Amelia Bassano. Was Shakespeare a Jewish woman? Shakespeare and Wordsworth charge the brain

Emilia Lanier[also Lanier, Emilia Lanier; etc. Lanyer; OK. 1569, baptized 01/27/1569; Bishopsgate - 1645, buried 04/03/1645, Clerkenwell, London] - the first English woman to establish herself as a professional poet by publishing a collection Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum(“Glory to you, Lord, King of the Jews,” 1611).

The writer was baptized in the parish of St. Botolph in Bishopsgate - on the outskirts of London, where "foreign musicians and theater artists lived on January 27, 1569. She was the daughter Baptists of Bassano And Margaret Johnson. Nothing definite is known about Lanier's mother, except that she was buried at Bishopsgate on July 7, 1587. This may be the same Margaret Johnson who was the aunt Robert Johnson(1583?-1633), lutenist and composer, musician in Shakespeare's troupe, and later a musician at court Charles I. Emilia's father's family, the Bassanos, were court musicians who arrived in England from Venice at the end of his reign. Henry VIII. Perhaps they were baptized Jews. Amelia had an older sister, Angela (d. 1584), and two brothers, Lewis and Philip, who died in their youth. Their father died when Emilia was seven years old, and he is also buried at Bishopsgate on 11 May 1576. Emilia helped around the house Susan Wingfield, later Susan Bertie, Countess of Kent, and later found herself in the servants of , and her daughter Anne Clifford. She probably studied with the noble girls whom she served, and her writings reveal familiarity with poetic genres and forms and with the Geneva Bible.

In her youth, Emilia often visited the court Elizabeth and became a lover Henry Carey, Lord Hansdon, who was forty-five years older than her, maintained her in great luxury and provided her with an income of forty pounds a year. There is no conclusive evidence that Lanier was a mistress William Shakespeare(a hypothesis advanced by Rose), nor that she was the "dark-eyed lady" of the sonnets Milton. She became pregnant at the age of twenty-three, Hensdon bought her off, and Emilia married her cousin on October 10, 1592 Alfonso Lanier, royal musician. The Laniers were originally from Rouen and came to England under Elizabeth. Alfonso was a member of the ensemble created by the five Bassano brothers, which included Emilia's father, Baptista. Alfonso volunteered for the expedition Essex to the Azores in 1597, and carried out some service in Ireland. He was one of the fifty-nine musicians who played at Elizabeth's funeral, and after her death he entered the king's service. Jacob. He was approached by Elizabeth's closest adviser William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and he received a monopoly on the weighing of hay and straw in London (six pence for every load of hay and three pence for every load of straw brought into London and Westminster). After his death in 1613, Amelia Lanier transferred this right to her brother-in-law, apparently with the expectation that she would continue to receive a share of the income, although her right to this income was subsequently the subject of controversy.

Lanier had many miscarriages, but at least two children - a son (possibly with Hensdon) named Henry, born early in 1593, and a daughter, Odile, born December 1598, died at ten months of age. Henry became one of the king's flute players on 29 September 1629.

Much of what is now known about Lanier comes from the astrologer's notebooks. Simon Foreman, to whom she first addressed on May 17, 1597. Foreman left her only description, noting a wart on her neck. Lanier contacted Foreman again on June 3 and June 16, asking if her husband would receive a promotion. Foreman wrote that she was unhappy in her marriage, her husband treated her poorly and squandered her property. Foreman hoped that such a situation would allow him to get closer to her, but despite continuous contacts for several years, she refused his advances.

In 1611, at the age of forty-two, Lanier published a book of poems, Glory to Thee, Lord, King of the Jews. Two prefaces and an afterword are written in prose. The book was published twice, but the contents of existing copies make it difficult to reconstruct these publications. Nine copies of the collection have survived; Contemporary references to Lanier's book are not known.

Lanier's book can be called feminist. Both the introductory poems and the first poem of the collection argue for women's religious and social equality, and a lengthy version of the poem addressed Anne Clifford(to which the book is actually dedicated) is a phrase directed against class privilege. In addition to the introductory poems, Lanier's book consists of a long poem of 1840 lines, "Glory to Thee, Lord, King of the Jews," "Cookham's Description," and a concluding prose address, "To the Doubting Reader," in which Lanier writes that she had thought of the book's title long before. , as she wrote it, counting on divine protection. “Glory to Thee, Lord, King of the Jews” is a reflection on how men (not women) were responsible for Christ’s crucifixion. Later, in an extensive section, “Eve's Apology for Women,” Lanier argues that Eve is less guilty than Adam.

