That Shakespeare Life

In the decades that followed Shakepseare's death in 1616, England saw the arrival of events known as witch panics of Civil War–era Britain. It's easy to think that these witch panics and the heightened fear about witches was something that's post-Shakespeare, but the reality is that the the legal, religious, and cultural foundations were already being laid during Shakespeare's lifetime through developments such as the 1604 Witchcraft Act, King James I's ideas about demonic conspiracy, and growing fears surrounding prophecy, spirits, healing, and the Devil. 
Our guest today is Marion Gibson, an expert on witches and witchcraft in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the author of Witchland her latest book that explores the witch panics of Civil War–era Britain, revealing how war, religious extremism, local conflict, and earlier beliefs about witchcraft combined to turn suspicion into persecution. For today's episode, we will explore both the terrible events that followed Shakespeare's lifetime and the earlier beliefs, laws, and conflicts that set the stage for their arrival. 
From witchfinders and eyewitness testimony to neighborhood quarrels and sudden reversals of reputation, Marion will help us understand how the foundations of England's later witch panics were being built while Shakespeare was still alive—and how that history can deepen our understanding of the witches and accusations we encounter in his plays

Long before fashion magazines, personal style blogs, or carefully curated social media feeds, a 16th century German accountant named Matthäus Schwarz was documenting his wardrobe in extraordinary detail. 
Between 1520 and 1560, Schwarz commissioned artists to create more than 130 precise watercolor portraits of him on parchment, recording the clothing he wore at different stages of his life. The earliest images, painted by Narziss Renner, reconstructed Schwarz's appearance from infancy through his school years and apprenticeship. Over the next four decades, he continued adding portraits that captured changing fashions, important occasions, and the way he chose to present himself to the world. 
The resulting manuscript, known as the Klaidungsbüchlein, or Book of Clothes, has been described as the world's first fashion book—and, in many ways, the Vogue magazine of its time. 
Today, we are joined by Ulinka Rublack and Maria Hayward, co-editors of the first English translation of Schwarz's remarkable work, to explore what this collection reveals about clothing, identity, status, and self-fashioning in the sixteenth century.

As you will know from listening to THat Shakespeare Life, there's a ruch history behind every small object from the life of William Shakespeare Whether it's clocks, clothes, pencils, or tablets, we love using the objects of Shakespeare' world to get closer to the real lives of the people who lived tehre.  
WHich is why I was delighted to learn abotu Catherine Richardson's latest book titled Shakespeare's Objects where she sets out to explore 33 of these objects, all of which are mentioned in Shakespeare's plays. From beds and perfumes to handkerchiefs, clocks, lutes, torches, and spurs, the book follows these things through the world Shakespeare knew—asking who made them, who owned them, how they were used, where they came from, and what they can reveal about the people who encountered them. 
Today, we are delighted to have her here on the show to share some of what she uncovered while researching the material world behind Shakespeare's plays.

Immortalised as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Kronborg Castle is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. A real castle, and historical stronghold that sits in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Kronborg is as fascinating as it is beautiful. 
Our guest this week is Laura Kiel, the Operations Coordinator at Kronborg Castle, where she plays a key role in caring for the castle's remarkable collection — from grand paintings and heavy antique cabinets to exquisite historical costumes. During her 12 years at Kronborg, Laura has also become the castle's in-house Hamlet expert, having taken part in coordinating many productions of Hamlet staged within the iconic setting of Kronborg itself. 

Laura joins us today to take us inside Kronborg Castle to understand more about the history of the castle, why it was used in Shakespeare's play, and what was going on at Kronborg when Shakespeare staged his famous tragedy within it's gates.

Shakespeare's plays and poems are filled with birds—from familiar crows, swans, and sparrows to species that would have seemed rare, exotic, or unusual in Renaissance England. But these birds are more than decorative details. They carry symbolism, reflect the natural world Shakespeare knew, and reveal how people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries understood the animals around them.
In this episode, artist and researcher Missy Dunaway joins us to explore her Birds of Shakespeare project, which documents all sixty-five bird species referenced across Shakespeare's works. We'll discover how she identified each bird, the historical sources behind her paintings, the plants and symbolism included in her compositions, and some of the most surprising birds to appear in Shakespeare's writing.