But now the long-held assumption that John Shakespeare was a 16th-century fly-tipper has been overturned as a myth. Far from being punished he was simply paying a waste disposal toll for detritus relating to his trade as a glover and tanner of leather.
David Fallow, a former financier who has spent years studying the Shakespeare family's wealth, has discovered that a fine had other interpretations then. "The meanings of a lot of these words have changed over the last 500 years. A fine was simply a charge, a rent or rates. There was absolutely no moral imputation to John Shakespeare's fine at all. Stratford muckhills in his lifetime were a rentable resource, for which the town could collect taxes." The 1552 document records that Shakespeare senior and two associates paid 12d (a shilling or 5p) for a midden heap or "mukhyll".
Fallow said this had long been misunderstood by various academics, including Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. "Freud wrote about how 'barbarous' John Shakespeare was - and it's absolutely wrong," he said.
Denne historien er fra February 23, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra February 23, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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