Detailed Contents List of Illustrations xiii Acknowledgments xiv List of Abbreviations xv Series Editor’s Preface xvi Timeline of Historical Events xvii Timeline of Literary Events xxiii Introduction 1 1 Key Historical Events 12 1.1 Richard III’s Proclamation against Henry Tudor (23 June 1485) 19 1.2 Henry Tudor’s Speech at the Battle of Bosworth (22 August 1485) 20 1.3 Henry VIII’s Letter to Pope Clement VII (1532) 21 1.4 An Act Concerning the King’s Highness to be Supreme 23 Head of the Church of England (3 November 1534) 1.5 Edward VI’s Chronicle (1547–52) 24 1.6 Mary Tudor’s Letter to Members of Edward VI’s Privy Council (9 July 1553) 26 1.7 Elizabeth I’s First Speech to Parliament (10 February 1559) 28 1.8 Elizabeth I’s Speech to Parliament regarding Mary of Scotland (12 November 1586) 31 1.9 Elizabeth I’s Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (9 August 1588) 32 1.10 The Gunpowder Plot against James VI and I (5 November 1606) 33 1.11 James VI and I’s Speech to Parliament regarding Monarchy (21 March 1610) 36 1.12 A Description of Henry Stuart, Prince of Wales (1607) 38 1.13 Charles I’s Scaffold Speech (30 January 1649) 39 1.14 An Act Abolishing the Kingly Office in England, Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto Belonging (17 March 1649) 39 vii viii DETAILED CONTENTS 2 Society, Economy, and Class 41 2.1 Sir Thomas Wilson, “The State of England” (1600) 45 2.2 James Bankes’s Advice to his Children (1611) 51 2.3 John Hales’s Charge to a County Commission Investigating Enclosures (1548) 54 2.4 Sir Roger Wilbraham’s Account of Enclosure Riots (June 1607) 55 2.5 A Memorandum Regarding the Statute of Artificers (1573) 56 2.6 A Petition to the Mayor and Jurats of Sandwich in Kent (1593) 60 2.7 Female Apprentices in London (14 March 1570) 60 2.8 A Female Apprentice in Southampton (23 June 1577) 61 2.9 Clais van Wervekin’s Letter to his Wife in Belgium (21 August 1567) 61 2.10 The Complaint of the London Company of Goldsmiths to the King’s Solicitor, Sir Robert Heath (7 January 1622) 62 2.11 A Proclamation Licensing Casper van Senden to Deport Negroes (January 1601) 63 2.12 An Act for Relief of the Poor (1597) 64 2.13 A Proclamation against Vagabonds and Unlawful Assemblies (9 September 1598) 66 3 Families, Gender, and Sexuality 67 3.1 “An Homily of the State of Matrimony” (1563) 70 3.2 John Dod and Robert Cleaver, A Godly Form of Household Government for the Ordering of Private Families (1598) 73 3.3 William Whately, Two Marriage Tracts (1617–24) 74 3.4 William Gouge, Of Domestical Duties: Eight Treatises (1622) 75 3.5 Rachel Speght, A Mouzell for Melastomus . Or an Apologetical Answer to that Irreligious and Illiterate Pamphlet Made by Jo[seph] Sw[etnam] (1616) 78 3.6 Magdalen Gawyn’s Punishment for Cross-Dressing (19 April 1575) 82 3.7 Richard Rogers’s Diary (12 January 1588) 82 3.8 Edward Alleyn’s Letter to his Wife Joan Alleyn (August 1593) 83 3.9 Joan Alleyn’s Letter to her Husband Edward Alleyn (21 October 1603) 84 3.10 An Anonymous Poem of Same-Sex Desire (c.1586) 85 3.11 King James VI and I’s Letter to his Favorite George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (1623) 86 3.12 Abortionist Peter Stone’s Punishment (2 April 1572) 87 3.13 Mary Day’s Fertility Treatment (2 April 1575) 87 3.14 Nehemiah Wallington’s Family Life (1630–54) 88 DETAILED CONTENTS ix 3.15 Allegations of Slander, Domestic Violence, Fornication, and Broken Betrothal in Kent (1587–1600) 90 4 Religion and Belief 94 4.1 William Roper, The Mirror of Virtue in Worldly Greatness; or, The Life of Sir Thomas More (c.1553) 99 4.2 Michael Sherbrook, “The Fall of Religious Houses” (c.1591) 101 4.3 “A Fruitful Exhortation to the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture” (1547) 102 4.4 Anne Askew, The First Examination of the Worthy Servant of God, Mistress Anne Askew, Lately Martyred in Smithfield by the Romish Pope’s Upholders (1548) 104 4.5 Preface to The Book of Common Prayer (1549) 106 4.6 John Foxe, The Martyrdoms of Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer (1563) 107 4.7 Injunctions Given by the Queen’s Majesty (1559) 111 4.8 The Conversion of London Blackamoor Mary Fillis (3 June 1597) 115 4.9 Joan Butcher’s Allegation of Slander in the Parish Church (1604) 116 4.10 Nehemiah Wallington’s Dullness in Church (1630) 117 4.11 Henry Goodcole, The Wonderful Discovery of Elizabeth Sawyer, a Witch (1621) 117 4.12 James VI and I, The King’s Majesty’s Declaration to his Subjects Concerning Lawful Sports to be Used (1618) 119 5 Philosophy and Ideas 121 5.1 William Shakespeare on Order and Degree (1602) 125 5.2 “An Homily against Disobedience and Willful Rebellion” (1570) 127 5.3 John Ponet, A Short Treatise of Politic Power (1556) 129 5.4 John Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558) 132 5.5 John Aylmer, An Harbor for Faithful and True Subjects