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{{short description|mother of William Shakespeare (1536-1608)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name =Mary Shakespeare
| name = Mary Shakespeare
| image = Shakespeare's Country Home of Mary Arden Wilmcote. (NBY 440610).jpg
| image = Shakespeare's Country Home of Mary Arden Wilmcote. (NBY 440610).jpg
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption = Postcard depicting the Arden cottage, Mary and young William
| caption = Postcard depicting the Arden cottage, Mary and young William
| birth_name = Mary Arden
| birth_name = Mary Arden
| birth_date =c. 1536–38<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/william-shakespeare/william-shakespeares-family/mary-arden/|title=Mary Arden|website=Shakespeare Birthplace Trust}}</ref>
| birth_date = {{circa|1536–1538}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/william-shakespeare/william-shakespeares-family/mary-arden/|title=Mary Arden|website=Shakespeare Birthplace Trust}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Wilmcote]], [[Warwickshire]], [[Kingdom of England|England]]
| birth_place = [[Wilmcote, Warwickshire]], [[Kingdom of England]]
| death_date = early September 1608 (age about 70)
| death_date = early September {{death year|1608}} (age about 70)
| death_place =[[Stratford-upon-Avon]], Warwickshire, England
| death_place = [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], Warwickshire, England
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| burial_place = [[Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon]]
| burial_date = September 9, 1608
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|burial_place=[[Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon]]
| known_for =
| known_for =
|spouse= [[John Shakespeare]] (m. 1557–1601; his death)
| spouse = [[John Shakespeare]] (m. 1557–1601; his death)
|children =8, including [[William Shakespeare|William]], [[Gilbert Shakespeare|Gilbert]], [[Joan Shakespeare|Joan]] and [[Edmund Shakespeare|Edmund]]
| children = 8, including [[William Shakespeare|William]], [[Gilbert Shakespeare|Gilbert]], [[Joan Shakespeare|Joan]] and [[Edmund Shakespeare|Edmund]]
| notable_works =
| notable_works =
| father =Robert Arden}}
| father = Robert Arden}}
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{{short description|mother of William Shakespeare}}
'''Mary Shakespeare''' ([[Birth name|née]] '''Arden'''; c. 1537–1608){{ref|a|note}} was the mother of [[William Shakespeare]].
'''Mary Shakespeare''' ([[Birth name|née]] '''Arden'''; c. 1537–1608){{ref|a|note}} was the mother of [[William Shakespeare]].


Revision as of 03:07, 5 November 2020

Mary Shakespeare
Postcard depicting the Arden cottage, Mary and young William
Born
Mary Arden

c. 1536–1538[1]
Wilmcote, Warwickshire, Kingdom of England
Diedearly September 1608 (1609) (age about 70)
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Burial placeChurch of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon
SpouseJohn Shakespeare (m. 1557–1601; his death)
Children8, including William, Gilbert, Joan and Edmund
FatherRobert Arden

Mary Shakespeare (née Arden; c. 1537–1608)note was the mother of William Shakespeare.

Biography

She was the daughter of Wilmcote gentleman farmer Robert Arden, a cadet of the Arden family[2][3] prominent in Warwickshire. She was the youngest of eight daughters, and when her father died in 1556 she inherited land at Snitterfield and Wilmcote from her father as a dowry. The house was left to her stepmother Agnes Hill. Richard Shakespeare, the father of John Shakespeare, was a tenant farmer on land owned by her father in Snitterfield. As the daughter of Richard's landlord, she may have known John since childhood.[4] Mary married John Shakespeare in 1557, when she was 20 years old.[4] She bore eight children: Joan (1558), Margaret (1562–1563), William (1564–1616), Gilbert (1566–1612), Joan (1569–1646), Anne (1571–1579), Richard (1574–1613), and Edmund (1580–1607).[5] Though Mary gave birth to many children, several of them died young. Their first daughter, Joan, born 1558 died; the name being used again for their third daughter. Their second daughter, Margaret, also died in infancy.[4] Some members of the wider Arden family were of the Catholic faith.[4] John died in 1601 and Mary died in September 1608.[6]

Mary was from a family of status and her ancestors – such as Thomas Arden, who fought in the Second Barons' War (1264–67) on the side of Simon de Montfort; Robert Arden who fought in the Wars of the Roses; John Arden who served on the court of Henry VII – were well-connected in society.[4]

Palmer's Farm (rear)

Mary Arden's House in Wilmcote has been maintained in good condition because it had been a working farmhouse over the centuries. It was bought by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1930 and refurnished in the Tudor period style.[7] In 2000 it was discovered that the building preserved as Mary Arden's house had belonged to a friend and neighbour, Adam Palmer, and the house was accordingly renamed Palmer's Farm. The house that had belonged to the Arden family – which was near to Palmer's Farm – had been acquired by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1968 for preservation as part of a farmyard, without knowing its true provenance.[8] The house and farm are open as a historic museum displaying 16th-century life.

Notes

1.^ English personal names were not spelled consistently in the Tudor period; Mary's name is recorded variously as Marye Shackspere, Mayry Shaxspere.[9][6]

References

  1. ^ "Mary Arden". Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
  2. ^ Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th ed., vol. 2, 1969, ed. Peter Townend, 'Arden formerly of Longcroft' pedigree
  3. ^ Shakespeare, Anthony Burgess, Vintage Books, chapter 1, 'Home'
  4. ^ a b c d e Wood, Michael. Shakespeare. New York: Basic, 2003. Print.
  5. ^ A Shakespeare Genealogy Archived March 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b "Parish register entry recording Mary Arden Shakespeare's burial". Shakespeare Documented.
  7. ^ "Mary Arden's House (the mother of William Shakespeare)". Online Shakespeare.
  8. ^ The Shakespeare Houses – The Official Guide, Revised 2008, ISBN 978-0-7117-2949-0
  9. ^ "Conveyance by John and Mary Shakespeare to Robert Webbe, for £4, of their share in two messuages in Snitterfield". Shakespeare Documented.
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