Shakespeare's Last Will and Testament
The major surviving document that Shakespeare left behind was his last will and testament. The will had been drawn up by a Stratford lawyer, Francis Collins, and the language, as one writer noted, was “stilted, smelling of dead law.” Shakespeare obviously did not care for the original draft, as he made corrections, which would be entered in the revised will by the lawyer.
Although he wanted his daughter, Judith, now thirty-two and a spinster, married, Shakespeare was incensed with her choice of a mate, Thomas Quiney, a tavern keeper with a disreputable past. When Quiney failed to get the proper marriage license, he and Judith were hauled before consistory court and excommunicated. Then to make matters worse, it was recorded that one month after Quiney's wedded day to Judith, he confessed to having “carnal intercourse” with another woman.
Shakespeare decided that Quiney would not inherit one portion of his estate, not “one tuppence.” On the draft of his will, he slashed out the words “sonne in L[aw],” and referred to his daughter as “Judith,” not mentioning her married name.
Shakespeare's will began, “In the name of God! Amen! I William Shackspeare [sic], of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of Warr, gent, in perfect health and memorie …” The will continued with a series of errors and inkblots as Shakespeare made handwritten revisions:
Where it read, “Item, I gyve, will, bequeath and devise unto my daughter Susanna Hall,” he penned a flurry of writing between the lines “for better enabling her to performe this my will, and towards the performans thereof.” The line continued, “all that capitall messuage of tenementes with thappurtenauances, in Stratford aforesaied, called the Newe Place, wherein I now dwell.”
There was one other correction Shakespeare scratched at the end of the will: “Item, I give unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture.”
Why did Shakespeare bequeath his wife, Anne, the “second best bed?”
The “first best bed” was the one guests were offered when visiting. Anne had slept in the second best bed, spending most of her nights alone while her husband was away. According to Elizabethan law a wife was entitled to one-third of her husband's estate. Shakespeare did not feel the need to be more specific in the will. After her husband died, Anne lived in New Place with her elder daughter, Susanna Hall, who had inherited the bulk of her father's estate.
Satisfied with the revised version changes in his last will and testament and then rewritten and corrected by the lawyer, Shakespeare signed the first two pages, then on the last page he wrote:
By me, William Shakespeare
Although the will is still in existence it is in deplorable condition. It has faded and is smeared by too many fingers during the more than 100 years it was on accessible display. Not only was it touched by adoring fingers, but it was also kissed in reverence.
