The Shakespeare Code

A Statement from The Shakespeare Code’s Chief Agent….

STEWART TROTTER

Photo by Ross Underwood

Seconds before Trixie the Cat……

……and I gave our talk……

‘The Southampton Family ‘Tomb’ Decoded’

 ……before the Southampton Memorial in St. Peter’s, Titchfield, on Sunday 23rd October, 2016….

……Trixie made an amazing discovery!!!

The three arches in the memorial are covered in roses….

Photo by Ross Underwood

This is in honour of the famous Southampton rose….

But it is also a reference to the way in which the aristocratic branch of the Wriothesley family sometimes pronounced it’s name….

……Ryosely….

……the form in which it is recorded in the Titchfield Parish Register….

William Shakespeare……

…. referred to his Patron and Lover, Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton…..

…. as….

Beauty’s Rose…

…..and….

my Rose….

…in Sonnets 1 and 109….

The Southampton memorial was funded by the Third Earl’s father……

…..the Second Earl, also called Henry.

Photo by Ross Underwood

He had wanted two tombs – one for his father and mother and one for himself….

His motive was to humiliate his wife – the beautiful Mary Browne……

…because he believed she had been unfaithful to him…..

When the Second Earl died in 1581 Mary overturned his will…..

….. and ‘forgot’ about his request for two separate tombs….

However, in 1594, the year her son the Third Earl was to come of age, she ordered a SINGLE memorial from Garett Johnson of Southwark….

This depicted her mother-in-law Jane Southampton….

Photo by Ross Underwood

…….her father-in-law, Thomas Wriothesley, the First Earl of Southampton…..

Photo by Ross Underwood.

……and her husband, Henry, the Second Earl, resplendent in armour, curly hair and moustache…

Photo by Ross Underwood.

The inscription to him on the memorial states that he died….

….in the 36 year of his age…..

When Henry had died, Mary had claimed to hate her husband…..

….but it seems that by 1594 she had started to soften towards him…..

She has certainly instructed Garrett Johnson to depict him on the memorial as a dashing and handsome man…..

And there is another sign of love and affection…..

Trixie the Cat noticed – just before our talk began – that there were twelve roses in each of the three arches in the memorial…..

Photo by Ross Underwood

…..making thirty-six roses altogether…..

ONE FOR EVERY YEAR OF HER LATE HUSBAND’S LIFE!!!

To read the First Part of the Talk, click: HERE!

To read the Second Part of the Talk, click:HERE