That Shakespeare Life

By Cassidy Cash

Hosted by Cassidy Cash, That Shakespeare Life takes you behind the curtain and into the real life of William Shakespeare.

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How many episodes does That Shakespeare Life have?

The podcast currently has 541 episodes available.

That Shakespeare Life episodes:

December 30, 2024 Ice Skating and Winter Sports
When the weather was cold in England, it could get frigidly cold, even causing the rivers and lakes to freeze over. In Elizabethan England, you may be surprised to learn that ice sports, such as skating, even hockey, were practiced on the ice in wintertime. To share with us the history of these sports, the archaeological record that survives to demonstrate that history, as well as what we know about ice skating and physical skates that were used to accomplish these activities, is our guest and historian, Tomas Masar.
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22min
December 23, 2024 Wassail, Wassailing, and the 16th Songs to Sing
A drink, as much as it was songs and a group activity, wassail has been a traditional part of the Christmas season in England, and particularly a favorite of Twelfth Night celebrations, for centuries, including before and during the life of William Shakespeare. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth talks about wine and wassail going together to muddle up the brain, Falstaff mentions a wassail candle in Henry IV Part II, and three other references in Shakespeare’s plays refer to wassail as something that happened at night and existed somewhere between a greeting and something that could lead to trouble. Here today to share with us the songs from Shakespeare’s lifetime that were considered wassail songs, as well as to help us unravel the complicated history of what it meant to go wassailing from the house and how that’s related to Christmas and even apple trees, is our guest and musical historian, Debi Simons.

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37min
December 16, 2024 Veterinarian Medicine, Farriers, and Marshalcy
Shakespeare’s plays mention horses over 300 times across his works, reflecting the huge place in the every day lives of people that this animal occupied. For something that was so essential for travel and for work, it makes sense that a horse owner would want to make sure their horse received the best of care. The art of horse doctoring in the 16th century generally fell under the purview of the blacksmith, who was responsible for the horse shoeing. The word for practicing medicine on animals for the medieval period was known as “marshalcy” in English, and it comes from the word “menescalia” in Catalan. Today, they are best known as farriers. Our guest this week, Carmel Ferragud, is an expert in the history of veterinarian medicine and specifically the history of Marshalcy. Today he joins us to discuss the activities of the 16th century farrier, what kind of medical care was available for animals in the 16-17th century, and exactly what veterinarian medicine would have been like for Shakespeare’s lifetime.
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55min
December 09, 2024 Mead, Metheglin, Hydromel, and Other Fermented Drinks
Mead has been made since ancient times and is the poster drink for historical gatherings, often being carried around in a large mug. You may know that this beverage is alcoholic, but you may be surprised to learn how it is different from other alcoholic drinks, particularly in the 16th century. If you look up mead today, it’s known as a honey wine and can be mixed with a variety of herbs and spices, and as the recipes describe it, mead starts to sound more like a beer than a wine, and since wine is made from grapes, not honey, you may confused about what makes a “honey wine” like mead. To learn more about what defines this classic historic brew, and how that’s different from other varieties of distilled or fermented beverages, as well as to walk through the history of how to make mead, we are delighted to welcome our guest, Laura Angotti.
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55min
December 02, 2024 Migraines, Symptoms, and Treatments for 16-17thC
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the nurse complains of a headache saying “Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.” In 1582, Bartholomew the Englishman’s 13th century text was reprinted in London, describing a condition called “emigraina” that Bartholomew defined as “similar to hammers beating in the head.” Whether it was called emigraina, head aches, or megrym, as some contemporary accounts have called it, it is plain that migraines were a common problem for Shakespeare’s England, with proposed solutions ranging from mild tonics and elixirs, all the way to dangerous blood letting and even brain surgery. Here this week to help us understand the history of migraines, their diagnosis, and their treatment, for the 16-17th century is our guest and author of the chapter titled “History of migraine” in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Dr. Peter Koehler.

