London2

Shakespeare’s London by, Matt Goetz

During Shakespeare’s time, London was beginning to be considered the crossroad of Europe as it was becoming an important center of commerce and trade. But, London had many other faces. The city was home to all walks of life, from the extreme poor to the very wealthy. It’s diverse population, landscape and lifestyles made London a fascinating city during Elizabethan England and Shakespeare’s lifetime.

London, during Shakespeare’s era, was a city in transition. England in the 16th century was predominately a rural nation with very few cities with over 5,000 residents. Most cities were surrounded by farm fields. There were strong bonds between the country and cities with goods and services exchanged for agricultural products of the country people (Hinds, 9). During the 16th century, the city was changing, with people from the country moving to urban areas, particularly London, to look for work. “A system of land enclosures was bringing and end to the old system of small farms and pastures surrounding cities” (Kermode, 46). Land enclosure, according to the BBC’s website article entitled, “Legacies: UK History Local to You / Norfolk”, is “strictly meaning the fencing off of the common lands by the gentry, but really a term encompassing all the means by which the local gentry were increasing their landholdings at the expense of poorer farmers”. The land enclosures were creating larger, more commercial farms that could run without a large workforce (Kermode, 46). Therefore, poorer farmers were losing their land, and any means of support for themselves and their families.

England was experiencing an “enormous national expansion and beginnings of an overseas empire” (Kermode, 30) during Shakespeare’s era. This national expansion meant that London was experiencing enormous growth in population and many changes in its day to day life and businesses. According to Frank Kermode, author of __The Age of Shakespeare__, London was catching up to Venice commercially and was becoming an increasingly important center of commerce and capitol (30). During this time, new companies were founded, focusing on international trade. Two of the more important companies were The East India Company, founded in 1600, and The Virginia Company, chartered in 1606 by James I (Hinds, 15). The East India company was focused on bringing teas, silks, cotton and spices from India and China. The Virginia Company was interested in colonizing in the new world, North America, and capitalizing on it’s tobacco crops (Kermode, 30). Shakespeare, himself, talked about these “ventures” in his play, //The Merchant of Venice//. As a result of the emergence of these trading companies, foreign travel also became more common (Kermode, 30). The face of London was changing along with its population. There was a new ruling class consisting of successful businessmen and clergy, who made their wealth from “monastic spoil or commercial success”, replacing the “old nobility” (Kermode, 46). That meant that butchers or glovers, like Shakespeare’s father, could be an important person in the community. There was a large divide between the wealthy population and the needy. Farmers experienced bad harvests during the 1590s which had a devastating effect on the needy of London (Kermode, 46). Food shortages were common. There was severe inflation with the cost of living multiplying three and one half times (Kermode, 46). Wages could not keep up with the costs and many people were starving. The rich were not affected by the economic problems, and the merchant class also prospered because of it. These were the early days of capitalism (Kermode, 46-48). Because of the overwhelming problem of poverty, according to the BBC website article by Alexandra Briscoe, “Poverty in Elizabethan England”, “poor laws” were passed during Elizabeth’s reign that made private charity a government concern. The National Poor Tax Law of 1572 stated that the poor were now society’s responsibility and citizens were called upon to support the needy. Refusing to pay the tax meant severe punishment. Towns were now required to find work for the unemployed and provide the raw materials for their work. During Shakespeare’s time, London was also a grand city. In, __The Age of Shakespeare__, Frank Kermode speaks about a foreign visitor, Paul Hentzner, who remarks about the “grandeur” of the city and that “the wealth of the world is wafted to it by the Thames” (46). During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, “new money was everywhere in evidence” in London (Kermode, 31). According to Geoffrey Trease, in __London: A Concise History__, there were many festivals during the summer months in London including the May Day, Midsummer Eve, and several other dates. The tradition was that all “able-bodied townsmen should muster, duly armed and equipped, and parade through the streets” (Trease, 109). One of the other spectacles of the time was when the new Lord Mayor was elected to his one year term. There was a parade with “banners and streamers flying, coats of arms on display, trumpets plaing and cannon firing” (Hinds, 15). These were occasions for Londoners to go out in their best clothes to enjoy a public holiday.

London’s southern boundary is formed by the Thames River. The Thames was busy constantly with barges carrying passengers and flatboats loaded with produce from other areas. There were also tall-masted merchant ships headed to, or from, foreign ports. The London Bridge was the only connection between the two sides other than by boat. The bridge was crowded with homes and shops. Peddlers, called chapmen, walked back and forth over the bridge selling their wares. London’s streets were “muddy, narrow, and noisy and they reeked of the slops that were spilled from second-story windows” (Horizon Magazine, 33-34). According to the website, Elizabethan.org, houses were close together and citizens emptied their chamber pots out of windows and doors into the streets. During a heavy rain, the rush of water flushed out the streets causing the “slop” to run into the Thames. The filthy conditions were a breeding ground for many diseases such as smallpox, malaria, and, the most deadly, bubonic plague or black death (Kermode, 47). Many houses on the bridge had merchants like goldsmiths, booksellers, apothecaries, and grocers located on their ground floor (Horizon Magazine, 34). Along the crowded streets, “ballad mongers could be heard singing tunes from the song sheets they were peddling. And street criers, hawking foodstuffs from trays hung around their necks, shouted continually with coarse raw voices” (Horizon Magazine, 34).

The other face of London is its more colorful district, Southwark, located across the London Bridge. Southwark was home to the less desirable population of London. According to the website Absolute Shakespeare, Southwark was a “wild and raucous area”. The inhabitants of Southwark were drunks, prostitutes and thieves. You could often find gambling and “bear-baiting”, a spectator sport of the time in which dogs were set on chained-up bears. Southwark was home to many of the country’s most important prisons. The most famous of these is The Clink. Southwark also had another side. It was home to a large immigrant population of Germans, Dutch and Flemish. Glass and Delftware pottery, from Holland, were produced in large quantities here. According to the official Southwark, England, website, the foundries were located in Southwark because coal-fired furnaces were banned from the city of London. Southwark was also the center of the leather tanning trade for the same reason. London had banned the “noxious industry”. Southwark’s docks became important in expanding Britain’s trade. In 1620, the Village of Rotherhithe in Southwark was where the Mayflower set sail with Protestant pilgrims heading to America.

During Shakespeare’s time, Southwark was home to London’s playhouse district, Bankside. The first theaters built there were The Rose, The Swan, and The Globe. Shakespeare was part owner of The Globe. Frank Kermode, in __The Age of Shakespeare__, tells us that the playhouses were surrounded by bad neighborhoods where you would find “cardsharps and dicers, con men and money lenders, roaring boys and roaring girls” (31). According to the website, Absolute Shakespeare, this area of famous playhouses is where “commoners and gentry alike, brought people of all classes together in a region renowned for bear-baiting and other less than respectable activities”. According to the Southwark website, Bankside, outside of London’s jurisdiction, was the location of the playhouses because London disapproved of theaters. The website goes on to explain that Shakespeare wrote the majority of his greatest works, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest, while living in Bankside.

Shakespeare’s London must have been an exciting place to experience. Imagine a city growing in size daily, full of interesting characters from all walks of life. A city that was England’s center of commerce, trade and culture. No wonder Shakespeare found so much inspiration there that he decided to make London his home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGyTra4DN5s