Elizabethan

The age of Shakespeare, and its changing notions of what was funny, gave birth to modern comedy. 

In the wake of the failure of the Spanish Armada, England sought retaliation by launching an invasion of its own. But how to finance such a venture?

Nicholas Hilliard was a portraitist at the pinnacle of his profession.

Drake’s exploits in the New World made him perfect material for the English gutter press and a figurehead for rising Hispanophobia.

The mysterious death of Amye Robsart – murdered, as many of her contemporaries thought, at the instigation of her scheming husband, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I – provides one of the strangest unsolved problems in Elizabethan history.

Although best known as Elizabeth I’s court magician, John Dee was also one of England’s most learned men. Katie Birkwood explores his books and the wealth of information they can provide on his early life. 

Without dexterity and imagination historians are in danger of overlooking the telling details that complete the bigger picture, argues Mathew Lyons.

The playwright was baptised on February 26th, 1564.

Francis J. Bremer introduces a true Renaissance man; Thomas Hariot, man of action and ideas.

Lansing Collins describes how, in honour of a previous gift sent in the other direction, Elizabeth I presented Sultan Mohammed III with an elaborate clock, surmounted by singing birds that shook their wings.