"Description of Cookham" ( Description of Cookham) is the first rural poem published in English. In a poem built on a classical principle, Lanier depicts the virtues of the heroine of the poem, Margaret, Countess of Cumberland, respectfully presenting her surrounded by flora and fauna.

After her husband's death, Lanier subsisted, at least in part, by maintaining a school, as she said, for "the children of various persons of fortune and understanding." In the summer of 1617, she rented a house in an aristocratic London suburb for this purpose. Almost immediately, however, Lanier and the tenant became embroiled in a series of legal battles; at one point she was even arrested - an event that did little to build the confidence of the students' parents. Emilia lost most of the students, but lived in this house until August 1619, when she left it without paying the midsummer rent, after which she was arrested again.

Lanier was brought to trial in 1635 (at the age of sixty-six), two years after the death of his son. She was supposed to receive half the profits from weighing hay and straw, the patent for which she transferred to her late husband's brother Innocent, but she only received eight pounds. She said in court that she lives in great need and must provide for two grandchildren. The claim was complicated by the fact that in the years following the death of her husband, the defendant transferred this patent to another brother, Clement. Charles I ordered Lanier to pay twenty pounds a year, but she had to go to court the next year, since she received only four pounds. Legal disputes continued uninterrupted until 1638, with Clement repeatedly being awarded her share and constantly complaining that the patent was not profitable. Whether Lanier was ever able to receive the full amount she was owed is unclear, but she died at the age of seventy-six as a 'pensioner', that is, with a regular income, and was buried on 3 April 1645 at Clerkenwell.

This is the fate of a woman who is suspected of being the inspiration for Shakespeare's sonnets.

Her work is most fully presented in the book “Poems of Emilia Lanier”, prepared by Suzanne Woods (The Poems of Aemilia Lanyer, Oxford, 1993).

Bibliographer. description: Motsohein B.I. Lanier Emilia [Electronic resource] // Information and research database “Shakespeare’s Contemporaries”. URL: (archived at WebCite).

The theory that the author of Shakespeare's works was another person is quite old. However, recently, a researcher of the work of the great playwright John Hudson put forward a completely unusual assumption, and who knows, perhaps it will turn out to be the only correct one. According to Hudson, the authorship of the world-famous works does not belong to a native of Stratford-upon-Avon, but to the Jewish woman Amelia Bassano Lanier.

Raised in England in a family of Italian immigrants, Bassano was a Marranca, that is, a forcibly baptized Jew. She was known as the first woman to publish a collection of poems, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, in 1611. According to Hudson, she is the prototype of the famous “dark lady” who is often mentioned in Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Hudson hypothesized that Bassano is the real author of these sonnets. He is so confident in his assumption that he created a theater group called The Dark Lady Players to convey to the audience the true meaning of the plays, which, in his opinion, Bassano put into them.

His theory was based on the circumstances of Bassano’s life, which, according to Hudson, are much more consistent with the content of “Shakespearean” works than the biography of the playwright himself. In addition, the researcher discovered a number of analogies in the style of Bassano's poetry and the works of Shakespeare. Hudson was also able to detect Jewish allegories in the texts.
The last coincidence caused a negative reaction from critics who cite data that at that time there was only one Talmud in England, and that one was kept in the library of Westminster Cathedral, and argue that with a strong desire, similarities with other sources can be found in any work.

However, Hudson says that, in the absence of a written Talmud, English Jews practiced its oral teachings, and he is confident that individual quotations may have crept into the text in this way. In addition, the works contain several quotations from the book Pirkei Avot, which was widely available because it was published as a separate publication in Latin.

Hudson is also sure that Bassano became the prototype for many female images, copying them from herself. He considers the image of a “dark lady” to be the most expressive in this regard.

Rebecca Honich Friedman, who writes her blog jewess.canonist.com, recently entered into a dialogue with Hudson.

R.F.: In your opinion, is this the greatest literary forgery of all time, or the worst example of a man stealing a woman’s glory?

D.H.: I don't think it's fake. She resorted to this tactic to get her work published, as many women did, publishing their work under men's names. In Elizabethan London, women could not write original literary works at all, let alone plays, so she had no other choice.

R.F.: Do you consider this a triumph for Bassano?

D.H.: I always give the example of the Faros lighthouse in Alexandria. To make his name known, the architect Sostratus carved his name into the stone base of the lighthouse, then covered it with plaster with a dedication to the pharaoh. Over time, the plaster fell away, revealing the name of the architect. Amelia's strategy was the same - she hid behind the absurd name of William Shakespeare, which has now fallen away, revealing the true creator, who has now become visible.

RF: How familiar was Bassano, a baptized Jew and a woman, with Jewish texts?

