8. City Life, Urban Strife

Date: c.1590

Size: W:240mm

Made in: England

Made by: Unknown

Material: Wool, Silk

Sometimes to find the joke funny, you just had to be there. If you who have ever found Shakespearean humour hasn’t managed to tickle your funny bone it could mean you’ve seen some particularly bad performances, or it could just be because you live in the 21st century, not the 16th.

Some things – etiquette, humour, fashion, language – are very much the product of their times. They constantly shift and evolve over time, and their original meaning can be lost.

One object that has survived the last 400 years intact is this woollen apprentice’s cap. Wearing a hat was compulsory by law, and the kind of hat you wore was your badge of social identity. For us, this hat unlocks the language of social differences and takes us closer to understanding the whole structure of social control.

This object is from the British Museum

British Museum Blog: Using your head by James Shapiro, Professor of English, Columbia University

'You are they/That made the air unwholesome when you cast/Your stinking greasy caps in hooting/ At Coriolanus' exile.'

Coriolanus, Act 4 Scene 6

• Everyone wore headgear in Shakespeare's day - it was rare to be bareheaded in public or company
• The cap, like all clothing, indicated status - and the higher the status, the higher the hat
• A cap was an instrument of social importance - doffing a cap was as significant as wearing it, and throwing caps to indicate support was an established habit
• This is a relatively fine cap - perhaps intended for festivals or holidays rather than daily wear
• If you wanted a favour, you'd take off your cap and be - literally - cap in hand.

Justin Champion rifles through the popular murder pamphlets of the Elizabethan era to find out about serial killers, murderers and executioners.

Listen to the programme

Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of London from its beginnings in the late Neolithic period, to the international, digitalised capital city of today, examining its past glories and darker times.

Listen to the programme