Shakespeare A to Z | Governmenet and Politics
Since 1066, when William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the battle of Hastings, England has been a monarchy, a government ruled by a king or queen. The monarchy of Shakespeare’s time was a special kind. Although the monarch ruled without question, at the top of the political and social ladder, his or her power was subject to some well-defined limitations. Chief among these was the law of the land and its accepted conventions*. It was called common law because it applied to all the nation’s people, including their king or queen.
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