2009 http://www.proquest.com/ An examination how Marlowe's plays often use religion as a theme, but contain irreligious implications, reflective of the strains of atheism, mysticism, and even heretical Christian sects during the time, referring to "the heated religious milieu of mid-seventeenth-century London…many people claimed to be visited by God and instructed to accomplish some religious sign or undertaking" (Moore 123).

Websites

Alchin, L.K. Elizabethan Era. Updated March 20, 2008. 4 Apr 2009.

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/index.htm

Published by a British historical organization, sponsored by the British government, the site provides an introduction to food, music, weaponry, sports and daily life of the age.

"Elizabethan England in the Time of Romeo and Juliet." Montgomery Schools. 4 Apr 2009.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/SCHOOLS/WJHS/mediactr/englishpathfinder/romeo/

Published by a school, but provides detailed information into mundane aspects of daily life, like the sewer system, combined with extensive biographies of important historical figures like the historical and court favorite of Elizabeth I Sir Walter Raleigh.

"General Characteristics of the Renaissance." CUNY-Brooklyn. 4 Apr 2009.

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/ren.html

An examination of the Great Chain of Being, a concept of the Renaissance about the harmony of the created order that had great importance to thinkers of this era.

The Elizabethan Age: 1550 -- 1620. Outlines of English and American
Literature. 4 Apr 2009. http://www.djmcadam.com/elizabethan-age.html

Review of common themes and concerns in Elizabethan literature and how they reflected historical concerns of the time.

Secara, Maggie. Life in Elizabethan England. A compendium of common knowledge. 9th edition.

Spring 2008. April 4, 2009. http://elizabethan.org/compendium/home.html

A series of essays on different facets of Elizabethan life in the voice of someone of the era. Designed for writers, actors, and reenactors.

Eakins, Lara. Tudor History Website. April 4, 2009. http://www.tudorhistory.org/

This site presents a series of links to timelines, maps, genealogical trees, and general information presented in a straightforward manner about the Tudors and the Elizabethan era. The website also has interactive features like a message board where questions about the content can be asked of the creator and other scholars and students.

Book

Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. New York:

W.W. Norton, 2005.

Overview of the intense geographical expansion and intellectual exploration during the Elizabethan era -- examines how a combination of a renewed interest in words, expanding English political power, information about the globe, and religious controversies, as well as financial support made Shakespeare's drama and Shakespeare himself 'possible.