text: what did people believe about the influence of astronomy on peoples' lives during elizabethan times?   during that time there was two complementary beliefs that were almost universally accepted until the work of galileo and the like.  1. that peoples lives were affected by and tied up in the heavenly realms. so, belief in astrology was very deeply entrenched. for example, there was a royal astrologer in most courts in those days, including the court of elizabeth 1. despite the prevailing christian views of the time, people were still given to the stars.  2. as is clear in writing of the time, including the plays of shakespeare, many believed that human events, especially those on a catastrophic scale or involveing kings and princes, caused effects on the earthe and the skies. so, as in shakespeare's macbeth, the murder of a king would create storms and upheaval.  the irony is that indeed the deeds of man, environmentally, have affected the weather and created ununual events. maybe the elizabethans were right after all.