Without the actual body of Richard III whose shallow grave was long lost to history centuries ago, scholars have used texts, like Shakespeare, to try and find evidence for the truth about what actually happened to Richard III. For one team of archaeologists, however, it was not enough to leave the sinister Richard III lost to history with more questions than answers. So in 2012, in conjunction with the Richard III Society, a team of ambitious archaeologists led by Mathew Morris at the University of Leicester Archaeological Services working with the Leicester City Council mounted an extraordinary effort to locate the final resting place of Richard III, and discover the truth about his body, his death, and his grave. Remarkably, Mathew and his team did locate Richard III’s body, and on the very first day of their project. Mathew Morris joins us today to share about this historical find, the truth about Richard III’s twisted spine, and to explain why one of the most notorious Kings of England was doing buried beneath an English car park.

When William Shakespeare first began his career, we see evidence in his plays as well as life decisions that he was an ambitious man, almost constantly trying to secure connections with the right people in the right places to move his reputation upwards in society. One very key way we see Shakespeare intentionally seek out forward motion for his career is by his connection to Richard Field. Field is a printer who grew up in Stratford Upon Avon, likely going to the same school as William Shakespeare, and at the same time. The men both grew up to establish professional careers in London, and it seems William Shakespeare sought out Richard Field to publish Venus & Adonis as well as Rape of Lucrece which under Field’s direction, connections, and influence would go on to become the most popular poetry in all of Renaissance Europe.

Today our guest Adam Hooks, the foremost expert on Richard Field, and author of the book Selling Shakespeare: Biography, Bibliography, and the Book Trade, and he joins us to introduce us to Richard Field, John Harrison, and their bookshop, The White Greyhound in London that would form the foundation for William Shakespeare’s success as a poet. 

Adam G. Hooks is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Center for the Book at the University of Iowa. He us currently the editor for the Arden Shakespeare 4th series volume of "Poems."

When William Shakespeare first began his career, we see evidence in his plays as well as life decisions that he was an ambitious man, almost constantly trying to secure connections with the right people in the right places to move his reputation upwards in society. One very key way we see Shakespeare intentionally seek out forward motion for his career is by his connection to Richard Field. Field is a printer who grew up in Stratford Upon Avon, likely going to the same school as William Shakespeare, and at the same time. The men both grew up to establish professional careers in London, and it seems William Shakespeare sought out Richard Field to publish Venus & Adonis as well as Rape of Lucrece which under Field’s direction, connections, and influence would go on to become the most popular poetry in all of Renaissance Europe.

Today our guest Adam Hooks, the foremost expert on Richard Field, and author of the book Selling Shakespeare: Biography, Bibliography, and the Book Trade, and he joins us to introduce us to Richard Field, John Harrison, and their bookshop, The White Greyhound in London that would form the foundation for William Shakespeare’s success as a poet. 

Adam G. Hooks is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Center for the Book at the University of Iowa. He us currently the editor for the Arden Shakespeare 4th series volume of "Poems."

One of the most romantic moments from Shakespeare’s plays is when he writes Henry V stumbling his way through a French declaration of love and wedding proposal to Catherine of Valois in Shakespeare’s Henry V. It is gorgeous scene and one of my favorites, but it presents a few questions since England was strongly pro-England at this point in history, even leaning anti-French (having taken measures like banning the import of French playing cards at this time for example) so what was Shakespeare doing when he had one of England’s biggest heroes speaking French on stage? Where did Shakespeare learn French in the first place--and does he get the language right? Here to help us explore the use of French in Shakespeare’s plays, how the language fit into the life of William Shakespeare, as well as the French language history behind not only Henry V, but also the French that shows up in Hamlet as well, is our guest, Jennifer Nicholson.

One of the most romantic moments from Shakespeare’s plays is when he writes Henry V stumbling his way through a French declaration of love and wedding proposal to Catherine of Valois in Shakespeare’s Henry V. It is gorgeous scene and one of my favorites, but it presents a few questions since England was strongly pro-England at this point in history, even leaning anti-French (having taken measures like banning the import of French playing cards at this time for example) so what was Shakespeare doing when he had one of England’s biggest heroes speaking French on stage? Where did Shakespeare learn French in the first place--and does he get the language right? Here to help us explore the use of French in Shakespeare’s plays, how the language fit into the life of William Shakespeare, as well as the French language history behind not only Henry V, but also the French that shows up in Hamlet as well, is our guest, Jennifer Nicholson.

In Elizabethan England, there was a strong overlap in the use of drugs as medicine and using them for magic. Real physical diseases like epilepsy or psychological conditions like the pathological jealousy we see exhibited in Shakepseare’s Othello, are all conditions that were just beginning to be fully understood by the medical community of the 16th century. One of the primary drugs used to treat epilepsy and pathological jealously was a drug called mummy, which was extracted from the bodies of corpses. The dark and sinister nature of the drug’s origins, combined with the pervasive belief in the supernatural and conviction of superstition that saturated Elizabethan England society, it was perhaps the perfect choice for Shakespeare when he has the drug mummy be the substance that runs as a theme throughout his play, Othello. Here to help us explore the culture, medicine, and superstition behind the drug mummy and how it was used during Shakespeare’s lifetime is our guest, Stephen Rojcewicz. 

