The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.1653 Monday, 6 September 2004
From: Natalie Bennett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 3 Sep 2004 23:18:59 +0100
Subject: The Model for Romeo and Juliet?
I think I can probably guess what response this is going to draw, but
just in case I'm wrong, I wonder if there's anything in a theory that
Romeo and Juliet was inspired by the secret marriage in 1594 of Maria,
the daughter of George, Lord Audley, with Thomas Thynne.
This story, however, apparently has a (semi-)happy ending. She ended up
taking charge of Lonleat in Wiltshire in 1604 from her mother-in-law
Joan, who hated her, and oversaw it until her death in childbirth in 1611.
(My source for this is the entry on Maria in "The Europa Biographical
Dictionary of British Women", A Crawford et al., 1983, p. 395.)
This family really seems to have known how to get themselves into
trouble, since their brother, the Earl of Castlehaven, got himself
executed for sodomy.
Thanks!
Natalie
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