Shakespeare Becomes a Gentleman Shakespeare Becomes a Gentleman Author Kate McPherson Author Chantel England Supervising Editor Kate McPherson Editor Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Utah Valley University

Released with Early Modern England Encyclopedia 1.0a

 University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform

Unless otherwise noted, intellectual copyright in EMEE Anthology pages is held by Kate McPherson on behalf of the contributors. Copyright on the TEI-XML markup is held by the University of Victoria on behalf of the LEMDO Team. The content and TEI-XML markup in this file are licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. This file is freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the authors, EMEE, and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and /or data; (2) this availability statement must remain in the file; (3) the content cannot be adapted or repurposed (except for quotations for the purposes of academic review and citation); and (4) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of the authors, EMEE, and LEMDO. Neither the content nor the code in this file is licensed for training large language models (LLMs), ingestion into an LLM, or any use in any artificial intelligence applications; such uses are considered to be commercial uses and are strictly prohibited.

Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Kate McPherson and Chantel England, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines

This document uses Canadian English spelling

 Published file. Updated metadata proofed added two figures and citations. updated author respStmt. Created File
A black and white sketch of a coat of arms. It features a sheild with a black diagonal stip containing a spear. On top of the sheild, a bird stands with spread wings. Its mouth is open and one of its wings hold a spear. A sketch of the Shakespeare coat of arms, c. 1602. Harold Bowditch Collection, Mss 1180, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections. Courtesy of The New England Historic Genealogical Society and Folger Shakespeare Library. Public Domain.
Shakespeare’s Application for a Coat of Arms

William Shakespeare, son of the businessman John Shakespeare, was born a commoner. But in October of 1596, the Shakespeare family became gentry, the class of people just below nobility. This means Shakespeare could have signed Gent. or Gentleman after his name, not that such a signature exists. The College of Arms granted a coat of arms to John Shakespeare after an initial application in the 1570s, when John was thriving as a civic figure in Stratford-upon-Avon. The application was approved just two months after William Shakespeare had lost his son Hamnet, the only male heir in his family to whom the arms could descend. The grant was approved on the basis of the faithefull and approved service to H7 King Henry VII, who reigned from 1485–1509 performed by John’s great-grandfather and because John Shakespeare himself had maryed the daughter and one of the heyrs of Robert Arden of Wellingcote (Wolfe), referring to Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden. Scholars generally accept that William must have nudged the College of Arms to take action on the petition made by his father some two decades before.

A digitally rendered depiction of the Shakespeare coat of arms. The shield is bright yellow with a black stipe diagonally across, containing a gold spear. On top of the sheild is a helmet with a twisted gold and black rope around its crown. This rope holds the black and yellow plumes that surround the helmet. A white bird of prey sits on top of the helmet with wings outspread and break open. It holds a spear in its raised foot. Below the shield is a white banner with gold text that reads: NON SANZ DROICT. A modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s coat of arms by Tomasz Steifer. GNU Free Documentation License.
The Shakespeare Coat of Arms

The coat of arms designed for the Shakespeare family in heraldic language is described as follows on the Shakespeare Documented website: Gould, on a Bend, Sable, a Speare of the first steeled argent. And for his crest or cognizaunce a falcon, his winges displayed Argent, standing on a wreath of his coullers.

In other words, the Shakespeare coat of arms was designed as gold in color with a black diagonal band across the shield and a silver-tipped spear on the shield as well. The cognizance, or distinguishing mark of the arms, would be a falcon with silver wings spread out in flight, standing on a wreath of the Shakespeare family colors. The family motto Non sanz droict, meaning not without right, is often included with the coat of arms. The two spears, on the shield and clutched in the falcon’s claws, could be considered a pun on the name Shakespeare.

Signficance of the Shakespeare Coat of Arms

Scholars have long accepted that the man from Stratford, William Shakespeare, is the author of the plays published under his name both during his lifetime and after his death. The debate over the coat of arms between some officials in the College of Arms adds weight to that conclusion. One of the members of the College of Arms, Ralph Brooke, objected to the grant of arms to Shakespeare the player, although the application was initially made on behalf of John Shakespeare and was granted in 1596. Brooke’s objections, voiced in 1602, and which also reference other London tradesmen’s applications, have been researched by Heather Wolfe, curator of manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library and co-creator of the Shakespeare Documented website. The coat of arms, which appears in four separate manuscripts compiled before William Shakespeare’s death in 1616, along with other evidence of Shakespeare as a player, ensure certainty that the man from Stratford is the author of the plays that bear his name.

Key Print Sources Honan, ParkShakespeare: A Life. Oxford University Press, 1998. Shakespeare in Ten Acts. McMullan, Gordonand Zoe Wilcox The British Library. 2016.
Key Online Sources Best, Michael. A Gentleman Born. Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. 4 Jan. 2011. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/early%20maturity/arms.html. Duncan-Jones, Katherine. Shakespeare Among the Heralds. The Heraldry Society. Winter 2000. https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/articles/shakespeare-part-2-shakespeare-among-the-heralds/. Ramsay, Nigel. William Dethick and the Shakespeare Grants of Arms.. The Folger Shakespeare Library. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/william-dethick-and-the-shakespeare-grants-of-arms/. Wilcox, Zoe. Shakespeare: Gentleman or Player? English and Drama Blog. The British Library. 9 Jul. 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20250803082238/https://blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2016/07/shakespeare-gentleman-or-player.html. Wolfe, Heather and Michael Witmore. William Shakespeare, Poet and Gentleman. Folger Shakespeare Library. 18 Jan. 2017. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/william-shakespeare-post-gentleman/.
Image Sources Steifer, Tomasz. Coat of arms of William Shakespeare. 2008. Wikimedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shakespeare1COA.png. The Book of Coates and Creasts. Promptuarium Armorum. Begonne the 28 of May 1602. P<supplied>er</supplied> W<supplied>illia</supplied>m Smith, Rougedragon. 28 May 1602. Shakespeare Documented. https://doi.org/10.37078/906.