A Possible Initiating Connection Between Marlowe in London and the Actor William Shakespeare In Stratford.
Very little of certainty is known of the real life of William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon Avon, and now, with the uncovering of the Shakespeare-X Message and the Authorship Imposture, this little has been reduced to nothing.
Formerly it was thought that he was a playwright, poet and actor. Even though there is no evidence he ever really acted in any plays, with the exception of a tiny role in Hamlet, in which it is recorded that he played Hamlet's father's ghost.
Given the fact of the authorship imposture, this is a very witty choice of role for him, if he did in fact play it. It is not at all clear that he was ever an actor, or possessed the talent to perform on the stage with the theater company at all.
Ben Jonson's claims that Shakespeare acted in 2 of his plays appears to be a ruse; Jonson well knew his great friend Marlowe was alive and using the name Shakesperare for the imposture. This is why Shakespeare is deliberately listed prominently in the list of players in Jonson's plays - so that his name will be noticed.
The Known Life:
William Shakespeare of Stratford's most characteristic personal feature has always been his facelessness. He lived impersonating a dramatic genius at the heart of the London theater community for almost 20 years and barely registered a personal impression on anyone, or left hardly an official trace of himself.
There has always been a period of missing years in the (imaginary) biographical life of William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, which academic historians have known as the Lost Years. Shakespeare first appears in London with his literary genius fully formed in 1593 when the poem Venus and Adonis is published under his name, only 4 months after Marlowe has been 'murdered'. Before this time there is no trace of William Shakespeare following his marriage to Anne Hathaway in Stratford years before and the birth of his children. Only a mention in 1589 in a court case against his parents in Stratford over land, which suggests he was still in Stratford in 1589.
The Unknown Life:
Since we now know William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon was a writer who did not write, and an actor who did not act, the question arises, Who was William Shakespeare and how did he get involved in the imposture at all?
Fortunately there is a clue to the solution in the historical record.
A Wild And Dangerous Speculation By Lee Vidor:
Even though it is no longer actually necessary for William Shakespeare to exist in London at all as a person, or anywhere else for that matter, it seems to me that he did. That this was the way the imposture was carried out, with William Shakespeare being in London and attached to the theater company and telling people who enquired that he was writing the plays of Shakespeare-Marlowe which the company were performing. This was his job and his role in the imposture, and he was well paid for it.
The question is; How did he get this job? Particularly since he appears to have been so perfect for it, in temperament and with an authentic background and date of birth so appropriate that it has convinced historians for 400 years.
Normally the arguments of past authorship questioners have not doubted that Shakespeare was part of the theater company before he was part of the imposture.
But the question arises; How he can have been so very perfect for the role?
The fact that he was so perfect for it evidences the fact that he was specifically selected for it, rather than merely on hand at the theater and therefore convenient.
Fortunately there is a very interesting and convenient connection between Christopher Marlowe and Stratford-upon-Avon.
Marlowe had a powerful and wealthy friend and patron named Fulke Greville who was a poet and part of Marlowe's social circle, and who came from Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was an important aristocrat.
Fulke Greville was 10 years older than both Marlowe and the actor William Shakespeare, and since Stratford had only 1500 people living in it at that time, it seems certain that Fulke Greville would have known the local man William Shakespeare and his prominent father, and that he was well suited in temperament and intelligence for the imposture.
Furthermore Fulke Greville is in the historical record as having declared himself the 'Master of Shakespeare'. This mysterious boast can quite easily be interpreted as the man who paid and gave orders to the actor William Shakespeare.
Thus the actor William Shakespeare need not have been in London at all before 1593 and the beginning of the imposture, but rather he may have been brought from Stratford in order to be around London and the theater and to play the public role of the theater house playwright.
This accounts for the Lost Years of Shakespeare of Stratford, he simply spent them as a provincial in Stratford-upon-Avon married to Anne Hathaway. Until Fulke Greville approached him with a business proposition which would inevitably make him wealthy and important in London.
However:
At this time there is nothing in the historical record to substantiate this wild speculation. But here there exists a historically recorded connection between Marlowe and Stratford, and the man William Shakespeare who was born there.
That William Shakespeare was specifically chosen and invited to London to work at the theater is a more likely cause of his great suitability for the role than any other. And it solves the question of the Lost Years of William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Perhaps someone should look into this more deeply.
Who Was Fulke Greville?
Fulke Greville was a well known, powerful and highly respected man who had at least 4 different kinds of personal connection to Christopher Marlowe, all of which would encourage an intimate closeness between them. He was also a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, and therefore in a position to intercede in the matter of granting Marlowe's exile, rather than his execution.
Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke (1554-1628)
Fulke Greville was an aristocrat, courtier, statesman, sailor, soldier, spymaster, literary patron, dramatist, historian and poet. He was educated at Shrewsbury and Jesus College, Cambridge. He worked for Sir Francis Walsingham as an ‘intelligencer’ where he traveled extensively throughout Europe. He became a great favorite of Queen Elizabeth, was Clerk to the Council of Wales, Treasurer of the Navy, and from 1614-1621 he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
After the death of his father in 1606, Fulke became Recorder of Stratford-upon-Avon and he held that post until 1628. Greville was famous for his friendship with, and biography of Sir Philip Sidney, and his long tempestuous love affair with Philip’s sister, Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke.
Greville is regarded as a generous patron of many of the leading writers of the day including Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe, Samuel Daniel and three Poets Laureate; Edmund Spenser, Ben Jonson and Sir William Davenant.
Greville was a member of all the leading literary circles of the day: The Areopagus, the Wilton House Circle, The Southampton Circle, the University Wits (associate) and The School of Night. He is also famous for his claim to have been the ‘Master of Shakespeare’ and the author of a ‘lost’ play called Antony and Cleopatra.
