Shakespeare: A Life Read Free Page A

fellowships at the Huntington Library and at the Folger
Shakespeare Library, and grants from the Leeds English School and the
International Shakespeare Association. I have been especially helped at
the Huntington, the Newberry, and the Folger, at the Birthplace
Records Office in Stratford, at Worcester, Tewkesbury, and the
archives of Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, and at those county record
offices mentioned in the notes. Stanley Wells asked to read this work
in draft, and I am deeply grateful for his and Ernst Honigmann's
comments on the manuscript, and to Martin Banham, Inga-Stina Ewbank,
David Hopkinson, and Douglas Jefferson for comments on parts of it.
Kathleen Tillotsonand Paul Turnerhelped in many ways; I have turned
repeatedly to Andrew Gurr for generous advice and debate, and to
Gerald and Moira Habberjam in matters of genealogy and palaeography. I
am also glad to acknowledge the help of Robert Bearman, J. W. Binns,
Michael Brennan, Susan Brock, Martin Butler, H. Neville Davies, R. A.
Foakes, Donald Foster, Levi Fox, G. K. Hunter, Jeanne E. Jones, D. P.
Kirby, Sir Ian McKellen, Tom Matheson, Peter Meredith, Richard
Pennington, Roger Pringle, Elizabeth Williams, Ian Wilson, and Laetitia
Yeandle. The late Fredson Bowers, Kenneth Muir, Lawrence Ragan, and
Samuel Schoenbaum advised me more than once, and I am grate-
    -xiv-

ful for a note from the late A. L. Rowse. None of these persons can be
held responsible for any of my blunders. The largest debt is to my
family, all of them, including my elder daughter Corinna Honan and my
brother W. H. Honan who enhanced my clarity, and my wife Jeannette, who
made the task possible over ten years and who encouraged my researches
long before.
    P. H.
    -xv-

A NOTE ON CONVENTIONS USED IN THE TEXT
    In Shakespeare's time, the year began on 25 March (or Lady Day), but in
this book it is assumed that the year starts on I January.
    My citations from Shakespeare are normally to the texts and line numbers in The Complete Works ,
ed. Stanley Wells, Gary Taylor, et al. ( Oxford, 1986). In a few
cases, I have quoted from the companion volume of Shakespeare, The Complete Works: Original-Spelling Edition ( Oxford, 1986) ( O-S ).
    It has seemed wise to respect the original spelling of historical
documents when the sense of the quoted words is clear; but the older
form of a letter (such as 'v' for 'u', or 'i' for 'j') is changed in
some instances. Italicized letters within a quoted word ('her
majestie') and [bracketed] words signify modern additions, such as a
spelling out in full. For clarity, with longer extracts dating from
after Shakespeare's early years, I have sometimes used modern spelling.
    I have used Mr and Mrs to signify 'Master' and 'Mistress' as distinct
from the modern 'Mr' and 'Mrs'. In Shakespeare's day the rank (or
title) of Master usually conveyed a special degree of social
distinction or gentlehood.
    -xvi-

1
A STRATFORD YOUTH
    -1-

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-2-

1
BIRTH
the cruel times before ( John Foxe)
    Stratford
    Shakespeare's life began near the reflecting, gleaming river Avon,
which today flows past Stratford's Church of the Holy Trinity where he
lies buried, and past a theatre where his dramas are seen and heard
by visitors from all nations. In rare flood times, the river was wild
and destructive, sweeping away bridges and much in its path, but
normally it was hospitable to truant boys or patient fishermen, and no
guttered rocks or congregated sands imperilled any large keel here.
The river arises in grassy highland in the east of England near
Naseby, and for miles hardly deserves the name Avon, or 'river', which
has echoes all over Celtic Europe: the Avon or Aven in Brittany, the
Avenza in Italy, and the Avona in Spain. This Avon is at first only a
runnel and then a willow-bordered stream, but below the old city of
Warwick it is slow and stately as it divides Warwickshire and cuts the
middle of England.
    To