Elizabethan

Droeshout Portrait. This engraving appeared as the First Folio frontispiece. (© Getty Images)

8 places that shaped the life of William Shakespeare

The Spanish Armada defeated in the English Channel in July 1588, by Hendrick Cornelis Vroom, c1600. (Picture by DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Spanish Armada

Sir Walter Ralegh (c1554–1618, shown here in a painting attributed to William Segar) is often remembered as a favourite of Elizabeth I and an adventurer, yet he was also one of the most influential political philosophers of his era. (Photo by Alamy)

Walter Ralegh: the traitor who inspired Cromwell

A portrait of Henry VIII with Prince Edward, his son by his third wife, Jane Seymour. If the future Henry IX had survived, there may have been no cause for Henry to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn in 1533, says Amy Licence. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 royal births that changed the world (or could have)

Diana, Princess Of Wales, Prince William And Prince Harry visit Thorpe Park amusement park. (Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

How to raise a royal… with Tracy Borman

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Elizabeth I podcast

Inside the mind of Elizabeth I . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Podcast Website large Jessie Childs

Catholics in Elizabethan England . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Elizabeth I, shown in a portrait commemorating victory over the Armada

My history hero: Elizabeth I (1533-1603) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

First built in 1576, the Globe theatre burnt to the ground in 1613. During a performance of the play now known as 'Henry VIII', a set of stage cannons were fired and a piece of flaming material from one of the cannons landed on the theatre’s thatched roof, causing the fire. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

5 facts about Shakespeare’s Globe theatre

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Portrait of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. (Photo by Ken Welsh/Design Pics/Corbis via Getty Images)

Princely pleasures at Kenilworth: Robert Dudley’s three-week marriage proposal to Elizabeth I . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard Burbage

Richard Burbage: the vanishing act of the star who outshone Shakespeare

Mount Stuart, a house built for built for John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute. (Photo by Mount Stuart)

8 of Britain’s best historical houses and gardens

A portrait of Elizabeth I, who, says Susan Doran, “confounded her Catholic enemies, imposed her will on the political scene, turned England into a strong Protestant state and presided over a glittering court culture”. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Elizabeth I: the great unifier

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Andrew Dickson on Shakespeare's greatest actor podcast

Shakespeare’s greatest actor . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

English actor Laurence Olivier as Richard III in a production of Shakespeare's play of the same name. (Photo by Felix Man/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Shakespeare’s best (or worst) villains