The Shakespeare Paper Trail: The Early Years
By Michael Wood
He is named in only three documents relating to his formative years - was Shakespeare
deliberately covering his tracks? Michael Wood goes on a paper trail, looking for the answer to
this question.
Looking for clues
Shakespeare's biography has long been a source of controversy. He's one of the greatest writers in
the world, yet what we know of the events of the first 28 years of his life could be written on the
back of a postage stamp (he lived to be 52). What is particularly frustrating is that the crucial ten
years of 1582-92 - between his marriage and his emergence as a playwright in London - have so
far yielded only three authentic documents that name him.
'... the biographer can see the writer's early years only through the eyes of those around him.'
These are two baptismal records documenting the birth of his three children (a girl and twins - a
boy and a girl), and a record of a court case of 1587, in which his family tried to recover property
lost when his father's business collapsed. So the biographer can see the writer's early years only
through the eyes of those around him.
This scarcity of real knowledge has led to theories that Shakespeare never actually existed, but
was really the playwright Christopher Marlowe, the poet and politician Francis Bacon, or the Earl
of Oxford - and many of these ideas still have a wide popular currency. It is now mostly thought
by serious historians, however, that these theories are baseless: the later years of Shakespeare's life
are in fact relatively well documented, for someone of his social class and profession.
Despite this, his early biography has yet to be convincingly anchored in his turbulent times, so a
fresh look at the limited range of historical documents relating to the period from his birth until
1592 - the time when a little more starts to be known about him - may offer some interesting clues
to his life as a young man.
Revolutionary times
Shakespeare was born in Stratford upon Avon in 1564, only five years or so into the reign of
Elizabeth I. The local church has a record of his baptism on 26 April, so he was a born maybe
three or four days earlier. His mother was Mary Arden, daughter of a well-off farmer from
Wilmcote, South Warwickshire, and a descendent of the Ardens of Park Hall, an important
Catholic family in the area.
'... by the turn of the century only a minority of Queen Elizabeth's subjects remained true to the old
faith. '
William's father, John Shakespeare, was a former farmer from Snitterfield, also in South
Warwickshire. He became a glover, and rose to be alderman and then mayor of
Stratford-upon-Avon when William was still a boy. John himself is particularly well documented,
being named in dozens of documents, and recent finds have included fascinating evidence -
reported by Queen Elizabeth's government informers - concerning his illegal money lending and
wool dealing activities.
The year 1564 was an extraordinary time to be born, for this was the time of the great cultural
revolution in England. In the preceding 12 years, the state religion had changed from the hard line
Protestantism of Edward VI to the persecuting Catholicism of Queen Mary - and then back again
to a less repressive form of Protestantism under Elizabeth I.
In the aftermath of the defeat of the Spanish Armada (when, in 1588, Catholic Spain made its
attempt to reinstate a Catholic monarchy in England), the new Protestant establishment triumphed,
and by the turn of the century only a minority of Queen Elizabeth's subjects remained true to the
old faith.
So Shakespeare's formative years were spent at a time poised between two worlds - those of
Catholicism and Protestantism, of the old and the new, the medieval and the modern. This was the
time reflected in some of the richly informative documents relating to his town and region that
survive.
Spies' stories
South Warwickshire was a strongly Catholic area, especially in the villages in the Forest of Arden,
where both William's parents were born. Government spies were very active in those years,
keeping an eye open for signs of treason - especially among Catholics. The spies' reports,
astonishingly, show a dozen Catholic priests from Queen Mary's day continuing to work as parish
vicars in Arden in 1585 - one of them may well have performed the marriage ceremony between
William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.
Stratford-upon-Avon's Guild Chapel ? Other reports show that during the time that William's
father served as mayor of Stratford, officers delayed as long as possible before removing Catholic
murals and vestments from the local chapel; some wall paintings were never destroyed. Perhaps
even more significant, of the six schoolmasters employed by the corporation at the grammar
school during Shakespeare's youth, four were Catholic sympathisers. Of these, Simon Hunt, who
probably taught the future playwright, is known to have later become a Jesuit.
'In his life in the family, in the town, at school and at church he grew up between two worlds.'
