1611-1612 “My library was dukedom large enough…”

1611-1612 “My library was dukedom large enough…”

In August 1610, another Italian Commedia del’ arte troupe appeared at the request of James I at Hampden Court Palace. Shakespeare was probably invited to this performance and even though he was familiar with Commedia plots and characters, he probably was influenced by this specific performance as he developed a plot involving an overprotective father and his daughter, comic servants and a hunchback beast. He maybe got the name Prospero (meaning prosperous or wealthy in Spanish) from this Commedia play since the name sometimes was used by Italian troupes when Pantalone was made into a Spanish character to add to the sense of derision. As the summer months hit, and Shakespeare basked in the glory of the staging of his previous creations, he, as always, probably stored up these Commedia characters and relationships. As the hot summer of 1610 drew on, Shakespeare probably travelled back and forth to Stratford upon Avon a couple of times and started to think through ideas for his next play for early in 1611 for either the Globe or at the Blackfriars Theatres.

Later, in September of 1610, news started to filter through to London about the fate of the ship the Sea Venture which disappeared (presumed sunk) in July 1609 on its way to Jamestown, Virginia. The survival of the ship and its passengers seemed stranger than fiction. Shakespeare would have heard about how the ship battled a huge storm off Bermuda for three days and how 150 people and one dog survived the storm and landed safely on Bermuda. He would have become increasingly interested (perhaps with his ideas for a play already brewing). He may have even obtained and read a copy of letter which circulated around London in late September 1610, which contained an account of the storm, the shipwreck and the survival. He may have even been a little bit obsessed with the circumstances surrounding the shipwreck of the Sea Venture when the accounts of two survivors also appeared in pamphlet form in October of 1610. As winter started to hit London and Shakespeare knew he had to burn the midnight candle to thrash out another play, he did not turn to his beloved Plutarch or his Holinshed but he turned to his own rich mind and the medieval romances he loved in his childhood and youth, and the rich characters of the Commedia del arte and the bizarre events of the shipwreck of the Sea Venture and he wove a magical tapestry with a artistry as rich as the magic of Prospero himself. Little did he know that this was probably the last play he was to write on his own. So sometime in 1611, some date it as early in 1611, some date it as July 1611 and some cite November 1611 as the month of its premiere.  So sometime in 1611, ‘The Tempest', one of Shakespeare's most magical and rich comedies premiered.

‘The Tempest' starts “On a ship at sea” with the sound of the “tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning”. A Master and a Boatswain enter in distress. The play moves onto an island where Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, have just seen this shipwreck and Miranda asks her father, who seems to have some magical power, to make sure that no-one on the ship has come to harm. Prospero assures her no-one has been harmed. Prospero tells her that there is a reason he created this storm and he tells her the story of how he and her came to the island.

Sometime in 1611, Shakespeare probably returned to live permanently in Stratford-upon-Avon. Some people argue that this happened in middle or late May of 1611, because on May 11, 1611, Shakespeare appeared in court in London giving evidence in a lawsuit but he did not re-appear in court in London on June 19^th when he was required to be further questioned. Probably around this time, Shakespeare started to mix with some of the rich elite in Stratford such as Anthony and John Nash.

Later in 1611, Shakespeare may have returned to London to see ‘The Winter’s Tale, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Cymbeline’ which Dr. Simon Forman, an English astrologer and doctor gave detailed account of performances of these plays in his diary.

We know that 'Cardenio' as a play existed. We know that it was written as a collaboration between William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. We know that it was probably written about 1612 and it appeared in the performance list in 1613.

When the plague hit London badly in 1608, the King’s Men had to tour the provinces for almost 6 months. On top this, the Burbage family had started to suffer huge loses in London particularly with their theatres including the Blackfriars Theatre. Late in 1608, the ownership of the Blackfriars Theatre was re-organised into a new partnership arrangement between the Burbage family and the King’s Men. The new ownership arrangement for the Blackfriars Theatre included the financial partners of Richard Burbage, Cuthbert Burbage (non-acting partner), Thomas Evans (theatre manager agent), John Heminges, Henry Condell, William Sly, and William Shakespeare. When Sly died early in 1609, his shares were split among the other partners. When the all of the theatres re-opened in May of 1609, this saw substantial money coming into the King’s Men from both the Globe and Blackfriars. This meant that by 1612, Shakespeare had substantial shares in two theatres along with receiving the income coming in from his many land holdings in Stratford upon Avon. It is likely at this point that Shakespeare, started arranging for a smooth transition into retirement. The problem was that a substantial part of the success of the King’s Men lay with Shakespeare himself and the company having a house playwright who could write good and sometimes great plays quickly and prolifically. Enter John Fletcher.