D.H.: The only known copy of the Talmud in England at that time was the Talmud in the library of Westminster Cathedral. However, the Talmud was taught orally, so individual quotations could be transmitted in this way. There are several quotations from Pirkei Avot (Teachings of the Fathers), which could be read in a stand-alone edition in Latin, and the Book of Zohar.

There were women scholars at that time, including a distant relative of Bassano: Donna Anna (Reina) de Nasi continued the work of her mother and supported the study of the Torah, and at the age of 50 she created a printing house in the Belvedere Palace, where from 1592 to 1599 she published several books in Hebrew, including allegorical drama and talmudic treatise.

R.F.: Why did Bassano write sonnets dedicated to herself and call the heroine “the dark lady”?

R.F.: We were told that Shakespeare's work is timeless. But your production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “As You Like It” makes a very specific time reference. Are you not damaging their inner meaning, even their genius?”

DH: Some directors anachronistically set plays in the North Pole, in space or in a mafia village. Consequently, they destroy and suppress the allusions contained in the play and make them indistinguishable. I understand why directors who don't understand the play resort to such tricks. But they shouldn’t do this, and they should reveal in their productions what the author really meant.”

R.F.: Many actors are impressed by the fact that Shakespeare was also an actor. Will the fact that Bassano wrote them somehow change the overall message of the plays?

DH: The whole world is a stage, and this was especially true in Elizabeth's court, where courtiers constantly created and performed metatheatrical dramas to persuade the queen to do one way or another. This is how the author acquired his or her highly developed sense of theater, and as a baptized Jewish woman from among the Marranos in a Christian society, she had to act every moment.

RF: Your theory adds a new layer to the manipulation of gender roles in Shakespeare's plays, doesn't it?

D.H. Yes, Shakespeare's plays provide many examples of women impersonating men, and this was very typical of the entire English theater.

Reviews

)) and Dante, Petrarch, Decameron?))
at that time there were courtly morals and love worried everyone)
although there are plenty of opinions about who Shakespeare was)
Well, it turned out that Einstein stole the theory of relativity from his fiancee, and she then ended her days in a madhouse.
it is a fact.
men are always willing to borrow from women))
Moreover, until recently, women really didn’t write under their own name.
It may very well be that it was a woman.
and what about the Jew?
It’s also not surprising, the Jews were the most educated with their passion for books.
Here is Disraeli's sister, Sarah. All my life I copied my father’s works, all his literary and historical research.
I sat and wrote all my life.
I think she wasn't the only one.

It's 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare. However, his identity still remains a mystery. English Shakespeare scholar John Hudson published a book called “Shakespeare's Dark Lady,” in which he proves that in fact, under the pseudonym “Shakespeare” there is a woman hiding - the poet Amelia Bassano.

In 2008, a document appeared on the Internet entitled “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt,” which argued that a man with a sixth-grade education named William Shakespeare could not have been the author of plays and sonnets that demonstrate a thorough knowledge of foreign languages, law, astronomy, geography, world history, medicine, music, literature and many other sciences and arts. As of April 2016, the document was signed by 3,321 people, including 567 scientists. Many prominent scientists and writers believed that the son of an illiterate glover, William Shakespeare, who lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, whose daughters were also illiterate, was an impostor. Among these “Shakespeare skeptics” were, in particular, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Sigmund Freud.

The father of the so-called anti-Stratford movement in Shakespearean studies was the vicar James Wilmot, who visited Stratford-upon-Avon in 1785 in the hope of finding evidence that William Shakespeare, who was born and died there, was in fact the author of Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet ". Having checked all the archives and libraries of the city and county, looking through the official and private correspondence of the 16th–17th centuries, he did not find a single document or mention of such a writer. In Shakespeare's will, written by a notary, there was no mention of books, manuscripts or simply paper (which was very expensive at that time), only about money, real estate and household utensils. Until now, no manuscripts of his works have been found, not even a piece of paper written by him in his own hand. Many researchers have the impression that the stingy moneylender, grain merchant and small landowner William Shakespeare, who lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, was illiterate. It must be said that at first the plays and sonnets attributed to Shakespeare were published anonymously, and only a few years later the name of one of the actors who played in these plays appeared on the covers. Who, then, could be the author of these dramatic and poetic masterpieces? Among the possible contenders for 38 plays and 154 sonnets are, in particular, the outstanding playwright of the Elizabethan era Christopher Marlowe, the philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon, as well as two aristocrats: the Earl of Oxford (Edward de Vere) and the Earl of Derby (William Stanley). At first glance, the version of John Hudson looks paradoxical, who proves in the book “Shakespeare’s Dark Lady” that under the name of Shakespeare hides the poetess Amelia Bassano, a baptized Jew of Venetian origin from a family of musicians who played at the royal court. Having studied Bassano’s biography and her poetry, the English Shakespeare scholar came to the conclusion that of all the great Bard’s contemporaries, only Amelia Bassano had the necessary talent and erudition to create literary masterpieces that required encyclopedic education. The theory that Shakespeare was a woman has generated heated debate in the academic community. Why philosophize slyly? - say her opponents. - Let's check this version with the help of an endoscopic examination of Shakespeare's grave. It looks like the Shakespeare Society intends to do just that. However, proponents of this idea are likely to be disappointed: in 1820, Washington Irving wrote that “some years ago” a church gravedigger looked into Shakespeare’s grave and “found in it neither coffin nor bones; nothing but dust.” The epitaph on Shakespeare's tombstone, the authorship of which is attributed to himself, is now perceived as prophetic: it calls on not to tear up the grave and curses those who dare to “touch my ashes.” However, an endoscope is not a hoe; you won’t have to dig up a grave. It is characteristic that Shakespeare’s tiny tombstone bears neither the name nor the date of the deceased’s life. In an interview with Radio Liberty, John Hudson justifies his “female version.”

