Shakespeare's family
of John Pardu in 1569; but we do not know his age and residence, and
there is no clue to any relationship with him.
A William prised the goods of Robert Shakespeare of Wroxall, 1565, and
the goods of John Shaxper of Rowington, 1574.
An Anthony occurs among the billmen of Snitterfield in the muster book
of 1569. John Shakespeare of Rowington, who held land at Wroxall 22
Henry VIII., had a son Antonio, rather an unusual name. Tradition says
the poet had an uncle or grand-uncle, Antonio. But we must beware of
using tradition as a staff to lean upon. No Anthony appears in any
family papers. An Antony Shaxspeare married Joane Whitrefe at Budbrook
(in which parish is Hampton Corley), November 14, 1573; and in the
Register we find: "Henrie Shackspere sonne of Shackspere and Joane his
wife, baptized 24th March, 1575." "Elizabeth, daughter to Antony
Shaksper of Hamton, baptized Feb. 10th, 1583," in the Stratford
Registers; and "Henry, son of Antonio Shakespeare, buried June 18th,
1583," in Clifford Chambers. This wandering makes his life rather
confusing to us.
Thomas Shakespeare _might_ have been an uncle. Thomas was presented as a
regrator or forestaller of barley and wheat at Snitterfield Court, held
April, 1575. A Thomas, probably the same, appears in Stratford Records
between 23 and 28 Elizabeth. He was sued for the price of malted barley
in 23 Elizabeth. He had a son named John, baptized at Snitterfield March
10, 1581-2. Of this child we know nothing further, but I make a
suggestion in a later chapter that may interest readers.
There was a Johanna Shakespeare,[229] whose burial record in
Snitterfield, in 1595, makes no allusion to any male relative. She might
have been an aunt, a great-aunt, or even a grandmother of the poet, and
the widow of Richard. Similar entries of wives and widows have been
found in the neighbourhood. Joan was an important name in John
Shakespeare's eyes, and he gave the name to two of his daughters.
Richard had probably a daughter who became Mrs. Green. A "Thomas Green,
_alias_ Shakespeare," was buried in Stratford-on-Avon, March 6, 1590. He
was probably the father of Thomas Green, solicitor, in whose "Diary and
Correspondence" we find allusions to his cousin Shakespeare: "My cosen
Shakspeare has commyng yesterday to towne; I went to see him how he
did."[230] Jovis, Nov. 17.
It was he who conducted the Addenbrooke prosecution (1608), at which
time, we know not for what reason, he appears to have been living in
Shakespeare's home, New Place, in Stratford-on-Avon.
There might have been an indefinite number of cousins by marriage among
the Hathaways. I only mention this now in relation to one strange
example of the desire of association somehow with Shakespeare. In the
catalogue of the Shakespeare Library of Warwick Castle is the title of a
book written by a Hathaway clergyman of Tewkesbury, said to be "a
descendant of Anne Hathaway," ignoring the fact that _Anne Hathaway_ was
_Mrs. Shakespeare_. Yet he might after all have been a cousin twice
removed.
FOOTNOTES:
[220] See "Valor Ecclesiasticus," Warwickshire, at Dissolution, Henry
VIII.
[221] Worcester wills.
[222] _Ibid._
[223] Admin. Bond at Worcester.
[224] "Henricus Shaksper, frater dicti Johannis," February 1, 29
Elizabeth, 1587.
[225] Snitterfield Registers.
[226] Henry had a fight with Edward Cornwall, and drew blood, October
12, 1574. See Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," vol. ii., p. 209.
[227] Ingon is in the parish of Hampton-on-Avon.
[228] Malone's "Life," vol. ii., p. 23, ed. 1821.
[229] "Johana Shaxspere mortua est et sepulta January quinto, anno
1595." No record has been found of the death of Richard's wife, if this
be not she.
[230] Green's "Diary," Nov. 17, 1614, Stratford-on-Avon Records. See
also Ingleby's "Shakespeare and the Enclosure of Welcombe." Thomas Green
was a Councillor of Middle Temple and a solicitor. (See Quyney's Town
Accounts, January and February, 1600-1.) He was appointed Steward of the
Court of Record, Stratford-on-Avon, on September 7, 1603. There was no
Town Clerk then, and the Steward did the duties until the Charter
granted to the town by James I., July 8, 1610, created the office of
Town Clerk. He held part of the remainder of the tithes, the half of
which were held by Shakespeare.
CHAPTER XII
CONTEMPORARY WARWICKSHIRE SHAKESPEARES
Outside the immediate family of the poet there were many contemporaries
in Warwickshire, who may have been connected in some far-off degree.
There was the John Shakespeare, shoemaker, who came to Stratford about
1580, probably as apprentice or journeyman of Roberts, the shoemaker, in
whose house he dwelt till 1594, and whose daughter Margery he
married.[231] He became Member of the Company of Shoemakers and
Saddlers, paying L3, in 1580, and Master of the Shoemakers' Company, and
was elected Ale-taster for the town in 1585. He paid 30s. for his
freedom January 19, 1585-86, and became Constable in the autumn of 1586.
His wife was buried on October 29, 1587, but he must shortly afterwards
have married again, as he had three children christened[232] in the
parish church. On February 17, 1587, he was in receipt of Thomas Oken's
money, and in 1588 became guardian to Thomas Roberts's sons. The poet's
father, after 1570, was always mentioned as Mr. John Shakespeare; this
other appears simply as John, or John the Shoemaker, or Corvizer, or
some other epithet (see Records of Stratford-on-Avon). Hunter thinks
that he was the third son of Thomas Shakespeare, a shoemaker, of
Warwick, who held land under the manor of Balsall, and mentioned in his
will, 1557, four children--William, Thomas, John and Joan, ux. Francis
Ley, mentioned in Warwick registers.