Shakespeare probably hadn’t got on well with John Fletcher initially. Firstly, Fletcher was a Cambridge man and Shakespeare had had an acrimonious relationship with some ‘University Wits’ like Marlowe, Greene and Nashe. Secondly, Fletcher’s work with Beaumont on plays using companies of boys around 1605 had also not enamoured him to Shakespeare. When Fletcher started to collaborate with Ben Jonson, Shakespeare probably started to take Fletcher more seriously and when in late 1611, Richard Burbage suggested John Fletcher be contracted as a second playwright to the King's Men, Shakespeare’s only probable only condition was that John Fletcher not be made a partner in the King’s Men.

Sometime around the beginning of 1612, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher started to collaborate on a play which was to become known as ‘Cardenio’. No copy of this play exists but it is known to have been performed a number of times including in August of 1613 by the King’s Men at Blackfriars Theatre and is listed in the Stationer’s Register in 1653 as being attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. They probably based the play around the character of Cardenio in Miguel Cervantes’ ‘Don Quixote’ which portrays Cardenio as a young male who lives in Morena and is being driven slowly to madness.

The style of the piece was probably ultimately a comedy (in the Shakespearean sense). The story of the play probably involved showing the wealthy Cardenio who lives in Andalucia. He is in love with Lucinda, a girl he grew up with and who comes from another rich family of nobility. Lucinda’s father is not eager for them to marry and Cardenio’s father also is not keen on the marriage. The Duke summons Cardenio to court and Cardenio asks Lucinda to wait until he returns so that they can marry.

This section of the play may have involved Cardenio going away to a war or wars for the Duke and probably this accounts for why the play is sometimes referred to by the title of 'The History of Cardenio'. When he returns to court after fighting in wars for the Duke, Cardenio befriends the Duke’s son, Fernando, who reveals that he is in love with a girl not of nobility. Cardenio tries to help Fernando and perhaps arranged some meeting between Fernando and his love. Cardenio is well received at the court and the Duke's son and him become good companions but Cardenio does not know how to advise Fernando on what to do about his love.

The piece then probably involved, Cardenio and Fernando wooing their respective girls. This involved writing love poetry in secret maybe like in 'Love's Labour's Lost'. Some of Cardenio’s poetry is found by the Duke and Cardenio is embarrassed and requests that the Duke release him from service. ‘Cardenio’ was apparently well received and apparently many performances were done. 


After handing over the mantle of House Playwright of the King’s Men over to John Fletcher around 1611, Shakespeare probably had progressively split his time between London and Stratford upon Avon. From around 1611, his year had started to fall into a routine. He would normally spend his Christmas and New Year in Stratford upon Avon with his wife Ann and would probably have his daughter Susanna and her husband John Hall around and enjoyed the company of his granddaughter Elizabeth. 

Shakespeare then probably returned to London in January 1612 to help with the end of the seven month winter season of plays at the Blackfriars Theatre. The Blackfriars Theatre (really the second Blackfriars Theatre) was a 1,000 seater indoor theatre built in the reconstructed frater or dining room of the Blackfriars Dominican priory. With an entry of six pence for a cheap seat, ten pence for other audience seats (and twenty pence for a seat on stage), Blackfriars attracted a different clientele from the Globe and other theatres over in Shoreditch. This meant that Shakespeare himself could rake in about £8-£13 for a single performance at the Blackfriars Theatre. For the 60 to 100 performances done over the seven months of the winter season of 1612 (October 1611- March 1612), Shakespeare probably got somewhere from £300-£900. This was huge sum for the winter months. On top of this Shakespeare would have got rental income from his properties in London and Stratford upon Avon along with income from his grain storage outside Stratford. Around this time in 1612 also, Shakespeare started negotiations to buy part of the Blackfriars Priory so he could have a room near the theatre and also rent out a room or two on the side. This arrangement was not finalized until 1613.