Curated category
People of the Elizabethan era
- William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare signed his last will and testament on the 25th of March 1616, describing himself in it as being in "perfect health." Within a month he…
- John Hall (physician)John Hall was born at Carlton in Bedfordshire during the year 1575. He entered Queens' College, Cambridge in 1589 to begin his studies.
- Elizabeth IAt Tilbury in Essex on the 8th of August 1588, Elizabeth I rode before her militias wearing a silver breastplate over a white velvet dress.
- Cuthbert BurbageCuthbert Burbage entered the world on the 15th of June 1565 at St. Stephen Coleman Street near the London Guildhall. His parents were James Burbage and Ellen…
- William Cecil, 1st Baron BurghleyWilliam Cecil arrived in the world on the 13th of September 1520 within the quiet village of Bourne, Lincolnshire. His father Sir Richard Cecil owned the…
- Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of LeicesterRobert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was buried with a letter. Queen Elizabeth I had received it six days before his death on the 4th of September 1588, and…
- Mary, Queen of ScotsMary, Queen of Scots was six days old when she became queen. Her father, King James V of Scotland, died on the 14th of December 1542 before he ever truly…
- Christopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe was baptised on the 26th of February 1564 at St George's Church in Canterbury, just two months before William Shakespeare was baptised in…
- Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of SalisburyRobert Cecil stood barely five feet tall with a spine curved by scoliosis. Queen Elizabeth I called him my pygmy while King James I nicknamed him my little…
- Henry Carey, 1st Baron HunsdonHenry Carey entered the world on the 4th of March 1526 as the second child of William Carey and Mary Boleyn. His mother was the sister of Anne Boleyn, who…
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon dictated his last letter from a borrowed bed in Highgate, his fingers, he wrote, so disjointed with sickness that he could not steadily hold a…
- William CamdenWilliam Camden was born in London on the 2nd of May 1551, into a city that had barely begun to reckon with its own past.
- Walter RaleighWalter Raleigh spent the final morning of his life handling the axe that was about to kill him. "This is a sharp Medicine," he reportedly said, "but it is a…
- John Bull (composer)The year 1562 or 1563 marks the uncertain birth of John Bull, an English composer and organist whose origins remain a subject of historical debate.
- Philip SidneyPhilip Sidney died on the 17th of October 1586, at the age of 31, from a wound to the thigh he had received at the Battle of Zutphen.
- John DeeJohn Dee was born in the Tower Ward of London on the 13th of July 1527. His father Rowland Dee served as a mercer and courtier to Henry VIII.
- Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of OxfordEdward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was born on the 12th of April 1550 at Hedingham Castle in Essex, heir to the second-oldest earldom in England.
- Thomas HarriotThomas Harriot was born in 1560 within the city of Oxford. He entered St Mary Hall, a college at Oxford University, and his name appeared in the hall's…
- Richard BurbageRichard Burbage played Hamlet, Othello, Richard III, King Lear, and Macbeth, all in their first-ever performances, and yet most people today have never heard…