In Thomas North’s 1555 Travel Journal: From Italy to Shakespeare (2021), June Schlueter and I explore a newly rediscovered journal that the 20-year-old North kept during his trip to Rome. The young translating playwright had travelled with an embassy sent by the Catholic Queen Mary, who had wanted a formal reconciliation of England with the pope. NorthContinue reading “North’s Journal, “Henry VIII,” and “The Winter’s Tale””
Category Archives: North’s Journal
14. Video: How We Know North Wrote “Winter’s Tale” [Coming Soon]
The image below depicts a small part of the video (coming soon), which will soon be posted here.
13. Video: How We Know North Was The Original Author of “Henry VIII”
12. A Warning for Those Who Creep Into the Bosom of the King
As we note in Thomas North’s 1555 Travel Journal: From Italy to Shakespeare, at one point, in Cardinal Wolsey’s final scene in Henry VIII, he recites a lesson from North’s Dial of Princes about those who compete for power. His first focus is on two other ambitious court-climbers: Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cranmer: … thatContinue reading “12. A Warning for Those Who Creep Into the Bosom of the King”
11. The Garden of Lombardy, 100 Milch Kine to the Pail, and 6 Score Fat Oxen in a Stable
As shown in Thomas North’s 1555 Travel Journal: From Italy to Shakespeare, the experiences that the young dramatist documented during his journey to Rome are most relevant to what would become two of North’s first plays: Henry VIII and The Winter’s Tale. But we also find the impressions that North wrote about the various ItalianContinue reading “11. The Garden of Lombardy, 100 Milch Kine to the Pail, and 6 Score Fat Oxen in a Stable”
10. “Exit Pursued by a Bear:” Antigonus, the Banishment to Sicily, the Dark Storm, and the Roaring Bear
Perhaps, the most famous stage direction in the Shakespeare canon occurs in The Winter’s Tale and involves the doomed character Antigonus. He leaves the play abruptly after abandoning the banished baby Perdita on the shores of a distant land: “Exit pursued by a bear,” reads the stage-direction. We soon discover that Antigonus doesn’t survive, andContinue reading “10. “Exit Pursued by a Bear:” Antigonus, the Banishment to Sicily, the Dark Storm, and the Roaring Bear”
9. Elder Gossip Who Never Spoke “Word That Might Be To The Prejudice of” Another
In Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey’s defensive claim that he has never slandered the Queen comes from a similar passage in North’s Dial of Princes. Both passages are referring to elderly, malicious gossipers, especially stressing their spleen, heart, and tongue/mouth. Both also include the same unique eight-word word-string: North’s Dial of Princes Shakespeare’s Henry VIII hisContinue reading “9. Elder Gossip Who Never Spoke “Word That Might Be To The Prejudice of” Another”
8. North’s Journal, “Henry VIII,” a Cardinal-Parade, and a Consistory
While Thomas North’s 1555 Travel Journal examines all the extensive borrowings connecting the journal to Henry VIII and The Winter’s Tale, just the first example described here should be sufficient to prove the diary’s use by the original playwright. As shown in the feature pic above, both North’s journal and Henry VIII juxtapose eerily similarContinue reading “8. North’s Journal, “Henry VIII,” a Cardinal-Parade, and a Consistory”