Ep 108: Elizabethan Corsets with Cass Morris

05/11/20 • 27 min

The first historical written reference to a separate undergarment for women is found in the wardrobe accounts of Mary Tudor. There, the records indicate Mary had

“Item for making of one peire of bodies of crymsen satin| Item for making two pairs of bodies for petticoats of crymsen satin | Item for making a pair of bodies for a Verthingall of crymsen Grosgrain”The fashion of using a “pair of bodies”, which clothing historians explain is another phrase for corsets, was a staple item for women in Elizabethan England. Not all women were able to afford the bright red undergarments apparently favored by Mary Tudor, nor the silk and satin she uses in this wardrobe account either. Considering these items were part of a woman’s underclothes, they were intentionally not on public display and that means, with the exception of 1-2 portraits which were rather scandalous for their time, along with only 2 surviving corsets from the time period, it takes a great deal of research to piece together the history of women’s undergarments from Shakespeare’s lifetime.

Our guest this week, Cass Morris, is and she has done extensive research into the history of corsets. Cass joins us today to set straight some myths about what women wore in the 16th century, as well as to share what she’s learned about how Shakespeare’s playing company portrayed female characters on stage, and whether items like a corset could have been used (or varied) to distinguish between the classes of women in Shakespeare’s stories.

The first historical written reference to a separate undergarment for women is found in the wardrobe accounts of Mary Tudor. There, the records indicate Mary had

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Ep 107: Beer & Taverns with Rebecca Lemon

During the life of William Shakespeare, plain water was often unclean and filtration, while available, was rudimentary at best. It was not safe to drink the water of the Thames river, and in order to compensate for a general lack of fresh drinking water, the most popular beverage in Elizabethan England even for regular meal times, was beer or ale. Drunkenness was a common occurrence, as was the consistent consumption of large amounts of alcohol. There are court records showing the monarchs of England often celebrated festivals, parties, and visiting dignitaries with the serving of excessive amounts of alcohol, at times amounting to hundreds of barrels of wine, beer, or ale. One of Shakespeare’s most enduring characters is a drunken knight, and even Shakespeare’s own death is shrouded in a mystery involving excess drink. With all of this drinking going on in the life of William Shakespeare, what was the opinion and response to drunkenness? Our guest this week, Rebecca Lemon, included an entire chapter on beer and addiction to alcohol in her latest publication titled Addiction and Devotion in Early Modern England. Dr. Lemon joins us today to explain some of the most common alcoholic beverages, the state of alcoholism in the 16th century, and what understanding these facts about the cultural relationship to alcohol can tell us about Shakespeare’s characters whose personalities were specifically inclusive of drunken behavior like Falstaff and Prince Hal.

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Ep 109: 16th Century Playing Cards with Kathryn James

With court records of Mary Queen of Scots playing cards, as well as James I of England preferring the game Maw when entertaining royal dignitaries, we know that playing cards was not just popular for royals but a pastime at all levels of society during Shakespeare’s lifetime, and it was a relatively new arrival to England overall. Playing cards did not reach Europe until 1360, and the first mention we have of playing cards in England comes in 1463 when King Edward IV banned the import of playing cards to England in an effort to bolster the English economy by focusing production of cards at home. With the influx of French and Spanish playing cards during Shakespeare’s lifetime, along with laws trying to have cards made in England exclusively, what did the average playing card look like? There is a representation of a six of diamonds on the wall of a small Suffolk church in Hessett, near Bury St Edmunds, which dates from the 15th century and that provides one example of design, but the pack of cards which has historically come to be associated with England specifically is a pack from Rouen, France, designed by Pierre Marechal. As playing cards grew in popularity, so did their design and the invention of various games--some of which like Noddy and Maw show up by name several of Shakespeare’s plays. The suits, size of card, as well as material used to make playing cards was also widely varied in the 16th century, so how do we determine what counts as historically accurate for William Shakespeare? To find out this week, we turn to Kathryn James, Curator of Early Modern Books and Manuscripts at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. She joins us today to share about the collection of 16th century playing cards in house at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library with some key insights on the economics, design, and appearance of playing cards from the life of William Shakespeare.

Kathryn James is the Curator of Early Modern Books and Manuscripts at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. She is a Lecturer in the Yale History Department and the co-founder of the Yale Program in the History of the Book. Her new book, English Paleography and Manuscript Culture, 1500-1800 (2020) is available through Yale University Press.