Curated playlist
People of the Elizabethan era
- William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare called himself in "perfect health" in his will, then died within a month.
- John Hall (physician)Physician John Hall and his wife Susanna sued a man who accused her of adultery. Susanna was Shakespeare's daughter.
- Elizabeth IElizabeth I came to the throne as a declared bastard whose mother had been executed.
- Cuthbert BurbageCuthbert Burbage's crew dismantled London's Theatre by night and rebuilt it as the Globe.
- William Cecil, 1st Baron BurghleyWilliam Cecil signed a document barring Elizabeth from the throne, then served her as chief adviser.
- Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of LeicesterQueen Elizabeth I kept a letter from Robert Dudley until she died. She labeled it "his last letter" in her own hand.
- Mary, Queen of ScotsWhen Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded, her auburn hair turned out to be a wig. Underneath she had short grey hair.
- Christopher MarloweQueen Elizabeth's Privy Council once wrote to Cambridge to make sure Christopher Marlowe got his degree.
- Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of SalisburyDying Queen Elizabeth I scolded Robert Cecil for telling her she must go to bed. She called him "little man" in 1603.
- Henry Carey, 1st Baron HunsdonHenry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, was dying when Queen Elizabeth I offered to make him Earl of Wiltshire. He refused, and his reply carried a sting: "Madam, as you did not count me worthy of this honour in life, then I shall account myself…
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- William CamdenIn 2023, imaging revealed passages William Camden had covered up in his history of Elizabeth.
- Walter RaleighWalter Raleigh sent settlers to Roanoke Island but never set foot in North America.
- John Bull (composer)John Bull was an English composer, organist and organ builder, and George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, once summed him up in a single sentence. In 1613 Abbot said of him: "the man hath more music than honesty and is as famous for…
- Philip SidneyPhilip Sidney died at 31 from a thigh wound, leaving a romance that stops mid sword fight.
- John DeeJohn Dee, an English mathematician and astronomer, once sent a flying beetle soaring up to the palace of Jupiter. The stage was at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the play was Aristophanes's Peace. Dee built the effect from pulleys and…
- Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of OxfordEdward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was buried in an unmarked grave in 1604. Some still say he wrote Shakespeare's plays.
- Thomas HarriotThomas Harriot drew the Moon through a telescope four months before Galileo. He published almost none of it.
- Richard BurbageRichard Burbage first played Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, yet most people today have never heard his name.