BIRTH | Shakespeare, April 23

William Shakespeare.

April 23, 2020—This is the day in 1564 we celebrate as the birthday of William Shakespeare, born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.

William Shakespeare is long deceased and did not leave behind a library or personal papers, so we have to guess at his life story from public documents. They tell us that his father, John, was a glove-maker and alderman. 

He married Mary Arden, whose contribution to the family was a farm  inherited from her father. I have visited Mary Arden's farm and when I was there it was staffed by a loyal retinue of people reenacting the roles of farm and village dwellers of Shakespeare's day. However, I have to assume that the farm is closed today because of the horrible coronavirus.

John and Mary Shakespeare's son was baptized Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakespeare, William, son of John Shakespeare. The parents signed the baptismal register of the Church of the Holy Trinity on April 26. Babies were traditionally baptized on the first Sunday or holy feast day after their birth, but the Feast of St. Mark on April 25 was considered unlucky, so surely that's why April 26 was picked instead.

Shakespeare studied at the respected local grammar school, and married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and she was 26 (and pregnant). Their daughter, Susanna, was born six months later and twins Hamnet and Judith followed two years later. Son Hamnet died at age 11, and Shakespeare began to write his tragedy Hamlet soon after. Here is a short (really short) summary of the play by the daughter of a friend: https://twitter.com/petridishes/status/1253385002303225857

SONNETS TO MATURITY | by Shakespeare and Brigid

Sonnet 73: That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold 

by William Shakespeare

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish’ d by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long. 

(Public Domain) 

Sonnet to John and Alice by Brigid Marlin 

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves do drop and mess the floor

I cling to wraps, as I do shake with cold.

I wonder if, perhaps, I'm getting old?

My voice doth croak when sweet I wish to sing

The twilight of my looks is quite a sting;

As I sit faded in the ever-rainy day,

The ashes of my fire are turning gray. 

The fire that Father wished to light up in our belly,

A fierce ambition, is now but turned to jelly.

Still, a new fire flickers from the jel, 

That wakes me from my dolorous spell.

It is the flame that burns for all my kin and friends,

I love them more, knowing ere long it ends. 

(© 2019 by Brigid Marlin) 

ENGLISH MONARCHY | Nov. 17, Elizabeth Becomes Queen after Mary, 1558

November 17, 2017 – This day in 1558, Queen Elizabeth I became England's monarch. Her late father, Henry VIII, had broken with the Catholic Church to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn.

He wanted a male heir. Elizabeth when born was a disappointment. He declared Elizabeth illegitimate and had Anne Boleyn beheaded.

England almost broke out in civil war after the death of Henry VIII.  First Edward VI ruled from the age of nine. The adults who ruled in his name tried to impose Protestantism on the country, including a common prayer book. He died in 1553 at 15 of tuberculosis.

Edward VI specified in his will that he wanted Lady Jane Grey to succeed him as Queen, probably because she was a staunch Protestant. However, Mary had so much popular support that the directive was overturned within two weeks (she is called the "nine-day queen" but in fact her reign was a few days longer).

Instead of Jane, Elizabeth’s half-sister, Mary Tudor, came to power, for a reign nearly as short  as Edward VI. Although she was called "Bloody" Mary, she was not as reckless as her father when it came to making use of the executioner in the Tower of London. Mary tried to restore England to allegiance to the Pope, and she met with resistance. She died five years after becoming queen, leaving behind continued divisions in the country.

Because Elizabeth was a potential heir to the king, her life was in danger from birth. Mary had her in prison for a while. When Elizabeth took the throne, she was 25. She restored England to Protestantism, yes, but she had the good sense not to hunt down Catholics. She required attendance at the Church of England on Sunday, and the same prayer book, but people could believe what they wished.

Easing restrictions on theaters, she opened the way for Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare. It was a time of peace. With the invention of the Gutenberg press, people could afford books. Elizabeth helped the English to have pride in their history and language. Her 45-year reign was one of the great English eras. She said to her subjects late in life:

Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my crown: that I have reigned with your loves. And though you have had, and may have, many mightier and wiser princes sitting in this seat; yet you never had, nor shall have any that will love you better.

She also said:

I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too. 

England was less divided at the end of her reign. She was the last of the Tudors. How much the country owed to her would become crystal clear after her death, as internal strife intensified under James I, Charles I and the Parliamentary rule of Oliver Cromwell. This was a time when many English people left for the American colonies to escape the religious wars in the Mother Country.