In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, there’s a lively scene set in Eastcheap, inside the bustling Boar’s Head Tavern, where the roguish Sir John Falstaff trades wit and wine with the young Prince Hal—England’s future Henry V. To Shakespeare’s audience, this wasn’t some distant or imagined world. Eastcheap was real. The taverns were real. And the cups of ale and small beer passed across those tables were the very same drinks many theatergoers would have enjoyed before walking into the Globe.
This week, we’re joined by Mark Hailwood, author of Alehouses and Good Fellowship in Early Modern England, to step through the tavern door and into the noisy, smoky world of 16th- and 17th-century alehouses.
Together, we’ll explore the people who ran these establishments, the customs and rules that governed them, the drinks poured across the bar, and the colorful realities behind Shakespeare’s tavern scenes. Was Mistress Quickly inspired by real alehouse keepers? How accurate were Shakespeare’s depictions of tavern life? And what details from the plays ring true—or delightfully false—when held up against the history of early modern England?
So pull up a chair by the hearth, mind your purse, and let us pour you a mug of small beer as Mark Hailwood guides us through the history, humor, and lore of Shakespeare’s tavern world.
Download a Transcript of Ep 432 here
About Mark Hailwood
Dr Mark Hailwood is Associate Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Bristol, England. He is a social historian of England in the period c.1500-1750, with a particular interest in the everyday lives of ordinary women and men. He has published books on the drinking culture of the period, and on the experience of work in early modern England, as well as numerous articles on subjects including occupational identity, literacy, and patterns of time-use in the preindustrial past. He is currently writing a book about everyday life in the seventeenth century village of Portishead, Somerset, his home town.
What We Talk About
- Who owned and operated alehouses, inns, and taverns in Shakespeare’s lifetime
- How real alewives compare to Shakespeare’s Mistress Quickly
- The rules, customs, and expectations of “Good Fellowship”
- What people drank, from small beer to strong beer and wine
- Women, theatergoers, travelers, inn-yards, tavern bills, and more!
- …and more!
Recommended Resources:
~ the classic academic work on the history of English pubs: Peter Clark, The English Alehouse: A Social History, 1200-1830 (1983)
~ Steven Earnshaw, The Pub in Literature: England’s Altered State (2000), which includes a chapter on Shakespeare’s tavern scenes**
~ The website of the Intoxicants and Early Modernity, England 1580-1740 project.https://www.dhi.ac.uk/intoxicants/home.jsp. This includes a database where you can access historic court cases relating to alehouses in the period, for those keen to undertake primary research.
**Note on academic book pricing: Resources marked with a double asterisk were priced over $50 on Amazon when this episode was produced. They are listed because it is what the guest recommended and the information is truly valuable to research on this topic. Further, I include the Amazon link so you can take the correct ISBN number to your librarian, but I recommend seeking these titles through your library, interlibrary loan, or a digital archive. Please do not purchase expensive academic titles through our affiliate links simply to support the show.
The best way to support That Shakespeare Life and help us keep bringing you excellent history is through Patreon.
