Elizabethan London

Timeline

1. 1558–1565London · LondonAfter Elizabeth's accession in 1558 and the implementation of religious reconciliation, London recovered prosperity as a center of Parliament and royal activity; the city had organized Poor Relief in 1547 and reorganized five royal hospitals, including St Bartholomew's, to fill the charitable vacuum left by the dissolution of the monasteries.
2. 1555–1570London · LondonChartered trading bodies such as the Muscovy Company (1555) were headquartered in London, promoting overseas commerce; the population rose steadily from about 100,000 in the 1550s, the city expanded into suburbs beyond the walls such as Shoreditch and Southwark, and guild regulations coexisted with controls on 'pestering' (overcrowded subletting).
3. 1571–1580Shoreditch (The Theatre) · ShoreditchIn 1576 James Burbage built The Theatre in Shoreditch, England's first commercial permanent open-air theater, circumventing guild and municipal restrictions on performance within the city; in the 1570s the population of theater professionals and audiences expanded rapidly, laying the groundwork for the theater district of Shakespeare's era in the 1590s.
4. 1580–1603Greater London · LondonBetween 1580 and 1603 London's population approached 200,000; major plagues such as those of 1563 and 1593 strained urban sanitation; inflation and the gap between rich and poor worsened, but new industries such as printing, silk, and glass continued to expand outside the walls, and naval and industrial belts formed along the Thames at places like Deptford.