The Lodger Shakespeare Read online

  Table of Contents

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  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  List of Illustrations

  Preface

  PART ONE - ‘One Mr Shakespeare’

  Chapter 1 - The deposition

  Chapter 2 - Turning forty

  Chapter 3 - Sugar and gall

  Chapter 4 - Shakespeare in London

  PART TWO - Silver Street

  Chapter 5 - The house on the corner

  Chapter 6 - The neighbourhood

  Chapter 7 - ‘Houshould stuffe’

  Chapter 8 - The chamber

  PART THREE - The Mountjoys

  Chapter 9 - Early years

  Chapter 10 - St Martin le Grand

  Chapter 11 - Success and danger

  Chapter 12 - Dr Forman’s casebook

  Chapter 13 - The me’nage

  PART FOUR - Tiremaking

  Chapter 14 - Tires and wigs

  Chapter 15 - The ‘tire-valiant’

  Chapter 16 - In the workshop

  Chapter 17 - The underpropper

  PART FIVE - Among Strangers

  Chapter 18 - Blackfriars and Navarre

  Chapter 19 - Shakespeare’s aliens

  Chapter 20 - Dark ladies

  PART SIX - Sex & the City

  Chapter 21 - Enter George Wilkins

  Chapter 22 - The Miseries

  Chapter 23 - Prostitutes and players

  Chapter 24 - Customer satisfaction

  Chapter 25 - To Brainforde

  Chapter 26 - ‘At his game’

  PART SEVEN - Making Sure

  Chapter 27 - A handfasting

  Chapter 28 - ‘They have married me!’

  Chapter 29 - Losing a daughter

  Epilogue

  Appendix: - The Belott-Mountjoy Papers

  Notes

  Sources

  Index

  FOR MORE FROM CHARLES NICHOLL, LOOK FOR THE

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  THE LODGER SHAKESPEARE

  Charles Nicholl is a historian, biographer, and travel writer. His books include The Reckoning (winner of the James Tait Black Prize for biography and the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award for nonfiction), A Cup of News: The Life of Thomas Nashe, Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (National Portrait Gallery Insights series), and Somebody Else: Arthur Rimbaud in Africa (winner of the Hawthornden Prize). His most recent book was the acclaimed biography Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind, which has been published in seventeen languages.

  Praise for The Lodger Shakespeare

  “Mr. Nicholl’s efforts [bear] delicious fruit. The Lodger Shakespeare ... opens a window onto Jacobean London and the swirl of sights and sensations that surrounded Shakespeare and inevitably found their way into his plays. From a mere handful of dry facts embedded in an obscure lawsuit, Mr. Nicholl brings forth a gaudy, tumultuous, richly imagined world.”—William Grimes, The New York Times

  “[An] entertaining biographical study of Shakespeare. . . . Through imaginative use of primary source material, [Nicholl] culls the ‘secret flavours of particularity’ that distinguished a corner of London at the turn of the seventeenth century. . . . With lively readings of the plays and a nuanced portrait of their author, he capably captures ‘the simmering randiness of the age.’”—The New Yorker

  “The Lodger Shakespeare enhances our sense of a great dramatist’s work and world by looking at the people around him. [Nicholl’s] prose moves steadily along, eschews gush, jargon and digression, and generally inspires confidence. This is the voice of a man who knows his stuff. A pro.”

  —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

  “Nicholl’s narrative technique is one of exhaustive research and elegant prose; [his] take is quietly pioneering: a new lens and an unaired episode. But beyond a claim to academic innovation, The Lodger Shakespeare is a brave and spotless statement on how we view W.S., and the subject of those we deem ‘great.’”—Dan Fall, The Brooklyn Rail

  “Nicholl takes us into Shakespeare’s life on Silver Street, the squalid underworld of medieval London. Taverns that double as brothels, cantankerous pimps, ambitious prostitutes, famed quacks—it’s all here. . . . It is thrilling, and also revealing, to brush through Charles Nicholl’s expert reconstruction of the one time that the Bard’s words were actually reported.”—Vikram Johri, St. Petersburg Times

  William Shakespeare with underpropper (see Chapter 17)

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  Published by the Penguin Group

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  First published in Great Britain as The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street

  by Allen Lane, a division of Penguin Books Ltd 2007

  First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin,

  a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2008

  Published in Penguin Books (UK) 2008

  Published in Penguin Books (USA) 2008

  Copyright © Charles Nicholl, 2007

  All rights reserved

  eISBN : 978-1-101-01125-6

  1. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. 2. Dramatists, English—Early modern, 1500-1700—

  Biography. 3. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616—Homes and haunts—England—London.

  4. Cripplegate (London, England)—Social life and customs. I. Title.

  PR2907.N53 2008

  822.3’3—dc22

  [B]

  2007042553

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  In memory of

  Jan Farrell

  and

  Mary Ensor

  ‘Every contact leaves traces . . .’

  Edmond Locard, Manuel de Technique Policière, 1923

  List of Illustrations

  Frontispiece. Engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout (second state). Title-page illustration from Mr William Shakepeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies [the First Folio], 1623.

