes could be used. Objective: to trap your opponent so that he or she can no longer move or to capture all of your opponent’s playing pieces except for two. Player 1 puts a piece over any of the white circles on the gameboard. Player 2 puts a piece over any of the white circles on the gameboard.

The objective is to get three of your pieces in a row (called a mill). All the pieces must be on circles that are connected by lines (diagonals don’t count). When you get a mill, you may remove and keep one of your opponent’s pieces from the board. The only time a piece can be removed from an opponents mill is when there are no other pieces available except those on a mill.

When both players have put down all their pieces, they take turns moving their pieces along the lines in an effort to form a mill. You can only move one space at a time. You cannot move diagonally, and you may only move to adjacent open circles. You may not jump or bump an opponent’s piece. The forming of a mill allows for the removal of an opponent’s piece.

Play continues until a player can no longer move or is left with only two playing pieces on the board. ❖

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