– The first argument in favor of my version was the fact that Amelia Bassano Lanier had knowledge of all those 20-30 sciences and arts that were imprinted in the works of Shakespeare. And this is a very important point. I mean knowledge of Hebrew, Latin, Italian; knowledge of law, history, medicine, botany, heraldry, falconry, cooking and many other sciences, arts and crafts, the mention of which is found in Shakespeare's plays. The second argument was what I call the “literary trace” - the presence in Shakespeare of images, plots, names similar to Bassano’s poetry, in particular, the names Amelia and Bassano in different transcriptions and variants in “Titus Andronicus”, “The Merchant of Venice”, "Othello" and other plays. These mutual literary leitmotifs provide serious grounds for asserting that we are talking about a single authorship. The third argument in favor of my version was the stylistic and prosodic analysis of the poetry of Shakespeare and Bassano. Amelia Bassano was the first woman poet in Elizabethan England. I am referring to her collection of poetry, Glory to Thee, O Lord, King of the Jews, published in 1611. Shakespeare can be called an experimental, innovative poet, in many ways ahead of his time. A comparison of Shakespeare's sonnets with Bassano's poetry reveals similarities in style, vocabulary, poetic form, poetic meters, composition, historical sources, theological images, dramatic techniques, even the use of similar neologisms. In my opinion, these three arguments are quite enough to confidently assert that Amelia Bassano had a hand in the creation of Shakespeare's plays.

– Does this mean that the mysterious “dark lady” of Shakespeare’s love lyrics was not Mary Fiton, but Amelia Bassano?

– Leslie Rouse was the first to name Amelia Bassano Lanier, in 1973, as the dark lady of Shakespeare's sonnets. His guess was correct, but the evidence he provided was not sufficiently substantiated, for which he was rightly criticized. Another researcher, Martin Green, has shown in an excellently argued article that Amelia Bassano portrays herself as a dark lady in her own lyrics and that the same image appears in Shakespeare's sonnets. So in Shakespeare's sonnets, Amelia simply portrays herself.

– Your “female version” is not the first in Shakespeare studies. Which other women, besides Bassano, were predicted to be Shakespeare?

– It has been suggested that the author of Shakespeare’s plays could be Queen Elizabeth. Also called Mary Sidney-Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. There is a hypothesis that his wife Anne Hathaway wrote for Shakespeare. Russian researcher Ilya Gililov, in his book “The Play of William Shakespeare, or the Mystery of the Great Phoenix,” published in 1997, suggests that Elizabeth Sidney-Rutland may have written Shakespeare’s plays in collaboration with her husband, Earl Rutland. Gililov, in particular, noted that the poems in the collection of Amelia Bassano Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum(“Glory to Thee, Lord, King of the Jews”) are not inferior in artistic quality to Shakespearean sonnets. I wouldn’t call this an indirect recognition of the identity of these authors, but one cannot but agree with this opinion.

– Leslie Rouse suggests that Amelia Bassano was Shakespeare's mistress. How likely is this?

A comparison of Shakespeare's sonnets with Bassano's poetry reveals similarities in style, vocabulary, poetic form, and poetic meters

– This idea, of course, absolutely contradicts my version. If this were so, it would mean that Amelia was a constant source of information for the actor Shakespeare, and for twenty years - the time of his creative activity. This would mean that Bassano did not part with him for twenty years and provided him with musical and literary allusions throughout this time. This contradicts her biography. Shakespeare never left England, and Amelia traveled widely in Europe while he lived in Stratford.