  Map. The ‘Agas’ map of London, c. 1561. Copyright © Guildhall Library, London.

  1. Shakespeare’s deposition at the Court of Requests, 11 May 1612 (PRO REQ 4/1/4). Copyright © The National Archives.

  2. Jacobean law-court. Seventeenth-century woodcut reproduced in The Roxburghe Ballads, ed. William Chappell and J. W. Ebsworth (The Ballad Society, 1871-91).

 
3. Witness-list for the Belott-Mountjoy suit, May 1612 (PRO REQ 1/199). Copyright © The National Archives.

  4. Signatures of Daniel Nicholas, William Eaton, Noel Mountjoy and Humphrey Fludd, May-June 1612 (PRO REQ 4/1/4). Copyright © The National Archives.

  5. The Wallaces at the Record Office, c. 1909. Papers of Charles William Wallace, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. (Box 15 B 37).

  6. Detail from the ‘Agas’ map, c. 1561. Copyright © Guildhall Library, London.

  7. The Coopers’ Arms, Silver Street, c. 1910. From Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 120, March 1910. Photo: Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.

  8. St Giles, Cripplegate, after the bombs, 1941. Pen, ink and wash drawing by Dennis Flanders. Guildhall Library Print Room, Flanders Collection (258/GIL Q4768985). Copyright © Estate of the artist.

  9. Plaque on the site of St Olave’s, Silver Street. Photo: the author.

  10. John Banister at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall, 1580. Glasgow University Library (Hunter MS 364 Top v 14, fol. 59). Photo: The Bridgeman Art Library.

  11. Title-page illustration from Thomas Dekker, Dekker his Dreame (1620).

  12. Le Cousturier by Jean LeClerc, c. 1600. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Photo: Archives Charmet/The Bridgeman Art Library.

  13. Extract from the subsidy roll for Aldersgate ward, 1582 (PRO E179/251/16, fol. 24). Copyright © The National Archives.

  14. ‘Mrs Monjoyes childe’. Burial register of St Olave’s, Silver Street, 27 February 1596. Guildhall Library (MS 6534, fol. 106). Copyright © Guildhall Library, London.

  15. Marie Mountjoy visits Simon Forman, 22 November 1597 (Bodleian, Ashmole MS 226, fol. 254v). Copyright © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

  16. Engraved portrait of Simon Forman, eighteenth century. Photo: Smithsonian Institution Library, Washington DC.

  17. Henry Wood visits Forman, 20 March 1598 (Bodleian, Ashmole MS 195, fol. 15V). Copyright © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

  18. Marie Mountjoy and ‘Madam Kitson’ in Forman’s casebook, c. January 1598 (Bodleian, Ashmole MS 226, fol. 310V). Copyright © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

  19. A woman visiting an astrologer. Seventeenth-century woodcut reproduced in The Roxburghe Ballads, ed. William Chappell and J. W. Ebsworth (The Ballad Society, 1871-91).

  20. An unknown woman in a ballet costume, c. 1580, French school (Chaˆteaux de Versailles et de Trianon). Copyright © Photo RMN-Franck Raux.

  21. A lady (perhaps Lucy Harington, Countess of Bedford) costumed as a ‘Power of Juno’, attributed to John de Critz the elder, c. 1606. Woburn Abbey. By kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Bedford and the Trustees of the Bedford Estates.

  22. A scene from Titus Andronicus by Henry Peacham, c. 1594. Longleat House, Warminster, Wilts (Portland Papers 1, fol. 159V). By kind permission of the Marquess of Bath.

  23. Extract from Queen Anne’s household accounts, 1604-5 (PRO SC 6/JAS1/1646, fol. 29r). Copyright © The National Archives.

  24. Detail from a portrait of Queen Anne by Marcus Gheeraerts the younger, c. 1605-10. Woburn Abbey. By kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Bedford and the Trustees of the Bedford Estates.

  25. Signature of George Wilkins, 19 June 1612 (PRO REQ 4/1/4). Copyright © The National Archives.

  26. Title-page of George Wilkins, Miseries of Inforst Mariage, 1607.

  27. Customers eating in a brothel. Seventeenth-century woodcut reproduced in The Roxburghe Ballads, ed. William Chappell and J. W. Ebsworth (The Ballad Society, 1871-91).

  28. Frontispiece to Nicholas Goodman, Holland’s Leaguer, 1632.

  29. Detail from an allegorical scene showing Virtue confronting Vice by Isaac Oliver, c. 1590-95. Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.

  30. A wherry on the Thames near London Bridge, from the ‘Album Amicorum’ of Michael van Meer, 1614. Edinburgh University Library (Laing MS III 283, fol. 408v).

  31. The Three Pigeons, Brentford. Detail from A View of the Old Market House, engraving by G. F. Bragg, 1849. Photo: Chiswick Public Library, Hounslow Local Studies Centre.

  32. A handfasting. Detail from Supper with Betrothal by Gerrit van Honthorst, c. 1625. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Photo: Scala, Florence.

