If People and Us Weekly had existed in Shakespeare's time, they likely would've been constantly scrutinizing the marriage of the British playwright and Anne Hathaway, who were rumored to be on the outs in their later years. There are no ancient tabloids to rely on as evidence, but now, analysis of a 17th-century letter by a top Shakespeare guru suggests that maybe there wasn't as much trouble in paradise as everyone assumes. The Guardian offers the backstory of Will and his missus, the latter long thought to have been abandoned by the bard in Stratford-upon-Avon when he moved to London to ply his craft. A seemingly dismissive offering to Anne in his will of a "second best bed" also seemed to indicate some bitterness on Shakespeare's part toward his wife.
But Matthew Steggle, an English lit professor at the University of Bristol, got his hands on a portion of a letter addressed to a "Good Mrs. Shakspaire" at an address on Trinity Lane in central London—hinting that Shakespeare's wife did indeed live with him for a time in the UK capital, apparently in the first decade of the 17th century, per a release on the research published in the journal Shakespeare. "In the letter, Shakespeare is, allegedly, withholding money from an orphan boy named John Butts," the release notes. "Someone writes to Mrs. Shakespeare asking her for money for the boy; and she stands by her husband, telling the letter-writer that it's their problem to find the money!"
The letter, which was found in 1978 crammed into the binding of a book in the library of the Hereford Cathedral, serves as the first tangible evidence that the Shakespeares remained a united, co-habitating front. Steggle even looked up other couples with the same last name in that area and found just three other pairs—none of whom seemed likely to have lived on Trinity during the time the letter was sent.
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The book the letter was found in is itself key to proving it was addressed to Anne Hathaway: The tome was published in 1608 by Richard Field, a neighbor of the famous writer who also served as his first printer. "For about the last 200 years, the prevailing view has been that Anne Shakespeare stayed in Stratford all her life and perhaps never even went to London," Steggle notes, per the Guardian. "For Shakespeare biographers who favor the narrative of the 'disastrous marriage' ... the Hereford document should be a horrible, difficult problem." The BBC notes that, at the very least, "it opens the door" that the Shakespeares spent "significant time" together in London, per the release. (More William Shakespeare stories.)
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