![]() The most famous Elizabethan herbalist was John Gerard. While this kind of knowledge had been popular for centuries, it was formalized in the early modern period in books called ‘Herbals’, which contained practical information on the history, cultivation, and use of plants, illustrated with lavish woodcuts, and Shakespeare would have consulted them for the botanical references in his work. In the early modern world, plants, flowers, and herbs were known for their practical (medicinal and culinary, in particular) and symbolic properties for example, the herb rosemary was associated with the Virgin Mary and remembrance. Shakespeare’s plays and poems are full of references to plants and the natural world. Wilt thou go with me? (2.2.157-69)Ībraham Ortelius. To clust’ring filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee (hazelnuts) Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow,Īnd I with my long nails will dig thee pignuts, I’ll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. I’ll show thee the best springs I’ll pluck thee berries He, however, knows the wonders of the island and shares his knowledge with the shipwrecked Italian men he encounters: Caliban is variously described by the Europeans as a ‘tortoise’, ‘savage’, ‘fish’, ‘monster’, ‘mooncalf’ and ‘puppy-headed’. The sorcerer Prospero’s spirit, Ariel, is told to transform himself into ‘a nymph o’th’sea’ (I.2.302) and the island is home to a native creature, Caliban, whose mother was imprisoned by Prospero when he landed there. 90 (B567)īut it is Shakespeare’s The Tempest, set on an imaginary island in the Mediterranean with strong hints of the New World of America, which most fully explores the limits of European geographical knowledge and the potential for imaginative encounters with mythical creatures that still populated the waters and blank spaces of scholarly maps like Ortelius’. The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads (man-eaters)Ībraham Ortelius. It was my hint to speak – such was my process –Īnd of the cannibals that each other eat, Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle, (caves) Othello woos Desdemona with stories of the people and places he has seen as his soldiering took him to far-flung places: This atlas brought together the latest knowledge of the world from seafaring, including the recent European discovery of the Americas. Earlier books of maps had relied on the ancient Greek geography of Ptolemy. The atlas was published in 33 editions over 41 years and translated into six other European languages from its original Latin. It was published in Antwerp in 1570 and became a bestseller throughout early modern Europe. The latest geographical knowledge was charted in the Theatrum orbis terrarum, the first ever atlas, produced by the Flemish geographers Abraham Ortelius and Gerard Mercator, and the printer-publisher Christophe Plantin. Imaginative accounts of the places, people, and creatures yet to be seen feature in the plays, especially Othello and The Tempest. ![]() The locations of Shakespeare’s plays range across the early modern known world, including Lebanon (Tyre), Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, and Denmark however, for Europeans, there were still parts of the world that remained unexplored in Shakespeare’s time and America was a newly discovered continent. Theatrum orbis terrarum (Theatre of the countries of the world). ![]() Louise Wilson, Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, has been delving into the treasures of Special Collections to share with you some of the books we hold here at Liverpool Hope University that Shakespeare would have been very familiar with. To commemorate 400 years since William Shakespeare’s death, Dr. ![]()
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