Immigration, labor tensions, and social unrest were pressing realities in Shakespeare's England—and few events capture that strain more vividly than the 1517 uprising known as Evil May Day. In this week's episode, historian Shannon McSheffrey joins us to unpack the economic frustrations, guild restrictions, and growing immigrant communities that fueled this riot in Tudor London. From the role of the city's "liberties" to the political response of Henry VIII and the event's lasting legacy in chronicles and drama like Sir Thomas More, we explore how this moment of unrest shaped the world Shakespeare knew—and how its echoes can still be felt in the plays today.

For the 16th century, a vagrant was someone who operated outside of societal norms, someone who moved around without a fixed home, or produced a profit without the oversight of a noble patron.

In a culture that highly prized both hierarchy and organization, someone who fell outside these categories was cast under severe scrutiny, seen as a potential threat, and faced harsh punishments specifically aimed at preventing vagrancy.

During Shakespeare's lifetime, new laws were being passed to aggressively define and control the vagrant, casting a net that often saw players and playwrights like William Shakespeare caught right up in the chaos.

To help us understand how those categories worked — and why they mattered — we're joined by Dr. David Hitchcock, Reader in Early Modern History at Canterbury Christ Church University. Dr. Hitchcock's research focuses on poverty, mobility, and the cultural meaning of vagrancy in early modern England.

He's here today to help us explore why early modern England was so focused on vagrancy, what the laws were that tried to prevent it, and how these laws impacted theater, and Shakespeare specifically.

In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Hotspur delivers a chilling threat against King Richard:

"I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him
To keep his anger still in motion."

It's a line rooted in the politics of kingship and rebellion—but it also hinges on something strikingly practical. The idea of teaching a starling to speak wasn't poetic fancy. It was entirely possible. In fact, it was happening in Shakespeare's lifetime.

This week, we're stepping beyond the metaphor to explore the real bird behind the threat. What was the behavior, temperament, and reputation of the starling in early modern England? Were they truly trained to mimic speech? Were they kept as pets—or even raised for the table alongside other fowl?

Here to guide us into the world of the early modern starling is Lee Raye, author of Creatures of Story and Song: Tracing Britain's Lost Species. Lee's work traces the historical presence of wild animals and plants, and today, they help us uncover how fact and drama intersect in the history of one of the world's most fascinating birds.