Assise of Bread [John Powell,editor] ,1608 - table of permitted weights of loaves, p.D2r.

Move your pointing device over the image to zoom to detail. If using a mouse click on the image to toggle zoom.
When in zoom mode use + or - keys to adjust level of image zoom.

Date:1608

Description:Contemporary unrest provided ideas for the food riots in Coriolanus.

This page shows bakers at work above the official charts published for authorized legal weights of loaves of bread. In 1608 famine conditions in the English Midlands led to violence and high prices when there was insufficient barley for malt. The subsequent riots in Warwickshire and nearby Leicestershire may have inspired Shakespeare when writing the opening scene in Coriolanus when the Roman citizens propose to riot, as there is a shortage of corn for the poor: ‘ You are all resolved rather to die than to famish. ... I speak this in hunger for bread not in thirst for revenge.’ (Coriolanus, 1,1, line 4).

[See accompanying 'exhibition' of the 'noate of corn and malte' a contemporary document.]


Full title: The Assise of Bread, newly corrected and enlarged together with sondry good and needful ordinances, for Bakers, Brewers, Inholders, Victuallers, Vintners, and Butchers; and also other Assises in weightes and measures, etc. [revised by John Powell], London, printed by John Windet and sold by Edward White, 1608.


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1570s
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page

Shakespeare may have owned this book. Shakespeare purchased New Place, the largest ...

1590s
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view

A much-used book, possibly owned by Shakespeare. This prayer book, whose dimensions ...

1610s
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.

Duke Theseus’ hounds in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Theseus’s ...

Share:


Donor ref:SR 93.02 [37,832] (32/10551)

Source: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library

Copyright information: Copyrights to all resources are retained by the individual rights holders. They have kindly made their collections available for non-commercial private study & educational use. Re-distribution of resources in any form is only permitted subject to strict adherence to the usage guidelines.