Henry Neville, Shakespeare, and Merry Wives of Windsor

The play Merry Wives of Windsor demonstrates an intimate knowledge of Windsor Forest and the surrounding areas. Henry Neville lived at Billingbear House near Windsor Forest most of his life and was keeper of Windsor Forest, as was his father before him.

Professor Randall Martin Suggests Shakespeare Must Have Visited Windsor

Professor Randall Martin's Shakespeare and Ecology describes the local detail in Merry Wives of Windsor:

"Merry Wives of Windsor [is] his most locally detailed play... Set in a small town next to a royal castle and surrounding fields and forest in eastern Berkshire, its fine-grained mosaic of natural and human eco-systems (woods, parks, chases, fields heath, mead, urban and rural buildings) is meshed by distinct corridors (the River Thames, a ditch, footpaths, roads, streets). These features direct much of the toing and froing of the plays' domestic intrigue" (Martin: 33)

He even concludes that Shakespeare must have visited Windsor:

"The spatial accuracy of Shakespeare's references, however, that he also visited the area."

Annals of Windsor (1853) Agrees on the Exact Detail in Merry Wives of Windsor

We believe indeed that Shakespeare has been more than usually careful in conforming his plot to the place or rather that he has brought a greater number of local details to his assistance in the Merry Wives of Windsor than in his other works, We are convinced moreover that he had in view in the composition or perfecting of the play some one particular individual oak and that in the selection of that tree he was guided by the local tradition of the period.

There is a vast 19th century literature on the specific location of Herne's Oak...  For instance this or this...

Henry Neville Grew Up in Billingbear House near Windsor Forest

Here is Neville's description of his offices in 1601:

"The offices I held are two parks, a walk in Windsor Forest, the stewardship of the manor of Sonning, and the keeping of the house at Windsor "

More information on his life and offices can be found at the History of Parliament Online. A similarly excellent article is available on his father was also a justice of the peace

Falstaff Literally Refers to Henry Neville (or his father) in Merry Wives of Windsor

In this passage from Merry Wives of Windsor, 5.5, "the fellow of this walk" refers to the keeper of Windsor Forest, Neville or his father depending on when the play was set:

FALSTAFF. Divide me like a bribe buck, each a haunch: I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman, ha? Speak I like Herne the hunter? Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience; he makes restitution. As I am a true spirit, welcome!

Compare Neville's letter from 1606:

I am very sorry that it lies not in my power to send you a half a buck; my keepers tell me that there is none in my walk; sure I am that have not seene a pasty of venison of this yeere. I did adventure to send you the side of a stag which I thought might serve your turne as well if it came sweet to you, which the heate of the weather made me fearfull of.

And note the reference above to venison pasties, compare Merry Wives of Windsor, 1.1 :

Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner: come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.

More on Deer and Merry Wives of Windsor

Compare Neville's letter from 1606:

I am very sorry that it lies not in my power to send you a half a buck; my keepers tell me that there is none in my walk; sure I am that have not seene a pasty of venison of this yeere. I did adventure to send you the side of a stag which I thought might serve your turne as well if it came sweet to you, which the heate of the weather made me fearfull of.

To this from Merry Wives of Windsor, 5.5:

FALSTAFF. Divide me like a bribe buck, each a haunch: I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman, ha? Speak I like Herne the hunter? Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience; he makes restitution. As I am a true spirit, welcome!

A Neville Reading of Randall Martin's Shakespeare and Ecology (Part 1)

Professor Randall Martin's Shakespeare and Ecology offers a fascinating study of deforestation, warfare, and other ecological concerns in Shakespeare's works. I am going to go through the book here, showing how much evidence it provides for Henry Neville's authorship of the Shakespeare plays.

"Merry Wives of Windsor [is] his most locally detailed play... Set in a small town next to a royal castle and surrounding fields and forest in eastern Berkshire, its fine-grained mosaic of natural and human eco-systems (woods, parks, chases, fields heath, mead, urban and rural buildings) is meshed by distinct corridors (the River Thames, a ditch, footpaths, roads, streets). These features direct much of the toing and froing of the plays' domestic intrigue" (Martin: 33)

In the above passage, Martin explains how the play demonstrates a detailed knowledge of the landscape of Eastern Berkshire. Of course, Sir Henry Neville is from there. Billingbear is 14 miles from Windsor Castle. He and his father were keepers of forests in Windsor; he organized deer hunting in those forests for both Queen Elizabeth and King James. See History of Parliament for extensive documentation of this. Here is Neville's description of his offices in 1601:

"The offices I held are two parks, a walk in Windsor Forest, the stewardship of the manor of Sonning, and the keeping of the house at Windsor "

Martin realizes there is an anomaly here, so he tries to explain how William Shakespeare could have such detailed knowledge:

"Shakespeare's knowledge of Windsor place names and topography might have come from the new generation of maps and chorographies, or place-writings, that represented The spatial accuracy of Shakespeare's references, however, that he also visited the area, possibly when the patron of his acting company, Lord Hunsdon, was installed as a knight of the Garter at Windsor in 1597. Mistress Quickly (playing the Queen of Fairies), alludes somewhat extraneously to its ceremonies in the final scene."

