Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southhampton

Nine years younger than Shakespeare, Henry Wriothesley (pronounced rihs-lee or rise-lee), the 3rd Earl of Southampton was a Cambridge-educated nobleman and a patron of literature. At university, he showed strong interest in literature, sending Latin poems to his guardian, Lord Burghley, the Queen’s Chancellor. When he finished at Cambridge, he went to London and enrolled at Gray’s Inn, one of the law schools, but never took a degree. He was a handsome nobleman who soon succeeded at the court, becoming a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. The young earl lost favor in 1598 by wooing, impregnating, and quickly marrying a young noblewoman, Elizabeth Vernon, who was a relative of one of Elizabeth I’s favorite courtiers, the Earl of Essex.

Southhampton, who went on expeditions with the Earl Essex to the Azores and Ireland, was also later imprisoned for his part in the Earl of Essex’s ill-fated rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I in 1601. He was convicted of treason, stripped of his titles, and sentenced to die. However, the intervention of Robert Cecil, the son of Southampton’s guardian, led to his sentence being commuted to life in prison. When James I came to the throne in 1603, Southampton was released and had his titles restored. He later became an investor in the Virginia Company and the East India Company. He died in in 1624 from fever while fighting against Spanish forces in the Netherlands.

Shakespeare and the Earl of Southhampton

The dedication to (1593). Courtesy of the Bodleian Library and Shakespeare Documented. CC BY-NC 4.0.

Clear documentation of the young Southampton’s relationship with the poet exists in the dedications of Shakespeare’s two narrative poems, (published in 1593) and (published in 1594). Both are carefully and accurately printed, unlike the texts of his plays. Scholars believe the poems were both prepared by Shakespeare for publication between June of 1592 and April of 1593, when all the theaters in London were closed due to plague. Both poems were popular and were reprinted numerous times in the period.

Dedications to the Poems

The 1593 dedication, with spelling slightly modernized, to is formal in tone and phrasing: Right Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your Lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden, only if your Honour seeme but pleased, I account my selfe highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a god-father: and never after ear plough so barren a land, for feare it yield me still so bad a harvest. ()

The difference between this formally phrased dedication and the more casual dedication to the 1594 , again with spelling slightly modernized, has suggested to some biographers that Southampton had become friendly with Shakespeare: The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end: whereof this Pamphlet without beginning is but a superfluous moiety portion. The warrant I have of your Honourable disposition, not the worth of my untutored lines makes it assured of acceptance. What I have done is yours, what I have to do is yours, being part in all I have, devoted yours...
Your Lordship’s in all duty. 
William Shakespeare. () However, no direct evidence exists of their growing familiarity beyond the language in this dedication.

Southhampton and the Sonnets

The relationship between the poet and his patron may have developed further with the completion , which were written and widely circulated in the 1590s although not printed as a book until 1609. The poems feature the poet praising his unnamed patron and fearing the work of rival poets competing for his favor and funding. An unsubstantiated story (reported by late 17th century editor of Shakespeare’s works, Nicholas Rowe) that Southampton once gave Shakespeare a gift of £1000, an enormous amount at the time, has fostered speculation that Southampton was the Mr. W. H. of the dedication on the printed edition. However, Southampton’s initials were H.W., so this theory is based on thin speculation of the reversed initials as well as the improbable chance that Shakespeare, vastly Southhampton’s social inferior, would address his patron by a version of his given name rather than his title.

Key Print Sources Potter, Lois. . Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Shakespeare, William. . Edited by Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. Folger Shakespeare Library. Simon and Shuster, 2006.

Key Online Sources Best, Michael. . ., https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/youth/. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023. Best, Michael. . . , https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/youth/southampton.html. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023 Best, Michael. . . , https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/youth/. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. . . 6 Nov. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Wriothesley-3rd-earl-of-Southampton. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023.

Image Sources . Cira 1600. Oil on canvas. . https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Wriothesley_(1573-1624)_3rd_Earl_of_Southampton_(15389105069).jpg. Shakespeare, William. . 1593. . Folger Shakespeare Library, https://doi.org/10.37078/114.