As a result of this decision, England remained outside the Gregorian system for a further 170 years, communications during that period customarily carrying two dates, one "OS" or Old Style, the other "NS' or New Style. (173) |
So the Stratfordian criticism of my point is either based on ignorance of these primary records (most likely) or they are simply lying to obscure the validity of this important point.
The following table proves, one is quite certain, that the Author of both Marlowe's canon and Shakespeare's was one and the same person and that over a period of nearly sixty years he carefully orchestrated the registrations of his works.
Play, Poem, Work or Event | Date Entered for Publication | Event it Memorializes |
Midsummer Night's Dream | 8 October 1600 | Theseus' Day or Athens' Democracy Begins: 8 October, cited by Plutarch, one of the Author's sources for MND. |
True Contention (Henry VI) | 12 March 1593/4 | The date of the Handshake, iii,i, cited by Hollinghsed. Notice how it appears in the dead center of the play. |
Henry VI | 8 November 1622 | The play opens on in history was 7 November, cited by Holinshed, but in line 169 the Author causes Prince Henry to be proclaimed King following the funeral of Henry 5, i.e., 8 November. First registered with the FF''s entry 8 Nov. 1622) |
Edward II
Edward III |
6 July 1593
1 December 1595 |
The day the play opens on in history; cited by
Holinshed. The same day Edward III assumed power on, cited by Holinshed. |
Venus and Adonis (Said Shakespeare's first "heir); Two Noble Kinsmen, (Shakespeare's Last Known Play) The Maiden's Holiday (Marlowe's Last Known Play) Shoemaker's Holiday (later attributed to Dekker) Alludes in line to 20 May. |
18/28 April 1593; 8/18 April 1634; 8/18
April 1664
19 April 1610
|
William Herbert's Birthday Gregorian Calendar.
(G)
i.e., 8 April = 18 April
Shoemaker on a holiday? One day late. |
Sonnets | 20/30 May 1609 | Marlowe's final appearance, and/or death, cited by Shakespeare in Henry IV. |
Pericles | 20/30 May 1608 | " " |
Anthony and Cleopatra
The Woman Hater+ |
20/30 May 1608
20/30 May 1607 |
" "
" " |
Marlowe Surfaces at Valladolid | 20/30 May 1599 | Six years to the day from the date of his final appearance and or "death." |
Famous Victories of Henry Fifth | 15 May 1594 | Alludes in-line to Marlowe, to Deptford, Kent, to "20 the year past." Calls Gadshill "the spy of the booties" has him resurface at John Cobbler's home. |
Troilus and Cressida | 7 February 1602/3 | Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded 1587.** Play transfers on 28 January 1609, same day on Gregorian Calendar, i.e., 28 Jan = 7 Feb. Also the anniversary of the Essex Rebellion. |
Titus Andronicus | 6 February 1596 | " " |
Rosalynde (AYLI's
source)
Spanish Tragedy** Othello |
6 October 1590
6 October 1592 6 October 1621 |
Southampton's 18th Birthday, alludes to it in
line.
Southampton's 47th Birthday |
Hamlet | 26 July 1602 | King James's Coronation, St. James' Day and St. Christopher day.^^ |
Hero and Leander | 28 September 1593 | Marlowe's life was saved by Dr. Thomas Watson in Hogg's Lane on 18/28 September 1589. Both men were jailed for the fight. Marlowe was expeditiously released to return to work as Arbella's "reader and attendant." |
The Jew of Malta; Oenone and Paris* O&P forms a literary triptych with V&A, H&L. Its registration marks Heywood's first appearance, this registration of Marlowe's The Jew of Malta in 1634, his last appearance. (or so one supposes.) | 17 May 1594, 17 May 1594
Same day, same year. |
One year to the day from the date of Marlowe's final arrest. (18 May 1593 same day as 17 May 1594, i.e., Friday.) |
Rape of Lucrece | 9 May 1594 | One year to the day from the date of the London pogrom against writers, that tortured Thomas Kyd and arrested Marlowe. Two years to the day from Marlowe's arrest in Shoreditch. |
The Jew of Malta; | 27 February 1591 | Henselowe's Diary; Marlowe Christened 27 February 1563/4 |
Dr. Faustus | 27 February 1592 | Henselowe's Diary; Marlowe's Day |
Henry IV | 26 February 1598 | Marlowe christened 27 February 1564, (same week day) . |
Henry IV | 26 February 1622/3 | A presentation literary copy paid for by Dering for use in the First Folio in Pluckley, Kent.. |
Tamburlaine | 14 August 1590 | |
Henry V | 4/14 August 1599 | Opens the three day Canterbury Fair set aside by Henry VI to commemorate his father Henry V. |
As You Like It | 4/14 August 1599 | " " " |
Much Ado About Nothing | 4/14August 1599 | " " " |
Richard II | 29 August 1594 | Richard defeated at Flint, date converted to Gregorian Calendar: i.e., 19 August = 29 August^ |
Doctor Faustus | 7 January 1600/1 | Marlowe's College mentor Francis Ketts was burnt alive for atheism 6 January 1588/9. |
Richard III | 21 October 1597 | Said pirated, no correlation discovered. Stop the Presses! Correlation discovered: |
Antonie | 3 May 1592 | Part of the Pattern Below, Marlowe may have acted as editor. |
Taming of A Shrew
Yorkshire Tragedy |
2 May 1592
2 May 1608 |
Linked to the last of the great Kentish Quakes 1580, and thus an important earthshaking day. |
Dutch Church Libels (in iambic pentameter, signed "Tamburlaine") | 2 May 1593 | Touched off the London pogrom against writers that netted Kyd and Marlowe. The same sentiment as Gaunt's speech in Richard II, "this England that was wont to conquer others hath made a shameful conquest of itself." |
Cymberline | not dated but a nativity play supposed to date to the birth of Jesus. See Howard White, Copp'd Hills Towards Heaven | |
King Lear | 26 November 1607, with a note saying it was first acted 26 December 1605 at Whitehall | Holinshed is clear that Cordelia survives, but gives no date apart from "in the year of the world 3105." |
Amintae Gaudia (Thomas Watson, d. 1592) | 10 November 1592 | Dedicated to Mary Sidney Herbert by "C.M." presumed Marlowe. Watson's birthday? or a date of significance to Mary? (Still searching....) |
Merry Wives of Windsor | 18 January1602 | Said Pirated. However it was ONE year to the day from the date Pembroke's father died on. Meaning ONE year to the day from William Hebert becoming the Earl of Pembroke. I suppose there were some merry wives in Windsor then. |
+Said John Fletcher's | **Said Thomas Kyd's by Heywood |
^Scholars will be correct to point out that at the time of the battle at Flint (1399) there was no Gregorian calendar. However if the da (19 August) y was given the 10 day correction, it would become 29 August. I view this as a conceit of the Author's doing for us what we were wont to do for ourselves, however I note that Holinshed gives 30 August, plus or minus a day, for the date of Richard's return to London. So this may be what the registration was intended to mark. The same is technically true for the birth of William Herbert, for on April 8, 1580 there still was but one calendar, the Julian. However, as soon as the Gregorian calendar came in, i.e., in 1582, Herbert's birthday would have been properly tracked by his master of ceremonies as 8/18 April.
^^The registration of Hamlet is very instructive. First we have to recall that Hamlet is about King James VI, later James I, as first perceptively suggested by Lillian Winstanly in Hamlet and the Scottish Succession. Link (1921) James became king of Scotland on 24 July 1567, he became king of England on 26 July 1603. Hamlet entered on 26 July 1602, one year to the day prior to James' coronation in St. James' day. The man in charge of his coronation was the mysterious Sir Lewis Lewknor, Master of Ceremonies, charged with making the days memorable. A Richard Lewknor was a classmate of Marlowe's at the King's School and later claimed to have attended Cambridge with Marlowe and the Lewknors and Marlowes were close family friends in Sussex. Link Since St. James and St. Christopher share saint days, the date is of double importance. A glance at the calendar will prove that the correct date 25 July fell in that year on a Sunday, so the Author took the closest week day.
**Mary Queen of Scots, was executed on 8 February 1587, which the Perfect Calendar, labels a Wednesday. Her death warrent had been delivered by the "earls of Shrewsbury and Kent on 7 February." The Essex Rebellion's use of Richard II fell on 7 February, which Augustine Phillipps on his Examination declared was a "Saterday next.," which agrees with the Perfect Calendar. The Rebellion itself fell on the 8th or the same day as Mary's execution. One might also point out that Bruno was executed on 7/17 February 1600.
On The Registration of the First Folio of Shakespeare: 8 November 1623, sixteen never before published plays are listed, including The Tempest, Macbeth and "The Thirde Parte of Hnery ye sixt" which meant Part One, since the other two parts had already been printed. Notice that Blount's name appears before Isaak Jaggard's, good proof he took the manuscript copies to the court himself. |
I've just made another date! (17 August 2005) Play date that is. Richard III’s registration fell on the 20th of October1597, entered by Andrew Wise. It has always bothered me, because it didn't fit with Richard’s life.
I've often thought it might be the edition was "pirated" and wrote as much to Richard Dawkins last night. But this morning in my hot tub, I got to thinking Andrew Wise was an "authorized" publisher. Valentine Simms a respected printer. So I thought to give it another go.
That’s when I noticed the registration has the title as "The tragedie of kinge Richard the Third with the death of the Duke of Clarence." Yep, you’ve guessed it, the registration hinged on Clarence.
Clarence was born on the 21st of October 1449. Clarence is the hero of the play, not Richard, Richard had Clarence executed. But before this, Clarence became the Earl of Salisbury....the title to which Marlowe’s patron, Sir Robert Cecil, long aspired and eventually obtained.
It’s true the date is a day off, but that’s close enough for this sort of game. Agents miss their appointments, the offices are closed, we cannot expect perfection.
But that’s our link. The anonymous version, the source play, The True Tragedy of Richard III, entered on the 19th of June 1594, or about the day of the famous scene about the sorcery of Jane Shore, which is said to have been 13th June 1483. The plague was raging in London that week, so the office may have been keeping irregular days.
See III, iv., the FF's Richard III.
The 19th of June is close enough to the 13th for a signal.
Now consider this. Title to continue to print was changed to Mathew Law on the 25th of June 1602. Or on the day Rivers and Grey were executed at Pontefract.
The play is a bit confused dramatically, but not the author’s agents. They were doing their thing at his command. I love it.