Shakespeare’s enactment on stage of the witches plotting mischief would have intensified familiar fears of the harm witches could perform in daily life. Elizabethan Era Events Timeline. Illustration of a witch feeding her animal familiars in a pamphlet describing the case of Elizabeth Stile. Thus, he safeguarded the Elizabethan empire. Given cultural anxieties about the threat marginalised people posed to the community, and the willingness of the courts to accept such implausible evidence to prove witchcraft, it is tragic but not surprising that so many of the accused were found guilty. The text in this article is available under the Creative Commons License. In Act 1, Scene 3, the first witch tells her sisters that once when she saw a woman eating chestnuts she demanded some: ‘Give me!’ (1.3.4), but the woman called her ‘witch’ and ordered her away. A year earlier came the end of the 45 year long Elizabethan era and began the Jacobean era under the rule of King James. There were various ghost stories related with the Elizabethan era as well. Angeln was the home of one tribe, and the name still clings to the spot whence some of our forefathers sailed on their momentous voyage. The first statute against it was passed in 1542, but this was repealed in 1547; a more severe one was passed in 1563, early in Elizabeth’s reign; and the harshest of all was passed in 1604, soon after James VI of Scotland became James I of England. Unlike the witches of Macbeth, the women accused of witchcraft in Shakespeare’s England could not actually prophesy, disappear into thin air or summon spirits. Yet another way to prove someone was a witch was to extract confessions; in fear of their lives and sometimes under torture, there are cases of accused witches who delivered false confessions and also named others as witches. In 1562, the honourable queen passed the Witchcraft law for hunting and prosecution of witches. While king of Scotland, James VI became utterly convinced about the reality of witchcraft and its great danger to him, leading to trials that began in 1591. Jacobean Audience. The Relationship Between Macbeth and the Witches Although most modern readers would agree that Duncan's murder is a direct result of Macbeth's ambition coupled with the pressure placed on him by Lady Macbeth, Jacobean audiences would have had a much different view, placing blame squarely on the powers of darkness. While Elizabeth was on progress in East Anglia, three wax images, each about 12 inches high, were found in a dung heap in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Your views could help shape our site for the future. Her most recent book is the edited collection, Scholars and Poets Talk about Queens. In 1587, Sir Francis Drake raided and devastated the Spanish Armada at Cadiz. Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. After great pressure, Alice Samuels confessed, but her daughter Agnes convinced her to deny the confession, and the girls then claimed Agnes was a far worse witch than her mother. She has also published Dreaming the English Renaissance and [co-authored with John Watkins] Shakespeare’s Foreign Worlds. The Throckmorton girls were young and their accusations were preposterous and naïve, but they were still seen as victims. In the middle a cauldron boiling. This marked the initiation of the more than two hundred years rule of English people over India. In 1570-71, an Italian conspirator (Roberto di Ridolfi) plotted against Elizabethan 1 to execute her and put Mary queen of Scots on throne but the plan was made unsuccessful by Elizabeth 1’s men. It was assumed that whoever made the images intended them to melt in the warmth of the dung heap, leading to great pain, distress and eventually the death of those the wax effigies, or 'poppets', represented. A dark Cave. Elizabeth had not been feeling well, and many connected her illness to the wax images. The Windsor witches and the Samuels family were among the thousands who lost their lives because of entrenched beliefs in witches; in spite of sceptics like Reginald Scot, many believed that women could harm their neighbours through occult means. Revenge is characterized as the act of repaying someone for a harm that the person has caused; the idea also points back generically to one of the key influences upon Gothic literature: the revenge tragedies of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Indeed, at the height of the witchcraft trials almost all of those accused were women, and many of them poor or economically vulnerable who, like the witches of Macbeth, might beg their neighbours for something to eat. In 1596, Sir Francis Drake died due to the plague whilst at the sea. This marked the beginning of the golden age of English history. He captured a Spanish treasure ship ‘Sao Felipe’ in the same year. Witchcraft Act — The Witchcraft Act of 1735 continued to be used until relatively recently, notably in the famous witchcraft case in England during WW2. a)William Shakespeare b)Ben Jonson c)Ben Jonson folios d)English Renaissance theatre 473)What proceeded Jacobean era? Although it turned out that she was in fact suffering from severe dental problems, the magus and astrologer John Dee – in whom Elizabeth had such trust that she had asked him to choose the date for her coronation – went to Norwich to perform counter magic. Mary queen of Scots was also executed in the same year. The first witch then plans the harm she will cause the woman’s husband, a sailor on a ship, and the three witches cast a spell or ‘charm’ in retaliation (1.3.37). Did Shakespeare’s contemporaries believe in witches? Ironically, as James’s English reign progressed, the King grew more and more sceptical that there were actually witches. Most often, it was old, poor, often widowed women who were accused of these acts of angry revenge: a woman would beg for food or drink and when she was turned away she might respond angrily; later, when something unfortunate – such as a bad harvest or an ordinary illness – happened to the person who