Oxford = Henry Fift = William Knell = Thomas Brincknell
Art Neuendorffer
CHAPTER 18
"That is what vexes me, and what ought to vex thee, Sancho," replied
Don Quixote; "but henceforward I will endeavour to have at hand
some sword made by such CRAFT that no kind of enchantments can take
effect upon him who carries it, and it is even possible that fortune
may procure for me that which belonged to Amadis when he was called
'The Knight of the Burning Sword,' which was one of the best swords
that ever knight in the world possessed, for, besides having
the said virtue, it cut like a RAZOR, and there was no armour,
however strong and enchanted it might be, that could resist it."
"Such is my luck," said Sancho, "that even if that happened and your
worship found some such sword, it would, like the balsam, turn out
serviceable and good for dubbed knights only, and as for the
squires, they might sup sorrow."
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Ezekiel 5:1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee
a barber's RAZOR, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon
thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
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[Henry the Fourth, Part Two (Quarto) 2.4]
Fal.: weight of a haire wil turne scales between their haber de poiz.
Prince: Would not this naue of a wheele haue his eares cut off?
Poynes: Lets beate him before his whore.
Prince: Looke where the witherd elder
hath not his poule clawd like a parrot.
Poynes: Is it not strange that desire should
so many yeeres out liue performance.
Falst.: Kisse me Doll.
Prince: Saturne and Venus this yeere in coniunction? what
saies th'Almanacke to that?
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Saturn/Venus conj. (O.S.) murder
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May 20, 1593 May 20, 1593: Morley/Marlowe
June 7, 1587 June 13, 1587: KNELL
July 20, 1567 July 23, 1567: BrincKNELL
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<<On 23 July 1567, at Lochleven, Mary Queen of Scots was forced
to sign an act of withdrawal in favor of her one-year-old son,
who was crowned as James VI five days afterward at Scone.>>
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"On 23 July 1567, while practicing fencing with Edward Baynam, a
TAILOR(Freemason TILER? - ACN), in the backyard of Cecil's house in the
Strand, the seventeen-year-old Oxford killed an unarmed undercook named
Thomas BrincKNELL with a thrust to the THIGH. A packed jury instructed
by Cecil found that BrincKNELL had caused his own death by wilfully
hurling himself on Oxford's rapier. Condemned as a suicide, BrincKNELL
was denied Christian burial, his pregnant widow Agnes and 3-year-old
son Quyntyn stripped of their assets and abandoned to her relatives
and the parish church. Thus logic and justice died that a
hot-tempered young earl might walk free." --Prof. Alan Nelson
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four inches deep & one inch wide. (12 d) [July 23, 1567]
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<<Inquisition taken in the parish of St. Martin's in the Fields 24 July
1567 before Richard Vale, coroner, upon a viewing of the body of Thomas
BrincKNELL, of Westminster, yeoman, lying dead, by seventeen named
jurymen, who affirm that on 23 July 1567 between seven and eight in the
evening Edward earl of Oxford and Edward Baynham, tailor of the same
city, were together in the back yard of the residence of Sir William
Cecil in the same parish, meaning no harm to anyone. Each had a sword,
called a foil, and together they meant to practice the science of
DEFENSE. Along came Thomas BrincKNELL, drunk, . . . who ran and fell
upon the point of the earl of Oxford's foil (worth twelve pence),
which Oxford held in his right hand intending to play a round (as
they call it). With the foil Thomas [BrincKNELL] gave himself a
wound to the front of his THIGH four inches deep and one inch wide,
of which he died instantly. This, to the exclusion
of all other explanations, was the way he died.>>
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End of Hundred Years' War: 1453
Start of War of the Roses: 1453
Capture of Constantinople by the Turks: 1453
[July 23, 1567]
+ (1453 days) x 5
[June 13, 1587]
three inches deep & one inch wide (5 s)
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William KNELL was, according to the report of the Coroner,
murdered by John Towne on the June 13th, 1587:
<<William KNELL was one of the Queen's Men's most noteworthy young actors,
and played Prince Henry in _The Famous Victories of Henry the Fift_>>
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Lord Burghley received a letter complaining of Oxford's compatriots
committing highway robbery between Gravesend & Rochester in
May 1573 (the fourteenth year of the reign of Elizabeth Regina).
The precursor to Shake-speare's Henry IV :
The Famous Victories of Henry the Fift
has Prince Hal's compatriots committing highway robbery
between Gravesend & Rochester on May 20, 1413
(i.e., "the 20th day of May last in the fourteenth year
of the reign of our sovereign lord King Henry the Fourth"
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Coroner's Report
(Wood's _Shakespeare_ p. 104)
<<John Towne late of Shoreditch, yeoman, was in a close called White Hound
in Thame (Oxfordshire) when William KNELL came and had in his right hand a
sword and jumped upon John Towne intending to kill him. Towne in fear and
despairing of his life and of the mutilation of his limbs by the aforesaid
KNELL, drew back to a certain mound of earth which he could neither cross
nor ascend without peril of his life. William KNELL continuing his attack as
before, so maliciously and furiously, and Towne on the hillock, to save his
life drew his sword of iron (price five shillings) and held it in his right
hand and thrust it into the neck of William KNELL and made a mortal wound
three inches deep and one inch wide.>>
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End of Hundred Years' War: 1453
Start of War of the Roses: 1453
Capture of Constantinople by the Turks: 1453
[June 13, 1587]
+ (1453 days) x 3/2
[June 1, 1593]
depth of two inches & the width of one inch (12 d)
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[http://members.aol.com/marlovian/inquest/engtrans.htm]
Latin inquest conducted by the Queen's Coroner, William Danby
on June 1, 1593 (translated by Prof. Leslie Hotson, 1925).
