Shakespeare's Family

rying for love, and not for property, or his wife's descent might have helped us to clear his own. I do not think she was a Throckmorton, but I th

who witnessed the will of Sir Walter in 1502; it is possible he was the Thomas Arden who witnessed the will of John Lench[83] of Birmingham in 1525, though it is more likely that this latter Thomas was his nephew, the h

d 21, 1519, Robert Arden purchased another property in Snitterfield from Richard Rushby and Agnes his wife,[84] and he bought also a tenement from John

arried Edmund Lambert, of Barton-on-the-Heath, who had a son, John Lambert; Katharine, who married Thomas Edkyns of Wilmecote, who had a son, Thomas Edkyns the younger; Margaret, who married first Alexander Webbe of Bearley (by whom she had a son Robert), and secondly Edward Cornwall; Joyce, of whom there is no record but in her father's settlement and will;[87] Alice, who was o

ld estates, probably upon his marriage.[88] In the first,[89] he devised estates at Snitterfield in trust to Adam Palmer and Hugh Porter, for the benefit, after the death of himself and his wife, of his three married daughters-Agnes, Joan an

.. and vili xiiis iiiid of money to be paid her or ere my goodes be devided. Also I gyve and bequeathe to my daughter Ales, the thyrde parte of all my goodes moveable and unmoveable in fylde and towne after my dettes and leggessese performyde, besydes that goode she hath of her owne all this tyme. Allso I give and bequethe to Agnes my wife vili xiiis iiiid upon this condysion that she shall sofer my dowghter Ales quyetly to ynjoye half my copyhold in Wyllincote during the tyme of her wyddewoode; and if she will nott soffer my dowghter Ales quyetly to occupy half with her, then I will that my wyfe shall have but iiili vis viiid, and her gintur in Snytterfelde. Item, I will that the residew of all my goodes, moveable and unmovable, my funeralles and my dettes dyschargyd, I gyve and bequeathe to my other children to be equaleye devidide amongeste them by the descreshyon of Adam Palmer, H

period. Probably even then the goods were worth much more, as the prices entered are relatively low for the date. Certainly it is necessary to mult

belonged to the dead. She would thus have at least ￡13 worth in kind, along with her interest in Snitterfield and what goods "she had of her own." The others would have about ￡5 each. It may be noted the widow was left no furniture or goods.

, to her grandchildren, and the residue to her son and son-in-law in trust for their children. She left twelve pence to John Lambert, her stepdaughter Joan's son, and twelve pence to each of her brother Alexander Webbe's children, one of whom, at least, was the son of her stepdaughter Margaret. She left nothing to any of her stepdaughters, and nothing to any of the young Shakespeares. The overseers were Adam Palmer and Geor

stoms, became owners of Asbies. There is a hazy suspicion even about the bona fides of the Edkins. Agnes had settled rather far off at the home of the Stringers, in Stockton, co. Salop. In February, 1569, Thomas Stringer devis

as an exceedingly common custom of the time for poorer single relatives to enter into the service of wealthier members of the family; for "superfluous women" even, who were not poor, to go where they were wanted in other homes. Might she not have gone in such a capacity to one of the houses of the Ardens of Park Hall? In Wor

er. We find that John Shakespeare had apparently pinched himself in 1575 to purchase two houses in Stratford-on-Avon for ￡40, believed to be in Henley Street[94]. By 1578, for some reasons not explained, he was excused his share in municipal charges[95], and by a will of "Roger Sadler" Baker in that year, we know that he was in deb

ese other names were Thomas Webbe and Humphrey Hooper[101]. The mortgage loan was made repayable at Michaelmas, 1580, when the lease commenced to run, and things seemed to have been made safe for the Shakespeares. Then they proceeded to sell a parcel[102] of the Snitterfield property to Robert Webbe for

the final concord,[106] is drawn up in Latin: "in curia domine Regine apud Westmonasterium a die Pasche in quindecim dies anno regnorum Elizabethe ... vicesimo secundo ... inter Robertum Webbe querentem et Johannem Shackspere et Mariam uxorem ejus, d