In Elizabethan England, there was a strong overlap in the use of drugs as medicine and using them for magic. Real physical diseases like epilepsy or psychological conditions like the pathological jealousy we see exhibited in Shakepseare’s Othello, are all conditions that were just beginning to be fully understood by the medical community of the 16th century. One of the primary drugs used to treat epilepsy and pathological jealously was a drug called mummy, which was extracted from the bodies of corpses. The dark and sinister nature of the drug’s origins, combined with the pervasive belief in the supernatural and conviction of superstition that saturated Elizabethan England society, it was perhaps the perfect choice for Shakespeare when he has the drug mummy be the substance that runs as a theme throughout his play, Othello. Here to help us explore the culture, medicine, and superstition behind the drug mummy and how it was used during Shakespeare’s lifetime is our guest, Stephen Rojcewicz. 

Underneath a housing redevelopment in Whitechapel, England, archaeologists have unearthed what is believed to be the remains of The Red Lion theater. The Red Lion predates Shakespeare’s Globe and is thought to be the earliest purpose built theater known to have been built in the city since Roman-times. Built by John Brayne in 1567, the Red Lion was a predecessor to Brayne’s next construction on The Theatre in Shoreditch which was owned by James Burbage and completed almost a decade later, in 1576.

The Red Lion represents the start of a new movement in London which would give foundation to the budding career of a young William Shakespeare, in that this was the first time in modern history anyone was trying to provide a permanent home for the popular Tudor playing companies who up to this point were housed at various houses, inns, and other venues as a strictly travelling troupe. To create purpose built theaters was a unique change in the early modern theater industry that invited patrons to come to the theater instead of the other way around.

Other than brief mentions in two lawsuits from the time period, there has not been much information to inform our understanding of this groundbreaking theater, until now. In January of 2019, a team of archaeologists with Archaeology South-East, part of University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, began excavations that revealed 144 timbers thought to make up the scaffolding of the Red Lion’s stage..

The director of the project, Stephen White, is here today to tell us about the dig, what they have found, and what we now know about the Red Lion based on their history discovery.

Underneath a housing redevelopment in Whitechapel, England, archaeologists have unearthed what is believed to be the remains of The Red Lion theater. The Red Lion predates Shakespeare’s Globe and is thought to be the earliest purpose built theater known to have been built in the city since Roman-times. Built by John Brayne in 1567, the Red Lion was a predecessor to Brayne’s next construction on The Theatre in Shoreditch which was owned by James Burbage and completed almost a decade later, in 1576.

The Red Lion represents the start of a new movement in London which would give foundation to the budding career of a young William Shakespeare, in that this was the first time in modern history anyone was trying to provide a permanent home for the popular Tudor playing companies who up to this point were housed at various houses, inns, and other venues as a strictly travelling troupe. To create purpose built theaters was a unique change in the early modern theater industry that invited patrons to come to the theater instead of the other way around.

Other than brief mentions in two lawsuits from the time period, there has not been much information to inform our understanding of this groundbreaking theater, until now. In January of 2019, a team of archaeologists with Archaeology South-East, part of University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, began excavations that revealed 144 timbers thought to make up the scaffolding of the Red Lion’s stage..

The director of the project, Stephen White, is here today to tell us about the dig, what they have found, and what we now know about the Red Lion based on their history discovery.

In the 16th century as Shakespeare was writing plays like Alls Well That Ends Well, Hamlet, and Julius Caesar, Shakespeare turned to classical philosophers like Cicero and Isocrates to find tales exploring not only what constituted decent, or proper behavior, but what happened to people when those invisible rules of decorum were altered or violated. We’ve long lauded Shakespeare for including the works of famous Latin and Greek poets in his stories, but as our guest this week, Scott Newstok, is here to share, Shakespeare was doing more than simply building on the stories he found from the past. The ideas of Cicero and Isocrates concerning what it meant to “fit” a word to the action or an action to the word was built into the fabric of who the early modern playwrights were as artists, as well as an accepted cultural perspective from the 16th century that believed people, ideas, words, and even their clothing ought to fit together properly. Intriguingly, many of these playwrights came came from craftsmen background with Shakespeare being born to a glover and Marlowe being born to a shoemaker, playwrights like Shakespeare and his contemporaries were applying to their craft what they knew to be true about art--that the details needed to fit the scene where they were being used. This approach was not only standard industry practice in the Renaissance theater, but the culture of the audience themselves would have considered taking care to make proper connections between character, actor, and outfit in performances to be what Scott Newstok calls “fitting” to the times.

Scott Newstok is the author of How to Think Like Shakespeare, and he joins us this week to explore his chapter of that book called “Of Fit” where he explores the historical and culture context of Shakespeare’s plays, including the idea that for Shakespeare, precision with words, actions, and even costumes, was as much a well established professional standard as it was creative genius.