This fascinating local picture mirrors the national situation, and is perhaps a key to Shakespeare's
outlook on the world. In his life in the family, in the town, at school and at church he grew up
between two worlds.
In the privacy of home the old faith may have been foremost. His grandfather, Robert Arden, left a
will (of 1556) that demonstrates a strongly Catholic belief. His father, John Shakespeare, appears
on a list of Catholic recusants in 1592; and a document discovered quite recently (in 1964), in the
Maidstone church court records, shows that even his daughter Susanna was summonsed, as late as
1606, for refusing to take Easter Communion.
Surviving change
The Shakespeare family story seems typical of that of many English people in the 16th century.
They held on to their affection for old England, while the state swept away a vast and resonant
world of custom and belief - from fairies to prayers for the dead. By the end of Elizabeth's reign
most of the country had conformed, at least outwardly, to the new faith, but by then Shakespeare
was nearly 40.
Seen in this light, it seems that Shakespeare may have made concealment not only part of his art,
but part perhaps of a deliberate pattern in his life too. It is intriguing, for example, that during his
25 years of lodging in London, with as many as eight addresses indicated in a range of sources, he
is never picked up in church attendance lists - even in those places in London where attendance
was compulsory, and had to be recorded.
'...during his 25 years of lodging in London ...he is never picked up in church attendance lists'
The origins of Shakespeare's professional career are also still controversial. For example, we don't
know where or with whom he first became an actor and writer. After 1592, however, his life in
London becomes clearer. In that year a rave review and a panning by a jealous rival - as an 'upstart
crow' - are our first documented references to him as a London playwright, though he had
probably been living in the city since1589.
Shakespeare's early fame came through history plays - his first being a trilogy on the Wars of the
Roses - and by the end of 1592 he had written their sequel, Richard III. His first definite address is
documented in Bishopsgate tax records, and he is thought to have lived here from 1592, maybe
earlier. The great medieval house of Crosby Place, in Bishopsgate, where Richard III lived (and
which has now been reconstructed in Chelsea), could well have been right outside his window,
and is written into Richard III.
His first great rival and inspirer, Christopher Marlowe, was murdered in May 1593, and this must
have affected the younger man greatly as he approached the height of his powers. The event also
marks a violent end to the period of Shakespeare's early, almost entirely undocumented, years.
Find out more
Books
Shakespeare's Lives by Samuel Schoenbaum (Oxford Paperbacks, 1993)
Shakespeare: A Life by Park Honan (Oxford Paperbacks, 2000)
Ungentle Shakespeare by K Duncan-Jones (Arden Shakespeare, 2002)
In Search of Shakespeare by Michael Wood (BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003)
New Worlds, Lost Worlds by Susan Brigden (Penguin Books, 2001)
Family Life in Shakespeare's England 1570-1630 by Jeanne Jones (Sutton Publishing, 1996)
Places to visit
Shakespeare's Birthplace: This half-timbered building in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, was
bought by Shakespeare's father, John, probably in two stages (in 1556 and 1575). This is the house
where Shakespeare and his brothers and sisters were born and brought up. The Shakespeare
Birthplace Trust completed the re-presentation of the Birthplace in April 2000. Rooms are
furnished as accurately as possible to recreate the interiors as they might have been in the 1570s
and include a glover's workshop.
Anne Hathaway's Cottage: Anne Hathaway's Cottage is in Shottery, a hamlet within the parish of
Stratford but just over a mile from the town centre. It was the childhood home of Shakespeare's
wife, Anne, the daughter of a yeoman farmer, Richard Hathaway.
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust: As well as Shakespeare material of international importance, the
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Records Office holds many thousands of records relating to
Stratford-upon-Avon and the surrounding area. Anyone studying local history in Warwickshire and
neighbouring parts of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, or tracing a family who lived here, is
almost bound to find something of interest.
About the author
Michael Wood is the writer and presenter of many critically acclaimed television series, including
In the Footsteps of...series. Born and educated in Manchester, Michael did postgraduate research
on Anglo-Saxon history at Oxford. Since then he has made over 60 documentary films and written
several best selling books. His films have centred on history, but have also included travel, politics
and cultural history.