Shakespeare's Funerary Monument
by Terri Waters
Title
Shakespeare's Funerary Monument
Artist
Terri Waters
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Shakespeare funerary monument by Gerard Johnson, is a memorial to William Shakespeare mounted on the wall above his grave on the north wall of the chancel inside Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.
It features a demi-figure of the poet, which holds a quill pen in one hand and holds down a piece of paper resting on a cushion with the other. The style was typically used for divines, academics, and those professions with pretensions of learning.
The monument is topped with strapwork rising to a heraldic shield containing the Shakespeare family's coat of arms.
The William Shakespeare's father made an application costing 30 guineas for the right to bear a Coat of Arms and on October 20, 1596 permission from the Garter King of Arms was granted for John Shakespeare and his children to display a coat-of-arms and for the male members of the family to put "gentleman" after their name. The coat-of-arms could then be displayed on their door and all their personal items.
The Shakespeare family coat of arms is 'Gold, on a bend (diagonal bar) sable (black), a spear of the first (i.e. gold), steeled argent (with a silver tip); and for his crest... a falcon his wings displayed argent (silver), standing on a wreath of his colours supporting a spear gold, steeled as aforesaid, (i.e. silver) set upon a helmet with mantles and tassles' with the motto was "Non sanz droict" or "Not without right".
On either side of the coat of arms stands two allegorical figures. One, representing Labour, holds a spade, the other, representing Rest, holds a torch and a skull.
Beneath the figure of Shakespeare is engraved an epitaph in Latin and a poem in English. The epitaph reads:
IVDICIO PYLIUM, GENIO SOCRATEM, ARTE MARONEM,
TERRA TEGIT, POPULUS MAERET, OLYMPUS HABET
The first line translates as "A Pylian in judgement, a Socrates in genius, a Maro in art," comparing Shakespeare to Nestor the wise King of Pylus, to the Greek philosopher Socrates, and to the Roman poet Virgil (whose last name, or cognomen was Maro). The second reads "The earth buries him, the people mourn him, Olympus possesses him," referring to Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods.
The English poem reads:
STAY PASSENGER, WHY GOEST THOV BY SO FAST?
READ IF THOV CANST, WHOM ENVIOVS DEATH HATH PLAST
WITH IN THIS MONVMENT SHAKSPEARE: WITH WHOME,
QVICK NATVRE DIDE: WHOSE NAME, DOTH DECK YS TOMBE,
FAR MORE, THEN COST: SIEH ALL, YT HE HATH WRITT,
LEAVES LIVING ART, BVT PAGE, TO SERVE HIS WITT.
In modern day language this translates as:
Stay, passenger, why goest thou by so fast?
Read, if thou canst, whom envious Death hath placed
Within this monument: Shakespeare, with whom
Quick nature died, whose name doth deck this tomb
Far more than cost, sith [i.e. since] all that he hath writ
Leaves living art, but page, to serve his wit.
William Shakespeare's tomb lies below the monument in the chancel. The privilege of being buried within the church was bestowed upon him not for his fame as a playwright but from the fact that he owned a share of the the tithe income privileges, bought for £440, when Henry VIII abolished the College of Cardinals in Britain. With the priviledge came the duty of employing a priest and looking after the Chancel as well as the right of burial there. Alongside his grave are those of his widow, Anne Hathaway, his da
The date the monument was erected is not known exactly, but it must have been before 1623; in that year, the First Folio of Shakespeare's works was published, prefaced by a poem by Leonard Digges that mentions "thy Stratford moniment" [sic]. The monument was restored in 1748-9 and has been repainted several times.
William Shakespeare's tomb lies in the chancel. The privilege of being buried within the church was bestowed upon him not for his fame as a playwright but from the fact that he owned a share of the the tithe income privileges, bought for £440, when Henry VIII abolished the College of Cardinals in Britain. With the priviledge came the duty of employing a priest and looking after the Chancel as well as the right of burial there. Alongside his grave are those of his widow, Anne Hathaway, his daughter Suzannah and her husband Dr John Hall who was a noted physician and Thomas Nash, the first husband of William's grandmother Elizabeth.
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February 28th, 2013
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