Who really was hiding under the name Shakespeare: the son of a herder or the British earl

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon and Roger Manners of Belvoir Castle have something in common: both claim to be the true author of the literary legacy that went down in history as the work of Shakespeare. Manners, Earl of Rutland, during his bright short life managed to leave enough evidence that such a role was within his powers.

Shakespeare's question and multiple answers

William Shakespeare was once a successful playwright, but nothing more. And even in this profession, he did not have a chance to win the title of the best during his lifetime: there were Ben Johnson and Christopher Marlowe, who were no less, rather even more, appreciated by their contemporaries. They started talking about the genius of Shakespeare's works quite many years after the death of the playwright in 1616, and even later about who the author of King Lear, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and other great plays was.

The 19th century generally became an era when various conspiracy theories were in vogue - the trend of the times was to doubt the truths that seemed to be unshakable until now. Questions were raised about the historicity of the Gospel characters - right up to Christ himself, about the authorship of Homer's poems. The English playwright did not escape the fate of being subjected to research.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that Shakespeare's personality and his involvement in the creation of plays and sonnets came to the attention of literary lovers: too many blank spots and warring inconsistencies were found in his biography. As a matter of fact, history has retained not so much reliable information about what this English writer and playwright was and how he worked. Most of the information that has come down to this day comes from a few official documents and from correspondence that mentions Shakespeare.

He was born in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon - to put it mildly, not in the cultural capital of England. The main occupation of the inhabitants, including William's father, John Shakespeare, was the raising of sheep, the production of wool and the dressing of hides. There is reason to believe that Shakespeare did not receive an education, and his parents were, apparently, illiterate. True, Shakespeare the elder was rich; and in 1596 he received the right to the coat of arms, after which his son William began to be called "gentleman".

It is known that the young Shakespeare went to London, where he became an actor and shareholder of a theater troupe, that is, in fact, a manager. There is no data about his travels and life in other countries, battles in war, rotation in the highest circles and the experience of court life, and yet, all this is described in detail and competently in Shakespeare's works. This gave rise to bewilderment - how could a person from the bottom, almost a peasant, write such brilliant works on such a variety of topics?

There were versions that Shakespeare, perhaps, only provided his signature on other people's works, and the real author was someone who had the necessary knowledge, experience and talent, but for some reason decided to remain unknown to the general public.

Who is this mysterious character, if, of course, he really existed? Philosopher Francis Bacon and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and about eight dozen more candidates for the title of "true Shakespeare" are confidently holding the palm in matters of authorship. And among them is Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland.

Romantic biography and early death of the Earl of Rutland

Rutland, or Rutland, as it is customary to call him in Russian Shakespeare, was a rather curious person and in itself deserved close attention. He was born in 1576 in a castle in Yorkshire, early, at the age of twelve, received the title of Earl - after the death of his father. By this time, the boy was already very educated, he studied at the college at Cambridge University. According to the traditions of that time, Rutland, being an orphan, entered the care of the state, and also of Queen Elizabeth I.

During his short life, Rutland managed to master many knowledge and arts, studied both in England and abroad, was a student of the University of Padua, received a Master of Arts degree, and held high government positions. He had a huge library inherited from his father and grandfather, where books, reference books, dictionaries in Latin, Greek, French and other languages were kept. Among Rutland's friends and acquaintances were scientists, poets and, of course, the aristocracy.

Having gone on a trip to Europe at the age of nineteen, he did not just visit those places and countries that Shakespeare mentions in the plays, it is proved that among the students at the University of Padua, while studying there Rutland, there were two Danish students named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Subsequently, having gone to Denmark with the embassy, he met with his former classmates. During his visit, Rutland visited Elsinore Castle, and shortly after the Count's return from Denmark, the text of the play "Hamlet" was added and clarified.

In 1599, Rutland married Elizabeth Sidney, goddaughter of the Queen and daughter of the poet Philip Sidney. One gets the impression that the young count enjoyed the favor of the English ruler. True, in 1601 Rutland took part in the rebellion of the Earl of Essex against the queen, after which he was taken into custody by her; the instigator of the riot himself was executed. During the period that Rutland was imprisoned, there was also a break in the work of Shakespeare. After the death of Elizabeth, the count was freed.

The Earl of Rutland died at the age of thirty-six after a serious illness, his embalmed body was transported from Cambridge, where he died, to the family tomb in Bottesford. No one was allowed to see the face of the deceased. A few weeks later, Rutland's widow, Elizabeth, also died. She was not present at her husband's funeral, was not mentioned in his will, and found her last refuge in London.

Arguments in favor of Rutland's authorship

After 1612, when Rutland died, not a single new work of Shakespeare came out. And in the count's library, in the book of expenses of the castle of Belvoir, three centuries later, a document was found confirming the transfer of Rutland's younger brother Francis forty-four shillings in gold to William Shakespeare and actor Richard Burbage. By the way, Rutland's student nickname sounded like shake-speare, that is, "stunning with a spear."

The fact that Rutland could be the real author of Shakespeare's works was first suggested in 1907 by the German writer Karl Bleibtreu. But this version was taken up seriously only in the Soviet Union. P. S. Porokhovshchikov, a lawyer and literary critic, believed that the Earl of Rutland and his wife Elizabeth were the real authors of what was written under the name of Shakespeare. In the archives of Belvoir Castle, Porokhovshchikov managed to find a song from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, written in Rutland's hand. A large work in support of this anti-Stratfordian theory was published in 1997, it was a book by I. M. Gililova "The Game about William Shakespeare, or the Mystery of the Great Phoenix."

In the West, Rutland's candidacy as a "true Shakespeare" did not receive serious support. Nevertheless, the Stratfordians, and this is how the adherents of the classical approach in Shakespearean studies are called, no longer insist on the absolute infallibility of the original version of authorship. And even if Rutland is somewhat inferior to the same Earl of Oxford in the competition for the right to “be called Shakespeare,” the proposed theory about his involvement in English literature at least deserves attention and makes one think.

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