Question: Shakespeare lived during the reign of which English monarchs?
Answer: Shakespeare lived during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I, ruler from 1558 to 1603, and King James I, ruler from 1603 to 1625. Both Elizabeth and James loved the theatre and Shakespeare performed frequently at Whitehall Palace.
The only two recorded performances of The Merchant of Venice in the seventeenth century were staged in the spring of 1605, before King James I at Whitehall Palace. Shakespeare and his troupe, the King's Men (named after James who was also Shakespeare's patron) performed Othello at the Palace in 1604 and King Lear in 1606. Shakespeare's friend and noted fellow actor, Richard Burbage, was the original Lear.
Related Resources
- From the First Production of Julius Caesar to the Burial of Shakespeare
- The King's Men
- Shakespeare's Kings and Queens: A Timeline
- King James, Macbeth, and the Gunpowder Plot
- Profile: Queen Elizabeth I
- Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare
