Gaping Gulph, Autopsy Gone Wrong, Castration and more!

It's that time, again!
It's Tudor Trivia Tuesday!

1) Stubbs' famous book against Queen Elizabeth I’s marriage to a French Duke, The discovery of a gaping gulph; wherein England is like to be swallowed by another French marriage, if the Lord for bid not the banns, by letting her see the sin and punishment thereof was published in 1579.  The Queen’s government described it as “a lewd, seditious book, rashly compiled, and secretly printed; and afterwards seditiously dispersed into sundry corners of the realm; containing an heap of slanders and reproaches against the said prince; bolstered up with manifest lies,” [Strype’s Annals] etc., and cut off Stubbs’ right hand for his impertinence.

2) On or about June 20, 1580, the French Ambassador to England, Michael de Castlenau, was stopped by the authorities in Smithfield for carrying a rapier that was longer than the legal limit.  The furious ambassador drew on them.  Fortunately, Lord Henry Seymour happened to be near enough to calm the situation before it came to thrust and parry.  The ambassador was allowed to go on his way unmolested.

3) In the mid-16^th century, to say of someone that “his hand was dipped in the pie” meant he was embezzling funds.

4) The following is a list of the victuals captured at the Scottish town of Haddingtoun when surprised by the English army, under William Lord Grey of Wilton, in April, 1548:

Wheat, 87 quarters.  Mistlin, or Rye, 86 quarters.  Malt, 234 quarters.  Barley, 200 quarters.  Hops, 31 60 lb.  Pease, 130.  Oats, 100 quarters.  White Pease, 6 quarters.  Claret Wine, 68 tons.  Sack, 12 buts.  Malmsey, 3 buts.  Oil, 30 gallons.  Vinegar, 12 barrels.  Oxen alive, 197.  Bacon, 215 flitches.  Butter, 96 barrels.  Cheese, 198 weys 3 quarters.  Beer, 33 tons 1 puncheon.  Beef, packed, 16,536 pieces.  Meal, 52,000 lb. in measure.

5) In 1564, Andrew Vesalius, a native of Brussels, and sometime physician to the Emperor, anatomist, and astrologer, had also been for some time the personal physician of a young Spanish nobleman.  The young man expired.  Vesalius obtained leave from his family to do an autopsy.  While performing the procedure the heart was observed to move.  It is said that other signs of life appeared but the young man did not recover consciousness.  The young man's friends prosecuted Vesalius for murder and brought the matter before the Inquisition in order to assure questioning under extreme torture and horrific execution for impiety.  The Spanish King, Phillip II, managed to extract Vesalius on the condition that the latter would take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  He never returned to Spain.

6) April 31, 1552, King Edward VI paid a debt of 14,000l. to the Fuggers. In May, Thomas Gresham was sent over, to Antwerp, to make another payment of 20,000l. to the Fuggers, who required to have this paid, and then they would be willing to wait longer for the rest that was owed.

7) In 1551, Martin Bucer presented his book in manuscript, De Regno Christi, to King Edward, as his New-Year's gift. In his Epistle there to the said King, he thankfully acknowledged the King’s liberality to him, and Fagius, his fellow scholar, lately dead; for receiving them, being exiles, placing them in the university of Cambridge, and assigning them such liberal salaries, and ordering the commencement of the same, some months before either of them could enter upon their function in the said university, by reason of both their sicknesses: he acknowledged also the king's beneficence to him, in granting him 20l. for a stove, for the relieving of his poor body, broken with age and sickness.  Bucer died the next month. [Strype Memorials]

8) In Love’s Labours Lost, when Shakespeare has Ferdinand say

Ferd. Berowne is like an envious sneaping Frost,

That bites the first borne infants of the Spring.

of course, sneaping means “nipping”.  The word nipped rather more in its original Icelandic sneypa, meaning “to castrate”.

9) The godparent of a child in the 16^th century often gave the child its Christian name.  Thus, Shakspere of Stratford-Upon-Avon’s son Hamnet was named after his godfather Hamnet Sadler.  Sadler’s wife Judith was godmother to Shakspere’s daughter Judith.

10) Shakespeare’s character name “Ophelia” was taken from the name of a shepherdess in Jacopo Sannazaro’s Italian pastoral poem Arcadia.  The Arcadia was wildly popular in mid-16^th century English literary circles and influenced a number of Shakespeare’s early plays and the works of Sidney, Spenser and others.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• What Color Were Shakespeare’s Potatoes? July 27, 2019. “By the year 1599-1600, when Shakespeare’s play would seem to have been written, the potato was available in London.  It was considered a delectable treat and an aphrodisiac.”
• The Fascinating Itinerary of the Gelosi Troupe, 1576.  June 10, 2019.  “The Spanish soldiers had not been paid and unpaid soldiers tend to rob and loot.  The citizens were prepared to give them a fight.  Violent flare ups were occurring everywhere.”
• A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603.  April 28, 2019.  “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
• The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
• Stratford Shakespeare’s Undersized Grave.  July 22, 2018.  “Mr. Coll’s considers this evidence to support an old rumor that Shakspere’s head had been stolen in 1794.  But I submit that he is merely making his observation based upon a coincidence.”
• Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.