– You write that the most intriguing aspect of Shakespeare's plays was their author's familiarity with Judaism and Jewish sacred texts, and you note that this was an unusually rare occurrence in Elizabethan London. How do you explain Shakespeare's or his counterpart's knowledge of Hebrew and the Talmud?

“This is one example of the fact that the person behind this was Amelia Bassano Lanier, who came from an Italian family of Marano Jews for whom Hebrew was their native language. Words in Hebrew, metaphors from the Talmud and Mishnah in those days, non-Jews could not know. It has even been suggested that Shakespeare was a baptized Jew. Jews could not legally reside in England at all during Elizabethan times. In the whole country at that time there were no more than two hundred Marano Jews who converted to Christianity - mostly immigrants from Portugal. These Jews used Hebrew as a trading language. Many of them were engaged in trade, like the character in The Merchant of Venice. It is characteristic that Jewish allusions almost similar to Shakespeare’s are found in the poems of Bassano, in whose family Hebrew and Italian were “home languages”, and her family did not speak them openly, outside the home.

– You describe Amelia Bassano Lanier as a Renaissance figure, an encyclopedic woman. How could a Jewish girl from a family of musicians, who enjoyed rather low social prestige in those days, receive such an education and become involved in high culture?

– There is a very rarely exhibited miniature portrait of Amelia Bassano in court dress, executed by Nicholas Hilliard circa 1591. The inspired face of a smart and intelligent woman is looking at you. After her father's death, Amelia was sent to the estate of Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, at the age of seven. Her daughter Countess Susan Berti - one of the most educated women of that time - taught Amelia Greek and Latin, read the Bible and other books with her. At the age of 13, Amelia became the mistress of Queen Elizabeth's cousin Lord Hunsdon, who became her patron and introduced her to music and theater. He was the patron of many musical ensembles and theater troupes. At one time, Amelia ran the school. Her highest level of education is confirmed by numerous studies.

– If Amelia Bassano Lanier were not the author of Shakespeare's plays in your version, what would you say about her as a person?

she was one of the greatest English poets of her time

– We know a lot about her from her letters and thanks to her poetry. She had a very extraordinary life after she was introduced to court and became the mistress of Queen Elizabeth's cousin Lord Hunsdon. She then married musician Alfonso Lanier. It is known that she was one of the first women to found a school for girls in England. The last years of her life were darkened by poverty and litigation. Amelia Bassano died in 1645. From her poetry it can be concluded that she was one of the greatest English poets of her time. Her work bears traces of high intelligence and poetic innovation. The same can be said of the author of the plays attributed to Shakespeare, who was also an intellectual and literary innovator. As a person and poet, she fully meets these criteria.

– Let's say that Amelia Bassano was the author of Shakespeare's plays, but it is unlikely that she also played in the theater under the pseudonym William Shakespeare. After all, in those days, women's roles were played by men. Was the historical, Stratfordian Shakespeare also an actor?

– Yes, he was, and not only an actor, but also a theater producer, a kind of theater investor. William Shakespeare is listed as a member of a theater troupe called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, which also performed at court. Later we find him on the list of actors who played at the Globe Theater in London. He, however, played minor, minor roles. There is documentary evidence that he began his theatrical career as a server - something like a stagehand. In his will, Shakespeare mentioned small sums he left for several actor friends to purchase commemorative rings, as was customary at the time. The fact that Shakespeare was an actor may be further evidence that he could not have been the author of nearly forty plays. It is unlikely that an active actor could find time for the necessary scientific research and work on such complex, multifaceted plays.

–​ Frankly, it was almost a shocking discovery for me that William Shakespeare, it turns out, was also a member of a criminal gang, as you write in your book...

Amelia Bassano may have used Shakespeare as an intermediary or "literary agent" to stage her plays.

– William Shakespeare is mentioned in a court order of 1598 as an accomplice of Francis Langley, a London jeweler, swindler, leader of a criminal gang and owner of the popular Swan Theatre. Shakespeare, like Langley, was a very active moneylender, while also engaging in extortion. He was also a "theater businessman." It can be assumed that Amelia Bassano could have used Shakespeare as an intermediary or “literary agent” to stage her plays in the theater where he was one of the shareholders. Naturally, the income was divided. Around this time, in 1598, his name began to appear on the covers of plays and script sheets.

– The Shakespearean romantic myth is widespread, especially popular in Stratford, in which Shakespeare is presented as a boy from a poor, illiterate family from a small provincial town, who, thanks to hard work and talent, achieved wealth and fame and at the same time glorified his hometown, turning it into a place of pilgrimage for millions of tourists, "Shakespeare's Temple" In general, something like HollywoodsucWithess story. Is there some truth here?

