Shakespeare -- Miscellaneous

 

Who Wrote Shakespeare? Link here. So much of this sounds like it comes from Brenda James' Henry Neville and the Shakespeare Code.

Henry Neville and the Shakespeare Code, Brenda James, c. 2008.

"in cold blood"
p. 62
Timon of Athens, Act 3, Scene 5.
"As you are great, be pitifully good.
Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood."

The phrase "cold-blooded" first appears in Shakespeare's "The Life and Death of King John," Act 3, Scene 1.

Neville's continental tour: 1578 - 1583,

The characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Shakespeare's Hamlet are thought to be named after Tycho Brahe's ancestors, Frederik Rosenkrantz and Knud Gyldenstierne, who were prominent Danish noblemen and cousins of Brahe.

Cecil: 

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The Shakespeare Sonnets

Since the mid-1600s, scholars have been perplexed by the "Shakespeare Sonnets." 

Finally, finally, finally, the dots begin to connect.

This hits very, very close to home. 

At the turn of the 15th/16th century, in London, there was a trio of really, really close teen-age friends: Henry Neville, Robert Cecil, and Henry Wriothesley. 

Robert Cecil's father, William, was the Secretary of State of England.

Henry Wriothesley was the 3rd Earl of Southampton.

And, of course, we all know who (Sir) Henry Neville was.

From Brenda James, 2008:

The Cecils were always trying to ally themselves with the British aristocracy through advantageous marriage arrangements, and the young Earl of Southampton [royalty] seemed a perfect match for old [William] Cecil's granddaughter. 

When Wriothesley became a teenager, his relatives, in collusion with Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley, were in correspondence about the idea. The trouble was they couldn't persaude young Wriothesley to take much interest in the girl.

However, it's always seemed that the first 17 of the Shakespeare Sonnets were written in order to try and persuade a young man to marry.

Wriothesley's name (usually pronounced "Risely" or "Risley") was often also pronounced "Rosely" at the time, so "beauty's rose in Sonnet Number One seems straight away to be a reference to him. Not too much left to the imagination when it comes to persuading him to marry and produce an heir, either! 

My contention is that old Cecil probably asked young Henry Neville to write those sonnets. Old Cecil knew the Nevilles. He knew how clever and learned young Henry was. The Nevilles were family too -- they could be trusted not to give old Cecil's scheme away.

It is, however, unthinkable that Cecil would have asked an unknown Stratford boy to have pried into his affairs and written all those very pointed words. 

Besides, the division  of the classes in those days was as strong as any caste system. Cecil would simply have had to have chosen a writer whom he knew personally, who was related -- and probably one who was in some manner under his power. All these circumstances applied to Neville. This would  explain, too, why the sonnets were published only after theold Cecil had died, and only after the Earl of Southampton was married and had an hear.

The Earl didn't marry Cecil's granddaughter, in the end. He ran away to fight for Henri of Navarre in France, together with the Earl of Essex. And once again, coincidence piles up on top of coincidence, since Neville was already in this circle, and was later to serve as Ambassador to France, under that very Henri, after he became King of France. 

But because the sonnets weren't published for years, Sir Henry Neville was able to keep adding to them. The later sonnets apply to Sir Henry's subsequent life in a way that both meaningful and poignant. It would take a whole book to explain all these overlapping circumstances, but as this present book proceeds I shall briefly demonstrate how the sonnets tie in graphically with Henry's life.

CODE: Brenda James, 2008, p. 92.

To the onlie begetter of these insuing sonnets Mr W H x All happiness ennd that eternitie promised by our everliving poet wisheth he well wishing adventure in setting forth