Footnotes to Chasing Shakespeares part 1

A note on the names

Most of the Elizabethan characters had titles, and many of their titles changed during their lifetimes as their fortunes rose and fell. Edward de Vere, for instance, was successively Viscount Bulbeck and the Earl of Oxford; William Cecil was first knighted, then, after 1571, became Baron Burghley; and Robert Cecil became successively Viscount Cranbourne and the Earl of Salisbury. Conversely, titles could be taken away; the Duke of Norfolk was beheaded (officially, at least) as plain Thomas Howard, and the Earl of Arundel became Philip Howard and, more recently, St. Philip Howard.

This is the sort of thing that drives readers mad, especially Americans. And it can be misleading; for the purpose of this book it was important to know who married whom and who was whose sister, daughter, and son, the sort of information that family names provide.

So, with two exceptions, I've referred to everyone by their family names, even after they have been dignified with titles. The two exceptions are Edward de Vere and Henry Wriothesley, who are so well known as "Oxford" and "Southampton" that I've usually called them that.

Elsewhere I have included genealogical notes for the principal Elizabethans.

Ogburn= Ogburn, Charlton. The Mysterious William Shakespeare: The Myth and the Reality. 2nd ed. McLean VA: EPM Publications, 1992.

Read= Read, Conyers, Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth. London: Jonathan Cape, 1960.

Lightning bug and lightning: "The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." Mark Twain, letter to George Bainton, 10/15/1888. http://www.twainquotes.com/Lightning.html

Identification of forgeries: see Kenneth W. Rendell, Forging History (1994), passim. The standard reference is Wilson K. Harrison, Suspect Documents: Their Scientific Investigation (1958), but Rendell contains more modern information about forging techniques. Also Evan Holzwasser, personal communications.

English secretary hand: There are some examples of secretary hand at the Marlovian site run by John Baker, http://www2.localaccess.com/marlowe/collier3.htm. Here is a small piece from a copy of Angel Day's The English Secretorie:

I tried transcribing some of Sir Thomas More but instantly came a cropper on the line

I swear that's what it said, but the line as transcribed by a real person is "when soules by priuate life are sanctified".

Young Man Shakespeare: Fictional, with a touch of Marchette Chute's Shakespeare of London.

In Search of Shakespeare: Park Honan's excellent recent Shakespeare: A Life stood in for this biography. (The Goscimers are fictional, of course, and bear no relation to Park Honan.)

A man named Foster found a Shakespeare poem: Foster's discussion of this poem, in Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous, helped shape my ideas about what a person might feel who discovers an unknown "Shakespeare" work. Don Foster, Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2000, pp. 19-53.

Foster now believes the "Funeral Elegy" to be by John Ford; see Abrams, Rick, and Don Foster, "Abrams and Foster on 'A Funeral Elegy'" (posted 6/13/2002). SHAKSPER: The Global Electronic Shakespeare Conference. http://www.shaksper.net/archives/2002/1484.html

Sobran argued that this poem could not be about William Peter and could be by Oxford; see Sobran, Alias Shakespeares, pp. 287-292.

The elegy will shortly be available with the Complete works of Shakespeare at MIT.

Shakespeare a servant with the Hoghton family in Lancashire: E.A.J. Honigmann, Shakespeare: The Lost Years. Totowa NJ: Barnes & Noble Books, 1985.

A couple in the Public Records Office: The Wallaces discovered the documents in the Belott-Mountjoy suit in 1909; see the account, most recently, in Honan, pp. 325-329; see also C.W. Wallace, "New Shakespeare Discoveries," Harper's Monthly Magazine 120 (1910), 489-510. Prof. J. Isaacs says that they went through about 3 million documents to find it! MWS, p. 24.

License my roving hands, and let them go: John Donne, "Elegy XIX: On His Mistress Going to Bed."

Shakespeare in Italy:
"Italy suited Shakespeare's experiments…this was the cultural land of his schooldays. The beauty and elegance he associates with Italy have a curious effect upon him, freeing his pen from normal inhibitions… He set most of his early comedies and six of his tragedies in Italy or ancient Rome--and no other country gave him freer leave to test unbalanced extremes in his dramaturgy…while opposing [the stage's] norms, boundaries, stereotypes, and predictability…" Honan, p. 208, one of many commentators who speak of the influence of Italy on Shakespeare. Chambers and others suggest that Shakespeare must have been in Italy; Ogburn summarizes the evidence for it, MWS, pp. 302-308, but argues convincingly that Chambers' date of 1592-94 is too late for Shakespeare to have been in Italy. (Chambers must argue that Shakespeare is publishing Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece while he's in Italy. In 1592-95, he is also working on plays--Chambers assigns him The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, and Love's Labour's Lost. And he is probably working on the bulk of the Sonnets. It's not impossible, but it's not likely.)

