Preface Acknowledgments Evaluating and Interpreting Primary Documents Introduction: Shakespeare's England Chronology Chapter 1 Society and Family 1. "It Was Ordained for a Remedy against Sin": The Marriage Ceremony as Mandated by the Book of Common Prayer (1559) 2. "Give Yourself to Be Merry": Sir Henry Sidney's Advice to His Son, Philip Sidney (c. 1566) 3. "They Have Invented Such Strange Fashions": Philip Stubbes's Description of Elizabethan Barbers (1583) 4. "Sorrows Draw Not the Dead, to Life, But the Living to Death": Sir Walter Raleigh's Letter of Comfort to Sir Robert Cecil upon the Death of Cecil's Wife (1597) 5. "One Sharp and Discrete Word Is Sufficient": John Dod and Robert Cleaver on Proper Household Relations between Husbands and Wives, Masters and Servants (1598) Chapter 2 Economy and Work 6. "That Certain Abuses Might Be Suppressed": Regulating the Trade of Cloth in the Town of Beverley (1561) 7. "A Convenient Proportion of Wages": Parliament Enacts a Uniform Labor Code—the Statute of Artificers (1563) 8. "How Our Maltbugs Lug at This Liquor": William Harrison on Grain Buying in Country Markets (1577) 9. "They Will Not Buy Any Thing of Our Country-Men": The Economic Impact of Immigration on the London Economy (1593) 10. "Is Not Bread There?": The Anger over Monopolies (1601) Chapter 3 Politics and Parliament 11. "A Place of Free Speech": Freedom of Debate in Parliament (1562, 1576) 12. "His Word Is a Law": Sir Thomas Smith Describes the Power and Position of the English Monarch (c. 1565) 13. "A Coronet on Her Head": John Hooker's Account of the Dissolution of a Session of Parliament (1571) 14. "The Place of Secretary Is Dreadful": William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Describes the Duties and Requirements of the Office of Secretary of State (c. 1571) 15. "He Is the Eye and the Head of the Whole Commonweal": John Hooker's Description of the Duties of the Mayor and City Recorder of Exeter (1584) Chapter 4 Queen and Court 16. "Comely Rather Than Handsome": Descriptions of the Young Princess and the Aging Queen (1557, 1598) 17. "A Fresh Delicate Harmony of Flutes": The Queen on Progress—Robert, Earl of Leicester, Entertains the Queen at Kenilworth Castle (1575) 18. "In His Clown's Apparel": The Comic Actor Richard Tarlton All about the Court (1580s) 19. "Being Much Moved to Be So Challenged in Public": Queen Elizabeth Schools the Malapert Polish Ambassador (1597) 20. "I Have Reigned with Your Loves": The Queen's Valedictory—the "Golden Speech" (1601) Chapter 5 Anglicans, Puritans, and Catholics 21. "The Queen's Highness Is the Only Supreme Governor of This Realm": Framing the Anglican Religious Settlement (1559) 22. "Elizabeth, the Pretended Queen of England": Pope Pius V Excommunicates and Deposes Queen Elizabeth—and the Consequences for English Catholics (1570, 1582) 23. "To Wash His Hands in the Protestants' Blood": News of a Catholic Plot to Assassinate the Queen and Bring in the Spanish (1570) 24. "Brought Many to Great Disobedience": The Bishops Wrestle with Growing Puritan Activity in the Counties (1573, 1581) 25. "Which We Do Barbarously Call Sunday": Puritans Petition the Queen in the Commons for a Church Organized Along Presbyterian Lines (1585) Chapter 6 Literature, Plays, and Poetry 26. "I Aske of God a Vengeance on Thy Bones": Historical Complaint Literature—The Poetry of A Mirror for Magistrates (1563) 27. "None More Witty Than Euphues": John Lyly Writes Popular Elizabethan Romance Novels (1579, 1580) 28. "In the Defence of That My Unelected Vocation": Sir Philip Sidney Defends Poetry and the Theater against Their Critics (c. 1583) 29. "Why Made You Night to Cover Sin?": Thomas Kyd Writes Popular Elizabethan Tragedy (1592) 30. "I Fill'd the Gaols with Bankrupts in a Year": The Popular and Influential Plays of Christopher Marlowe (1592, 1594) Chapter 7 William Shakespeare's Life and Works 31. "I Love What Others Do Abhor": The Sonnets (c. 1576, 1609) 32. "Mine Arm Is Like a Blasted Sapling": William Shakespeare and His Sources—the Second Edition of Holinshed's Chronicle (1587) and Richard III (c. 1592–1593) 33. "For the Recreation of Our Loving Subjects": King James I Licenses William Shakespeare's Theatrical Company (1603) 34. "My Second Best Bed": William Shakespeare's Will (1616) 35. "He Was a Happy Imitator of Nature": The