had denied the woman charity, the old woman would be blamed for their problems. Choose Yes please to open the survey in a new browser window or tab, and then complete it when you are ready. One was the presence of ‘witch marks’, a mark supposed to have been put on a woman’s body by the Devil. As well as the charge of ‘mischief following anger’, there were other ways witches were identified at trial. Since the late Queen Elizabeth had no direct heirs, King James of Scotland (a relative) took to the throne. The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). While the witches in Macbeth boasted about their magical practices, in actuality most of those accused did not practise any form of magic at all, and those who did were only ‘successful’ because their alleged victims were willing to blame them for their own misfortunes. The uninterrupted performance of the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage gave way to productions with long intermissions. In 1597, with the end of the trials, James published his study of witchcraft, Demonology. a)Elizabethan Era When Jacobean audiences watched Macbeth and heard the three witches talking, they would have witnessed Shakespeare’s own conjuring of the strange and supernatural. Elizabeth Stiles, Mother Dutten, Mother Devell and Mother Margaret were hanged on 26 February 1579. After this, two acts of supremacy and uniformity were also ratified. At the same time, some of the conversation of the ‘weird sisters’ would have seemed ordinary and familiar. But others, such as Reginald Scot, author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft, were far more sceptical; Scot argued against the existence of supernatural witchcraft and claimed that some accused witches were women with mental illness while others may have been con artists. In 1600, Queen Elizabeth 1 granted charter to East India Company. These acts settled religious differences. Agnes always proclaimed her innocence, but she, her mother and her father John were found guilty and executed. Her book, The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power, named one of the top ten academic books of the 1990s by the readers of Lingua Franca, September, 2000, was recently published in a second edition. Act of uniformity, on the other hand restored the protestant prayer book. In Windsor, Elizabeth Stile and the other women were tried for witchcraft and all found guilty. Jacobean Era. Carole Levin is Willa Cather Professor of History and Director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at the University of Nebraska. ... the acts are ruthless but … It was a tumultuous time when Shakespeare penned ‘Measure for Measure’ in 1604. 472)In literature, some of Shakespeare's most powerful plays were written in that period (for example The Tempest, King Lear, and Macbeth), as well as powerful works by John Webster and _____. Why not take a few moments to tell us what you think of our website? Many of them, like Elizabeth Stile, the Samuels family and the other witches of Windsor were poor, old, vulnerable and powerless. At the same time as the Stile case, at the court of Elizabeth I there was fear that image magic was being used against the Queen. While some women, like the witches of Macbeth, attempted to use practices such as image magic to harm, many others executed for witchcraft in Shakespeare’s England did not engage in any practices associated with witchcraft or magic at all. This battle became one of the most significant battles of Elizabethan era. Daily Life in England During the Elizabethan Era. Macbeth is a powerful man of high estate, and though at times he questions the validity of the three witches and their prophecies, he ultimately accepts the potential of witchcraft and magic. Revenge may be enacted upon a loved one, a family member, a friend, an object or even an area. One of Queen Elizabeth’s courtiers, Sir Walter Ralegh, described witches as women controlled by the Devil. In 1562, the honourable queen passed the Witchcraft law for hunting and prosecution of witches. But fortunately, Walsingham detected the plot and exposed it. Lastly, it can be concluded that there are various events related to the era of Elizabeth 1 which made her reign to be known as the Golden Age of English history. Criminal trials. In the case of Elizabeth Stile, one of her neighbours became sick and immediately blamed her witchcraft as the cause of his illness. Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1 by Joshua Reynolds. King Phillip 2 and Mary queen of Scots played an important role in the lifetime of Elizabeth 1. Since the Reformation, witchcraft in England had become a statutory crime. His death was a setback to the Elizabethan empire. In Shakespeare’s England, this alleged practice was known as ‘mischief following anger’, and it was one of the most common charges against suspected witches in cases brought to trial. The parliament forced all English men to sign a pledge according to which they agreed to hunt down the culprit in case of Elizabeth’s assassination. The first statute against it was passed in 1542, but this was repealed in 1547; a more severe one was passed in 1563, early in Elizabeth’s reign; and the harshest of all was passed in 1604, soon after James VI of Scotland became James I of England. Of course the suspects proven not to be witches might be drowning victims instead. Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. Since the Reformation, witchcraft in England had become a statutory crime. But unlike the stage witches, who, in Act 4, Scene 1, truly can conjure powerful magic, while some of those accused were convinced they were able to do so, ability to perform such magic was only on stage. In 1586, Anthony Babington tried to overthrow Elizabeth and put Mary, queen of Scots on throne again. Besides these stories, haunted English castles were also very famous. The queen was made the ‘supreme governor’ of the church after the act of supremacy. © 2021 Elizabethan Era. The chain of events in Elizabethan era started with one of the most important event in the history of England. They were said to practise ‘image magic’, a process of harming someone by creating a picture or a wax doll (also known as a 'poppet'), and then attacking the image or doll by stabbing it in the heart with bristles or sticks. One was clearly perceived to represent the Queen as it had the name Elizabeth on the forehead; the others apparently represented her close advisors. A policy was enacted in the year 1558 to quash the conspiracies against the queen. In Shakespeare’s England, anxiety about witchcraft and belief in magic and the supernatural were not limited to the lower or uneducated classes. More Info On- Daily Life in England During the Elizabethan Era. When James became king of England in 1603, the book was published in London as well. There are many more historical and social events that made the Elizabethan era to be remembered by all. In 1593 in the town of Warboys, a poor woman Alice Samuels, her husband John and their daughter Agnes were all on trial, accused of bewitching the daughters of the wealthy Robert Throckmorton since 1589. A case of witchcraft involving a plot against the King himself. In 1578 an especially notorious witchcraft case was that of Elizabeth Stile, a poor old widow from Windsor known for her harsh temper, and who, it was said, nourished her familiar (a rat) with her own blood and had a witch mark on her side. Designated as Hellish Nell, Helen Duncan (by vocation a spiritualist and medium, 1857-1956) was prosecuted after claiming the spirit materialization of a sailor told her HMS Barham had been sunk. Subsequently, great-great-grandson of Henry 7 was proclaimed the king. Stile associated with a crippled old woman known as Mother Margaret, and two other women Mother Dutten and Mother Devell, whom she claimed had got her involved in witchcraft. That event happened in the year 1558 when Queen Elizabeth 1 was crowned. Another claim was ‘recovery after counter magic’: if someone was unwell and a spell helped them recover, this was seen as evidence that the original illness was caused by witchcraft. These acts settled religious differences. In a method long believed to cure a spell from a witch, he scratched Stile, and by drawing her blood, recovered. She succeeded her catholic sister Mary 1 and re-established the protestant church. Please consider the environment before printing, All text is © British Library and is available under Creative Commons Attribution Licence except where otherwise stated. Water was another commonly used means of determining whether women were witches: water was seen as inherently pure, so a suspected witch would be tied up and flung in a pond or lake; if the suspect sank, the water ‘accepted’ her and therefore she was not a witch, but if she floated, the water ‘rejected’ her, and she was presumed a witch. She often begged and was indeed irate when she was rebuffed. The stories about different ghosts including those of Sir Walter Raleigh and the tragic Lady Jane Grey are very famous. The Name Originally the name Anglo-Saxon denotes two of the three Germanic tribes,--Jutes, Angles, and Saxons,--who in the middle of the fifth century left their homes on the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic to conquer and colonize distant Britain. All rights reserved. Act of uniformity, on the other hand restored the protestant prayer book. On 24th March 1603, Queen Elizabeth 1 died. Elizabeth 1 and her parliament played a very clever trick in 1584 which bound all the people of her empire. James was convinced that a coven of powerful witches was conspiring to murder him through magic, and that they were in league with the Devil. The queen was made the ‘supreme governor’ of the church after the act of supremacy. The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination, (Vol. Carole Levin looks at witchcraft trials in the 16th century and considers their relation to the ‘weird sisters’ of, The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr: sketches and original artwork, Sean's Red Bike by Petronella Breinburg, illustrated by Errol Lloyd, Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, The fight for women’s rights is unfinished business, Get 3 for 2 on all British Library Fiction, Discovering Literature: Shakespeare & Renaissance, Why you need to protect your intellectual property, What the Romans did for Shakespeare: Rome and Roman values in Shakespeare's plays, Royal Shakespeare: a playwright and his king, Manhood and the ‘milk of human kindness’ in, ‘Unsex Me Here’: Lady Macbeth’s ‘Hell Broth’, Racism, misogyny and ‘motiveless malignity’ in, Strangers in the city: the cosmopolitan nature of 16th-century Venice, Othello: the role that entices and enrages actors of all skin colours, Character analysis: Benvolio, Mercutio and Tybalt in, Daughters in Shakespeare: dreams, duty and defiance, The Duchess of Malfi and Renaissance women, Shakespeare and gender: the ‘woman’s part’, Women playing Shakespeare: The first female Desdemona and beyond, Amusements and pastimes in Elizabethan England, The social structure in Elizabethan England, Exploration and trade in Elizabethan England, Crime and punishment in Elizabethan England, Setting Shakespeare's music – and the music of Shakespeare settings, Character analysis: Ariel and Prospero in, Galleries, Reading Rooms, shop and catering opening times vary. James I’s fascination with witches was well known, and no doubt Shakespeare composed Macbeth in 1605 or 1606, using Holinshed’s Chronicles as his source, to please his new king. Witches were also said to have ‘familiars’, demonic creatures which might appear to be cats, dogs, mice, rats or other small animals; these familiars would do the witches’ bidding. She has held fellowships from the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Newberry Library, where she has also worked on public exhibits. On one occasion, an innkeeper who had refused to give her food subsequently became ill and was convinced Stile had bewitched him.