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| 21blackswan@gmail.com: Aug 09 10:45AM -0700 Shakespeare's last Will and testament: original... [much more on this document at the link below] Most individuals in early modern England did not begin writing a will until death was imminent. Many scholars believe that when Shakespeare sent for Francis Collins (who had also drawn up the deeds of bargain and sale for the Blackfriars gatehouse) to draft his will, he was almost certainly ill, although he did not die for another several months. The signatures are written in shaky strokes of the pen, suggestive of someone who had trouble holding a writing implement due to illness. Shakespeare's three signatures are all slightly different from one another. Further, the signature on the first leaf is almost entirely worn away. The document is written on three sheets of paper, with William Shakespeare's signature appended to each sheet, as prescribed in contemporary manuals. However, if we assume that Shakespeare was ill at the time of signing, and that he was being asked to sign his name at the very bottom of two sheets of paper and halfway down another sheet – not to mention that, if bedridden, he would be writing at an awkward angle from an awkward position – the fact that the signatures are shaky and variously formed is not remarkable. His other three surviving signatures show similar slight inconsistencies, suggesting that (like some other literate men) Shakespeare was given to variation rather than mechanical repetition when signing his name. The will names many of the important people in his life, including family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors, as well as describing specific pieces of personal property. He left 26 shillings and 8 pence each to his theatrical fellows Richard Burbage, John Heminges, and Henry Condell, as well as to Hamnet Sadler, William Reynolds, and Anthony and John Nash, to buy mourning rings. Another interlinear insertion, Shakespeare's bequest to Richard Burbage, John Heminges, and Henry Condell, three of the King's Men, confirms his association with members of his playing company to the last days of his life. The fact that he calls them "my ffellowes" may suggest that he still considered himself a King's Man. The will is attested at the end by Shakespeare's lawyer, Francis Collins, as well as four friends: Julius Shawe, John Robinson, Hamnet Sadler, and Robert Whattcote. The executors were his daughter, Susanna Hall, and her husband, John Hall. The overseers were Francis Collins and Thomas Russell (the stepfather of Leonard Digges). [from shakespearedocumented.org] http://www.shakespearedocumented.org/exhibition/document/william-shakespeares-last-will-and-testament-original-copy-including marc |
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