1. Sense of humour. Level: Shakespeare
During one performance of Shakespeare’s
Richard the Third, in which Richard
Burbage plays the title role “a female
member of the audience grows so smitten with Burbage that she urges him to come
to her that same night. She tells him to knock on her door and announce himself
as 'Richard the Third’. Shakespeare overhears their conversation and goes to
the lady’s chamber first. When the appointed hour arrives, Burbage knocks on
the door and announces that ‘Richard the Third’ has arrived – only to hear
Shakespeare reply from within: William the Conqueror came before Richard the
Third.”
2. Queen Elizabeth, too, was famous
for her humour:
“One day the earl of Oxford breaks wind as he bows down in front of her.
Mortified, he leaves court immediately and does not return for seven years. When
he finally does come back, the queen greets him cheerfully with the quip, ‘My
lord, I had forgotten for the fart.”
3. …speaking of Elizabeth, did you
know that she is considered one of the ‘greatest patrons of fashion in history’?
By 1600, in her royal residence could
be found that“she has 102 French gowns,
67 round gowns, 100 loose gowns, 126 kirtles, 136 foreparts, 125 petticoats, 96
cloaks, 85 doublets and 99 ‘robes’… Additionally she kept 2 robes, 26 French
gowns, 14 round gowns, 27 loose gowns, 23 kirtles, 58 foreparts, 27 petticoats,
41 cloaks and 38 doublets at the Office of the wardrobe at Blackfriars.”
4. Many of the words that were used in
Elizabethan England and are still used today, have changed their meanings. For
instance:
The word ‘nice’ used to mean ‘exact’
or ‘accurate’; the word ‘cute’ means ‘sharp’, while ‘mean’ refers to something
little or humble, e.g. ‘the meanest woman in town’ reflects on poverty. Also: ‘several’
meant ‘separate’; ‘ecstasy’ = ‘madness’; ‘cheap’ = ‘market’; ‘budget’ = ‘bag’,
and so on…
5. A remarkable man of Elizabethan England
has to be Sir Richard Grenville:
“In 1591, after fighting for a whole day single-handedly against a
Spanish fleet, with forty men dead on deck, no gunpower left, gaping holes in
the side of his ship and six feet of water in the hold, you might think he
surrender. Nothing of the sort: Sir Richard vows to fight on, to the death.”
To learn all you need to know about Elizabethan
England, and to read first-handedly all these stories and more: get your hands on
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan
England by Ian Mortimer.