  33. Wedding of Stephen Belott and Mary Mountjoy. Marriage register of St Olave’s, Silver Street, 19 November 1604. Guildhall Library (MS 6534, fol. 7v). Copyright © Guildhall Library, London.

  34. Burial of Marie Mountjoy. Burial register of St Olave’s, Silver Street, 30 October 1606. Guildhall Library (MS 6534, fol. 110). Copyright © Guildhall Library, London.

  35. Will of Christopher Mountjoy, 26 January 1620. Peculiar Court of the Dean & Chapter of St Paul’s, Registrum Testamentorum 1608-33. Guildhall Library (MS 25626/4, fol. 179). Copyright © Guildhall Library, London.

  36. Burial of Christopher Mountjoy. Burial register of St Giles, Cripplegate, 29 March 1620. Guildhall Library (MS 6419/2, unfoliated). Copyright © Guildhall Library, London.

  Preface

  This book looks into some aspects of Shakespeare’s life in London over a couple of years in the early seventeenth century. Larger issues of interpretation belong to the book itself. I will confine this preface to a few procedural points and some hearty thanks.

  Many Jacobean documents use the ‘old style’ year, which ran from 25 March (‘Lady Day’). This is useful to know when reading them - it means that an event dated 1 January 1605 took place a month after an event dated 1 December 1605 - but is liable to cause confusion when quoting them. Where necessary I have amended to modern style (in the example cited I would give the first date as 1 January 1606).

  On the matter of original spellings the demands of authenticity and readability pull in opposite directions. To modernize everything is to lose a certain richness - an orthographic brogue intrinsic to the period. On the other hand, quoting everything in archaic spelling can make things hard going for the reader. Inconsistency has seemed a lesser evil than either of these. I have tended to quote documents, letters, diaries and so on in original spelling, and literary texts in modern form.

  Sums of money mentioned in the text cannot be correlated precisely with modern values. Based on the retail price index, it is estimated that £1 in 1604 had a purchasing power equivalent to about £144 in 2006. However, this is not always helpful as an overall conversion factor. In 1604 you could lease a large London town-house for £20 per annum, buy an unbound copy of Hamlet for sixpence, and drink a pint of beer for a halfpenny. A printer paid £2 (‘forty shillings and an odd pottle of wine’) for a pamphlet, and the author might get the same again for a slavish dedication to ‘my Lord What-call-ye-him’. Wages were low: a labourer might earn 5 shillings a week. There are too many anomalies to make it very meaningful, but as a rough rule of thumb I use an exchange rate of 1:200. That is, an early Jacobean pound was worth about £200 today, a shilling (1S) about £10, and a penny (1d) something under £1.

  My research on this book has been greatly assisted by staff at the National Archives, British Library, Guildhall Library, London Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, French Protestant Church and Ealing Local History Centre in London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and the Bibliothèque Municipale in Amiens. I am particularly grateful to James Travers for his help in tracking down some elusive documents; to Susan North and Jenny Tiramani for advice on early Jacobean costume; and to Matt Steggle, Colin Burrow, Christiane Gould-Krieger, Elsie Hart, Kat Underwood, Thomas Dumont and the late Eric Sams for help and expertise generously given. My thanks also to my agent David Godwin, my editor Stuart Proffitt, my picture-editor Cecilia Mackay and my copy-editor Peter James, and - as ever - to my mother, my wife and my children.

  For some corrections incorporated into the paperback edition I am grateful to Roger Davey, Michael Wood, Claire Preston, David Cairns, Norbert Hirschhorn and Hester Davenport.

  PART ONE

  ‘One Mr Shakespeare’

  Simply the thing I am

  Shall make me live . . .


  All’s Well that Ends Well, 4.3.322-3

  1

  The deposition

  On Monday 11 May 1612, William Shakespeare gave evidence in a lawsuit at the Court of Requests in Westminster. His statement, or deposition, was taken down by a clerk of the court, writing in an averagely illegible hand on a sheet of paper measuring about 12 × 16 inches (see Plate 1). At the end of the session Shakespeare signed his name at the bottom. It is one of six surviving signatures, and the earliest of them (though it can hardly be called early: he was forty-eight years old and already in semi-retirement). He signs quickly and rather carelessly. The initial W is firm and clear, with the characteristic looping and dotting of the final upstroke, but the surname becomes a scrawl and is abruptly concluded with an omissive flourish: ‘Willm Shaks’ (or possibly ‘Shakp’).1 These abbreviations were not dictated by space, as they were in a mortgage-deed of 1613 (‘Wm Shakspe’), which he had to sign on a thin tag of parchment. They contribute a note of perfunctoriness, or perhaps impatience.

  The signature draws the eye. It is, as the graphologists say, a ‘frozen gesture’; it touches this otherwise unlovely piece of paper with Shakespeare’s physical presence. But what makes this document special is not just - not even primarily - the signature. It is the anonymously scripted text above it, the text which the signature authenticates as Shakespeare’s sworn statement. We know the thousands of lines he wrote in plays and poems, but this is the only occasion when his actual spoken words are recorded.2