against the Late-Blown Blast Concerning the Government of Women (1559) 134 5.6 Edmund Plowden on the Monarch’s Two Bodies (1571) 136 5.7 Elizabeth I’s Accession Address to her Lords (20 November 1558) 137 5.8 Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1593–1604) 137 5.9 James VI and I, The True Law of Free Monarchies (1598) 138 5.10 Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (1515) 141 5.11 Sir Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral (1625) 143 x DETAILED CONTENTS 6 High Culture 147 6.1 Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (1528) 152 6.2 Henry Peacham, The Complete Gentleman (1622) 157 6.3 “The House of an Earl” (1630s) 159 6.4 Letter from Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to Dr. Jean Hotman (23 January ?1588) 165 6.5 Elizabeth Hardwick’s New Year’s Gift to the Queen (1576) 166 6.6 The Queen’s Sumptuary Laws (1574) 169 6.7 Frederic Gerschow’s Travel Diary (1605) 171 6.8 John Manningham’s London Diary (1602–3) 173 6.9 Dudley Carleton’s Letter from the Court of King James (15 January 1604) 175 7 Everyday Life and Popular Culture 177 7.1 William Harrison, “The Description of England” (1587) 181 7.2 Elizabeth Morgan’s Almshouse Ordinances (6 February 1592) 183 7.3 A Proclamation Pricing Victuals (7 August 1588) 184 7.4 Elizabeth Forde’s Protest against Price Fixing (21 July 1573) 186 7.5 A New Almanac and Prognostication . Made by Thomas Buckminster (1590) 187 7.6 Sanitation Problems in London (1563–88) 189 7.7 A Closet for Ladies [with] Diverse Sovereign Medicines and Salves for Sundry Diseases (1608) 192 7.8 Henry Best’s Farming Account Books (1641) 194 7.9 Henry Bourne, Antiquitates Vulgares: Or, the Antiquities of the Common People (1725) 196 7.10 Hugh Plat, The Jewel House of Art and Nature (1594) 198 7.11 Thomas Hill, The Most Pleasant Art of the Interpretation of Dreams (1576) 202 7.12 Simon Forman’s Dream of the Queen (23 January 1597) 203 7.13 The Lamentation of Master Page’s Wife of Plymouth (1635) 204 8 Literary Production and Reception 207 8.1 Thomas Wilson, The Art of Rhetoric (1553) 212 8.2 Injunctions Given by the Queen’s Majesty (1559) 214 8.3 Sir Thomas North, Preface to The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Compared Together by that Grave Learned Philosopher and Historiographer Plutarch of Chaeronea (1579) 215 8.4 Grace, Lady Mildmay’s Advice to her Children (before 1620) 216 8.5 Sir Francis Bacon, “Of Studies” (1625) 218 DETAILED CONTENTS xi 8.6 Ben Jonson, Prefaces to Catiline His Conspiracy (1611) 218 8.7 Stephen Gosson, The School of Abuse (1579) 219 8.8 Sir Philip Sidney, An Apology for Poetry (1595) 221 8.9 Stephen Slanye’s Letter to the Queen’s Privy Council regarding Public Theaters (13 September 1595) 225 8.10 The Examination of Augustine Phillips regarding the Essex Rebellion (18 February 1601) 226 8.11 Thomas Heywood, An Apology for Actors (1612) 227 8.12 Thomas Bodley’s Letter to his Librarian Thomas James (21 January 1612) 228 8.13 William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1603 and 1623) 229 9 Trade and Exploration 232 9.1 Sir Thomas Smith, A Discourse of the Commonweal of this Realm of England (1549) 236 9.2 Richard Hakluyt of the Middle Temple, “Certain Directions Given . to Master Morgan Hubblethorne, Dyer, Sent into Persia” (1579) 237 9.3 William Cecil’s Notes on Trade Imbalances (c.1581) 238 9.4 Sir Thomas Roe’s Reports from the Mughal Empire (1615–19) 239 9.5 Sir Thomas Wentworth’s Report of a Debate in the House of Commons on the Shortage of Money (26 February 1621) 241 9.6 Clement Adams on the Kingdom of Muscovy (1553) 243 9.7 A Report of Sir John Hawkins’s Voyage to the Coast of Guinea (1564) 245 9.8 Richard Hakluyt of the Middle Temple, “Inducements to the Liking of the Voyage Intended towards Virginia” (1585) 246 9.9 Thomas Harriot, A Brief and True Report of the New-Found Land of Virginia (1588) 252 9.10 William Keeling’s Journal of African Voyages (1607) 255 10 Science and Medicine 257 10.1 Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Of the Vanity and Uncertainty of Arts and Sciences (1569) 261 10.2 Sir Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605) and The Great Instauration (1620) 262 10.3 The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus (1560) 266 10.4 John Gerard, The Herbal or General History of Plants (1597) 268 10.5 Thomas Digges’s Defense of Heliocentrism (1576) 271 10.6 John Wilkins, The Discovery of a World in the Moon (1638) 272 10.7 Nicholas Culpeper, Galen’s Art of Physic (1652) 273 10.8 Thomas Wright, The Passions of the Mind (1601) 275 xii DETAILED CONTENTS 10.9 Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1638) 277 10.10 Helkiah Crooke, Microcosmographia: A Description of the Body of Man (1615) 278 10.11 Eucharius Roesslin, The Birth of Mankind (1540) 280 10.12 The Anatomical Exercises of Dr.