Henry Neville (ambassador)

Sir Henry Neville (c. 1562 - July 10, 1615) was an English diplomat, courtier and distant relative of William Shakespeare.Fact|date=July 2008 A theory put forward in 2005 claims he is a strong candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare's plays.

Early life

Neville was the first born child of Sir Henry Neville Senior (d. 1593) and Elizabeth Gresham and the great-great-grandson of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland. Joan was daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Katherine Swynford. John of Gaunt was in turn a son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault.

Henry grew up at Billingbear House, was educated at Merton College, Oxford and sat in Parliament as the member for New Windsor, Sussex, Liskeard, Kent, Lewes and Berkshire.

Later life

In 1599, Neville was appointed Ambassador to France and attended the Court of Henri IV. Although knighted for his services in France, he was unhappy with the way he was treated by the French and in 1600, complaining of deafness, he asked to be recalled to the Kingdom of England.

After his return he became involved with the plot of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was stripped of his position and fined £5,000, which he agreed to pay in annual instalments of £1,000. After the death of Elizabeth I of England and the accession of James I a Royal Warrant was issued for his release.

After his release, he played a greater role in the political life of Great Britain and earned the antagonism of King James by advocating the King surrender to the demands of the House of Commons. It was this action that, on the death of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, lost him the possibility of becoming the Secretary of State. Although offered the position of Treasurer of the Chamber he turned it down.

Neville died in 1615 and was buried at the church of St. Lawrence in Waltham St. Lawrence, Berkshire, England.

Neville as Shakespeare

Neville (nicknamed Falstaff)Fact|date=September 2008 is a candidate for being the true writer of Shakespeare's works. Mainstream Shakespearean scholarship does not accept that anyone but William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon was the author, however there exist a number of theories that it could have been someone else.

In "The Truth Will Out", published in 2005, authors Brenda James, a part-time lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, and Professor William Rubinstein, professor of history at Aberystwyth University, argue that Henry Neville, a contemporary Elizabethan English diplomat who was a distant relative of Shakespeare, is the true author. Neville's career placed him in the locations of many of the plays about the time they were written and his life contains parallels with the events in the plays.Fact|date=September 2008 The book outlines the case that Neville was the true author, proposing that features of Shakespeare that are otherwise inexplicable make sense if Neville was the author. For example, many of Shakespeare's plays are turgid histories that revolve around the Plantagenets--the long-ago-defeated enemies of the (then) current regime in England. According to James, the choice of subject does not make much sense for Shakespeare, but makes perfect sense if the author was Sir Henry Neville, a descendant of John of Gaunt and member of the Plantagenet family.

The book contends that in other respects Neville is a match for authorship. He had extensively traveled to places described in the plays, was fluent in French and Latin, had a detailed knowledge of law and court protocol, and in all other respects matches the educational and societal norms exhibited by the author of the plays.Fact|date=September 2008

The "The Truth Will Out" also cites circumstantial documentary evidence that Neville was the author, notably the "Tower Notebook", a collection of writings by someone imprisoned in the Tower of London, presumably Neville.Fact|date=September 2008 The notebook contains writings similar to the stage directions for the coronation of Anne Bolyn in the play "King Henry VIII".

Family

Neville married Anne Killigrew (daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew and Catherine Cooke) and they had five sons and six daughters.
*Sir Henry Neville, c. 1586 - 29 June, 1629, married Elizabeth Smyth, issue.
*Elizabeth Neville, c. 1588 - 4 January, 1656 or 1657, married William Glover then Sir Henry Berkeley, issue.
*Catherine Neville, c. 1589 - 1650, married Sir Richard Brooke, issue.
*Mary Neville, c. 1590 - 28 October, 1642, married Edward Lewknor, issue.
*Frances Neville, 1592 - 1659, married Sir Richard Worsley then Jerome Brett, issue.
*William Neville, 1596 - 1640, married Catherine Billingley, issue unknown.
*Anne Neville, unmarried.
*Edward Neville, 1602 - 1632, married Alice Pryor, issue.
*Dorothy Neville, 1605 - 1673, married Richard Catlyn, issue unknown.
*Charles Neville, 1607 - 1626, possibly unmarried.
*Richard Neville, 1608 - 1644, married unknown, issue.

References

*James, Brenda and Rubinstein, William (2005). "The Truth Will Out: Unmasking the Real Shakespeare". Longman. ISBN 1-4058-2437-9
*James, Brenda (2008). "Henry Neville and the Shakespeare Code". Music for Strings. ISBN 978-1-905424-05-4
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/hneville_1615.html Biography from the Royal Berkshire History Website]
* [http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/HenryNeville.htm Sir Henry Neville of Billingbere]

External links

* [http://www.henryneville.com/ HenryNeville.com - The Research of Sir Henry Neville as the Author of Shakespeare's Works]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4312110.stm BBC article Diplomat 'was real Shakespeare']
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article317235.ece Story at The Independent about Neville's possible Shakespearean authorship]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1811620,00.html Story at The Times]
* [http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/entertainment/arts/literature/s/176/176751_shakespeare_was_just_a_frontman.html Story at the Manchester Evening News]
* [http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000600.php The Social Affairs Unit - William D. Rubinstein discusses the Shakespeare "authorship question".]
* [http://www.leylandandgoding.com Animated decryptions of the Dedication to Shakespeare's Sonnets revealing Sir Henry Neville as the author of Shakespeare's works.]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2008/2356366.htm Story and podcast from Australian Broadcasting Commission, 7 September 2008, interviews with Leyland and Goding, James]