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WILL SHAKESPEARE AND THE PIRATE’S FIRE
Some Notes From Behind The Scenes
CHAPTER 1
POACHING There is a legend that Will poached deer on Lucy’s
land at the age of 17. It seems reasonable to suppose he might
have started sooner with smaller game. For Will’s life I
first went to Michael Wood’s excellent book ‘In Search
of Shakespeare,’ based upon his TV series. I also gained
a lot from ‘Shakespeare’ by Anthony Holden.
HAMNET Hamnet Sadler was a lifelong friend of Will’s.
He and his wife Judith were godparents to Will’s twins who
were named after them.
BROGGER A ‘brogger’ was someone who traded in
wool without a license. John Shakespeare was accused of this crime
twice in 1572.
CHAPTER 2
SHAKESPEARE Will himself spelled his own name in a variety
of different ways in the documents we have. In Elizabethan times
spelling was not standardised and many words had several different
versions.
BEESTON An early record of Lord Strange’s men refers
to them as ‘Beeston’s men.’ This Beeston is thought
to be the father of Christopher (Kit) Beeston who would later
act on stage alongside Will and eventually run his own company
of boy players.
WOMEN On the Continent women performed on stage, but in
England this was considered to be immoral and was against the
law. Therefore women’s roles were played by boys.
KEMP Will Kemp was the greatest clown of his age, and performed
in the same company as Will for many years, playing many of his
most famous fools. He was famed for his dancing and in 1600 he
performed a morris dance from London to Norwich, celebrating the
feat in a book called ‘Kemp’s Nine Days Wonder.’
CHAPTER 3
CAMBYSES This play was entered for publication in 1569.
It tells the tale of a Persian king who after many acts of murderous
brutality gets his just desserts when he accidentally stabs himself
to death with his sword while getting on his horse. It is typical
of the very simplistic dramas Will would have seen performed in
his boyhood.
CHAPTER 8
JOHN DEE In fact Dee’s mother, his wife and his newly
born son all lived in the house with him. I locked them all in
the cellar so as not to clutter the story with too many characters.
For more on Dee see ‘The Queen’s Conjurer, The Life
And Magic Of Dr. Dee’ by Benjamin Woolley.
SHAKESHAFT The 1581 will of Sir Thomas Hoghton of Lancashire
bequeaths money to a player in his service named William Shakeshaft.
Some believe that this was Shakespeare, who had taken refuge with
this northern Catholic family to escape persecution by Sir Thomas
Lucy.
CHAPTER 9
TOMASINA was a dwarf in the Queen’s service. She was
well known for her remarkable memory and was a visitor to Dee’s
house.
WALTER
RALEIGH became one of the foremost explorers of America and
from there introduced the potato and tobacco into England.
CHAPTER
10
MERMAID The term was sometimes used to refer to a prostitute,
so Walter is making a joke of this here.
CHAPTER 11
SPIRITS It was about this time that Dr. Dee began his experiments
in cummunicating with spirits. Over the next few years he believed
he was receiving messages from a spirit named Madimi.
CHAPTER 12
MADDIE’S SONG The song is in Gaelic and the words
say:
‘Welcome, O woman who was sorrowful,
We were desolate while you were imprisoned.
Oro – and welcome home,
Would that the Summer is here.’
WILL’S FIRST POEM
In an earlier draft of the novel this chapter was followed by
Will’s first poem, a feverish ode to Maddie. I removed it
for the sake of pace, but if anyone is interested, here it is
(and the reason why it never saw the light of day):
Thou art inconstant as a weathercock
That to and fro doth spin with everie shock
Of Boreas' breath or gustie breeze,
Now north, now south, now west. No rest nor ease
Will pacifie thy wild, dishevelled locks
Nor sweet that bitter tongue that sourly mocks.
Words hot then cold can flush the strongest Will
And make it Mad, unsettled, never still.
And what if Will be Mad? Will Mad be Will?
If bad be good, will all be good or ill?
William Shackspere
(I should throw this on the fire before somebody sees it. I don't
think it's very good - Will)
CHAPTER 15
CATHOLICS At this time, Mary, the deposed Catholic Queen
of Scotland, was being held prisoner in England. She had a legitimate
claim to the English throne, and Elizabeth and her ministers were
very much afraid that she would become the figurehead for a Catholic
rebellion.
CHAPTER 17
MURDEROUS MICHAEL All we know of this play is that it was
performed in 1579. From the title we can assume it was a tragedy.
CHAPTER 18
GRACE O’MALLEY For more on Grace see ‘Granuaile,
Ireland’s Pirate Queen,’ by Anne Chambers or ‘Pirate
Queen, The Life of Grace O’Malley,’ by Judith Cook.
CHAPTER 20
BERNARDINO DE MENDOZA was a renowned soldier who fought for
15 years in the Low Countries. He was appointed ambassador to
England in 1578 and acted both as a diplomat and a spy. In 1584
he was expelled from England because of his involvement in a plot
to overthrow Queen Elizabeth. For the next six years he was ambassador
to France until ill health forced him to retire. He was also a
writer, publishing an account of the war in the Low Countries
and a book on the art of warfare.
SEA BATTLE This is a painting of the Battle of Lepanto where
the combined fleets of Spain and Venice won a famous victory over
the Turkish navy in 1571.
CHAPTER 32
WALSINGHAM Sir Francis Walsingham is credited with creating
the English Secret Service, spreading his intelligence network
across Europe. He said, “Knowledge is never too dear.”
In 1580 Walter Raleigh was given a military command in Ireland.
Walsingham was compelled to leave the royal court for a while,
having incurred the queen’s displeasure by opposing the marriage
to Anjou.
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