This John of Stratford seems to have left the town before 1595, as his
house was inhabited by others then, and no further mention appears of
him in record or register.
Beside John Shakespeare's _double_ of Stratford-on-Avon, there was a
John Shakespeare of Clifford Chambers, a village a mile or two out of
Stratford, who has also been confused with him. He married there, on
October 15, 1560, Julian Hobbyns, widow. He sued William Smith, of
Stratford, for debt, in 1572; and in the will of John Ashwell, of
Stratford, 1583, it is stated that "John Shakespeare, of Clifford
Chambers, was in his debt." It is quite probable he was the John often
in debt, who had "no goods to seize," in Stratford-on-Avon, generally
supposed to be the poet's father.
Other notices of the name, besides the Henry and Antonio
above-mentioned, appear in the Clifford Registers. Charles Malary and
Alice Shakespeare were married in 1579. Katharine Morris, servant to
John Shakespeare, was buried in 1587; Julian Shakespere buried July 22,
1608; John Shakespere buried October 20, 1610. His will was proved at
Gloucester in 1611. These latter dates set the question of identity at
rest.
An agricultural John was in occupation of Ingon in 1570.[233] I believe
him to be our John, the brother and surety of Henry. We must not forget
that as Ingon was so near Snitterfield, John of Ingon _may_ be the John
Shakespeare, _Agricola_, of Snitterfield, who administered Richard's
goods, and was fined, October 1, 1561, at the Snitterfield Court. And
there are many Johns of Rowington, fully entered in Mr. Rylands'
"Records of Rowington."
Just as his father had _doubles_, so had William. There was a William
Shakespeare drowned in the Avon, and buried at St. Nicholas, Warwick,
July 6, 1579.[234] The world would not have known what it had lost had
this fate overtaken "our Will," but it makes us shiver now as we think
of it, even as a past possibility. It has been thought that this youth
was the son of Thomas Shakespeare, shoemaker, of Warwick, and brother of
John the shoemaker of Stratford. But he seems rather young for that
relationship.
Another contemporary William seems to have been in a small way of
business as a farmers' agent, sometimes as a lender, and sometimes as a
borrower. Among the Shakespeare manuscripts at Warwick Castle are
preserved bonds for 2s. 6d. for a quarter of a year's use of L5 by
William Shakespeare in 1620, 1624, and 1626. Another of "three quarters
of oats to Will Shakespeare for a quarter's use of L5 due upon the 10th
of May last, 1621," and some for the sale of malt.[235]
It has seemed to me much more than probable that this was the William
who sued Philip Rogers in the Court of Record at Stratford-on-Avon,[236]
in 1604 for the price of a strike of malt sold and other money due. "The
declaration filed by William Shexspere" in the Court has been accepted
by Halliwell-Phillipps and all the Baconians as concerning the poet.
But, in the first place, any such declaration at that date would then
have designated our Shakespeare "gent."; in the second, he would have
employed his cousin, Thomas Greene, as his attorney, and not William
Tetherton, and Thomas Greene would have spelt his name otherwise than it
is written. In the third place, there is no corroborative testimony that
the poet ever sold malt, and there is concerning this contemporary
William.
The early registers of Rowington are lost, but we have shown from the
wills that there were Shakespeares there bearing this Christian name.
The Richard of Rowington who died in 1561 mentions a son William in his
will. The second Richard of that place had a son William mentioned in
the will of 1591. The third Richard and his wife Elizabeth had four
sons--William, Richard, Thomas, John, and a daughter Joan. William had
worked as a labourer without wages on his father's property, with
expectation of succeeding to it. But some years before his father's
death he went, with his father's permission, out to service, and married
a certain Mrs. Margery. His father was incensed against him, and left
the little property to his youngest son, John, November 13, 1613, proved
in 1614.[237] Legal proceedings were commenced in 1614 at Worcester by
William about the property of his mother, Elizabeth. A Chancery suit
between the brothers was instituted in the Star Chamber,[238] and the
case was heard at Warwick, in 1616, before four Commissioners, one of
whom was Francis Collins, gent., the overseer of the will of the poet.
William the plaintiff was then about forty years old. This is probably
the same man who felt injured by his family while supported by his
wife's money in his lawsuits. The mark of a William Shakespeare is found
on a roll of the Customs of the Manor of Rowington, confirmed by the
jury in 1614. Was he the same? And if not, which of these was the
William Shakespeare whose name appears in the list of the trained
soldiers of Rowington,[239] taken before Sir Fulke Greville at Alcester,
September 23, 1605, erroneously by some believed to be the poet?[240]
There is preserved a petition of William Shaxsper, Richard Shuter, and
others of Rowington, co. Warwick, to the Committee for the Safety of
Coventry and Warwick. About St. Andrew's Day they had some sea-coal
which lay at Barford, near Warwick, which they had sold to Lady Lucy,
but the soldiers of the city finding fuel scarce, had burnt L5 10s.
worth of it. They pray satisfaction for their coals. Underwritten by Mr.
Basnet is an order to pay this sum, April, 1646.[241]
A William Shakespeare, of Hatton, married Barbara Stiffe in 1589; styled
"gent." at baptism of his daughter _Susannah_, 1596. John Weale granted
to Job Throgmorton the cottage in which William Shakespeare dwelt at
Haseley, March 4, 1597.[242]
In the Star Chamber proceedings is the notice of a fine levied "inter
Willielmum Shackespeare et Georgium Shackespeare, quer. et Thomam
Spencer, arm. Christopherum Flecknoe et Thomam Thompson deforc. de octo
acris pasturae cum pertinentiis in Claverdon, alias Claredon, 12 Jac. I.