showed it was not of free gift. But Joyce and Alice had apparently vanished from the scene. If they left no will, their shares would be divisible into equal parts among their surviving sisters by common law, and through her fraction of their shares Mary Shakespeare could step in as part owner of Snitterfield. Now, it is quite possible that the first sale of 1579 was an indefinite sale of Mary's share of Joyce's portion; and it is possible that Alice died in that year, and increased the share of her sisters, so that the two portions were treated together in the deed of 1580. Seeing that the two portions of the property had long been held together by the Webbes, it is quite natural to read "the sixth part of two" rather than "the third of one," as each sister originally read her share. Now, if Mary had lost both of her sisters, it is quite natural to read her share as "the sixth part of two parts or portions of two tenements." This has not yet been thus simply explained. But it is not strictly correct; for while the share o

n was directed to Bartholomew Hales, Lord of the Manor of Snitterfield, and Nicholas Knolles, Vicar of Alveston, to take her deposition concerning it, in July, 1580.[111] She died in December of that year; and in 1582 John Shakespeare,[112] and his brother Henry, and Adam Palmer, with others, were called on to give evidence in the case between T

money to Edmund Lambert, of Barton-on-the-Heath, to redeem his mortgage, and reinstate himself as owner of Asbies, free to grant a lease or sale on his own terms. But through a quibble, which "was not in the bond," Edmund Lambert refused to accept this until certain other debts were also paid. Thereby he gained the shelter of time, which "was in the bond," and put Shakespeare at a legal disadvantage, though it is evident from the later papers that a verbal agreement had taken place to extend the time, seeing that the money had been tendered. We may be sure that the property was worth more

as some other hitch: the ￡20 may have been held to be covered by the "other debts," which already had done service for Edmund Lambert; or the Shakespeares weighed their desire to have back the land, which they probably then wished, with their growing family, to farm themselves. Nothing seems then to have been settled, and they were too poor to risk the perils of a great law-suit. Doubtless, with sad hearts and bitter retrospect, they regrett

me, made a formal complaint to the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Egerton,[116] stating that Edmund Lambert was to hold it only until repaid the loan, that the money had been duly tendered to him on the agreed date, that he had refused it, and that his son John holds the land still, and makes secret estates of the premises, the nature of which they cannot describe, as the papers have been withheld them; tha

ly answered it, asserts that the arrangement was a deed of sale, with the conditional proviso that if John Shakespeare should pay ￡40 on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel,

into possession, and refused to hear anything from them.[117] John Lambert had another quibble, that John Shakespeare had exhibited two bills against him, one in his own name, and one associating his wife's. On July 5, 1598, July 10, 1598, and May 18, 1599, further st

ore powerful, certainly possession proved nine-tenths of the law, and the expenses of legal action even then were paralyzing.[118] It is strange that the fate of Asbies as a property is unknown. There are traces of its being in t

TNO

1553, Clement Throckmorton, p.

Miscellaneous R

] I

ntions Elizabeth Skerlett a

egister of her death in association wi

Snitterfield, May 21, 1560, of which "estate was made to me the said Agnes by my late husband in the fourth year of

ords of Stra

] I

r Wills. Cons

ichols' "History of t

rnwall, October 16, 18 Elizabeth. "A transfer from John Shakespeare and Mary his wife" of her shares of Snitterfield, 21 Eliz., for ￡4; 15 Oct., 22 Eliz., for ￡40; and 23 Eliz., 6s. 8d. "Release from Thomas St

-on-Avon Misce

n's Accounts, S

rcester

Lambert in 1597, Ch

alliwell-Phillipps' "Out

s, 8th Series, vol. v

boleography Conco

Outlines," ii. 202. Wilmcote

ut that it is for ￡4, which is an

Ibid.,

resence of Nycholas Kn

pps, "Outlines," ii. 1

bid., i

anno vicesimo tercio Regine Elizabethe, fines de Banco anno vicesimo secundo Regine

-Phillipps, "Ou

on-Avon Miscella

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ord Miscella

2]

t of Chanc

nealogica Shakesp

ich., 31 and 32 Elizabeth; als

th, S.s. 24 (21), Stratford, P. R.

), Stratford, in dorso, "40-41 Eli

eries, 8th Series,

well-Philli