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Elizabethan

Photo of Holy Trinity Church

Q&AWhere is William Shakespeare buried – and is there a curse on his grave?

A 16th-century portrait of Bess of Hardwick. Bess's talent, ambition and eye for a well-connected husband elevated her to dizzying levels of wealth and power in Tudor England. (Photo by Bridgeman Art Library)

Bess of Hardwick: schemer, social climber, scourge of Elizabeth I

Wales' fans celebrate victory at the 1957 Five Nations Tournament, France vs Wales, holding the Welsh symbol, the leek. (Photo by Universal/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Q&AWhy is the leek associated with Wales?

Shakespearean deaths: swordfights, snakebites & poison. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lettice Knollys

A Tudor love triangle: Elizabeth I, Lettice Knollys and Robert Dudley

Mary Stuart, shown here in a painting after Nicholas Hilliard, might have been a good queen, says Kate Williams, but the odds were stacked against her. (Image by Superstock)

Who betrayed Mary, Queen Of Scots?

Portrait showing Mary, Queen of Scots with her hand on her hip

Mary, Queen of Scots: your guide to her life and times

The Spanish Armada which threatened England in July 1588. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Turning points1588: The Spanish Armada. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

HistoryExtra Masterclass: Tudor Royal Women with Tracy Borman

Tudor Royal Women with Tracy BormanThe Private Life of Elizabeth I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How Shakespeare inspired terrorists. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Engraving showing flying fish leaping over a Spanish trade ship

Winds of change: how the discovery of trade winds powered Europe's empires

A woodcut showing the interior of a kitchen in Elizabethan England. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Hold your noses: the smells, sounds and sights of Elizabethan England

Portrait of John Dee

John Dee: Elizabethan 007, scientist, magician and spy

A portrait of Princess Elizabeth

The birth of Elizabeth I: everything you need to know

The Spanish Armada: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mary, Queen of Scots during her trial at Fotheringhay Castle – where she was also executed for her alleged role in the Babington Plot (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

What if...The Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I had succeeded?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portraits, power and royal wigs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

From left to right: Queen Isabella of Castile; French regent Anne de Beaujeu; and Catherine of Aragon. (Photos by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/DeAgostini/Imagno/Getty Images)

Game of Queens: when women ruled Renaissance Europe

Pregnant woman before giving birth in the 13th century

16 things you (probably) didn't know about the rituals behind royal births, from the medieval era to the present day

Elizabeth I

QuizHow much do you know about Tudor Queen Elizabeth I?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Play Reading

Anne Hathaway, Hamnet and Judith: who were William Shakespeare's family?

Blackface: a brief history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant holding the skull of Yorik

The wisdom of Shakespeare: 5 famous quotes explained

A portrait of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare: a guide to the life of England's greatest playwright

The Elizabethans: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

‘Inkhorn’ was the term for an inkwell made out of a small horn and became a nickname for the new words being created by playwrights and poets, such as William Shakespeare. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

The evolution of the English language

Rushton Triangular Lodge was ostensibly a warrener's lodge but the biblical references that adorn its three exterior walls tell a different story. (Photo English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History explorer: Catholic resistance to Elizabeth I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The colonial secrets of Britain’s stately homes

Shakespeare: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of an African man, c1530 . (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The missing Tudors: black people in 16th-century England