William Shakespeare The Bard:

William Shakespeare: was born to John and Mary Shakespeare in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. He was born in April of 1564, but no documentation shows his actual birth date; however, documents show he was baptized on April 26 th and since most children were baptized three days after their birth, his birthday is believed to be April 23 rd.

William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s father has been credited with many positions in the community – from glove maker and butcher to mayor. Shakespeare’s mother came from a very wealthy family – they owned a great deal of land and were in the timber business. Shakespeare was the oldest living child of eight siblings; however, two older sisters died before he was born. In this time period, the infant mortality rate was quite high with 3 out of 10 infants dying in their 1 st year and up to 50% died by the age of 12. Most people did not live much past their 40’s.

William Shakespeare: Shakespeare is believed to have attended school in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Few children were able to attend school during this time period. Only the children of the wealthy (such as Shakespeare’s family) had that opportunity. Schools in the Elizabethan Era were for boys only. They ran six days a week – year round. The school day ran from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in He was 18 years old. Anne was 26 years old. Six months later, their first child was born. They named their daughter Susanna. They later had twins, Hamnet and Judith. Anne’s childhood home is now a famous landmark in England.

In 1586, Shakespeare left his family and traveled to London. Some say he left his family due to an unhappy marriage. Some say he left Stratford-Upon-Avon because he was caught stealing deer. Regardless of which reason he left, he soon met up with the Burbage brothers, Cuthbert and Richard, and created “Lord Chamberlain’s Men”, a traveling acting troupe. Richard Burbage normally played the lead roles in the plays and soon became one of the most famous actors in Europe.

Globe Theatre: Lord Chamberlain’s Men built the Globe Theatre in 1599 The Globe was built in an “octagonal” shape with no roof in the middle.

Globe Theatre: Performances were held in the afternoon as there were no electric lights. Theatres would raise a flag to indicate that a play was to be performed that day: a black flag for a tragedy, a red flag for a history, and a white flag for a comedy.

Globe Theatre: Women were not allowed to perform on stage – it was considered “immoral” – so young boys played female roles. The Rose was another theatre in London and was in competition with Globe for patrons. The line from Romeo and Juliet – “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” was actually an insult directed at The Rose. It had a reputation for being very stinky as an area behind it was used as an open toilet.

Elizabethan Era: The Elizabethan Era is noted for it’s great advancements in the Arts. Some of today’s best known playwrights, poets, musicians, and artists came from this time period. However, it is also known for the filth and disgusting living conditions that later lead to the deaths of millions from The Plague.

Elizabethan Era: Many people wore wigs because the wig covered their dirty, greasy hair. Many people also developed mange, a condition when your hair falls out. If a child was out after dark, they were in danger of having their hair cut off to be made into a wig.

Elizabethan Era: Gloves were very fashionable and most “high society” people wore them. However, the reason people wore the gloves was to cover their hands which they used in the absence of toilet paper. It was considered a horrible insult and a challenge to a dual if someone were to slap you with their glove, because the inside of the glove would be covered in feces.

Elizabethan Era: People would only bathe once a year – normally in the late Spring (May or June). This is why the tradition of the “June” bride came about. Brides would want to be married while they were still clean. Brides also began carrying bunches of flowers in order mask some of their odor. This is where the tradition of bridal bouquets came from.

Elizabethan Era: Most families would share bathwater when they took their baths. The man of the house was given the honor of the first bath, followed by the older boys, then the women, and lastly the baby. By the time the baby took a bath, the water would be filthy and dark brown. The phrase, “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” comes from this era. In today’s society, it means that you should be careful not to throw out things that might later prove to be useful.

Elizabethan Era: The portraits of wealthy or royal people often show the person sitting with a small dog. The reason people carried these small dogs is because the dog would attract fleas. As long as the people would carry the dog, the fleas would jump off the person and onto the dog.

Elizabethan Era: Houses had thatched roofs – thick straw piled high with no wood underneath. It was a convenient place for small animals to get warm. However, it would become slippery when it got wet and the animals would fall through the roof. This is where the saying, “raining cats and dogs” comes from.

Elizabethan Era: Thatched roofs posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings would get into the beds. That’s why canopy beds were created.

Elizabethan Era: Most homes had dirt floors – only the wealthy had something other than dirt. This is where the saying “dirt poor” comes from.

