"Transcribe handwritten documents by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and help us understand his life and times. Along the way you’ll find words that have yet to be recorded in the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary, and which will eventually be added to this important resource." Spend as little as 20 minutes to learn the system and transcribe a section. From Zooniverse, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and Early Modern Manuscripts Online. In a test, I transcribed a recipe and discovered a new (well, old) spelling of a word!

If you love his plays, check out Shakespeare's sonnets as well. Transcriptions are freely available online. OpenSourceShakespeare provides several viewing options.

A contemporary of Shakespeare's some credit him with inspiring, or even writing, some of Shakespeare's works. Born the same year as Shakespeare, Marlowe died at 29, perhaps in a tavern brawl, perhaps under more mysterious circumstances. Some of his work is available freely online.

"Monteverdi, a key figure in the transition between the Renaissance and Baroque eras, was largely a vocal composer."

"John Dowland (ca. 1563-1626) was an English composer of the Renaissance who was famous for his melancholy music and character."

"John Marbeck, Merbeck or Merbecke (c. 1510 – c. 1585) was an English theological writer and musician who produced a standard setting of the Anglican liturgy."

"John Taverner (1490-1545) was an important English composer of the Reformation period, highly regarded for his masses and motets."

"Morley, though born the obscure son of a Norwich brewer, rose to centrality in nearly every aspect of Elizabethan musical culture."

"Tallis was the most influential English composer of his generation, as well as one of the most popular Renaissance composers of today."

"Byrd was the leading English composer of his generation, and with Palestrina and Lassus, was acknowledged a master of the late Renaissance."

"An English portrait painter who became Serjeant Painter to Queen Elizabeth I in 1581."

German artist popular in England.

"An English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England."