John Aubrey, an antiquary and biographer, wrote a series of short biographies between 1669 and 1696. They were published with the title Brief Lives and are a mixture of speculation, gossipy anecdotes and interesting observations. One of his biographies was based on what gossip he could find out about Shakespeare: I have heard Sir […]Continue reading
Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, was a young and wealthy nobleman courted by writers who needed a rich and influential patron in early modern England. Wriothesley was a great patron of the arts and also, it seems, was interested in playing and playgoing. Rowland White wrote about him to Sir Robert Sidney in […]Continue reading
John Shakespeare was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon on 8 September 1601 after becoming an influential and important member of the town. He had moved to Stratford-upon-Avon with his wife, Mary, in 1551. He worked as a glover and become a well-known member of the Stratford town council. When his eldest son William was four years […]Continue reading
Susanna and her husband, Dr John Hall, filed a lawsuit for slander against John Lane at the Consistory Court at Worcester on this day in 1613. The twenty-three-year-old Lane had accused Susanna, who was thirty-one years old at the time, of committing adultery with a haberdasher named Rafe Smith. He also claimed that she had […]Continue reading
During Shakespeare’s lifetime, players were required to operate under the patronage of noblemen who would request permission for their company of players to perform at different towns and cities outside London. A warrant, signed by the Duke of Lennox on 14 October 1604, is an example of such a request. It is addressed to ‘all […]Continue reading
In 1602, Shakespeare was described as a gentleman in recognition of the coat of arms he inherited after his father’s death in 1601. Two drafts of a grant of arms were drawn up for John Shakespeare in October 1596. The drafts describing the coat-of-arms were drawn up by William Dethick, Garter King of Arms. He […]Continue reading
Much Ado About Nothing was printed in quarto form by Valentine Simmes in the same year it was entered on the Stationers’ Register. As stated on the title page, the play had ‘been sundry times publicly acted by the Right Honourable, the Lord Chamberlain his servants’. One character who stands out is the […]Continue reading