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea: Sonnet 65.

He liked dogs and I like dogs: Thanks to Alex Irvine.

Great Mary, a novel, by Rose L'Heureux: Fictional.

An Account of the Treasonable Behavior of the late Q. MARY of Scotland, including True Proofs of the Plot against the Life of ENGLAND'S True Queen, ELIZABETH; The Tryall and Martyrdom of our most holy and Catholick Queen Mary, Queen of Scotland and Rightfull Queen of England: Simplified versions of titles of contemporary pamphlets.

A steel pen nib, invented two hundred years after Marlowe died: Rendell, ibid.

"Coffee," says Joe, "decaf, hazelnut, or breakfast blend": Joe's holding out on her; they have better coffee upstairs.

You're totally wrong that everyone has always said Shakespeare is Shakespeare: To Posy's list of respectable agnostics may be added, among others, Bismarck, Disraeli, Palmerston, Charlie Chaplin, John Buchan, Leslie Howard, Clifton Fadiman, J.G. Whittier, Daphne du Maurier, Vladimir Nabokov (possibly), Orson Welles, and more recently the historian David McCullough and the actors Sir John Gielgud, Sir Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance, and Michael York. See MWS, pp. 151-52; Sobran, p. 5; "The Shakespeare Skeptics' Hall of Fame".

Schoenbaum, Matus, Gary Taylor: These respectable academics make good points--much of the research on alternate Shakespearean candidates has been conducted by amateurs, some of whose ideas are very odd indeed. However, it's as wise to check their sources as it is the Oxfordians'. Irvin Matus, for instance, bases much of his argument on the dating of the Shakespeare plays on Henry VIII (almost certainly a "new" play in 1613 only because Fletcher had rewritten it) and The Two Noble Kinsmen, which the original editors of the First Folio did not include among Shakespeare's plays.

And there are aspects of the Stratfordians' attitude to the Oxfordians that one can only deplore:

The Oxfordians would point out, deliciously, that Freud was an Oxfordian.

Richard Field: See Dave Kathman's article, "Shakespeare and Richard Field," at http://ShakespeareAuthorship.com, but see below. Richard Field is a slim reed.

Shakespeare and the law: Shakespeare uses over six hundred legal terms, and Sobran makes the point that Oxford's tin mining letters show his familiarity with legal terms, Sobran, p. 276; see also Clarkson, Warren, Phillips, and Greenwood, as well as Ogburn, pp. 296-298.

Arthur Golding's translation and in Latin. Music and dancing. Madness and medicine. This is why the anti-Stratfordians think he didn't do it: The locus classicus here is Looney. To Posy's list should be added that Looney chose Oxford because he favored the ABABCC rhyme scheme, as did Shakespeare in Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. This scheme is more common than Looney thought it was, but we will see another example of it later.

Shakespeare of Stratford was a wool-dealer and lent money for interest. Shakespeare of the plays doesn't care about money. 'Who steals my purse steals trash."

Shakespeare even knew some Spanish: See Hotson, First Night, pp. 113-117.

Shakespeare used, what, nearly two hundred sources? How many books did Richard Field print a year?: Kathman makes a persuasive case for Field's having access to some of Shakespeare's significant sources; Kathman, "Shakespeare and Richard Field." But Enid Jolly makes a similar case for Shakespearean sources in Burghley's library: Jolly, "Shakespeare and Burghley's Library." For those who wish to explore the Vautrollier/Field connection in more detail, I've included here a list of the books in the British Library known to have been printed by either the Vautrolliers or Field.

Field's personal situation makes the connection with Shakespeare slightly more tenuous. On February 2, 1587, at the age of 25, he finished his apprenticeship and was made free of the Stationers' Company. For the previous year, he had been working under George Bishop; before that, he had apprenticed under Thomas Vautrollier.