Elizabethan Era: In the winter, people would spread thresh (the stems of straw and wheat) on the floor to help insulate the house. Some of the thresh would slip outside, so a piece of wood was placed in the entry to keep the thresh in – creating the “threshold”.

Elizabethan Era: People cooked their meals in a big kettle over a fire. Each day they would add more vegetables to the previous days stew. Some of the ingredients would end up in the pot for several days or weeks. This is where the nursery rhyme, “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old…” came from.

Elizabethan Era: The term “upper crust” gets its meaning from bread. The hard bottom of a loaf of bread was given to the servants. The middle of the bread was given to the children and women, and the top, flaky part of the bread was reserved for the master of the house and honored guests.

Elizabethan Era: Most meals consisted of vegetables and bread because meat was too expensive. When a family did obtain pork, they would hang their bacon in the window to show off to the neighbors – hence, “Bringing home the bacon”.

Elizabethan Era: Wealthy families (who could afford to buy meat) would often invite their neighbors over for supper and conversation. This is where the phrase “chewing the fat” came from.

Elizabethan Era: Lead was an inexpensive metal and dishes were often made of it; however, this caused lead to leach into many foods causing lead poisoning and sometimes death. It happened most often with tomatoes, so for about 400 years, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Elizabethan Era: Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock people out for days. Many people were uneducated and knew nothing about a pulse or heartbeat, so they would think these people were dead. To make sure that they really were dead, they would lay them out on the table for a couple of days to see if they would wake up – hence, the custom of holding a “wake”.

Elizabethan Era: Coffins were expensive and dead bodies were worth a lot of money, so grave robbers would often dig up graves. Due to this, it was discovered one out of 25 coffins had scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they started tying a string around the wrist of a corpse which lead to a bell above the ground. Someone would be hired to sit in the graveyard all night to listen for the bells – hence, the “graveyard” shift. If the dead person rang the bell, they were said to have been “saved by the bell”.

Elizabethan Era: Millions of people are believed to have died during this era from the Bubonic Plague. People who had the plague developed sores on their arms. They believed that if they put a ring of ash around the sores they would not spread. However, the sores would soon get worse and fill with puss – smelling horrible. Because nobody was sure how the plague was spread or where it came from, persons who died of the plague were thrown on burn piles

Elizabethan Era: The children’s rhyme “Ring Around the Rosy” is about the plague. Ring around the rosy – the ring of ash Pocket full of posies – flowers to cover the smell Ashes, ashes, we all fall down – when you fall down and die, they burn you up to ashes

Lewd? Lewd means sexually obscene or vulgar. Who do you think of when you hear the word - LEWD??

Lewd? Who do you think of when you hear the word - LEWD?? You should think of Shakespeare!

Lewd? In Romeo and Juliet, the nurse laughs as she tells Juliet, “Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit!” The nurse thinks this is funny because she is essentially telling Juliet that when she gets older, she will learn that she will gain more admiration from men if she “is on her back” more.

Lewd? In the play Othello, Shakespeare refers to the “beast with two backs”. He is talking about two people having sex.

Lewd? In the play Taming of the Shrew, Curtis yells at Grumio, “Away you three inch fool!” Curtis is actually insulting the size of Grumio’s penis in this line. Grumio replies to Curtis that it is at least as long as his foot!

William Shakespeare Shakespeare not only wrote the plays for his acting troupe, he also acted in them and directed them. Many of the lines in Shakespeare’s plays rhyme. This was not done to make the words sound better; it was done to make it easier for the actors to remember their lines. King James became such a fan of Shakespeare’s troupe that he began funding their plays. At this time, the group changed their name from Lord Chamberlain’s Men to The King’s Men.

William Shakespeare Shakespeare is credited with 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and at least 2 “epic” (long) poems. He died on April 23 rd, 1616 on his 52 nd birthday. He was buried in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

William Shakespeare In his will, Shakespeare left most of his property to his oldest child, Susanna; not to his wife. Many historians found it amusing that the only thing he left his wife was his “second-best bed”. However, the second best bed would have been their marriage bed. The best bed was always reserved for the guests.

William Shakespeare Shakespeare had a curse written on his tombstone threatening anyone who dared to move his body from it’s final resting place. It reads: Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here: Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.

William Shakespeare