Ep 85: Anthony Bale and Jews in 16th Century England

There were only a few hundred Jews living in England during Shakespeare's lifetime, and of the ones who were there, they would meet and worship in secret. Outwardly, these Jews would either have converted to Christianity or lied about their faith to keep from coming under suspicion. As callous as it seems for the nation to have been suspicious of Jews, famous Jewish people in high places, like Roderigo Lopez, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, gave the nation cause to be scared of them as Lopez was arrested for trying to poison the Queen. Despite the suspicions around Jewish people, and their faith, many Jews were employed at universities like Oxford and Cambridge during Shakespeare's lifetime, as teachers of Hebrew, and even at the Bodleian library helping with the Hebrew collections there. In light of Shakespeare's very Jewish play, Merchant of Venice, we have our guest, Dr. Athony Bale, here this week to help us explore the presence, reputation, and reception of Jews, and characters like Shylock, by the average playgoer during Shakespeare's lifetime.