Soldiers in Plays Like to Shakespeares Quiz

Answer: 1580s

By the 1580s, Protestantism had been established in England for some 50 years but was still capable of being reversed. Philip II, the widower of the Catholic Queen Mary, was King of Spain and the Pope was very willing to support his 1588 plans for an invasion of England to restore Catholicism.

The main thrust of the attack was to come through a large fleet or armada of 22 warships and over 100 other vessels. The English fleet under Francis Drake ended victorious with serious weather off the coast of Ireland being a key factor in driving many Spanish ships onto rocks.

The English love handing down apocryphal stories about their heroes and there is one concerning Drake and the Armada which has him on Plymouth Hoe, insisting on finishing a game of bowls before going into action.

Answer: 1510s

In 1517, Luther wrote his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences" more commonly known as the "95 Theses". According to the famous account of fellow reformer, Philipp Melancthon, these were nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg although this was written after the event without independent verification.

Answer: 1540s

Nicolaus Copernicus set out his theory in the book "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" which was published in 1543, the year of his death. He had begun his speculations as early as 1514 but delayed publication of the completed work probably for fear of the backlash it would provoke.

Answer: 1590s

Raleigh is best known for the voyages he sponsored to the New World in the 1580s and for his two voyages to South America (1594 and 1616) searching for gold. He was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth but was not trusted by James I, who imprisoned him in the Tower of London and had him executed for treason in 1618.

Raleigh has often been attributed with the introduction of both potatoes and nicotine to Europe but these claims are almost certainly apocryphal. At best it can be said that his name is associated with their arrival and popularising in England and Ireland. The introduction of tobacco is today credited to the French diplomat Jean Nicot although there is evidence that others incuding Andre Thevet had brought it over even earlier. Potatoes too had reached Europe in the 1530s via Spanish explorers some 50 years before Raleigh's first voyage. He does however retain one lasting legacy to his name. The state capital of North Carolina is named after him.

Answer: 1560s

Without an heir to the throne the Tudor Dynasty would come to an end but Elizabeth was destined never to marry. After 1570 she had only one more serious suitor in Francois de Valois, Duke of Alencon.

It has been claimed that she would have liked to have married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Dudley was a close favourite of Elizabeth whose marriage came to an end in 1560 when his wife died but such a marriage would have been seen as politically unwise. Dudley was not liked by the public due to his perceived arrogance and ambition and to the mysterious circumstances of his wife's death.

Answer: 1550s

This is based upon a famous headline from the UK "Sun" newspaper. When Scottish soccer giants Celtic lost a cup match to lowly Inverness Caledonian Thistle ("Cally Thistle") the headline read - "Super Cally Go Ballistic, Celtic are Atriocious".

Calais was lost on January 13th 1558. It was the last remaining land controlled by England in mainland Europe. The defeat was devastating for Queen Mary who died in November of that year. Legend has it that her dying words were "When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Calais' lying in my heart."

'Frogs' is a nickname used by the British for the French derived from their perceived liking for frogs' legs.

Answer: 1530s

The key problem for Henry was the issue of issue or to be more precise the non-issue of issue! He was well aware that without an heir the Tudor dynasty would be short-lived. His wife Katherine of Aragon had been unable to produce an heir and was reaching the end of her child-bearing years.

Henry now claimed that theirs had never been a legitimate marriage. Katherine had previously been married to Henry's older brother Arthur who had died six months after the wedding. Henry had been given a dispensation by the papacy to marry Katherine on the grounds of her statement that her first marriage had never been consummated. Henry's reasons in seeking a divorce were that she had lied in this claim and also that his father had pressured him into marrying Katherine against his will. History records that his request fell on deaf ears thus precipitating the Reformation in England. The break from Rome was made complete with a series of Acts of Parliament through the 1530s.

Answer: 1520s

Sir Thomas More, or Saint Thomas More to give him his canonised title, was born in 1478. He became a close advisor to Henry VIII, was elected speaker in 1523 and made chancellor in 1529 succeeding Cardinal Wolsey. Ultimately his objections to Henry's divorce of Katherine of Aragon and marriage to Anne Boleyn were to cost him his life and he was executed in 1535.

His life is the subject of the Robert Bolt play "A Man for all Seasons" which was adapted into an Oscar winning film. More was canonised in 1935.

Answer: 1570s

Ortelius' work "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" was published in 1570 after encouragement by Mercator. Mercator's own atlas was produced in several parts, the first of which was published in 1578. In 1569, he had also presented the so called 'Mercator Projection', a method of mapping which used distortion of scale rather than the traditional linear method.

Answer: 1500s

Da Vinci began work on "La Gioconda", better known to English speakers as the "Mona Lisa", in 1503. The sitter is believed to be Lisa del Giocondo whose wealthy husband had commissioned the painting.