Shakespeare Part 1 Chapter 3 Stratford History and Landmarks

Dear Me,

   Yay, on to Chapter 3!!

Shakespeare: The Biography

by

Peter Ackroyd

Part One

Chapter Three: Dost Thou Love Pictures?

Stratford is a meeting place of roads that cross the Avon river.  The area had been settled from the Bronze Age.  A Romano-British village was established on the outskirts of the present town, lending weight and substance to the weathered and enduring atmosphere of the place.

In the seventh century a monastery was established but the banks of the river and we can say that Stratford had a connection with the old religion from the earliest times.  The church in which Shakespeare was baptized was built on the site of the monastery, and the swellings of the monks was on land now known as "Old Town".

Stratford began to prosper in the thirteenth century.  A three day fair was constituted in 1216 and was supplemented by four other fairs.  The medieval town itself was approximately the same size as it was the same size when Shakespeare was born.

The open country was covered with thorn bush and populated by rabbits.  There were few trees and no hedges or trees, and sprinkled with cowslips and clover as well as yellow mustard.  It should be noted that Shakespeare has the widest vocabulary when it comes to the variety of weeds found in such places disentangling the hemlock from the cuckoo-flower, the fumiter from the darnel.

Shakespeare would have known the ancient bone house on the north side of the chancel, where the skeletons of the long-dead had been deposited and it had also been a dormitory for the singing boys and a study for the minister.

Shakespeare would have know the bone house, as he and his contemporaries would have been familiar with death.  Legend suggests he had this bone house in mind when he wrote the passage of Juliet crying out against the "Charnal house".  

Of equal antiquity was the Guild of the Holy Cross, established in Stratford.  This was a society of lay people devoted to the festivals and institutions of their faith.  It's members would be assured of a fitting funeral.  But it was also a communal society with it's own wardens who supervised the interests of the town as well as the benefactions.

If Shakespeare knew one Stratford public building it was the chapel of this guild.  It was located beside the school where he was taught and where he attended morning prayers.  Then there were the bells, The little bell that would call the local boys to school every morning and the great bell that tolled at dawn and dusk.  This big bell would eventually toll for Shakespeare when he was laid to rest in the Stratford ground.

Shakespeare: A Biography