– The idea of ​​Shakespeare as a poor man is an unsubstantiated fiction. His father John Shakespeare, a glover and mayor of Stratford, was a very wealthy man. He owned three houses, was illegally engaged in usury, and lent money at very high interest rates. In addition, illegal wool speculation brought him a fair amount of income. Later, the son adopted these father's activities when he became a member of Francis Langley's gang. He prospered in London and, returning to Stratford, purchased the second largest house in the city.

– To quote your book: “Shakespeare’s plays seem to have come at the wrong time.” What do you mean?

– The time when they appeared was a transition period from metaphorical theater to realism. The sophisticated allegories on which the plot was based could not create the impression of a realistic representation. The audience was not deceived about this. The stage action was largely conditional. However, over time, elements of realistic drama arose in Shakespeare's plays. The evolution of their dramaturgy went in this direction. Nevertheless, the influence of allegorical and metaphorical theater continued in the plays of mature Shakespeare. Everything bore the stamp of a stylistic transition, a change in artistic method. That's why I used the expression "wrong time."

– To quote your book again: “Today, 400 years after the creation of these plays, Shakespeare has become a global, multi-billion dollar business.” Has this changed anything in the modern perception of Shakespeare's plays?

– You see, these plays were originally written for the elite audience of Elizabethan London. To adequately perceive them, it was necessary to know the Bible well, know and understand classical and modern literature and history. That is, they were written for an educated audience for that time. However, 400 years later, the plays have a completely different viewer and reader. This audience, which gets acquainted with Shakespeare's plays not only in the theater, but also in the cinema, has a completely different life and spiritual experience. She has vague ideas about the Bible, she knows neither ancient nor contemporary literature to Shakespeare, and for the most part this democratic audience is poorly educated. The plays were written for a specific time and place, but the audience for whom Shakespeare wrote has disappeared over time, and the modern education system does not contribute to its reproduction. This is why most modern interpretations of these plays take a purely commercial, populist approach.

– Can we say that your book and your “female version” have finally solved the problem of Shakespeare’s personality, or is this mystery still preserved?

– I think that the long journey of uncovering this secret has ended. However, it’s not for me to judge. New generations of researchers may discover new facts and documents, and their archival searches may add or change something in our understanding of Shakespeare's personality. Perhaps in the future some new, unknown to us, research methods and new intellectual possibilities will arise. There is a huge possibility that this topic will continue to be researched and tested in the future. As they say, “I did everything I could, whoever can do it, let him do better.”

Over 400 years, about two million studies devoted to Shakespeare have appeared in the world, and no more than two hundred - to the work of Amelia Bassano.

For most Shakespeare lovers, it is absolutely irrelevant whether he was a woman or an aristocratic courtier, whether he really existed or was the subject of a grandiose literary hoax. Much more importantly, King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, Prospero and Hamlet excite generations of readers and viewers around the world. No one needs to remind anyone of the first line of the Prince of Denmark’s cemetery monologue. Actor Alexander Filippenko presents three versions of the Russian translation, three authors, three temperaments: Boris Pasternak, Vladimir Nabokov, Grand Duke K.R. in Hamlet's reflections. To the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare - a project by Alexander Filippenko and Radio Liberty.​

Amateur Shakespeare scholar John Hudson is not the first to question the identity of the author of Shakespeare's plays. But it only occurred to him that a woman, a Jew of Italian origin, Amelia Bassano Lanier, was writing under a well-known name. She was a Marrano who lived in England and gained fame as the first woman to publish a collection of poetry (Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, 1611).

Hudson believes that she is the Dark Lady mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnets. The researcher is so deeply convinced that he is right that he organized the theater troupe “Playing the Dark Lady” to stage plays in the vein that, from his point of view, Bassano meant.
The fact that Bassano is the Dark Lady of the sonnets was established in 1973 by researcher A.L. Rose. Later research showed that Bassano herself wrote the sonnets, referring to herself in the third person.

Hudson based his theory on the results of a study of the life and work of Amelia Bassano. He established the similarity of the poetess’s language and “Shakespearean” works, and discovered allegories in the texts taken from the Jewish tradition. In “Shakespearean texts,” the scientist claims, various names appear that indicate the authorship of Bassano. But the main source of information about the poetess is the text “The Dark Lady,” an 800-page autobiography of Amelia Bassano. It describes Bassano's childhood in the house of Countess Susan Berti, who adopted her, cohabitation with Lord Hunsdon (patron of the Royal Theater), and work on historical plays for the theater.