In July 1587, Thomas Vautrollier died. Jacqueline Vautrollier, Thomas Vautrollier's widow, managed the printing business until February 1588, when she married Richard Field and Field took it over. (Kathman, ibid.) Thus Field, still only 26, was busy establishing himself in the late 1580s, and might have had little time to arrange for Shakespeare to read books.

On the other hand, Oxford's relatives and acquaintances had libraries. Emerson cites large libraries including Lumley's (1000 printed books, 150 MS, 1579), John Dee's, and Cecil's (which she gives as about 1000 books; it was apparently closer to 1800 by the time he died in 1598). The library of Sir Thomas Knyvet, Anne Vavasour's kinsman but Oxford's enemy, included 4000 books in five languages by 1618; Emerson, Everyday Life, p. 57. Lumley was Oxford's kinsman and was sufficiently close to him that Oxford asked Cecil to do a favor for Lumley; Oxford to Cecil, June 20 (?), 1583, Letters, ed. Chiljan, p. 34. Oxford himself had a considerable library, and his son-in-law the Earl of Derby was bookish, though I have not seen any statistics about his library.

Compare Jeanne Jones's descriptions of libraries in Stratford in Family Life in Shakespeare's England; the largest documented library, by far, in or around Stratford contained only 186 books.

The library at Hoghton Tower was apparently far better than Posy gives it credit for. "During [1580-81, at Hoghton] Edmund Campion was writing his 'Ten Reasons' to reject the tenets of the new Anglican Church, and his interest in Hoghton was its fine library of philosophical, theological and historical books." (Jay Iliff, "Shakespeare's secret life," Sunday Express Magazine, August 20, 2000, p. 20, summarizing remarks by Richard Wilson, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Lancaster University.)

Alan Nelson says that Edward Alleyn is known to have had only forty-one books at his death; Nelson, http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ahnelson/witness.html

Shakespeare did not mention books in his will, and no books owned by him are known to survive.

Sobran, pp. 156-157, gives a handy list of Shakespeare's major sources; see also Bullough and Baker.

Hawking: See Ogburn, pp. 266-269; but Posy is wrong here. Father John Gerard, in his Autobiography of a Hunted Priest (written 1609) gives a telling anecdote about how he evaded capture during his early days in England. His actions show that the countryfolk were used to seeing falconers on land that wasn't theirs, at least while they were hunting for their birds:

Dressed as a gentleman in search of his hawk, Gerard travelled cross-country for several days in this way.

Gerard does mention, though, that it is hard for someone to use the correct technical terminology without being familiar with the sport.

Gerard, the son of a wealthy gentleman, had hunted and hawked in his youth.

(Katherine Neville, talking with me about the size of libraries and the Shakespeare authorship controversy, said that no one would mention whether or not an author had a large library, so it is not significant that no one mentions Shakespeare's hypothetical large library. As anyone who has read Katherine's books could guess, Katherine's research library is huge. I originally found John Gerard's book in it.

(Thanks, Katherine!)

William Shakespeare's father left a Catholic confession of faith: Honan, pp. 38-39.

Even Elizabeth's accession is staged like a play: David Starkey traces this anecdote only as far back as Sir Robert Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia and provides a more convincing alternative; Starkey, Elizabeth, pp. 239 ff. Starkey makes the point that Elizabeth was a master of stagecraft and that her entrance into London was a new form of pageant, p. 270. Elizabeth was published a year after Posy and Joe have their conversation, so neither of them can cite it, but I can.

Spying: Posy is calling on Charles Nicholl's marvelous The Reckoning and Alan Haynes' The English Secret Service.

Thanks to the Diesel Café, Davis Sq., Somerville

The English Romayne Life: Munday, Anthony. The English Romayne Life….Written by A.M. sometime the Popes Scholler in the Seminaries among them. Honos alit Artes. London: John Charleworth for Nicholas Ling, 1582. P. 17 particularly notes Catholic priests in Warwickshire.

When [Munday] was twenty, early twenties: He was born in either 1553 or 1560, with the preference going to the earlier date.

Evidence of the Sonnets that Shakespeare is working for Cecil and is therefore a spy: This is original to Posy (as far as I know). There is little doubt, though, that Shakespeare was influenced by Marlowe; Honan speaks eloquently about Marlowe's influence, Shakespeare, pp. 123-126, and we know from Nicholl and elsewhere Marlowe's connections with the Elizabethan espionage network.

