Voices of Shakespeare's England : contemporary accounts of Elizabethan daily life / John A. Wagner, editor.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-253) and index.

Society and economy. An Englishman claims land in Elizabethan Ireland ; The sword of Elizabethan education ; English women ; English women ; High rents and hard times for land tenants ; The cost of defending the realm ; The Elizabethan underworld ; The dangers of lengthy leases for land tenants ; A piece of Elizabethan self-promotion ; The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 -- Church and state. The powers of Parliament ; Government control of the printing press ; Who may summon Parliament and why ; Protecting queen and realm from Catholic plots ; An illegal celebration of the Catholic mass ; Criticizing the queen ; A description of the New World ; The destruction of the Spanish armada ; Priest hunters search a house for hidden Catholic clergy ; Defending the Elizabethan church -- Literature and history. Criticizing Elizabethan playgoers ; A contemporary description of Elizabethan England ; An Elizabethan defense of poets and their work ; William Shakespeare and his sources ; Extolling the reign of Gloriana ; William Shakespeare's commentary on contemporary acting ; The changing character of Elizabethan theater ; Elizabethan sonnets ; Accounts of performances of William Shakespeare's Macbeth (1610) and A Winter's Tale (1611) ; Writing the history of Elizabeth's reign -- The Queen. The queen on progress ; The queen's marriage ; Elizabeth the poet laments the final leave-taking of the Duke of Anjou ; Protecting the Protestant queen ; The death of a queen ; "The serpent that poisons me" ; Turning English Catholics against the queen ; Elizabeth defies the king of Spain ; The queen's valedictory ; A look back at Elizabeth's coronation.

A collection of excerpts from more than 40 primary documents written in William Shakespeare's lifetime, including letters, literature, speeches and polemics, official reports, and descriptive narratives.