William Shakespeare

 

     Coaches were not yet common in Elizabethan England and people who dislike walking could get around the city on horseback. Those arriving at the theatre would need someone to mind their horses and popular story about Shakespeare was that he soon set himself up in a small business minding horses. Acquiring a reputation for honesty, people soon asked for him. In no time at all, he had more business than he could cope with, and he hired a number of young boys whom he would send on his behalf. They would present themselves and say, ‘ I am Shakespeare’s  boy, Sir’.

    The standard of living was low and a skilled workman in the City of London would have earned 10d. (old pence) to 14 d. a day and it cost 1d. to go to the theatre. Shakespeare’s first job in the theatre may have been that of a prompter’s attendant. Traditionally, all new members of a theatre company would have to take this job, which simply meant that he would call the actors when they were to make an appearance on stage.

 

                                                             -6-

  

     Shakespeare and his fellow players were lucky enough to be able to win the patronage of Lord Hudson, The Lord Chamberlain, and his company came to be called the Chamberlain’s Men. The company was made up of about a dozen actors. The actors would double and treble their roles so that in a single play they could introduce 20 or 30 characters. Very little time was given to group rehearsals and actors were only given the words of their own parts. The most important scenes were played between two or three actors or one character would dominate a crowded stage. Shakespeare wrote his plays with the skills of his actors in mind.

   

When Shakespeare became a professional actor he liked living near his work but his success did not mean he left his family for good; he would often return home to Stratford and the pleasures of family life.

   

   

      Success

 

   In1597 William bought New Place, one of the largest and the most beautiful houses in Elizabethan Stratford. He paid for it out of his share of the profits made in the Lord Chamberlain’s Company. The house had been built by Hugh Clopton, a Lord Mayor of London- another local boy who had made good, who also improved the guild chapel which is almost opposite New Place and built the fine stone bridge over the river Avon.

        The house was opposite his old school and Shakespeare would have walked past it every day as a boy. Little did he than realize what heights he was destined for. Now, from his garden, it was his turn to watch the boys coming and going. How sad it was for him not to see his own son amongst them. Hamnet had died the previous year, aged 11. Shakespeare was then 33,  Anne 41, and daughters Susanna 14 and Judith 12.

      There is probably no doubt that some of his manuscripts were written at New Place. First produced the rough and called the ‘foul papers’, they would later have been copied by Shakespeare, or by somebody else. The play would then be licensed for the stage and go to production.

     Although literature was England’s greatest art form there is nothing to show that Shakespeare was concerned about his plays being printed. He wrote to please theatre audiences who would pay to come and listen to them. Not everybody could read and he didn’t write for reading public. It appears that the company would assert its rights on a play when it had been printed without its agreement, or when it needed some extra money.

     Shakespeare’s  plays may well have been popular with Queen Elizabeth l, who loved music and drama. When James l  came to the throne in 1603, he recognized Shakespeare and his company as the leading group of actors, and from then on they were known as the King’s Men.

Shakespeare’s father, John, died in 1601, living just long enough to see his son make a  great success of  his life. However, not everybody was as lucky; of the 2,000 people living in Stratford over 300 were claiming poor relief. The corporation had even warned the alehouse keepers not to increase their misery by selling strong drink.

      

    In 1605 Shakespeare bought the tithes to some land- this was a good investment. In England and Wales the population had increased from 2.2 million in 1525 to 4 million in 1605. With the great increase in births, food prices had risen sharply and there was not enough food. The yeoman farmers who had at least 100 acres of land seemed to be able to offer employment and produce food which people were willing to buy.

    Shakespeare made enough money to build a comfortable life. In 1596, the Shakespeare family were given their coat of arms. The motto chosen was Non sanz droict- not without right. 

 

                                                               -7-

 

 

     The Family Grows Up

 

   In 1607 Shakespeare’s daughter, Susanna, now married John Hall and went to live with him at the property now known as Hall’s Croft. A year later, Elizabeth, their daughter, was born, in the same year that Shakespeare mother, Mary, died.

John Hall was a successful doctor and a most interesting man. It is thought that Shakespeare gained most of his knowledge about medicine from him. Shakespeare left New Place to John and Susanna in his will, and they moved there after he died.

Dr Hall was a son of a well-to-do Bedfordshire physician and was brought up in Carlton, about 30 miles from Cambridge. He settled in Stratford about 1600 after completing his MA degree at Queen’s College in 1594.

   

      John Hall treated all sorts of diseases and                   My noble father,

was a great herbalist. He was well known for                 I do perceive here a divided duty;

his remedy for scurvy, a disease cause by                     To you I am bound for life and education;

Elizabethan diet which, although rich salt                       My life and education both do learn me

meat and fish, was deficient in fresh fruit                        How to respect you;

and vegetables. His remedy was reach in                             you are the lord of duty,

vitamin C and contained watercress, brooklime,             I am hitherto your daughter:

scurvy grass and various other roots and herbs.                       But here is my husband;

The mixture was then boiled in beer and                         And so much duty as my mother show’d

flavoured with sugar, cinnamon and                                 To you, preferring you before her father, 

juniper berries.                                                                  So much I challenge that I may profess

                                                                                           Due to the Moor, my lord.    

 

                                                                                            Othello, Act 1, Scene 3.

                                                                                             Desdemona speaking.

 

 

  Shakespeare’s granddaughter, Elizabeth, married Thomas Nash and lived in the house  next door to New Place. When Thomas died she married Sir John Barnard of Abingdon. She had no children of either of her two marriages and she died in 1670.

   Shakespeare’s daughter, Judith, married Thomas Quiney in 1616. Not much is known about him; some say he was a drunk. They had three sons, but all died without leaving any children.