Background of Southampton and the Sonnets: Of the many treatments of this interesting narrative, one of the best-grounded is Patrick M. Murphy, "Wriothesley's Resistance: Wardship Practices and Ovidian Narratives in Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis," in Philip C. Kolin, ed., Venus and Adonis: Critical Essays. New York: Garland, 1997, pp. 323-340. The story in brief: Fatherless nobles like Southampton were put under Elizabeth's personal "protection," and she auctioned them off in pieces through the Court of Wards. Some "guardian" might buy the right to manage the noble's estates (for his own benefit, not the young noble's); someone else might get the prize of the poor child's education, for which he could charge the estate.William Cecil, Master of the Court of Wards, apparently had reserved to himself the ultimate plum, the right to name whom Southampton would marry.

However, Nina Green notes that Southampton's wardship was originally sold to Lord Howard of Effingham, and that there is no extant evidence that Cecil had the marriage rights--though it seems likely. See http://drk.sd23.bc.ca/DeVere/phaeton/Oxmyths_other_individuals.pdf, p. 3.

From fairest creatures we desire increase: Sonnet 1.

Wriothesley, Southampton's family name, is pronounced Rosely: Or Rotsley, or (John Rollett argues on Phaeton) Risley. But, given the Elizabethan variety of local accents and their fondness for wordplay, any of these pronunciations could be punned with "rose."

Cecil just tells Southampton to marry the girl: See Murphy, ibid.

Like Nicholl thinks Robert Cecil had Marlowe killed: To some degree, for simplicity, I am making the Cecils responsible for the espionage network in general.

O, how I faint when I of you do write: Sonnet 80.

Was it the proud full sail of his great verse: Sonnet 86.

Almost the only modern English poet he quotes: "Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might:/'Who ever lov'd that lov'd not at first sight?'" As You Like It, Act III, scene 5, quoting Marlowe's Hero and Leander. Shakespeare also quotes Thomas Watson (whom Nicholl identifies as also being involved in espionage); see Nicholl, p. 187-190.

Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write: Sonnet 86.

Shakespeare met Marlowe when they were both working for the Cecils: Original to Posy.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold: Sonnet 73.

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow: Sonnet 2.

OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL OF: Quoted from www.britannica.com, the Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

A good-sized site proving the Oxfordians wrong: http://ShakespeareAuthorship.com , edited and largely written by Dave Kathman. Alan Nelson, author of a biography of Oxford, Monstrous Adversary, has an enormous Web site that transcribes every known document relating to Oxford: http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~ahnelson/

Is there an Oxfordian site:
De Vere Society of Great Britain, http://www.devere.org.uk/
Shakespeare Oxford Society, http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/
Shakespeare Fellowship, http://www.shakespearefellowship.org
Nina Green's Oxford Authorship Site

A picture of Edward de Vere…He had one eyebrow raised, la-di-dah; one side of his mouth was half-smiling, a little angrily. He was the Earl of Oxford and you weren't: This is the portrait Oxford sent from Italy to his wife in around 1575. One wonders what he was thinking.

There are at least two identified portraits, one at approximately 25, one at about 40. See Ogburn, MWS, pp. 471, 600. Barbara Burrus has recently made a very convincing case that the Ashbourne portrait at the Folger, once thought to be of Shakespeare, is of Oxford.

Nicky helped broker the sale of the Leonardo notebook to Bill Gates: No, he didn't.

Maunde Thompson and J. Dover Wilson: See W.W. Greg, ed. Shakespeare's Hand in the Play of Sir Thomas More. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967. First published 1923.

He said he would have such a name, and live retired: Fictional.

Mary Cat brought me a map: Combination of the 1550s fragmentary copperplate map of London now in the Museum of London and in the Dessau Art Gallery, with Braun & Hogenburg's 1572 map of London and Westminster, and William Smith's 1588 map. In other words, this map has everything I want it to have.

Seventeen per cent of London houses still didn't have indoor plumbing: Ca. 1978, I remember reading a report to this effect in the Times. Could I quote you chapter and verse by now? Not a chance. At the time I was staying with someone who had a huge house in the country and no indoor plumbing in London, so it struck me with a peculiar poignancy.

If the fair youth wasn't Southampton, Goscimer thought he was William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke: Honan, p. 181.

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