Elizabethan England

Historian Jade Scott draws on hundreds of encrypted letters, including 57 recently unearthed letters in a French archive and decoded, to paint a vivid portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots in her new book, Captive Queen.

A letter to Elizabeth I from the earl of Leicester, who was organizing the defense of Britain against the Spanish Armada at the time, shows their playful relationship.

Immerse yourself in the magic of the Folger and the early modern world with our new game “A Night at the Library” paired with recipes for two conjuring cocktails to enhance playing.

Scenes of winter in the Folger collection, from snowy outdoor scenes to fashionable illustrations to mentions of winter in Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

Erika T. Lin studies early modern holidays and her work has yielded some surprising revelations—not only about the festivities themselves, but about the relationship between holidays and what we now think of as “theater.”

In this busy travel time, try out our “Travel and Shakespeare” quiz about journeys in his plays and in real life, too.

From rudeness to gross behavior, Ruth Goodman’s book “How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England” sheds some surprising light on what bad behavior really meant, including the reason that Shakespeare had Sampson threaten to “bite my thumb” at another character…

Q: I know about Queen Elizabeth I’s summer progresses, but how did ordinary people spend their summers in Shakespeare’s time? A: For most Elizabethans, summer presented little opportunity for a vacation from regular work routines. There were still farms to tend,…

Some people believe that the Renaissance image of “Merry England,” a land of festivity and mirth, was a myth created during the Stuart reign by people nostalgic for the good old days before the Puritans put the kibosh on fun. But scholar Ronald Hutton, who pored through records of church ales and other gatherings, finds more than a grain of truth in the idea.