First Folio Edition of Shakespeare's Works (1623) Chapter 8 London Life 36. "And Never More Me Name": Poet Isabella Whitney Bids a Mocking Farewell to London (1573) 37. "My Purse in This Fray Is Taken Out of My Pocket": The Elizabethan Underworld as Described in Robert Greene's Cony-Catching Pamphlets (1592) 38. "Justice Somewhere Is Corrupted": Thomas Nashe Inveighs against the Stews and Strumpets of London (1593) 39. "The Said High Street Stretched Straight to Ludgate": John Stow Describes the Wards of Elizabethan London (1600) 40. "Salute at Parting No Man but by the Name of Sir": Thomas Dekker's Advice on Walking Home Late through London (1609) Chapter 9 Scotland and the Scottish Queen 41. "How Can That Doctrine Be of God?": John Knox's Account of His Meeting with Queen Mary of Scotland (1561) 42. "No Man Said So Much as Amen": A Description of the Marriage of Mary of Scotland and Henry, Lord Darnley (1565) 43. "He Had in His Body above Sixty Wounds": The Murder of David Rizzo and Its Immediate Aftermath (1566) 44. "So Soon as the Said Design Shall Be Executed": Queen Mary Endorses Babington's Plot—and Thereby Seals Her Fate (1586) 45. "Show You Worthy the Place": Queen Elizabeth Advises James VI of Scotland on How to Be a King (1592) Chapter 10 Spain and the Armada 46. "Pitiful Miseries and Horrible Calamities": Queen Elizabeth Justifies Her Military Intervention in the Low Countries (1585) 47. "This Hath Bred a Great Fear in the Spaniard": Sir Francis Drake Describes His Raid on the Spanish Port of Cadiz (1587) 48. "Furnished with Armor and Weapon Mete for Your Calling": The Council Prepares for Possible Spanish Invasion (1588) 49. "Your Highness's Enemies Are Many": Sir Francis Drake Describes the English Fleet's Encounters with the Spanish Armada (1588) 50. "The Fight Was Very Terrible": An Account of the English Raid on Cadiz (1596) Chapter 11 Ireland and the English 51. "Such Lamentable Cries and Doleful Complaints": Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney's Shocking Account of Conditions in Parts of Ireland (1567) 52. "All Things Are at a Hard Hand": A Scarcity of Money and Merchandise in Elizabethan Ireland (1568) 53. "Who Can Keep His Living?": Three Accounts of the Storming of Clogrennan Castle (1569) 54. "Reducing That Savage Nation to Better Government and Civility": English Views of the Evils of Irish Government and Society (1595) 55. "That All Irishmen May Freely Travel": The Demands of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, for Irish Control of a Catholic Ireland (1599) Chapter 12 America and the English 56. "We Would Deal Friendly with Them": George Best's Description of the Frobisher Expedition's Encounters with the Inuit (1577) 57. "To Adventure as Becometh Men": An Account of Newfoundland by a Member of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Expedition (1583) 58. "Shall from Time to Time Adventure Themselves": Sir Walter Raleigh's Title to Virginia (1584) 59. "After the Manner of the Golden Age": A Report on Virginia by the Leaders of Sir Walter Raleigh's First Expedition to America (1584) 60. "Matter for All Sorts and States of Men to Work Upon": Richard Hakluyt's Reasons for Establishing English Colonies in America (1584) Bibliography Index

This engaging collection of over 60 primary document selections sheds light on the personalities, issues, events, and ideas that defined and shaped life in England during the years of Shakespeare's life and career.

ABC-CLIO's Eyewitness to History series provides primary documents accompanied by invaluable contextualizing information to help readers understand historical developments, events, and individuals. The books' format allows for a remarkable range of documents that showcase a wide variety of perspectives, including personal narratives, letters, and first-hand accounts; newspaper stories, op-ed pieces, and contemporary reactions and responses; and government and legislative documents, such as laws, speeches, and court testimony. Each title in the series offers a fascinating documentary history devoted to a significant era, event, or social movement. The carefully curated primary sources give the actual words of people who lived through these past times, empowering today's readers and researchers to consider the topic critically, fairly, and intelligently.