After a good night’s sleep and yet again a wonderful breakfast at our hotel, we set off to explore Stratford with our guide Vicky. A primary teacher who is also into archeology and teaches that part time at the university level, she proved to be a font of information about Shakespeare. She stunned several of the students because she spoke to us without notes.
We know most of the basic story of his life from classes, but Vicky reminded me that he was fortunate – his father made gloves and purses, an important craft in 16th century England, and so Shakespeare had the best education and privilege that many of his time did not have. The fact that he survived was important – The infant mortality rate was terrible in Tudor times, and longevity of life was not a given. He died on his birth date, the two facts, Vicky said, that can be confirmed with church records.
The rest, well, you can believe what you want. He and his wife, Anne Hathaway, had to get married quickly. She gave birth to four children, the son – named Hamnet, sound familiar? – died at 11. At his death, Shakespeare only left an inheritance to his eldest daughter, Susanna, and bequeathed his wife “his second best bed.” Vicky said that beds were a sign of wealth, and the Shakespeare family kept their best one in the parlor for all to see.
We strolled throughout town on a gorgeous May day. The swans, boats, small chain ferry, and other visitors made for a lovely walk along the Avon River. We saw and heard about Shakespeare’s school and Guild Hall next to it, Hall’s Croft, the home of daughter Susanna and her husband, Dr. John Hall (He had a falling out because of an affair he had right before Shakespeare’s death that resulted in the woman dying in childbirth. Scandalous!), Holy Trinity Church and Shakespeare’s birthplace. One other place – Harvard House, a butcher shop where it all started for that famous and first U.S. college. The owner – Thomas Rodgers, a butcher. His grandson was a main benefactor of Harvard, which owns the place.
We walked through Shakespeare’s birthplace, which reinforced all that Vicky told us and is beautifully kept and maintained. The staff was incredibly helpful.
We walked back to see the church where Shakespeare – who paid a lot of money for reserved space in it for him and his select family members – is buried. Gorgeous and so well maintained. Well worth the 3 pounds seniors pay (yes, I am taking full advantage of my elder age …..). Before we headed back to board our bus and head to Liverpool, we walked through the Royal Shakespeare Theater Company space. Wish we had more time …. I’d love to see a play.
A few quick and fun facts:
- Babies were kept in their parents’ bedrooms. At first they slept in cradles on the non-window side of the bed. That was so fairies couldn’t get them! When they were a bit older, they slept on a trunkle bed that pulled out from the parents. The bed frame was tightened with rope – sleep tight, get it? And as for that last part – don’t let the bed bugs bite – the young woman there showed us the big stick they used to pound the bed to rid them of those pesky varmints.
- Everyone drank beer, including children – who drank a wheat beer – because the weather was so foul.
- Shakespeare died most likely after falling asleep outside after a night out at the pubs. He caught a fever and not much could be done to save him, Vicky said. Medicine was limited mainly to bloodletting through cutting a vein or using leeches. Dr. Hall was ahead of his time using herbs and poultices to help his patients.
- Shakespeare had four grandchildren, but all died without heirs. So that was the end of that wonderful family line.
- After some underground testing, Vicky said despite what had been rumored, the Shakespeare family was buried in normal plots. But an infrared test of Shakespeare’s grave found his skull was missing. Those grave robbers, selling skulls most likely to people who study phrenology — a pseudoscience that the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits— according to Vicky.
- Well, they are in trouble – Here is what is written on Shakespeare’s tombstone:
Good friend for Jesus’s sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones.