Judith Quiney

"Judith Shakespeare" redirects here. For Virginia Woolf's fictional Judith, see "A Room of One's Own"

Judith Quiney ("née" Shakespeare) (baptised 2 February 1585 – buried 9 February 1662) was the daughter of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. She married Thomas Quiney, a vintner of Stratford-upon-Avon. The circumstances of the marriage, including Quiney's misconduct, may have prompted the rewriting of Shakespeare's will. Thomas was struck out, while Judith's inheritance was attached with provisions to safeguard it from her husband. The bulk of Shakespeare's estate was left, in an elaborate fee tail, to his elder daughter Susanna and her male heirs.

Judith and Thomas Quiney had three children. By the time of Judith Quiney's death, she had outlived her children by many years. She has been depicted, in several works of fiction, as attempting to piece together her father's life.

Birth and early life

Judith Shakespeare was the daughter of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. She was the younger sister of Susanna and the twin sister of Hamnet.cite book
last = Chambers
first = Edmund Kerchever
authorlink = Edmund Kerchever Chambers
title = William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1930
pages = I. p. 18
quote = A daughter Susanna was baptized on 26 May 1583, and followed by twins, Hamnet and Judith, on 2 February 1585. Guesses at godparents are idle where common names, such as Shakespeare's own, are concerned. But those of the twins, which are unusual, point to Hamnet or Hamlet Sadler, a baker of Stratford, and his wife Judith. ] cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 94
quote = […] the twins were christened […] on 2 February 1585. Richard Barton of Coventry […] officiated [.] ] Her baptism on 2 February 1585 was recorded by the vicar, Richard Barton of Coventry, in the parish register for Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. The twins were named after a husband and wife, Hamnet and Judith Sadler , who were friends of the parents. Hamnet Sadler was a baker in Stratford.

Judith Shakespeare was probably illiterate. [Chambrun, Clara Longworth. "Shakespeare, actor-poet,: As seen by his associates, explained by himself and remembered by the succeeding generation" D. Appleton and Co (1927). pg. 223. ASIN B000858JBE] In 1611 she was asked to witness a deed of sale for a house belonging to her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Quiney, and to Elizabeth's son Adrian. Judith signed twice with a mark instead of her name. [cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = Shakespeare's Lives
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1970
oclc = 94533
pages = p.28
quote = In 1611 she twice made her mark as witness to a deed for the sale of a house belonging to Elizabeth Quiney and her eldest son Adrian. ] [cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 318
quote = [Judith] was even less of a scholar, if we may judge from the fact that when in 1611 she witnessed a deed of Elizabeth Quiney and her son Adrian, she twice signed by mark. ]

Marriage

On 10 February 1616, Judith Shakespeare married Thomas Quiney, a vintner of Stratford, in Holy Trinity Church. The assistant vicar, Richard Watts, who later married Quiney's sister Mary, probably officiated.cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 292
quote = [Thomas] came from an unexceptionable family. […] On 10 February 1616 ‘Tho [mas] Queeny’ was wed ‘to Judith Shakspere’, the assistant vicar Richard Watts probably officiating—he signed the marriage register this month. (Watts later married Quiney's sister Mary.) […] Because the ceremony took place during the Lenten prohibited season that in 1616 began on 28 January (Septuagesima Sunday) and ended on April 7 (the Sunday after Easter), the couple should have secured a special licence from the Bishop of Worcester. They did not do so, although presumably they published banns in the parish church. ] The wedding took place during the Lenten season, which was a prohibitive time for marriages. In 1616 Lent started on 23 January, Septuagesima Sunday, and ended on 7 April, the Sunday after Easter. Hence the marriage required a special licence, issued by the Bishop of Worcester, which the couple had failed to obtain. Presumably they had posted the required banns in church, since Walter Wright of Stratford was cited for marrying without banns or license: but this was not considered sufficient. The infraction was a minor one, apparently caused by the minister, as three other couples were also wed that February. Quiney was nevertheless summoned by Walter Nixon to appear before the Consistory court in Worcester.cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 293
quote = Without a license the minister was at fault in conducting the service. […] Thomas and Judith were cited to the consistory court in Worcester Cathedral. Thomas did not come on the appointed day, and was excommunicated. Possibly Judith suffered the same fate […] . The offence was not serious. Others married in Lent—three weddings took place in Holy Trinity that February—and the Quineys may have just [fallen] victim to an apparitor hungry for a fee. Walter Nixon, who summoned them, [later faced] accusations in Star Chamber of taking bribes and [forgery] . The excommunication […] lasted only a short while, for before the year was out the Quineys were at the font to have their first-born christened in Stratford church.] (This same Walter Nixon was later involved in a Star Chamber case and was found guilty of forging signatures and taking bribes). Quiney failed to appear by the required date. The register recorded the judgement, which was excommunication, on or about 12 March 1616. It is unknown if Judith was also excommunicated, but in any case the punishment did not last long. In November of the same year they were back in church for the baptism of their firstborn child.

The marriage did not begin well: Quiney had recently impregnated another woman, Margaret Wheeler,cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = pp. 293-294
quote = Before marrying, [Thomas] had got a Margaret Wheeler with child […] . [A] month after the […] wedding, the unfortunate woman died in childbirth, and her infant with her. The parish register records both burials on 15 March. […] ‘whoredom and uncleanness’ […] fell within the purview of the […] bawdy court […] . [The] apparitor Richard Greene […] summoned [Thomas] . The act book records the hearing and sentence on Tuesday, 26 March. In open court Thomas confessed to having had carnal copulation with [Margaret Wheeler] , and submitted himself to correction. The judge, vicar John Rogers, sentenced [him] to perform open penance in a white sheet, according to custom, in the church on three successive Sundays before the whole congregation. But the penalty was remitted. In effect Thomas got off for 5s […] for the use of the poor of the parish, and the vicar ordered him to acknowledge his crime, in ordinary attire, before the minister of Bishopton. […] Bishopton had no church of its own, only a chapel; so Quiney was spared public humiliation. ] who was to die in childbirth along with the child and was buried on 15 March 1616. On 26 March 1616, Quiney appeared before the Bawdy Court, which dealt, among other things, with "whoredom and uncleanliness." Confessing in open court to "carnal copulation" with Margaret Wheeler, he submitted himself for correction. He was sentenced to open penance "in a white sheet (according to custom)" before the on three Sundays. He also had to admit to his crime, this time wearing ordinary clothes, before the Minister of Bishopton in Warwickshire. The first part of the sentence was remitted, essentially letting him off with a five-shilling fine to be given to the parish's poor. Since Bishopton had no church, but only a chapel, he was spared any public humiliation.

Chapel Lane, Atwood's and The Cage

Where the Quineys lived after being married is unknown: but Judith owned her father's cottage on Chapel Lane, Stratford; while Thomas had held, since 1611, the lease on a tavern called "Atwood's" on High Street. [cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 292
quote = Thomas became a vintner in Stratford; we hear of him selling wine to the corporation in 1608. Three years later he leased, for use as a tavern, the little house called ‘Atwood's’ near the top of the High Street, next door to his mother.] The cottage later passed from Judith to her sister as part of the settlement in their father's will. In July 1616 Thomas swapped houses with his brother-in-law, William Chandler, moving his vintner's shop to the upper half of a house at the corner of High Street and Bridge Street. [cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 294
quote = In July 1616 Thomas exchanged houses with his brother-in-law William Chandler, and moved into the more spacious and imposing structure called The Cage at the corner of the High Street and Bridge Street. There, in the upper half, Quiney set up his vintner's shop, and also dealt in tobacco.] This house was known as "The Cage" and is the house traditionally associated with Judith Quiney.cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 5] In the 20th century The Cage was for a time a Wimpy Bar before being turned into the Stratford Information Office.cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 5]

The Cage provides further insight into why Shakespeare would not have trusted Judith's husband. Around 1630 Quiney tried to sell the lease on the house but was prevented by his kinsmen.cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 295
quote = Around 1630 he tried to sell the lease of The Cage, but his kinsmen stopped him, and in 1633 assigned the lease in trust to a triumvirate consisting of Dr. Hall, Hall's son-in-law Thomas Nash, and Richard Watts, now Quiney's brother-in-law and the vicar of Harbury. This move protected the interests of Judith and the children. Obviously Thomas was not to be trusted. In November 1652 The Cage lease was made over to Richard Quiney, the London grocer.] In 1633, to protect the interests of Judith and the children, the lease was signed over to the trust of: John Hall, Susanna's husband; Thomas Nash, the husband of Judith's niece; and Richard Watts, vicar of nearby Harbury, who was Quiney's brother-in-law and who had officiated at Thomas and Judith's wedding. Eventually, in November 1652, the lease to The Cage ended up in the hands of Thomas' eldest brother, Richard Quiney, a grocer in London.

William Shakespeare's last will and testament

The inauspicious beginnings of Judith's marriage, in spite of her husband and his family being otherwise unexceptionable, has led to speculation that this was the cause for William Shakespeare's hastily altered last will and testament.cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 297
quote = During the winter of 1616 Shakespeare summoned his lawyer Francis Collins […] . […] Revisions were necessitated by the marriage of Judith, with its aftermath of the Margaret Wheeler affair. The lawyer came on 25 March. […] Shakespeare was dying that March, although he would linger for another month.] He first summoned his lawyer, Francis Collins, in January 1616. On 25 March he made further alterations, probably because he was dying and because of his concerns about Quiney. In the first bequest of the will there had been a provision "vnto my sonne in L [aw] "; but "sonne in L [aw] " was then struck out, with Judith's name inserted in its stead.cite book
last = Chambers
first = Edmund Kerchever
authorlink = Edmund Kerchever Chambers
title = William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1930
pages = ii. pp. 169-180 ] To this daughter he bequeathed £100 "in discharge of her marriage porcion"; another £50 if she were to relinquish the Chapel Lane cottage; and, if she or any of her children were still alive at the end of three years following the date of the will, a further £150, of which she was to receive the interest but not the principal. This money was explicitly denied to Thomas Quiney unless he were to bestow on Judith lands of equal value. In a separate bequest, Judith was given "my broad silver gilt bole."

Finally, for the bulk of his estate, which included his main house, "New Place," his two houses on Henley Street and various lands in and around Stratford, Shakespeare had set up an entail. His estate was bequeathed, in descending order of choice, to the following: 1) his daughter, Susanna Hall; 2) upon Susanna's death, "to the first sonne of her bodie lawfullie yssueing & to the heires Males of the bodie of the saied first Sonne lawfullie yssueing"; 3) to Susanna's second son and his male heirs; 4) to Susanna's third son and his male heirs; 5) to Susanna's "ffourth … ffyfth sixte & Seaventh sonnes" and their male heirs; 6) to Elizabeth Hall, Susanna and John Hall's firstborn, and her male heirs; 7) to Judith and her male heirs; or 8) to whatever heirs the law would normally recognise. This elaborate entail is usually taken to indicate that Thomas Quiney was not to be entrusted with Shakespeare's inheritance, although some have speculated that it may simply indicate that Susanna was the favoured child.

Children

Judith and Thomas Quiney had three children: Shakespeare (baptised 23 November 1616 — buried 8 May 1617); Richard (baptised 9 February 1618 — buried 6 February 1639); and Thomas (baptised 23 January 1620 — buried 28 January 1639).cite book
last = Chambers
first = Edmund Kerchever
authorlink = Edmund Kerchever Chambers
title = William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1930
pages = ii. pp. 8,11,104 ] Shakespeare was named for his mother's father. Richard's name was common among the Quineys: his other grandfather and an uncle were named Richard.

Shakespeare Quiney died at six months of age. Richard and Thomas Quiney were buried within a month of each other; they were 19 and 21 years old. The deaths of all of Judith's children brought on new legal consequences. The entail on her father's inheritance led Susanna, along with her daughter and son-in-law, to make a settlement, by use of a rather elaborate legal device, for the inheritance of her own branch of the family. [cite book
last = Chambers
first = Edmund Kerchever
authorlink = Edmund Kerchever Chambers
title = William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1930
pages = ii. p. 179
quote = Judith Quiney's last child died in February 1639. Steps were taken to bar the entail. A settlement of ‘the inheritance of William Shakespeere gent. deceased’ was made by Susanna [Hall] and the Nashs on 27 May 1639, and was followed by fines and a fictitious legal action. Possibly Judith was compensated. Her expectation was small, and in fact she predeceased Elizabeth [Hall] . ] Legal wrangling continued for another thirteen years, until 1652.

Death

Judith Quiney was buried on 9 February 1662, having outlived her last remaining child by twenty-two years.cite book
last = Chambers
first = Edmund Kerchever
authorlink = Edmund Kerchever Chambers
title = William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1930
pages = i. p. 13 ] cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
year = 1977
pages = p. 318
quote = Judith lived on into the Restoration. On 9 February 1662, less than two weeks after her seventy-seventh birthday, ‘Judith, uxor Thomas Quiney, Gent.’ was buried, presumably in the churchyard. She had survived her twin brother Hamnet by sixty-six years. […] Dowdall in 1693 reports a tradition that Shakespeare's ‘wife and daughters did earnestly desire to be laid in the same grave with him’, but ‘for fear of the curse’ nobody dared ‘touch his gravestone’. ] She was buried on the grounds of Holy Trinity Church, but the exact location of her grave is unknown. Of her husband, the records show little of his later years. It has been speculated that he may have died in 1662 or 1663, when the parish burial records are incomplete, or that he may have left Stratford-upon-Avon. He is known to have had a nephew, living in London, who by this time was holding the lease to The Cage.

Literary references

[

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thumb|right|ShakespeareThe Tempest", a scene from William Black's "Judith Shakespeare", illustrated by Edwin Austin Abbey] Judith is the subject of the novel "My Father Had a Daughter: Judith Shakespeare's Tale" by Grace Tiffany. [cite web
last =Schaal
first =Carol
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =My Father Had a Daughter: Judith Shakespeare's Tale
work =Notre Dame Magazine Online
publisher =Notre Dame
date =12 July 2004
url =http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/pick2003/p03-1117.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate =2007-08-09 ] She is portrayed in William Black's " [http://www.harpers.org/subjects/JudithMrsQuincy/SubjectOf/Fiction Judith Shakespeare: Her Love Affairs and Other Adventures] ", published serially in "Harper's Magazine" in 1884. She also appears in one of the final stories in Neil Gaiman's graphic novel, "The Sandman." Gaiman made comparisons between Judith and the character of Miranda in "The Tempest." [Gaiman, Neil et.al. "The Wake." New York: DC Comics, 1997. ISBN 1563892790]

In "A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf created a character, "Judith Shakespeare," to make a point about the struggle that a female poet and playwright would have had in the Elizabethan age. Woolf speculated as to why there were so few talented women from that time. "What I find deplorable," she observed, "is that nothing is known about women before the eighteenth century." Woolf's Judith was created in an attempt to fill an historical gap. Hers is the story of William Shakespeare's sister, denied the education of her brother despite her obvious talent. When her father tries to marry her off, she runs away to join a theatre company but is ultimately rejected because of her sex. She becomes pregnant, is abandoned by her partner and commits suicide. Besides the similar names and setting, there is no other direct connection between Judith, Shakespeare's daughter, and Woolf's creation. [Ezell, Margaret J. M. (1993) "Writing Women's Literary History", Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. pg. 44-45 ISBN 0-8018-4432-0.]

References

Bibliography

*cite book
last = Chambers
first = Edmund Kerchever
authorlink = Edmund Kerchever Chambers
title = William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems
year = 1930
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
oclc = 353406
*cite book
last = Chambers
first = Edmund Kerchever
authorlink = Edmund Kerchever Chambers
title = Sources for a Biography of Shakespeare
year = 1970
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
oclc = 59179182
*cite book
last = Halliwell-Phillipps
first = James Orchard
authorlink = James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps
title = Outlines of the life of Shakespeare
year = 1882
publisher = Longmans
location = London
oclc = 5190346
*cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = Shakespeare's Lives
year = 1991
publisher = Oxford University Press
location = Oxford
isbn = 0198186185
*cite book
last = Schoenbaum
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Schoenbaum
title = William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life
year = 1977
publisher = Clarendon Press
location = Oxford
isbn = 0195051610

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=aX4LAAAAIAAJ&dq=judith+shakespeare&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=0046RvJSnv&sig=6AQF4vGtO1t8RNDOHAprJYeeOV0#PPA1,M1 Complete text of William Black's novel]
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=316&searchid=8761&tabview=image Edwin Austin Abbey's portrayal of Judith (created after her death)]