The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1250  Monday, 23 June 2003

[1]     From:   Richard Kennedy <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Friday, 20 Jun 2003 07:55:31 -0700
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.1227 Re: Wriothesley

[2]     From:   Michael Egan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Friday, 20 Jun 2003 05:57:29 -1000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.1227 Re: Wriothesley

[3]     From:   Rainbow Saari <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Saturday, 21 Jun 2003 10:20:42 +1200
        Subj:   Wriothesley


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Richard Kennedy <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Friday, 20 Jun 2003 07:55:31 -0700
Subject: 14.1227 Re: Wriothesley
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.1227 Re: Wriothesley

The DNB has this to say of Henry Wriothesley's great-grandfather, Sir
Thomas (d. 1534):

"He spelt his name in a variety of ways, originally as Writh or Wrythe,
subsequently as Wreseley, Writhesley, and eventually Wriothesley; the
last was the form adopted by his own and his brother's family.  In Tudor
times it was pronounced Wrisley."

STC19867 led me to an item that might settle the matter, not just to
take the word of the DNB.  It is an epitaph of some 110 lines upon the
death of Henry's father, Lord Henry the 2nd Earl of Southampton.  Within
a decorated border, the poem in black letter, the Earl is honored under
this heading:

"An Epitaph on the death, of the Right honorable and vertuous Lord Henry
WRISLEY, the Noble Earle of Southhampton: who lieth interred at
Touchfeelde in the Countie of Hamshyre, the 30. day of November 1581.
and in the 24. yeare of our most drad and Soveraigne Ladie Elizabeth by
the grace of God, of England, Fraunce, & Ireland Queen. &c."

And so, WRIOTHESLEY seems to be spoken as WRISLEY, if we can take the
above as a phonetic proof.  And so the ROSE of the marriage Sonnets
cannot be a pun on WRIOTHESLEY.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Michael Egan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Friday, 20 Jun 2003 05:57:29 -1000
Subject: 14.1227 Re: Wriothesley
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.1227 Re: Wriothesley

Giroux, The Book Known as Q, suggests Rizley, but Rosely gives a whole
new resonance to the rose imagery in the sonnets, supporting the thesis
that Mr HW was Mr WH.

--Michael Egan

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Rainbow Saari <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Saturday, 21 Jun 2003 10:20:42 +1200
Subject:        Wriothesley

Bill Bryson, author of *Mother Tongue* ( Penguin, London 1991) offers
these pronunciations of Wriothesley; 'rottsly', 'rittsly', 'rizzli',
'rithly' and 'wriotheslee'.

I am persuaded by Martin Green's  arguments in his * Wriothesley's
Roses* that Shakespeare pronounced the name 'rosely'.

Cheers all,
Rainbow Saari

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