The book describes her friendship with the atheist and rebel Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) and sets out the reasons for his murder: they wanted to prevent him from publishing the text “Against the Trinity,” where he declares the New Testament a literary hoax. What follows is the story of how Bassano was alienated from the court and how she married the court musician Alphonse Lanier. Subsequently, Amelia wrote a series of Italian wedding comedies, the first of which was “The Taming of the Shrew.” The diary describes how she approached a certain William Shakespeare to suggest her plays for the court theater, since her former patron could no longer help. It then tells how Lanier spent her fortune, how her plays became darker and grittier, and how she became England's first school owner and headmaster.

Apparently Hudson is not a complete charlatan. He has degrees in drama theory, sociology and anthropology from prestigious universities. His areas of expertise are cognitive and communication theory.

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A Jewish woman actually performed under the pseudonym Shakespeare.
named Amelia Bassano!
The world marks 400 years since the death of the outstanding British playwright,
classic of world literature by William Shakespeare.

Despite the enormous interest on the part of researchers, the personality
Shakespeare still remains a mystery. British scientist John Hudson
believes that a woman actually performed under this pseudonym
named Amelia Bassano.
Hudson first voiced his theory back in 2008. Since then he
scrupulously collected evidence, which he presented in the published book.
anniversary of the book, writes The Daily Mail.
In his opinion, Shakespeare - Amelia Bassano - was a dark-haired Jew
from a family of Venetian musicians who lived in London. Hudson
found out that she was born in 1569 into a family of court musicians
Elizabeth I and at a very young age became the mistress of Chamberlain Henry
Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, who was in charge of all the theaters in Britain
and patronized a company that staged Shakespeare's plays.
Bassano was in a good position and had all the skills, knowledge and
contacts that are canonically attributed to Shakespeare.
One of Hudson's main arguments in favor of Shakespeare's
Venetian Jew, was the fact that Bassano accurately described Denmark
and Italy, while that Shakespeare, who is generally considered the author
"Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet", did not leave England throughout
life. In addition, Amelia knew Hebrew and was familiar with the falcon
hunting and baking.

The Mystery of William Shakespeare

None of the great writers or simply intellectuals of different times
believed that Shakespeare, a country boy with a sixth-form
education, who wrote his name differently each time, but always
illegible, could have left the largest in the history of British culture
heritage: 38 historical chronicles, comedies and tragedies and 154 sonnets -
unsurpassed examples of beautiful poetry, philosophy, wisdom.

They were sure that Shakespeare's legacy was colossal
a hoax organized to hide the name of the author,
who could not or did not want to admit his authorship. About this in
in particular, Sigmund Freud, Charles Dickens, Henry
James, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and many others.

Real facts from the life of a real person named W. Shakespeare
a little: played in two plays by Ben Jonson, seemed to own some
shares of the Globus Theater, sued for some small sums, bought land
in Stratford. How could this man have enormous knowledge in
field of history (world history!), speak foreign languages, when and
where did this person acquire knowledge regarding a complex system
Elizabethan legislation, legal proceedings, mathematics,
heraldry, medicine, gardening, oxen hunting juice, astronomy,
military science? Without this knowledge, the creation of his works is impossible,
but again and again the question arises, where could one purchase these
academic knowledge semi-literate actor and when? Why in his
Didn't you find a word about his works in the will? Why is there not one
evidence from his contemporaries about his authorship? The largest
Shakespeare researchers Jacob and Rylance write that there was no
not a single play has been found, not a single sonnet or letter written
Shakespeare's handwriting. The then famous author Ben Jones in his
diary noted that when Shakespeare distributed to the actors written for
them roles, he delighted them with the fact that the sheets were clean, without
spots, and in their “ignorance” they easily believed in the authorship of their stage comrade.

But if Shakespeare didn’t write all these plays, chronicles, sonnets, then who?
There were many assumptions, guesses, and theories. Same Ben Jonson
Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, Mary Sidney and many other names
were considered as possible answers. A very popular theory about the group
authors who used the “Shakespeare brand”. In April 2007. In this
a new name appeared on the list, causing a real shock: Amelia Bassano
Lanier, the daughter of a court musician from Venice, a Jew, was forcibly
converted to Christianity but still considered Jewish. Bassano,
a well-known feminist in her time and the first female poet in English
literature. The main expert on this issue, Professor Hudson from
University of Birmingham, spent 7 years on texts from Shakespeare's era and
came to the following conclusions.

1. Particularly a lot of effort has been put into studying the phenomenon of the “dark lady”
- the heroines of many Shakespearean sonnets. She is often the object of passion
hero, and that's quite normal. But why does a distinct
the impression that the passion is directed towards the man? Maybe Shakespeare was gay?
However, if the author really was Amelia Bassano, then everything
falls into place.

2. Hudson adds to the loud chorus of skeptics about Shakespeare's authorship.
next consideration. Could a poet whose works glorify
smart educated women, raise their own daughter illiterate?
And Shakespeare did just that.

