John Shakespeare

John Shakespeare (* around 1530 in Snitterfield near Stratford-upon-Avon ; buried September 8, 1601 in Stratford-upon-Avon) was the father of William Shakespeare .

John Shakespeare - Contemporary mostly Shakespeare wrote - was born in 1530 as the son of Richard Shakespeare, a simple farmer from the village of Snitterfield, a few kilometers northeast of Stratford-upon-Avon is located. Despite his humble origins, he achieved a respected social position later in life. He was a glover by profession ( glover) and "whittawer" (ie, he made things out of soft white leather). John Shakespeare was first recorded in 1552 when he paid a shilling fine for a pile of rubbish in front of his house. In the following years he took on a number of municipal tasks: in 1556 he became "Borough Ale Taster", who was responsible not only for the quality of the beer but also for compliance with dimensions and prices in the district. Two years later he was promoted to "constable", ie a kind of police officer. From 1559 he took over the offices of "affeeror" (mediator), of "burgess" (citizen representative), in 1562 "chamberlain" (city treasurer ) and became one of 14 aldermen(Councilor). In 1568 John Shakespeare finally became the "high bailiff" (Mayor) of Stratford, although he did not receive the most votes, but was the only one to appear for the instigation.

He improved his social position primarily through his marriage (probably in 1557) to Mary Arden , a daughter of Robert Arden , a landowner and his tenant.

John and Mary Shakespeare had eight children, three of whom died early: Joan (born 1558 - died the same year), Margaret (1562–1563), William (1564–1616), Gilbert (1566–1611), Joan (1569 -1646), Anne (1571-1579), Richard (1574-1612) and Edmund (1580-1607).

Shakespeare's coat of arms above the door to the house in Stratford

In the 1570s, John Shakespeare applied for a coat of arms for his family, but his request was turned down. In 1596, his son William Shakespeare, then a famous actor, playwright and London businessman, applied for a coat of arms for his father. This was granted in 1599. It shows, among other things, the colors of the Arden family and the motto “non sans droict” (“not wrongly”).

From 1576 the Shakespeares suffered a serious economic crisis: distress sales and debt were the result, John Shakespeare no longer went to the council, from which he was finally expelled in 1586. William may have had to drop out of school during this time.

Some references in the sources are often interpreted to mean that John Shakespeare adhered to Catholicism, although this was forbidden in England of his time. Its economic decline is linked to the intense persecution of Catholics in the 1570s and 1580s. The Catholics refused to attend the Anglican service, which is why the authorities had the churchgoers recorded by agents and increasingly imposed high fines. It seems that Shakespeare stopped attending church in the 1570s either. The thesis of the cryptocatholicism of the Shakespeare family is very controversial, despite intensive discussion.

In the 18th century, the Shakespeare scholar Edmond Malone described a document before him, which was signed by John Shakespeare and in which he had declared his allegiance to the Catholic Church. The wording of the declaration goes back to a writing by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo . The authenticity of the document is controversial and it is now considered likely that it is a forgery.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephen Greenblatt : Will in the World. How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2004, p. 58. In the notes of John Aubreys (1620-1697), an impoverished country gentleman and author of biographical material, there is a note after Aubrey's visit to Stratford in 1682 that John Shakespeare was and also was a butcher famous son and poet William Shakespeare practiced this profession with great enthusiasm. This statement by Aubreys is almost without exception doubted by serious Shakespeare research. In contrast, John Shakespeare's activity as a glove maker is attested by various sources; that such an activity was connected with the slaughter of animals is considered unlikely. Cf. Ulrich Suerbaum: The Elizabethan Age. Philipp Reclam Jun., Stuttgart 1998 (first edition 1989), ISBN 3-15-008622-1 , chapter 3: Ein Bürgerleben: William Shakespeare, p. 345–376, here p. 348f, and Ina Schabert (ed.): Shakespeare -Manual. Time, man, work, posterity. 5th, revised and supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 120.
2. ↑ Shakespeare's Brothers and Sisters. In: www.shakespeare-online.com. Retrieved June 14, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Another daughter named Anne (1568–1624) is described in the Lexikon Musik und Gender (2010) . The repeated occurrence of the first name Anne is surprising . The corresponding lexicon entry also indicates that the fictional Shakespeare sister Judith, described by Virginia Woolf in her essay A Room for herself, actually lived and was seven years older than Anne. Virginia Woolf's estate in 1948 is given as the source for these other alleged daughters of John and Mary Shekespeare.
4. ↑ Annette Kreutziger-Herr : Article Anne Shakespeare . In: Annette Kreutziger-Herr and Melanie Unseld (eds.): Lexikon Musik und Gender , Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel / Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-7618-2043-8 , p. 471 f.
5. ^ Robert Bearman, John Shakespeare's "Spiritual Testament". A reappraisal . In: Shakespeare Survey 56 (2003), pp. 184-202.