KENT/INQUISITION indented taken at Deptford Strand in the aforesaid
County of Kent within the verge on the first day of June in the
thirty-fifth year of the reign of Elizabeth, by the grace of God of
England France & Ireland Queen defender of the faith, etc thirty-fifth,
in the presence of William Danby, Gentleman, Coroner of the household
of the Queen, upon view of the body of Christopher Morley, there lying
dead and slain, upon oath of [sixteen jurors] who say [upon] their oath
that when a certain Ingram Frizer, late of London, Gentleman, and the
aforesaid Christopher Morley and one Nicholas Skeres, late of London,
Gentleman, and Robert Poley of London, Gentleman, on the thirtieth day
of May in the thirty-fifth year above named, at Deptford Strand about
the tenth hour before noon of the same day, [the four men] met together
in a room in the house of a certain Eleanor Bull, widow; & there passed
the time together & dined & after dinner were in quiet sort together
there & walked in the garden belonging to the said house until the sixth
hour after noon of the same day & then returned from the said garden to
the room & there together and in company supped; & after supper the said
Ingram & Christoper Morley were in speech & uttered one to the other
divers malicious words for the reason that they could not be at one nor
agree about the payment of the sum of pence, that is, le recknynge,
there; & the said Christoper Morley was then lying upon a bed in the
room where they supped, & moved with anger against the said Ingram
Frizer upon the words as spoken between them, And the said Ingram
then & there sitting in the room aforesaid with his back towards
the bed where the said Christopher Morley was then lying,
sitting near the bed, that is, nere the bed & with the front
part of his body towards the table & the aforesaid Nicholas Skeres
& Robert Poley sitting on either side of the said Ingram in such
a manner that the same Ingram Frizer in no wise could take flight:
it so befell that the said Christopher Morley then & there
maliciously drew the dagger of the said Ingram which was at his back,
and with the same dagger the said Christopher Morley then & there gave
the aforesaid Ingram two wounds on his head of the length of two inches
& of the depth of a quarter of an inch; whereupon the said Ingram, in
fear of being slain, & sitting in the manner aforesaid between said
Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley so that he could not in any wise get
away, in his own defence & for the saving of his life, then & there
struggled with the said Christopher Morley to get back from him his
dagger aforesaid; in which affray the same Ingram could not get away
from the said Christopher Morley; and so it befell in the affray that
the said Ingram, in defence of his life, with THE DAGGER AFORESAID OF
THE VALUE OF 12d. gave the said Christopher then & there a mortal wound
over his right eye of the depth of two inches & the width of one inch;
of which mortal wound the aforesaid Christopher Morley
then & there instantly died;
And so the Jurors aforesaid say upon their oath that the said Ingram
killed & slew Christopher Morley aforesaid on the thirtieth day of May
in the thirty fifth year named above at Deptford Strand aforesaid within
the verge in the room aforesaid within the verge in the manner and form
aforesaid in the defence and saving of his own life, against the peace
of our said lady the Queen, her now crown & dignity; And further the
said Jurors say upon their oath that the said Ingram after the slaying
aforesaid perpetrated & done by him in the manner & form aforesaid
neither fled nor withdrew himself; But what goods or chattels, lands or
tenements the said Ingram had at time of the slaying aforesaid, done &
perpetrated by him in the manner & form aforesaid, the said Jurors are
totally ignorant. In witness of which thing the said Coroner as well
as the Jurors aforesaid to this Inquisition have interchangeably set
their seals. Given the day & year above named & William Danby, Coroner
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Dave Kathman wrote:
<<John Heminges was born in Droitwich, Gloucestershire, and at the age
of eleven he was sent off to London & apprenticed to a grocer, James
Collins, for nine years. Collins died during Heminges' apprenticeship,
but Heminges finished out his apprenticeship under Mrs. COLLINS,
becoming a freeman of the grocers in 1587.
Less than a year later, he married Rebecca KNELL,
the widow of William KNELL, a famous actor with the Queen's
Men who had been KILLED IN A DUEL with a fellow actor
At the time of their marriage, Rebecca was 16 & John was 21.
They started having kids immediately, not stopping
until they had 14 children (a couple of whom died in infancy).
That's a dozen mouths to feed in addition to their own.
Yet as far as we know, Heminges was working as an actor -- he may
have been involved with the theater at the time of his marriage,
given that his wife was the widow of an actor, but it's not until
five years later in 1593 that he shows up in the documentary
record as a member of Strange's Men. Yet despite being "only"
an actor (and later a sharer in the Globe and Blackfriars),
despite having a wife and 14 kids to support,
Heminges SOMEHOW became fairly wealthy:>>
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Art Neuendorffer