Martin suggests that the knowledge is so detailed that Shakespeare must have actually visited Windsor. Of course, Neville grew up in that area and returned there after the death of his father in 1593. So if Neville wrote the play, he would have based it on his own personal intimate knowledge of the area. 

Martin has no actual evidence that Shakespeare visited Windsor. He also has no actual evidence that Shakespeare attended a Garter installation. But he seems to think that the details in the play suggest that whoever wrote the play did attend such an installation and must have visited Windsor.

It is an undisputed fact that Sir Henry Neville attended a Garter installation at Windsor in 1595. The Folger Shakespeare Library's Chronology for 1595 says (John Casson has done extensive research into this issue):

Apr 23,Wed St George’s Day Garter ceremonies, Whitehall.

 Queen’s Lieutenant: William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham.

 Description by Baron Breuning, the Duke of Wurttemberg’s envoy, who was

invited to attend; a coach was sent for him and his party of seven.

‘We drove down to the Thames, where one of the Queen’s eight-oared barges

awaited us. On the deck of the boat lay a bolster or cushion of gold cloth on

which I was seated in solitary grandeur by Sir Henry Neville. The others sat

apart on either side. This part of the boat was also divided from the rest by

two contiguous doors, and had an awning of red satin. The interior of the boat

was ornamented with coats-of-arms and other paintings, and the floor was strewn

with lovely fragrant flowers’.

 ‘When we arrived at court we were led by Sir Henry Neville, who never left our

side during the whole of the subsequent proceedings, into the Presence Chamber’. 

(Note, Neville had not been knighted yet at this point, but his father was already dead. So this must be a reference to him.) 

Martin goes on to discuss Shakespeare's rural identity. Of course, Neville also shares that characteristic. He spent most of his life living in the countryside, first Billingbear, then Mayfield, then back to Billingbear. Forest management was a key aspect of his and his father's professional life. Martin follows with an amazing discovery in Neville studies:

"In 1568 William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth's most powerful minister, licensed two French glassmakers to cut wood for their furnaces in Windsor Great Park. The wood was processed by in-forest saw pits like the one Shakespeare represents in The Merry Wives of Windsor and juxtaposes spatially against the large mature tree, Herne's Oak (4.4.51, 5.4.2)."

As the keeper for Windsor Forest, Neville's father must have been involved in this license. In addition, Neville must have had detailed knowledge of the saw pit. It is extremely difficult to imagine how Shakespeare would have known such details.

Check out my article on Kuhn's Paradigm Shifts to understand what is going on here. The current paradigm, William Shakespeare Orthodoxy, doesn't account for the facts. There are anomalies that the researcher cannot explain. But a different paradigm, the Neville Authorship Hypothesis, not only accounts for the facts, it suggests new and fruitful avenues of research.

More to come on all of this! 

Henry Neville, Merry Wives of Windsor, and the Gift of Venison

Major Update to this Post:

I've found a 1606 letter from Neville that mentions a gift of deer as well as venison pasty:

I am very sorry that it lies not in my power to send you half a buck; my keepers tell me that there is none in my walk; sure I am that I have not seen a a pasty of venison of this year.

The key implication of this letter is that venison pasty is the type of thing he eats all the time... See the passage below from Merry Wives of Windsor: "Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner"

Neville makes mention of a gift of venison in this letter from 18 July 1600, written from Boulogne where he was engaged in treaty negotiations with Spain:

Since I sent the Ambassador Venison, he hath sent my Wife and my Sister some Spanish Gloves and Perfumes. (WW, 1.230)

I found another reference to Neville giving venison as a gift. A list of Christmas presents received by Sir James Whitelock in 1613 includes “Sir Henry Nevill of Pillingbear, a side of a doe” (Liber Famelicus of James Whitelock, Page 32).

Of special interest is the mention in Merry Wives of Windsor, where venison is also offered as a gift:

PAGE. I am glad to see your worships well.
I thank you for my venison, Master Shallow.

ROBERT SHALLOW. Master Page, I am glad to see you: much good do it
your good heart! I wished your venison better; it
was ill killed. (Merry Wives of Windsor, 1.1)

Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. Come, we have a 

hot venison pasty to dinner: come, gentlemen, I hope
we shall drink down all unkindness  (Merry Wives of Windsor, 1.1)

Come, shall we go and kill us venison?  (As You Like It, 2.1) 

          

This is not hunters' language: he that strikes
The venison first shall be the lord o' the feast; (Cymbeline, 3.3)

Did see man die! scarce ever look'd on blood,
But that of coward hares, hot goats, and venison! (Cymbeline, 4.4)

In summary, we have two examples of Neville giving a gift of deer meat, including Neville using the word “venison” to describe the gift. Merry Wives of Windsor, probably written around the same time, includes a scene that revolves around the gift of “venison.”  As the keeper of royal forests in Windsor, he was very very involved with deer hunting with the Queen (and later King James). Many sources attest to this, I will do a blog post on this later.