Elizabethan Era: Did you mean...?

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) was an English poet, scholar, soldier, and courtier, one of the most prominent figures at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603). During his lifetime, he was revered as the ideal Elizabethan...

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (reign 1558–1603), England underwent a decisive commercial transformation, expanding its trade networks across northern and southern Europe at a moment of shifting geopolitical and economic balance. The...

On 5 May 1593, a series of anti-Protestant bills were posted throughout the city of London. One of the bills was written in iambic pentameter and included several references to the works of celebrated poet Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593...

The reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603 CE) witnessed an extraordinary spurt of exploration as tiny wooden ships boldly set sail from English shores to cross the world's oceans. Famous mariners like Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher...

A sketch by Aernout van Buchel showing actors on the stage of the Swan theatre in 1596 CE in London, one of the principal theatres of Elizabethan theatre. (Utrecht University Library, Netherlands)

The term Elizabethan Theatre naturally refers to the style of theatre being composed and performed in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, which continued under her Stuart successors and is best known through the works of the playwright...

On the evening of 30 May 1593, the sounds of a heated argument could be heard emanating from a boarding house in Deptford, a district of London on the south bank of the River Thames. Two of the boarders were quarreling over which of them...

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), or Kit Marlowe, was a poet and playwright of the English Renaissance who wrote during the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603). His mastery of the blank verse – unrhymed iambic pentameter – transformed the way plays...

A portrait of Elizabeth Howard, Lady Southwell (c.1564 – 1646), an English Elizabethan lady wearing a farthingale dress with its distinctive protruding waist created by a padded roll and inserted wooden hoops. By an unknown artist c. 1600...

An Elizabethan trencher (wooden plate) with lid. c. 1600 CE. (British Museum, London)