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 532 episodes available.

That Shakespeare Life episodes:

April 01, 2024 Robert Armin and Will Kemp, Fools of Shakespeare
All total, Shakespeare includes 21 Clowns and Fools in his works, that frequency wasn’tjust personal preference. It was, as you may have guessed, a reflection of actualhistory. The Fool dates all the way back to the Romansas an appointed member ofsociety whose job it was to entertain with honesty, mockery, and behavior that wouldhave been foolish for anyone else. Since it is April Fool’s Day today, that makes it theperfect time to explore the history of fools, which iswhy today, we’re meeting with TimFitzhigham, who is currently completing his PhD on Robert Armin, the man who is mostfamous for playing some of those Clowns and Fools you see in Shakespeare’s plays.Tim joins us today to help us unpack the history behindthe Fools of Shakespeare, thereal people who served as fools in the royal court for Shakespeare’s lifetime, the role ofRobert Armin had in developing the role of Shakespeare’s fools, and to share with uswhat we should know about the 16-17thcentury history of clowns, jesters, and foolswhen we see them in Shakespeare’s plays.
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52min
March 26, 2024 Bible Translations in Shakespeare's Lifetime
One the of the most significant influences on Shakespeare’s works is the Holy Bible. There are references to biblical characters and even specific Bible verses found throughout Shakespeare’s works. Of course the original Bible was not written in English, but famous translators of the Bible including John Wycliffe who created the first modern English translation of the Bible produced from the original Biblical languages. During Shakespeare’s lifetime, the Protestant Reformation fueled more Bible translations to be created, including Erasmus’s version, who wrote a New Testament in 1519, which was the source book for Protestant reformist Martin Luther when he translated the text into German in the mid-16th century. Subsequent editions of Erasmus’ text also provided source material for William Tyndale whose English translation of the Bible has been called the most influential single translation of the Bible ever made into English, an opinion backed up by the fact that King James’ version of the Bible, published in 1611, is over 90% copied straight from the Tyndale Bible. All together, there were at least 9 English Bible Translations completed in the early modern period, and of those, three were published during Shakespeare’s lifetime. Here today to take us back to the 16th century and explore the history of the Bibles being translated, and their significance, are experts in the history of Bible translations, Jacobus and Cynthia Naudé.
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1h 1min
March 18, 2024 What is Wattle and Daub, anyway?
For centuries, the construction method of wattle and daub has been used to contruct buildings.For Shakespeare’s lifetime, the Tudor style of house became famous for this form of construction because Tudor homes featured exposed beams held together in the wattle anddaub style. For the uninitiated, however,you may not know what constitutes a wattle or a daub, or how this method of construction was accomplished. Here today to answer these questionsand share with us not only how the process was completed for Shakespeare’s lifetime, but what methods modern preservationist use when recreating this method on conservation projects thattry to save old buildings from ruin is our guest, and expert in wattle and daub, DrTony Graham
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25min
March 11, 2024 Eye glasses, spectacles, and eyeware for Shakespeare's lifetime
Shakespeare uses the word “spectacles” 8 times across his works, and talks about glass eyes in King Lear. In A Winter’s Tale Leontes is talking with Camillo when he indicates Camillo should have seen something clearly because of the thickness of his eye glass. It makes sense to think that people in the 16-17th century would have suffered from near sighted ness or farsighted ness and other opthamlogic disorders, but what does the historical record show about how these sight related issues were dealt with in Shakespeare’s lifetime? Were there glasses that people wore on their face, and if so, who was making them, and out of what? To help us explore the history of eye glasses, spectacles, and the science of improving your vision forShakespeare’s lifetime, we are talking today with Dr. Neil Handley who is not only a historian of eye ware specifically, but serves as Curator of the British Optical Association Museum at theCollege of Optometrists in London.