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32min
November 25, 2024 Samoset, his Life, and His Legacy
Samoset is a name spoken with respect around American dinner tables every November as we celebrate Thanksgiving, when Samoset is remembered with gratitude, for being willing to bridge the language gap for the English colonists who had just arrived at Plymouth. While Samoset’s visit to the colonists happened 5 years after Shakespeare’s death, the rest of Samoset’s life is actually contemporary with Shakespeare, spanning from the 1590s through the mid 1600s, which is why Samoset is our topic for our Thanksgiving episode this year, so we can get to know more of the backstory of this man whose contact with the Pilgrims you may remember, but whose life story may be new for you, as it was for me. Here today to share the life of Samoset and what led up to him making contact with the Pilgrims at Plymouth in the 1620s is our guest, and author of the book titled “Here First, Samoset and the Wawenock of Pemaquid, Maine” Jody Bacheldor
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48min
November 18, 2024 Doors, How They Were Built, and Designed
Shakespeare has all kinds of references to doors in his works, at least 195 instances of the actual word “door” in fact, and for many of us, we probably gloss over the word ‘Door” thinking we understand what he’s talking about. However, architectural history tells us that doors were actually quite different for Shakespeare’s lifetime than what we have today from how they were made, to how they were constructed, and even how they were locked. Our guest this week, James Campbell is an expert in architectural history and joins us today to help us understand more about what doors were like in the 16-17th century including what kind Shakespeare might have had on his house.

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42min
November 11, 2024 Gamut, a Musical Scale for the 16th Century
All 4 of Shakespeare’s references to the word “gamut” show up in his play Taming of the Shrew where the characters talk about learning, and teaching, the “gamut.” If you’ve ever heard the expression “run the gamut” or “cover the gamut” these expressions are based on an 11th century understanding of the word “gamut” developed by the musician and monk named Guido d'Arezzo, who used the term to described a whole range of notes. While there was no national standard of education in England for Shakespeare’s lifetime, knowing about music, how to play, and scales like that of D’Arezzo, were considered a sign of nobility, which is the cultural perspective Shakespeare utilizes when he puts a gamut in his play. Here today to share with us the history of the gamut, the 16th century musicians contemporary with Shakespeare that might have influenced the musical scenes of this play, as well as what exactly is meant by the phrase “run the gamut” is our guest and professor at the O’Neill Hall of Music at the University of Notre Dame, Alexander Blachly.
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30min
November 04, 2024 The Gunpowder Plot
Tomorrow night, November 5, is when many in England will celebrate an occasion known as Bonfire Night. They celebrate this day to mark the moment King James I was saved from the Gunpowder Plot (along with many in his government) when Guy Fawkes was thwarted in his attempt to blow up England’s Parliament using gunpowder hidden beneath the building during an official government meeting. The event was a terrorist attack of the 17th century, to put the plot in contemporary terms, and the aftermath in England impacted William Shakespeare personally. Newly minted as the King’s Men in 1603, the gunpowder plot is taking place just two years later, in 1605. Just one month after the Gunpowder Plot in December of 1605, Shakespeare writes King Lear, which contains many nods to the state of James’ government, but the real play most connected to The Gunpowder Plot has to be Macbeth, which I argue was the play whose performance would silence all doubt about William Shakespeare’s involvement, or suspected treasonous connections, in the aftermath of The Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Here today to walk us through the history of this event, and help us understand how the Gunpowder Plot connected to Shakespeare, is our guest, James Travers.
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44min
October 28, 2024 Witch Trials During Shakespeare’s Lifetime
Shakespeare made the three witch sisters famous in his play, Macbeth, by showcasing their manupulative power, encantations, and their famous pot of double double toil and trouble. While this version of witches makes for a fun spoof at Halloween parties today, when Shakespeare was originally bringing these sisters to life on stage, witches were not only considered real beings, but were thought to be clandestine actors, hiding their real identity behind normal appearances so as to be better position themselves to inflict harm on others. Everything from natural disasters to household accidents could be blamed on this kind of magic, and seemingly innocuous actions like speaking sharp words, having the wrong birthmark, or sometimes just owning the wrong kind of house pet, could all land people, and women in particular, in a fight for their lives at a witch trial where they were often hopelessly charged with proving their innocence against charges of witchcraft. Many of these individuals stories have been lost to history, or relegated to a list of names on an accusation list, but our guest this week seeks to bring the real life stories of actual women who were tried as witches to the fore with her latest book titled Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials that takes a look at 13 specific witch trials from the 16-18th centuries. Here today to help us understand the history of how someone would find themselves accused of witchcraft, what was involved in the process of an official witch trial, and the real events blamed on witchcraft that had a powerful influence on King James I of England, who wrote his publication titled “Daemonology” just a couple of years before Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, is expert in the history of witches, and return guest to our show, Dr. Marion Gibson.
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34min

FAQs about That Shakespeare Life:

How many episodes does That Shakespeare Life have?

The podcast currently has 541 episodes available.

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