Shakespeare and Early Modern Theatre

Links to full text of critical essays about Shakespeare's works dating back to the 1500s.

Home to the world’s largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials and to major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art

The Folger has copies of every play, from the earliest printings to modern editions, and we offer carefully edited print and digital texts.

Collection of primary and secondary sources on Shakespeare's works archived via the Colenda Digital Repository.

Limit Search to the Collection of Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library.

Authoritative online database of Shakespeare-related content in film, television, radio and video recordings of international scope. Regularly updated and currently holds over 7,600 records dating from the 1890s to the present day. Maintained by the British Universities Film & Video Council

Full text and facsimiles of Shakespeare's works, excellent academic resources on the life and times of Shakespeare, as well as a complete performance database of over 1,000 film and stage productions of the bard's works including reviews and artifacts. Maintained by the University of Victoria.

Digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust.

The Modern History Sourcebook presents William Harrison's contribution to Holinshed's Chronicles. Arguably one of the best contemporary accounts of life in Elizabethan England.

Early Modern London Theatres (EMLoT) is a research database and educational resource that grew out of a collaboration between the Records of Early English Drama at the University of Toronto, the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College London, and the Department of English at the University of Southampton. EMLoT lets you see what direct use has been made, over the last four centuries, of pre-1642 documents related to professional performance in purpose-built theatres and other permanent structures in the London area.

The BBC presents a very good history of Elizabeth I as part of their online "Church and State" series.

An excellent collection of resources related to all aspects of Early Modern theatre providing research resources for Tudor, Elizabethan, and Jacobean playwrights.

Thousands of pages of manuscripts left to the College by its founder, the eminent actor Edward Alleyn (1566-1626). This archive includes his personal and professional papers and those he inherited from his father-in-law Philip Henslowe (d. 1616). As a group, these manuscripts comprise the largest and most important single extant archive of material on the professional theatre and dramatic performance in early modern England, the age of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton, Heywood, Dekker, Chettle, and so many of their contemporaries and colleagues.

The Map of Early Modern London (MoEML) maps the streets, sites, and significant boundaries of late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century London (1560–1640). The project links encyclopedia-style articles, scholarly work, student work, editions, and literary texts to the places mentioned therein. Students will view the landmarks of Shakespeare’s London and learn about the history and culture of the city in which he lived and worked.

Links to background information sources for studies in Renaissance English literature. Includes links to many historical sites.

Excellent collection of resources on the history of theatre. Created and maintained by Dr. Jack Wolcott, retired Associate Director of the University of Washington School of Drama.