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Shakespeare & Beyond

Introducing Wild Things: Animals in early modern life and culture

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Edward Topsell. The historie of foure-footed beastes. 1607. Title page. Folger STC 24123 Copy 2

How many animals have you encountered today, and in what forms? From pets and urban species such as squirrels and sparrows, to meat products and leather, the number may surprise you. Even for those of us who live in human-built spaces, like cities and suburbs, animals and animal bodies are still everyday aspects of human life. But they would have been even more so for early modern people, who worked and lived with animals in far more visible ways than most people living today do. This is especially true of laboring animals and animals raised for consumption.

While many of us have close relationships with cats and dogs, we have much less contact, if any, with animals used for labor or food. Cars and tractors have replaced the horses once used for transportation and hauling, and most of us first encounter meat and dairy products on sterile grocery store shelves, far away from the animals and environments that produced them. For most early modern people, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, and laboring horses were daily facts of both urban and rural life. 

Comments

Horses, dogs…..I have Papillons an old and royal breed!

Carol Schriner — January 1, 2020

Thank you for starting this topic. Recently, I was struck by the cruelty to animals to is displayed in 17th C. medicinal recipes. I hope you will devote a post on that topic, because I can’t think why you would need to use whelps of 6 or 7 days old…(as I read in one manuscript).

Mariella — January 2, 2020

Just did a book with Reaktion on Goldfish and there is an early modern chapter if helpful?

Anna Marie — January 5, 2020

Horses for sure! So many references to them being around, but they never appeared on the early modern stage (that we know of—please prove me wrong!).

Kim — January 7, 2020

FLEAS, please! (Your post had me thinking about John Donne!)

Elisa Tersigni — January 7, 2020

Dogs! And maybe even more specifically dog breeds? And snakes!

Jeremy Cornelius — January 8, 2020

Thomas Moffet (aka Mouffet, Mouffet) wrote “The Theater of Insects,” Vol. III of Topsell’s The History of Four-Footed Beasts. He’s very interesting on fleas and lice.

Lisa Sarasohn — January 9, 2020

I suggest owls. I am interested in how different cultures around the world react to this animal, some with fear and dread, others with admiration. Were owls mentioned by Shakespeare?

roberta browne — January 30, 2020

[…] If you’re interested in animals in early modern life and culture, you may want to explore our blog’s Wild Things series, which starts with this post. […]

Quiz: The animals in Shakespeare's plays - Shakespeare & Beyond — October 12, 2021