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1583

It's a girl!

William and Anne's first child, Susanna, is born
exterior of The Tower of LondonThe Somerville Plot and the end of Arden

In the heightened paranoia of 1583, even a careless word uttered within earshot of a State employee could have dire consequences...
hanged, drawn and quartered engravingExecution - Elizabethan style

Execution was a popular spectator sport in Elizabethan England, and as such, became an effective tool of the police state in maintaining loyalty and obedience to the crown...
Madonna and child statueA purge in Warwickshire

In the extremely tense atmosphere surrounding the so-called Somerville Plot, the State sends agents swarming across Warwickshire...
wheat field landscapeThe lost years

It is in 1583 that William effectively falls off our radar....

1584

Raleigh's New World

Potatos first imported to Europe
Raleigh discovers and annexes Virginia
Phra Narai creates independent Siam
Sir Thomas Lucy's bustSir Thomas Lucy investigates

Sir Thomas Lucy leads raid after raid against Catholic families in the Stratford area...
Charlecote Park deerThe poaching myth

Though the tale is widely discredited today, three seventeenth-century accounts claim that Shakespeare was once beaten and imprisoned for poaching...

1585

Shakespeare twins

Antwerp sacked by Spaniards
Raleigh begins to colonize Virginia
William's twins Hamnet and Judith born

1586

Trials and war

Trial of Mary Queen of Scots
War between the three Henrys of France
Raleigh abandons colonization of Virginia
Stratford CouncilJohn Shakespeare loses his position as an Alderman

John's slide off the public platform continues this year when he is voted off Stratford council for non-attendance at meetings...
conspirators seen through a windowThe Babington plot

Mary Queen of Scots has become a real psychological thorn in Elizabeth's side...

Index

a baptism at Holy Trinity Church1564-1571

Stratford Council1572-1578

interior of Baddesley Clinton, circa 19001579-1582

exterior of The Tower of London1583-1586

The Globe Theatre, London1587-1593

Julian Glover and Adrian Schiller in King Lear1594-1597

rebuilding of The Globe Theatre, London1598-1601

Richard II, close up of crown1602-1607

quills on a desk1608-1613

grave stone1614-1616

In your state
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