Part 1: Shakespeare and Neville - Annotations at Audley End

(This post has grown into a series of posts. You can follow this link to see them all.)

In their book Sir Henry Neville Was Shakespeare: The Evidence, John Casson and William Rubinstein describe an annotation in a copy of Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Roman Antiquities at Audley End. The annotation relates directly to Shakespeare's Rape of Lucrece and Coriolanus.

When I first drafted this post in October 2019, I was merely exploring the possibility that this annotation was in Henry Neville's handwriting. By now (1/16/2020), with the additional research, I think we can identify this with near certainty as the handwriting of Henry Neville of Billingbear (d. 1615).

Tracing the Provenance of the Book

In 1780, a catalog was made of the books at Billingbear House, the ancestral home of the Neville family. Henry Neville's father, who died in 1593, built Billingbear House. Henry Neville grew up  there and, except for a few gaps, lived there until his death in 1615. His descendants occupied it until the 19th century.

The Billingbear Book List includes many books which Henry Neville almost certainly owned. For instance, there is a 1602 copy of Survey of Cornwall. The author, Richard Carew, was a close friend of Henry Neville's, and Neville took his son with him when he was ambassador to France. Neville's close friend John Chamber published Barlaam monachi logistice in 1600 and included a dedication to Henry Neville. That book is also on the Billingbear Book List.

Many of the books on the Billingbear Book List are currently at Audley End. They were moved there in the early 19th century. For example, the two books mentioned above are currently at Audley End.

There is a 1546 edition of Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Roman Antiquities on the Billingbear Book List. The same book is currently at Audley End.  Here is the Universal Short Title Catalog Entry and you can access a full digitized version of the text. Here is the entry in the Billingbear Book List, at the top:

Here is the title page of the book:

Interestingly, Henry Savile, who was Henry Neville's tutor and lifelong friend, references precisely this edition in his 1591 translation of Tacitus:

The book is written entirely in Greek. Savile was one of the foremost experts in Greek in England at the time. During their tour of Europe, around 1579-1582, they met with local scholars and searched for Greek manuscripts.

Analyzing the Annotation and Its Connection to Shakespeare

Unfortunately, I do not have access to the entire book, but here is the annotation:

The annotation reads:

Hic omissi sunt Ancus Martius et Tarquinius Collatinus qui regnarunt annos 62 quibus adiunctis tota quadrabit computatio

Which translates (translation done by an anonymous benefactor):

Ancus Martius and Tarquinius Collatinus are omitted here, who reigned for 62 years. When these are added,the entire count of years will square

It appears on page 45 of the book, and if you look at the facsimile, it is clear that this annotation was written at the bottom left corner of that page:

As Casson and Rubinstein explain, Collatinus is mentioned in the Argument for the Rape of Lucrece. You can read about him here in the Folger Library copy 3:

Ancus Martius is specifically mentioned in the First Folio text of Coriolanus:

The Noble House o'th' Martians: from whence came  

That Ancus Martius, Numaes Daughters Sonne: (2.3)

So this annotation relates to the works of Shakespeare quite directly. Roman Antiquities is also cited as a possible source for Coriolanus, see the Wikipedia Entry.

Here is the complete context for the annotation:

LXXV. And, again, if from the expulsion of the kings the time is reckoned back to Romulus, the first ruler of the city, it amounts to two hundred and forty-four years. This is known from the order in which the kings succeeded one another and the number of years each of them ruled. For Romulus, the founder of Rome, reigned thirty-seven years, it is said, and after his death the city was a year without a king. Then Numa Pompilius, who was chosen by the people, reigned forty-three years; after Numa, Tullus Hostilius thirty-two; and his successor, Ancus Marcius, twenty-four; after Marcius, Lucius Tarquinius, called Priscus, thirty-eight; Servius Tullius, who succeeded him, forty-four. And the slayer of Servius, Lucius Tarquinius, the tyrannical prince who, from his contempt of justice, was called Superbus, extended his reign to the twenty-fifth year. As the reigns, therefore, of the kings amount to two hundred and forty-four years or sixty-one Olympiads, it follows necessarily that Romulus, the first ruler of the city, began his reign in the first year of the seventh Olympiad, when Charops at Athens was in the first year of his ten-year term as archon.1 For the count of the years requires this; and that each king reigned the number of years stated is shown in that treatise of mine to which I have referred.

Did Henry Neville Make the Annotation?

Henry Neville mostly wrote in secretary hand, but we have many examples of his italic handwriting. Here are his signatures, which he always wrote the same way in italic:

Comparing these signatures with the Latin text shows clearly a similarity in handwriting. The n's and r's seem to be consistent, the double-l is consistent with some of the signatures, especially the earlier ones, and the same situation pertains to the capital H:

If you look at this signature from 1590, the earliest I know of, the "H" matches very closely. The double-L also is a close match. This should help us date the annotations as well.

There is another example of Henry Neville's italic handwriting that might give us better clues. In 1599 before he left for France, Henry Neville wrote Thomas Windebank a letter listing all of the people he wanted to take on the trip. This list is in italic, even though the rest of the letter was written in secretary hand:

This comparison seems to support the hypothesis. The capital T, M, and H seem to match. The capital A seems to be different, but Henry Neville demonstrated a wide range of handwriting styles. The lower case q also seems to be a match from what we can see. The lower case n, i, u, and r all seem reasonably consistent as well. The a-r letter pairings look particularly on-point.

I found another italic sample from Neville's confession after the Essex Rebellion:

This letter from 1602 is an extremely good match for the annotation as well:

The Asterisks

I examined Henry Neville's draft letters from the Berkshire Record Office and found two separate draft letters with asterisks quite similar to the one in the annotation in the book at Audley End.

These two are one set, from a draft letter from 1598, and more closely match the annotation in the book:

This is later, from a draft letter from 1602, apparently written in the Tower.

And here are two more asterisks from notes from 1599:

Here is a new comparison from a 1600 letter to Robert Cecil. This sample of Neville's handwriting is purposely elaborate and formal, but the letter formation seems like a very close match overall:

Compare to these numbers wrote on the back of a letter; they are clearly consistent with the handwriting in the book in terms of the shape and tilt of the "6" and the shape and formation of the "2":

Note the line over the "62" in the annotation:

Henry Neville almost always put a line over dates in his letters and often over other numbers. Here are a few examples:

Conclusion

There really is no doubt that Henry Neville made this annotation. He clearly studied ancient Roman history in great detail; this aligns precisely with the works of Shakespeare, such as Rape of Lucrece, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus.

Please see Part 2 of this series.