The First Folio
The stage has a short memory, print a long one: 400 years since its first publication, Shakespeare’s First Folio is the reason we remember him.
Elizabethan
The Clown that Went out of Fashion
The age of Shakespeare, and its changing notions of what was funny, gave birth to modern comedy.
The Crowd-Funded War
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?
A Painter Fit for a Queen
Nicholas Hilliard was a portraitist at the pinnacle of his profession.
Celebrity, Politics and Francis Drake
Drake’s exploits in the New World made him perfect material for the English gutter press and a figurehead for rising Hispanophobia.
The Death of Amye Robsart
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.
The Young John Dee
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.
Through the Cracks of Oblivion
Without dexterity and imagination historians are in danger of overlooking the telling details that complete the bigger picture, argues Mathew Lyons.
Christopher Marlowe baptised in Canterbury
The playwright was baptised on February 26th, 1564.
Thomas Hariot: American Adventurer and Renaissance Scientist
Francis J. Bremer introduces a true Renaissance man; Thomas Hariot, man of action and ideas.