3. In Shakespeare's works there are about 2000 musical
images How could he be so knowledgeable about music? But Amelia Bassano could
since 15 of her immediate family were professional
musicians, including father, husband, brothers. Her cousin on her mother's side
Robert Johnson was the most popular composer at the time, author
almost all songs to Shakespeare's plays.

4. Falconry was not part of the life of ordinary people in Shakespeare
level, but in his works 50 times with skill she
described. And Amelia was the official mistress for 10 years
falconer of the royal hunters. In "The Taming of the Shrew" by Petrucci
copes with an obstinate wife using techniques used in
raising falcons - hunger, sleep deprivation, etc. In addition, in the play
Special hunting terminology is widely used. This is written
a wonderful comedy a year after Amelia married
Alfonso Lanier, who was the court falconer.

5. If we question Shakespeare's authorship, is it possible to understand
why did the daughter of a cross, a convert, use his name
a Christian in anti-Semitic England? This is easy to explain if you study
biography of Amelia, about whose life we ​​know more than about the life
Shakespeare. Her father Baptisto Bassano was brought from Venice by the king
Henry VIII, baptized and appointed court musician. Mother,
Protestant, was the daughter of another court musician. The family lived
next to the theaters. After the death of her father, young Amelia was sent to live in the house of
rich and educated Countess Willobow, where she seriously studied
Greek, Latin, Bible, history. Here she had the opportunity
meet the most educated people related to theater, literature, etc.

6. No one has given an explanation why Shakespeare began writing his
"Italian" comedy plays about marriage in 1592, but if you look at
biography of Amelia, it becomes clear that she was just at this time
left secular society and returned to the bosom of her family -
Jewish-Italian. Moreover, she left her husband and
went with her cousins ​​to Italy. Here she could buy those
amazing knowledge about Italy and Italian life, which is so vivid
sparkle in the comedies of Shakespeare, who had never been to Italy. IN
"Othello", for example, a fresco on the wall of one of the houses in
hometown of the Bassano family.

7. How could Amelia Bassano, being a Jew, although baptized, be
author of The Merchant of Venice, considered anti-Semitic
production? Hudson, like numerous other researchers,
believes that this is not so. Shylock demands that he not be deprived of his rights
person that Jews are subject to the same passions, illnesses, shortcomings,
like all other people, they should be approached with the same standards as
to all. Another Shakespeare scholar, Michael Egan, is confident that the author
"The Merchant of Venice" could have written all this only if he (she)
spent a lot of time among Jews. Shylock's bitter thoughts ("I
born for patience, because suffering is the sign of my people")
could have been from a person who knows about Jewry firsthand.

8. Much of Shakespeare's work is based on Jewish
sources. So, in the plays “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “It’s All Good That
ends well" not only describes many Jewish customs, patterns
behavior, characters, appearance, but even Hebrew words are used
and little words. Maybe Shakespeare had Jewish acquaintances, but it’s so good
A non-Jew could not know this.

9. Let's return to the "dark lady of the sonnets." It is known that Amelia was different
Mediterranean dark. Or Jewish? British explorer
Rowes argues that the characteristics of a "dark lady" are skin color and
eye, musicality, temperament, age, marital status, brightness
nature - correspond to the facts known about Amelia Bassano. "Dark-skinned
lady of the sonnets,” judging by many poems, despised, poor, deprived
honors, which will be buried somewhere in the outskirts, in a common grave. Daughter
Having been raised, Amelia was never accepted as an equal in society. She's not
considered a “lady” in the English sense of the word in anti-Semitic England.

10. Hudson goes even further. He claims that Bassano wrote these
sonnets about and for oneself. Before these sonnets, authors used one
voice - loving. Here the voice of the beloved is used for the first time: Bassano
imagined how a lover would address her. Hence the suspicions
that Shakespeare addressed words of love to a man.

11. There are other cases where actors earned extra money by serving as a shield
for anonymous authors. But Bassano had special reasons for hiding his
authorship. Not even to mention that it was indecent for a woman at that time
was to write for the stage, its allegorical coded messages
would create a danger for her of being guessed by censors, secret
services specifically aimed at recognizing secret meanings,
encrypted ideas. Despite all this, Hudson is confident that Bassano
dared to signal her presence by encoding her name and
names of relatives in several plays.

12. Another interesting moment: at the next edition of “Othello” in
1623 163 new lines appear with the names of members of the Bassano family,
which were not in previous editions. It happens... But... now Shakespeare is already
seven years since he died!!! But Bassano was alive and, as Hudson believes,
I hoped that subsequent generations would be able to recognize the real author.