Shakespeare's Family Part 4

John Shakespeare did not live long after his application, dying in 1601.

Whether or not the grant of the impaled Arden arms was completed before his death, there is no record of his using them. Whether his son ever used the impalement we do not now know, but it does not appear on any of the tombs or seals that have been preserved. But the Shakespeare arms have been certainly used.

William Shakespeare was mercilessly satirized by his rivals, Ben Jonson and others,[81] about his coat of arms; but it was the recognition of his descent that secured him so universally the attribute of "gentle."

As Davies, addressing Shakespeare and Burbage in 1603, says:

"And though the stage doth stain pure gentle blood, Yet generous ye are in mind and mood."[82]

We must not forget there would be possible ill-feeling among the families of the Arden sisters, when the youngest, whom they had probably always pitied and looked down on, because of her comparatively unfortunate marriage, should have the audacity to think of using the arms of their father, to which they had never aspired.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD HOUSE AT WILMECOTE, BY SOME SUPPOSED TO BE ROBERT ARDEN'S.

_To face p. 35._]

FOOTNOTES:

[60] He tried in every way to prove Camden wrong, but his bitterness only hurt himself. His strictures were confuted before the highest authority.

[61] August 10, 1895, p. 202.

[62] "Herald and Genealogist," vol. i., p. 510, 1863; and _Notes and Queries_, Series III., vol. v., p. 493.

[63] Dugdale's "Warwicks.h.i.+re," p. 925.

[64] Preserved at Somerset House, 8 Porch.

[65] Dugdale places the sons in another order.

[66] Pat. Henry VII., second part, mem. 30, February 22.

[67] Same series, mem. 35, September 9.

[68] Pat. 23 Henry VIII., September 24, first part, mem. 12.

[69] "Arden of the court, brother to Sir John Arden of Park Hall."

"Itinerary," vi. 20, about 1536-42.

[70] Sir Warine Trussell held Billesley 15 Edward III. The will of Sir William Trussell of Cublesdon, 1379, mentions a bequest to his cousin, "Sir Thomas d'Ardene" ("Testamenta Vetusta," Sir N. H. Nicolas, vol. i., p. 107). William Trussell was made a brother of the Guild of Knowle 1469, and there is an entry in 1504 of a donation "for Sir William Trussell and for his soul": "To Thomas Trussell, farmer of the said Bishop of Worcester; in Knowle for the Worke-silver 4/4" (37 Henry VIII., Report. "Register of the Guild of Knowle," Introduction, p.

xxvi., by Mr. W. B. Bickley). Alured Trussell, born 1533, married Margaret, daughter of Robert Fulwood, and their daughter Dorothy married Adam Palmer, Robert Arden's friend. French thinks that the wife, either of Thomas or of Robert, was a Trussell.

[71] His son George succeeded him in 1520. Edward Arden, of Park Hall, was brought up in his care, and married Mary, his son Robert's daughter.

[72] See p. 184.

[73] Deed of Conveyance of Premises at Snytterfield. (Transcribed from the Miscellaneous Doc.u.ments of Stratford-on-Avon), vol. ii., No. 83.

[74] State Papers, Domestic Series, Elizabeth, 1583, clxiii., 21.

[75] In the Subsidy Rolls 15 Henry VII., Thomas Arden was a.s.sessed on 12, and Robert Arden on 8 (192/128). Subsidy, Aston Cantlowe, March 10, 37 Henry VIII., 1546, Robert Arden, a.s.sessed on property valued at 10; Walter Edkyns, 10; John Jenks, 6; John Skarlett, 8; Thomas Dixson, 8; Roger Knight, 8; Richard Ingram, 6; Thomas Gretwyn, 5; Margaret Scarlet, 5; Richard Edkyns, 6; Robert Fulwood, 5; Nicholas Gibbes, 5; Richard Green, 5; William Hill, 5 (Mr. Hunter's "Prolusions," 37, note). Thomas Arden of Park Hall at the same time was a.s.sessed on 80; but Simon Arden was only a.s.sessed on 8 (192/179).

[76] French, "Genealogica Shakespeareana," p. 423; and Nichols' "History of Leicesters.h.i.+re."

[77] H. Drummond's "n.o.ble British Families," vol. i. (2).

[78] See Fuller's "Worthies of Warwicks.h.i.+re."

[79] "The several marks of cadency which have _of late years_ been made use of for the distinction of houses ... for the second son a crescent, the third a mullet, the fourth a martlet" (Glover's "Heraldry," vol. i., p. 168, ed. 1780).

[80] _Ibid._, vol. ii., ed. 1780.

[81] In the "Return from Parna.s.sus," 1606, Studiosus says of the players:

"Vile world that lifts them up to high degree, And treads us down in grovelling misery, England affords these glorious vagabonds That carried erst their fardels on their backs Coursers to ride on through the gazing streets, Sweeping it in their glaring satin suits, And pages to attend their masters.h.i.+ps.

With mouthing words that better wits have framed, They purchase lands and now esquires are made."

ACT V., SC. 1.

The satire in "Ratsey's Ghost" also may refer to Shakespeare, though Alleyn and others might be intended.

Freeman, in his "Epigrams," 1614, asks:

"Why hath our age such new-found 'gentles' found To give the 'master' to the farmer's son?"

But his high praise of Shakespeare elsewhere shows he does not refer to him.

[82] John Davies of Hereford's "Microcosmus, The Civil Warres of Death and Fortune."

CHAPTER VI

THE ARDENS OF WILMECOTE

It is unfortunate that we know so little about Thomas Arden, Mary Shakespeare's "antecessor." A quiet country gentleman he seems to have been, marrying 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 think she was very probably a Trussell, which Mr.

French also suggests. Joane was a Trussell name, and Billesley held some attraction to the family. We are not sure of anything about Thomas except the purchase of Snitterfield, the year before Sir Walter Arden's death, and his payment of the subsidies in 1526 and 1546. It is probable he was the "Thomas Arden, Squier," 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 heir of Park Hall. Thomas of Wilmecote is supposed to have died in 1546, but no will has been discovered. Probably he had handed over his property to his son in his lifetime. There is no trace of another child than Robert.

Robert was probably under age when his father purchased Snitterfield, and hence the need of trustees in a.s.sociation with the purchase. On December 14 and 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 Palmer on October 1, 1529.[85] One of his tenants was Richard Shakespeare. He and his tenant were both presented for non-suit of court in 30 Henry VIII.

He contributed to the subsidy in Wilmecote in 1526 and 1546. We know no more of his first wife than we know of his mother. She might have been either a Trussel or a Palmer. But we know that he had seven[86]

daughters, who all bore Arden family names: _Agnes_, who married first John Hewyns, and secondly Thomas Stringer, by whom she had two sons, John and Arden Stringer; _Joan_, who married 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 one of the co-executors of her father's will, but of whom there is no further record; and _Mary_, the other executor, who married John Shakespeare. The exact dates of their birth are not known.

Robert may be supposed to have been married about 1520, and it is probable that Mary was born about 1535. It is _likely_ that she was of age when made executor in 1556, but not at all _necessary_.

Robert Arden married again when his family had grown up--probably in 1550--Agnes Webbe, who had been a.s.sessed as the widow of Hill of Bearley on 7, in 37 Henry VIII., 1546. On July 17, 1550, Robert Arden made two settlements of the Snitterfield 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 and Katharine. In the second, a similar deed,[90] in favour of three other daughters--Margaret (then married to Alexander Webbe of Bearley), Joyce and Alice. Mary is not mentioned, probably because the Asbies estate was even then devoted to her.