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39min
March 04, 2024 The Battle of Lepanto, 1571
In 1571, William Shakespeare was only 7 years old, but the naval battle that occurred that year was pivotal forEngland, and indeed the Christian world, that continued to be celebrated and written about for centuries afterShakespeare. The Battle of Lepanto is the last naval battle fought exclusively with rowing vessels, known as galley warfare, and overall was a surprising naval victory for Catholics. Even James VI wrote poetry titledLepanto, that was in high demand as printed literature in England well into the start of the 17th century. Here today to discuss with us the geopolitics of the day and the Ottoman Empire that Shakespeare refers to as “the general enemy Ottoman” in 1603, is our guest and author of the book titled Battle of Lepanto, 1571, Nic Fields
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58min
February 26, 2024 The Real Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn Compared to All is True
Explore the real life of Henry VIII against some of the stories inside Shakespeare's play, All is True, with our guest, Kat Marchant.
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31min
February 19, 2024 16th Century Romance Fiction
Did you know there were romantic fiction publications in Shakespeare's lifetime? Of course they weren't romance novels, because the novel as a format was not invented, but the romance genre was a live and well. You may recognize chivalric romances, which include knights in shining armor, fighting dragons, overcoming giants, and other quest-worthy elements. In Shakespeare's lifetime, there were romantic tales as well, but as you might expect from the Renaissance era, 16-17th century romance stories had their own unique spin on things. Surprisingly, Shakespeare never uses the word itself, "romance," in his plays despite featuring a myriad of love stories. To help us sort out what "romance" meant for the 16th century, and exactly what we should know about the romance genre when it comes to prose fiction in Shakespeare's lifetime, is our guest, and expert in 16-17th century literature, Helen Hackett.
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42min
February 12, 2024 Declension of Pronouns with David Crystal
In the play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, as well as Hamlet and Richard III, the phrase “declension of pronouns” that comes up as a description of language. That’s not a phrase that I remember being taught in English class, and instead relates to Latin, the language of education for Shakespeare’s lifetime, and indeed across Europe. Here today to explain for us exactly what a “declension” might be, how to use them, and what it helps to understand about things like nouns, pronouns, and spelling for 16th century English when you explore Shakespeare’s plays, is our friend, and returning guest here to That Shakespeare Life, Professor David Crystal
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28min
February 05, 2024 The Life of Mary Frith, known as Moll Cutpurse
One of the most famous criminals of Shakespeare’s lifetime was Mary Frith, known as MollCutpurse. Her character is featured in several plays contemporary to Shakespeare, and itseems her real life persona was even more flamboyant than those represented onstage. MollCutpurse was a notorious pickpocket who made a name for herself in early modern England asa thief and an entertainer, who stood out from the crowd because she liked to dress, and act,like a man. Challenging cultural norms was Moll’s bread and butter. She wore men’s clothing,smoked a pipe, and operated as both a thief and a pimp, being hired to find lovers for men andwomen among London’s middle class. Here today to share with us the colorful real life history ofa woman whose shock value continues to impress those that learn about her, is historian andauthor ofMary Frith, Moll Cutpurse and the Development of an Early Modern Criminal CelebrityFor the Journal of Early Modern Studies, Lauren Liebe.
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28min
January 29, 2024 16th Century Plague, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Microbiology
Plague is the horrible sickness that reoccurs throughout the life of William Shakespeare, and many listeners will know that plague is to blame for several closings of playhouses around London throughout the 16-17th century. However, what does that word mean, precisely? What symptoms did people have when afflicted with plague, and how was it transmitted from person to person? The play Romeo and Juliet offers some evidence of plague responses when we see the messenger detained by confinement in a plague house, but our guest this week shares that there were some much more surprising—and dangerous--- remedies utilized in cities like London, including canon fire, to try and prevent spread of plague. To better understand what plague is, how it was treated in the 16-17th century, what the medical community understood (and didn’t) about microorganisms, and why in the world shooting off canons in the city was considered an essential part of plague prevention, we have invited our guest, and author of “Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe” for Cambridge University Press, Dr. Mary Lindemann to the show today, to answer these questions.
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47min

FAQs about That Shakespeare Life:

How many episodes does That Shakespeare Life have?

The podcast currently has 532 episodes available.

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