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Elizabethan

Mary Queen of Scots, after Nicholas Hilliard, 16th century, National Portrait Gallery, London. (Photo by SuperStock)

Mary, Queen of Scots’ tragic life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, England. (Photo by Getty Images)

The house that Bess built: the secrets of Hardwick Hall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How did Henry VIII and Elizabeth I celebrate Yuletide? (Illustration by Becca Thorne for BBC History Magazine)

Tales from a Tudor Christmas. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

Deadly rivals: Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552–1618 (Photo by Getty Images)

Walter Ralegh: enemy of the state. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Droeshout Portrait. This engraving appeared as the First Folio frontispiece. (© Getty Images)

8 places that shaped the life of William Shakespeare. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Spanish Armada defeated in the English Channel in July 1588, by Hendrick Cornelis Vroom, c1600. (Picture by DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Spanish Armada

Sir Walter Ralegh (c1554–1618, shown here in a painting attributed to William Segar) is often remembered as a favourite of Elizabeth I and an adventurer, yet he was also one of the most influential political philosophers of his era. (Photo by Alamy)

Walter Ralegh: the traitor who inspired Cromwell. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Henry VIII with Prince Edward, his son by his third wife, Jane Seymour. If the future Henry IX had survived, there may have been no cause for Henry to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn in 1533, says Amy Licence. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 royal births that changed the world (or could have). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Diana, Princess Of Wales, Prince William And Prince Harry visit Thorpe Park amusement park. (Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

How to raise a royal... with Tracy Borman. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth I podcast

Inside the mind of Elizabeth I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Catholics in Elizabethan England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth I, shown in a portrait commemorating victory over the Armada

My history hero: Elizabeth I (1533-1603). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

First built in 1576, the Globe theatre burnt to the ground in 1613. During a performance of the play now known as 'Henry VIII', a set of stage cannons were fired and a piece of flaming material from one of the cannons landed on the theatre’s thatched roof, causing the fire. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

5 facts about Shakespeare’s Globe theatre

Portrait of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. (Photo by Ken Welsh/Design Pics/Corbis via Getty Images)

Princely pleasures at Kenilworth: Robert Dudley's three-week marriage proposal to Elizabeth I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

8 of Britain’s best historical houses and gardens

Shakespeare’s greatest actor. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Shakespeare’s best (or worst) villains. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving from Ulrich Molitor’s ‘On witches and female soothsayers’, depicting witches bringing down the rain. Germany, 15th century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

A spell-binding history of witches. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabethan England’s relationship with the Islamic world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth’s love rival. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Cornwell on Shakespeare. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The 19th-century auction that saved Shakespeare’s birthplace. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anne Boleyn in the Tower

Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in their own words: 5 fascinating letters from Tudor monarchs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historical fiction and a US murder scandal. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Irish national hero Hugh O'Neill, the 2nd Earl of Tyrone, makes a formal submission to the English following the suppression of his Irish rebellion, 1603. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The LibraryHugh O'Neill: Elizabeth I’s Irish nemesis. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Reformation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Peter Snow’s six most important documents in history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The reluctant ambassador: the life and times of Tudor diplomat Sir Thomas Chaloner. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tudor monarchs and a medieval civil war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.