William Shakespeare Was Probably a Catholic, Says Archbishop of Canterbury

The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 5/28/11 | Anita Singh

[marshmallow]

William Shakespeare was probably a Catholic, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who discussed spirituality and secularism in the Bard’s plays with the actor Simon Russell Beale.

Little is known of Shakespeare’s life and there is no direct evidence of his religious affiliation, but Dr Rowan Williams said he believed him to be a Catholic. “I don’t think it tells us a great deal, to settle whether he was a Catholic or a Protestant, but for what it’s worth I think he probably had a Catholic background and a lot of Catholic friends and associates.

“How much he believed in it, or what he did about it, I don’t quite know. He wasn’t a very nice man in many ways – it’s always very shocking, that. The late Shakespeare was hoarding grain and buying up property in Stratford – it was not terribly attractive.”

However, he went on: “The extent to which I want to call him a Christian is not [an attempt] to kidnap him for the tribal trophy wall, but a) because everybody at that time was some sort of Christian, and b) there are things in his plays you can’t understand without understanding the notions of forgiveness and free grace.

“He wrestled with human questions and he ends up saying there is a great deal more to all this than some might think. That mysteriousness is part of what the plays are about. That seems impossible without something of the sacred.”

[NotTallTex]

Since when are we to believe anything that Dr. Rowan Williams has to say? The Bard may have been Catholic, but Williams saying so makes me want to think just the opposite.

[Pontiac]

He wasn’t a very nice man in many ways – it’s always very shocking, that. The late Shakespeare was hoarding grain and buying up property in Stratford – it was not terribly attractive.”

Spoken like a true Marxist.

He was investing in real estate and grain futures. He was a (gasp) capitalist!!!

[Jack Hydrazine]

I read a couple of years ago Shakespeare might have been a Sephardic Jewish woman!

[syriacus]

Two noteworthy books on this topic

The Quest for Shakespeare

Shakespeare the Papist

[syriacus]

EWTN is re-running a series on "The Quest for Shakespeare."

[libstripper]

The English religious situation was highly ambiguous in the time of Elizabeth I. Her father, Henry VIII, made such a mess of it that nobody knew what to profess to stay away from the headsman. Then Edward, Elizabeth's half brother, did his level best to make the country entirely Protestant. He died and his half sister, Mary, aka “Bloody Mary,” tried to turn the country back to full Catholicism. Then Mary died, leaving the country to Elizabeth, Mary's half sister. Elizabeth got to work, combined much of Protestantism and Catholicism into a giant polical-religious compromise, and called it the Church of England. High Church Anglicans could easily possess essentially Catholic beliefs as long as they supported the Church of England and did not express any support for the Pope or Catholic Church. It would have been very easy for Shakespeare to fit essentially Catholic beliefs into the heterogeneous Elizabethan Church of England.

[Little Bill]

I had family several miles down the Avon, who were hording grain, buying property, and charging high interest. They were rather High Church though.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Forward the Light Brigade]

Shakespeare was baptized a Roman Catholic on his death bed by a Jesuit Priest.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Salvation]

I'm no expert on Shakespeare, but here are other threads about him being Catholic!

William Shakespeare Was Probably a Catholic, Says Archbishop of Canterbury
Shakespeare Did Write Lear; What is More, He Was a Catholic
Was Shakespeare A Secret Catholic? The Evidence Is Mounting…
Shakespeare Scholars Say the Bard was Catholic?

[Tax-chick]

I agree. If I were inclined to the Catholic-Shakespeare theory, having the arch-Druid supporting it would make me think again.

[Oztrich Boy]

Sheikh Spear was a muslim

[Jack Hydrazine]

So was Moses!

[Cronos]

rowan: He wasn’t a very nice man in many ways – it’s always very shocking, that. The late Shakespeare was hoarding grain and buying up property in Stratford – it was not terribly attractive.”

Firstly, I think the entire premise about Shakespeare being Catholic or Anglican is infinitely debatable with no definite proof one way or the other. Most likely he WAS Catholic, but I don't see it making a difference at all -- he was pretty definitely not a Puritan/Calvinist, but he could have been a High Church Anglican

Secondly, Rowan seems to think Willy-boy was not nice because he practiced capitalism....

[Cronos]

I'm not so sure about the goodness of hoarding grain, but then I need to read on whether there was food shortages, on whether Will actually DID this (concrete proof) and on whether he did this for his own extended family as well (remember that until the 1800s folks who "made it" would support their extended families and poorer relatives too.

About real estate buying -- come on, a guy writing plays probably thought that he never knew when the money would dry up, whereas if you had land, you could always have some money or goods coming in -- that's how the nobility had survived and quite frankly how most survived in the pre-Industrial era. What was wrong with him buying up property to ensure his and his descendents future?

[Cronos]

I wonder how many freepers now know the difference between High Church and Low Church? I think the Lutherans also had the same concept. is that correct, Belt, red?

[Cronos]

Sheikh Spear was a muslim

Brilliant zoke!

[Cronos]

Moses he knowses his toeses are roses but Moses supposes erroneously (*cue for Gene Kelly dance*)