The Testament of the Soul

Comparison between Cobbe portrait, Chandos portrait, and Droeshout engraving of William Shakespeare, Source http://shakespeareportrait.freehosting.net/index.html, Author Brice Stratford (PD)

The spiritual will of John Shakespeare – William Shakespeare’s father – has long been among the evidence strongly suggesting that William Shakespeare was raised a Catholic [1][2][3].  Multiple eminent scholars have affirmed this including EK Chambers, GB Harrison, John Henry de Groot, and Edmond Malone [4].

The handwritten will was found in 1757 during renovation of the home in which William Shakespeare was born.  It is thought to have been written around 1581, when William Shakespeare was 17 y.o.

The will, itself, is a declaration of faith, expressing the strong desire to receive the Last Rites and die a Catholic in good conscience.  It was a crime in Elizabethan England punishable by death to harbor a priest within one’s home.  Consequently, there was every likelihood a priest would not be available at the time of a believer’s death.

Charles Borromeo

In 1923, a scholar discovered a comparable spiritual testament attributed to Cardinal Charles Borromeo, a central figure at the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and Counter-Reformation reformer [5][6][7][8].  In fact, the spiritual will of John Shakespeare corresponds phrase for phrase with Borromeo’s Testament of the Soul (Il Testamento dell’Anima ) from the middle of Item 3 to the end.

Borromeo was initially thought to have authored the Testament of the Soul in response to a plague which killed some 17,000 in Milan between 1576-1578.  Because of the large number of deaths, priests were not often available to provide Last Rites.  The Testament of the Soul would have been a way to circumvent this. 

Actually, an earlier version of Barromeo’s Testament of the Soul (dated December 1560 with his own name on it) was listed among his possessions at the time of his death.  The same form may have been revised and re-used during the plague in Milan.

Edmund Campion

The Jesuit missionaries Edmund Campion and Robert Persons visited with Borromeo on their way from Rome to England in 1580.  They seem to have brought printed copies of the Testament of the Soul with them to England. 

Campion is known to have stayed in the vicinity of Stratford shortly after his arrival there.  This has led to speculation that he may have met the young William Shakespeare in person before being martyred [9].

Other copies of the Testament of the Soul, also, made their way to England.  A letter dated 1581 by William Allen, Rector of the English College in Rheims, requested 3000-4000 such copies.

William Allen’s letter may explain why John Shakespeare’s spiritual will is handwritten and not printed.  It is clear from Allen’s letter that original supplies of the printed version had been exhausted [10].

Edmond Campion, believed to have been among those disseminating the Testament of the Soul, died for his faith on December 1, 1581 – hanged, drawn, and quartered [12][13].

Years before, he had written: 

“If these my offers be refused, and my endeavours can take no place, and I having run thousands of miles to do you good, shall be rewarded with rigour, I have no more to say but to recommend your case and mine to Almighty God, the Searcher of Hearts, who send us His grace, and set us at accord before the day of payment, to the end we may at last be friends in heaven, when all injuries shall be forgotten [11].”

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[1]  Hamlet – The Undiscovered Country, “John Shakespeare’s Spiritual Last Will and Testament”, https://www.princehamlet.com/jswill.html.

[2]  EWTN, “The Quest for Shakespeare:  His Father’s Will” by Joseph Pearce, first aired 3/9/09.

[3]  YouTube, “The Quest for Shakespeare:  A Lecture by Mr. Joseph Pearce”, 10/30/18, https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=watch+the+quest+for+shakespeare&mid=96BA6241B6232ADFAC5596BA6241B6232ADFAC55&FORM=VIRE.

[4]  Catholic World Report, “The Strange Case of Shakespeare’s Will” by Joseph Pearce, 4/26/24, https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/04/26/whodunnit-the-strange-case-of-shakespeares-will/.

[5]  Encyclopedia Brittanicca, “St. Charles Borromeo”, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Charles-Borromeo.

[6]  Wikipedia, “Charles Barromeo”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Borromeo.

[7]  Catholic Time, “St. Charles Borromeo:  patron saint of chatechists and catechumens”, 11/4/22, https://www.catholictime.com/catholic-life/articles/15063-st-charles-borromeo-the-patron-saint-of-catechists-and-catechumens.

[8]  Radio Veritas Asia, “Charles Borromeo:  The Saint Who Was Shot by a Corrupt Priest for Reforming Orders”, 11/4/24, https://www.rvasia.org/saints/charles-borromeo-saint-who-was-shot-corrupt-priest-reforming-orders.

[9]  Catholic Insight, “The Diamond of England:  The Mission and Martyrdom of St. Edmond Campion” by Avellina Balestri, 12/1/20, https://catholicinsight.com/2020/12/01/the-diamond-of-england-the-mission-and-martyrdom-of-st-edmund-campion/.

[10]  Michael Steggle of Bristol University has recently argued in the Shakespeare Quarterly that John Shakespeare’s spiritual will was authored by William Shakespeare’s sister, Joan.  See, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/shakespeare-a-rediscovered-manuscript-flips-the-family-s-legacy-on-its-head-more-than-400-years-after-it-was-written/ar-AA1LXiDx?ocid=BingNewsSerp.  Steggle bases this argument on the fact that printed testaments by other authors dated later than Barromeo’s Testament of the Soul did not reach England until after John Shakespeare’s death.  Steggle further contends that the Testament of the Soul was piously attributed to Barromeo, who was not in truth its author.  This seems to be a fallacy. 

[11]  Catholic Culture, “St. Edmund Campion – Campion’s Brag” by James Majewski, 8/6/21, https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-edmund-campion-campions-brag/.

[12]  Wikipedia, “Edmund Campion”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Campion.

[13]  History, How Stuff Works, “The ‘Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered’ Execution Was Even Worse than You Think” by Dave Ross, 6/7/24, https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/hanging-drawing-and-quartering.htm.

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