The Guild and Guild Buildings of Shakespeare's Stratford
Society, Religion, School and Stage
- 292 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Guild and Guild Buildings of Shakespeare's Stratford
Society, Religion, School and Stage
About This Book
The guild buildings of Shakespeare's Stratford represent a rare instance of a largely unchanged set of buildings which draw together the threads of the town's civic life. With its multi-disciplinary perspectives on this remarkable group of buildings, this volume provides a comprehensive account of the religious, educational, legal, social and theatrical history of Stratford, focusing on the sixteenth century and Tudor Reformation. The essays interweave with one another to provide a map of the complex relationships between the buildings and their history. Opening with an investigation of the Guildhall, which served as the headquarters of the Guild of the Holy Cross until the Tudor Reformation, the book explores the building's function as a centre of local government and community law and as a place of entertainment and education. It is beyond serious doubt that Shakespeare was a school boy here, and the many visits to the Guildhall by professional touring players during the latter half of the sixteenth-century may have prompted his acting and playwriting career. The Guildhall continues to this day to house a school for the education of secondary-level boys. The book considers educational provision during the mid sixteenth century as well as examining the interaction between touring players and the everyday politics and social life of Stratford. At the heart of the volume is archaeological and documentary research which uses up-to-date analysis and new dendrochronological investigations to interpret the buildings and their medieval wall paintings as well as proposing a possible location of the school before it transferred to the Guildhall. Together with extensive archival research into the town's Court of Record which throws light on the commercial and social activities of the period, this rich body of research brings us closer to life as it was lived in Shakespeare's Stratford.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Illustrations
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Guild of the Holy Cross and its Buildings
- 2 Reformation: Priests and People
- 3 âWhere one is a scholemaster of grammarâ: The Guild School and Teaching in Stratford-upon-Avon c. 1420â1558
- 4 âMore polite learningâ: Humanism and the New Grammar School
- 5 The Guildhall, Stratford-upon-Avon: The Focus of Civic Governance in the Sixteenth Century
- 6 The Stratford Court of Record 1553â1601
- 7 The Archaeology of the Guild Buildings of Shakespeareâs Stratford-upon-Avon
- 8 Professional Theatre in the Guildhall 1568â1620: Players, Puritanism and Performance
- 9 The Queenâs Men in Stratford and The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England
- 10 Repertoire of the Professional Players in Stratford-upon-Avon, 1568â1597
- Index