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03-25-2024, 11:35 AM
I'm not much of a follower of the Shakespearean lifetime, nor am I inclined to the thespian hero of old; but I found this article very interesting.
From ScienceAlert: Mysterious Author of 'Dangerous' Shakespeare Family Confession Finally Revealed
The voice of a woman largely overlooked by history has been discovered in a "dangerous" declaration attributed to the father of famous playwright William Shakespeare.
It's known as the "Spiritual Testament", discovered in the rafters of Shakespeare House in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1757, signed by one J. Shakespeare.
Historians have interpreted this J. Shakespeare to mean John Shakespeare, making the document a shocking one: in it, the author declares a devotion to the Catholic faith, and vows to die a Catholic death.
During John Shakespeare's life, under the Protestant queen Elizabeth I, this would have been a dangerous heresy. There is just one problem, according to literature professor Matthew Steggle of the University of Bristol. John didn't write it. Joan did.
That's Joan Shakespeare Hart, the sister of William, who outlived her brother by 30 years, occupying the Shakespeare house until her own death in 1646.
Apparently, there might have been some confusion over whether J. Shakespeare was "John" or "Joan" (regarding this risky admission of Catholicism.)
There existed, at the time of the writing, an almost universal disregard for women in matters of education and social standing, so it is quite possible that any of the "J. Shakespeare" would have been casually assumed to be either Shakespeare's father or himself.
"Virginia Woolf wrote a famous essay, 'Shakespeare's sister', about how a figure like her could never hope to be a writer or have her writing preserved, so she has become something of a symbol for all the lost voices of early modern women. There are hundreds of thousands of words surviving from her brother, and until now none at all, of any description, from her."
Studying the "Spiritual Testament" has been a problem almost since its discovery. It was studied and described by Shakespeare enthusiasts in 1784, and then again in 1789. Even back then, in his 1789 description, Shakespeare scholar Edmond Malone noted that the handwriting seemed at least 30 years more modern than John Shakespeare's death in 1601. He thought it might have been penned by an unknown son that John had named after himself.
I thought I would add this to our "people" forum... in case anyone might be researching the author, and the tremendous impact his work had on our society.
Enjoy!
From ScienceAlert: Mysterious Author of 'Dangerous' Shakespeare Family Confession Finally Revealed
The voice of a woman largely overlooked by history has been discovered in a "dangerous" declaration attributed to the father of famous playwright William Shakespeare.
It's known as the "Spiritual Testament", discovered in the rafters of Shakespeare House in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1757, signed by one J. Shakespeare.
Historians have interpreted this J. Shakespeare to mean John Shakespeare, making the document a shocking one: in it, the author declares a devotion to the Catholic faith, and vows to die a Catholic death.
During John Shakespeare's life, under the Protestant queen Elizabeth I, this would have been a dangerous heresy. There is just one problem, according to literature professor Matthew Steggle of the University of Bristol. John didn't write it. Joan did.
That's Joan Shakespeare Hart, the sister of William, who outlived her brother by 30 years, occupying the Shakespeare house until her own death in 1646.
Apparently, there might have been some confusion over whether J. Shakespeare was "John" or "Joan" (regarding this risky admission of Catholicism.)
There existed, at the time of the writing, an almost universal disregard for women in matters of education and social standing, so it is quite possible that any of the "J. Shakespeare" would have been casually assumed to be either Shakespeare's father or himself.
"Virginia Woolf wrote a famous essay, 'Shakespeare's sister', about how a figure like her could never hope to be a writer or have her writing preserved, so she has become something of a symbol for all the lost voices of early modern women. There are hundreds of thousands of words surviving from her brother, and until now none at all, of any description, from her."
Studying the "Spiritual Testament" has been a problem almost since its discovery. It was studied and described by Shakespeare enthusiasts in 1784, and then again in 1789. Even back then, in his 1789 description, Shakespeare scholar Edmond Malone noted that the handwriting seemed at least 30 years more modern than John Shakespeare's death in 1601. He thought it might have been penned by an unknown son that John had named after himself.
I thought I would add this to our "people" forum... in case anyone might be researching the author, and the tremendous impact his work had on our society.
Enjoy!
