That Shakespeare Life

"Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the sixteenth-century English  countryside. Sounds of ploughs rattle in distant fields, and the delightful  squeals of children at play fill the air. It is quiet, you think, quieter than you are used to, but loud and lively all the same. The air is pure, and it smells sweet with the natural floral fragrances of honeysuckle and apple blossom and lavender. There are no motors here, no planes in the sky, no pylons or wind turbines or television aerials. There is no suffocating smog, air or light pollution. There is little to obscure your view of wild, undulating fields, which, to your surprise, are sparsely inhabited by houses and instead occupied by droves of grazing cattle and sheep. In the distance you hear a horse neigh, and a washerwoman hum as she pegs out her laundry. The smell of woodfire fills the air, delicious aromas of crisping meats and yeasty dough, fresh, juicy fruits and the comforting, creamy smell of curds and whey. Soon will be the call for dinner, and hordes of tired labourers will return home to settle for the evening. Then will come nightfall, and the sounding of curfew bells. It is darker than you expected; much darker. There is no electricity here, and you are unaccustomed to the thin glow of candles as your only form of light. Soon these candles will stop burning, for the night has arrived, and the day has ended. Welcome to the sixteenth century. Welcome to the Tudor home."
These are the opening lines of Bethan Watt's latest book titled Inside the Tudor Home, and we are delighted to have Bethan visit with us today to give us a tour of what it was like to live in an average home for Shakespeare's lifetime.

Hamlet wagers 6 Barbary horses against 6 French swords. Falstaff talks about fighting with a Barbary hen. Bassanio in Merchant of Venice talks about travelling merchants going to foreign lands including "Tripolis, Mexico and England, Lisbon, Barbary, and India" There are also an additional 5 references to Barbary horses.  
The Barbary States were Algeria, Tunisia, Tripolis, and Morroco. These were powerful coastal societies tied in various ways to the Ottoman world, and in Shakespeare's day they were central to English fears about piracy and captivity. Ships were seized. Sailors were enslaved. Families, merchants, churches, and governments negotiated over the price of a human life. 
English first hand accounts of the Muslim world and the Barbary States in particular were sparse, even non-existent prior to Richard Knolles publication in 1603 where he writes the History of the Turks, the same year Shakespeare publishes his Ottoman-heavy play with a Moor in the title role, Othello.  
Today we are joined by Daniel Vitkus, editor of Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England, and Abdulhamit Arvas, Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and expert on early modern Muslims, Barbary pirates, and Shakespeare. They are here to help us explore the place of the Barbary Coast in Shakespeare's England, to understand the culture of hostages and holding someone ransom, what was happening to Britons that were taken captive and sold into slavery by the Barbary pirates, as well as to explain the surprising dichotomy of being afraid of the Barbary nation while admiring their products, like horses.

In Stratford Upon Avon, where William Shakespeare was born, there is a house that was built in 1530, while King Henry VIII was ruling England. This house was there when Shakespeare was living in the town, and the owners have direct connections to Shakespeare himself. Today, the house is known as Wisson House and the thoughtfully preserved historical property has been updated with modern amenities and is offered as a holiday property for anyone visiting the area, or that loves Shakespeare. Of course, when I heard about the property, I wanted to share the history with you. Which is why, today, we are delighted to welcome Amanda Billingsley, the owner of Wisson House, to the show to share the backstory of this property and what it was doing when Shakespeare was alive.

Elaborate theatrical performances in Shakespeare's lifetime presented before the reigning monarch were known as court masques. 
These intricate and complex stories were presented in grand fashion, sparing no expense on costumes, props, and special effects. The most famous masque has to be that of Robert Dudley who hired actual performers from the Comedia del Arte in Italy to perform amazing feats of light, sound, and performance in an effort to propose marriage to the Queen of England. 
While it makes sense that Dudley would go out of his way to be over the top in his endeavors, the other masques taking place in Shakespeare's lifetime were no less sensational. 
From Ben Jonson to Inigo Jones and the decorated halls of Whitehall Palace, masques of any stripe were the creme del creme of performances. For this reason, their costumes were not only breathlessly expensive, but they often pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable to wear in public, and included fabric, accessories, design, and presentation that showcased art and story as primary. In many ways, court masque costume and clothing were the high fashion world of Shakespeare's England. 
This week, our guest, Sarah Jane Downing, fashion historian and author of Fashion in Shakespeare's England, takes us back to the 16-17th century court masques under Elizabeth I and James I to take an up close look at the outfits, the scandals, and the expensive price tag that went along with costuming the most opulent nights of entertainment in all of early modern England.

In Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck has a line that says "And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen..." In Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio uses this term again saying, "What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty..." In a similar description again from Midsummer, Lysander says "Fair Helena, who more engilds the night Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light."

If you're not familiar with Engilding the night, that's a word that means "to make bright…often referring to a golden light." It's been around since the 15th century, but what all of these references have in common is they are talking about making something shiny, and in Shakespeare's England the best way to make something look like it glittered was to attach what's called a "spangle" or an "Oe" spelled "oe." Essentially, these were early modern sequins.
Some surviving examples of 17th century spangles were discovered in Jamestown, Virginia, and are housed inside the collections at Jamestown Rediscovery, which jointly manages Historic Jamestowne alongside the National Park Service. One of the curators involved in that project, Janene Johnston, is here with us today to explain how spangles worked, the history of the ones they found in Virginia, and what the surviving artifacts reveal about how spangles were used in Shakespeare's lifetime.