Near the south bank of the River Thames, Renaissance Londoners came upon a crossroads that offered the choice of an arena where they could watch bearbaiting, or the Globe theater, where they could see a play by a writer who was — and, 400 years later, is still, arguably — the greatest writer who ever lived.
The fact that Shakespeare withstood the test of time and that bearbaiting is a barbaric relic of a bygone age shows that mankind approached that London crossroads and, over time, took the high road.
In many ways, that arena was not far from the Roman Coliseum of 1,500 years before.
The people of London, like Romans, enjoyed blood sport, where prohibitive odds and fixed results ensured a spectacle of pain.
At the Globe, William Shakespeare gave birth to a new kind of literature. He dramatically showed his audiences things in ways they had never seen before. Not only did his characters love, hate, seek revenge, plot against their enemies — that too was done in Rome — but they did so in prose that stimulated the hearts and minds of all humankind.
He was the master of the well-turned phrase. His observations and witticisms are still quoted, even by people who do not realize they are his. He was equally comfortable with comedy and drama.
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Want to know the human heart? Read Shakespeare. Better yet, see his plays.
Nearly 400 years after his passing, he has no equal. He has come to represent the Elizabethan age as well as the queen herself. He is better known than all his contemporaries. His was a life spent at a crossroads of history, and our lives are better for it.
King Philip, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake all crossed the stage with bravery and bluster, then departed. Shakespeare remains there, through the peaceful strength of his immeasurable genius.
Shakespeare's age was a fascinating and important time for the world as it struggled against oppression and ignorance, and even though mankind had far to go, it was on the right road.
Plotting against the crown
Elizabeth's reign was marred by intrigue after intrigue aimed at her gender, her religion and her right to the crown. Being born daughter of the Henry VIII-Anne Boleyn mess did not help, and the Reformation kindled religious fires that lapped about the royal throne.
In 1571, an Italian banker plotted with the Spanish ambassador for 6,000 Spanish troops to invade England (with the consent of Spain's Philip II and the pope). English authorities discovered the plot and executed the Duke of Norfolk. Many in Parliament thought Elizabeth's cousin, Mary Stuart Queen of Scots, to be in the thick of it and cried out for Mary's head. Elizabeth balked.
The Queen's men anxiously looked for further evidence of treason against Mary and got their break in 1586. Catholic Jesuits conspired to assassinate Elizabeth and place Mary on the throne. Authorities claimed Mary consented to Elizabeth's murder, and that led Mary to the chopping block in 1857.
After Elizabeth's death in 1603, Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became James I of England and inherited Elizabeth's conspiracy troubles.
The most famous was the Gunpowder plot of 1605. The idea was worthy of the 20th Century: conspirators rented a house next door to Parliament, dug a tunnel into the cellar below the House of Lords and placed barrels of gunpowder directly beneath the chambers where James I was set to open Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605.
One of the conspirators warned his brother-in-law, a member of the House of Lords, that it would be a bad idea to go to work that day. That lord reported the soft-hearted conspirator, and a search of the violated rooms turned up the gunpowder and its nursemaid, Guy Fawkes.
Under prolonged torture, Fawkes named 12 co-conspirators. Three, including a nobleman, were killed resisting arrest, and six more, including Fawkes, were drawn and quartered.
The plague
During Shakespeare's time at the Globe, the theater was closed twice as part of an attempt to deal with widespread outbreaks of plague.
Until recently, modern researchers were puzzled by the unexplained death rates of the medieval plagues: some victims fell within a few days of contracting the disease while others hung on for days or weeks. The latest opinion: the plague, including the devastating 'black plague' of the 1400s was actually a combination of bubonic plague and anthrax.
Bubonic plague, thought contemporary doctors, was the result of bad air or the accumulation of dead bodies. Actually, the disease was caused by bacteria transmitted by the fleas carried into populated areas by rats and other vermin.
Anthrax easily found its way into the human population because of the proximity of cattle herds and the eating of tainted meat.
The well-known midieval outbreak of the plague killed one third of Europe's population, about 20 million people.
The ups and downs of Sir Walter Raleigh
One of the identifying characteristics of Shakespearean times was the expanded exploration and eventual settling of the New World.
Walter Raleigh, one of Queen Elizabeth's favorites, was given a charter to form a colony in Virginia, and 117 men, women and children left England May 8, 1857, for the New World. The colony was to be on Chesapeake Bay but found itself on an island off the coast of what is now North Carolina. Supply became an immediate problem for the new colony under Gov. John White as well as internal strife, trouble with the native population and political intrigue in Britain.
In dire straits, the colony persuaded White to return to England for relief, but White was unable to return to America until 1590. He found the colony abandoned and the colonists missing.
Britain's first successful go at a permanent colony in the New World would have to wait until the settling of Jamestown, Va., in 1607.
As for Raleigh, Sir Walter had as much trouble as his doomed colony. He fell in love with one of Elizabth's ladies-in-waiting, Elizabeth Throckmorton, and she bore him a son in 1592, which angered the Queen royally. Sir Walter was thrown in the Tower of London but later released to continue sailing against Spanish treasure.
After the Queen's death in 1603, Raleigh's enemies convinced King James that Raleigh was a traitor. He was convicted and returned to the Tower until 1616.
King James gave Raleigh permission for a gold-seeking expedition with the condition that there would be no trouble with the Spanish. But there was, and when Raleigh returned to England he was re-arrested under pressure from Spain and executed on October 29, 1618.
The Spanish armada meets a watery fate
Philip II of Spain had had just about enough of the English.
British privateers, such as Francis Drake, were a giant pain in Spanish assets as they raided Spain's shipping lanes and colonies.
After once rejecting the idea, Philip approved the creation of a 130-ship armada to transport Spanish troops to remove Elizabeth and restore a Catholic monarchy in England.
Although the English knew the invasion was on its way, the British fleet was surprised by the armada in the English Channel July 29, 1588. But the English gained the advantage with favorable winds and more maneuverable ships. With long-range rapid-firing, the English outfought the Spanish in a series of skirmishes, until fire ships dispersed the armada on Aug. 7 and pummeled them the next day in a pitched battle.
Winds forced the Spanish into a disastrous voyage around the British Isles. Before the armada got back to Spain, about 40 ships had been destroyed.
The victory solidified Elizabeth's reign in Europe and the New World, and made England a growing world power while making Spain vulnerable.
SOURCES:
A READER'S GUIDE TO SHAKESPEARE
BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH
THE LIVES OF THE KINGS & QUEENS OF ENGLAND
ARMADA
THE KINGS & QUEENS OF ENGLAND & SCOTLAND
IN THE WAKE OF THE PLAGUE
THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
ROANOKE
ELIZABETHAN WORLD
SHAKESPEARE, THE INVENTION OF THE HUMAN
MILLENNIUM YEAR BY YEAR
THE 100