Simon Stirling, The History Vault
March 15, 2014

Last month, I suggested that William Shakespeare had two major love affairs in his life. The first was with his ‘White’ lady, who helped to inspire his ‘fair’ female characters, such as Bianca (The Taming of the Shrew) and Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). The model for these saintly ‘White’ ladies was almost certainly ‘Annam Whateley de Temple Grafton’, as she was identified on the first of two marriage licences granted to ‘Willelmum Shaxpere’ by the Bishop of Worcester in 1582.

Anne (or Agnes) Whateley’s brothers stayed true to their Catholic faith in the face of persecution. The same could be said of Anne. She appears to have functioned as a ‘sacred nun’ based at the Catholic safe house of Hillborough Manor, near Stratford. Will Shakespeare’s ancestor, ‘Domina Jane’ Shakespeare, had served as the sub-prioress of the Benedictine priory at Wroxall, a little to the north of Stratford, until the priory was dissolved in 1536; ‘Domina Jane’ was still alive when Will was a child, and it may be that she inspired in him a fascination with saintly women. Anne Whateley’s status as a ‘White Lady’ – the form said to be taken by her ghost – might suggest that she was an ‘underground’ nun of the Augustinian Order.

The contrast between Will’s ‘White’ lady and the ‘Dark Lady’ of his Sonnets could scarcely be much greater. If his first love was a sacred ‘sister sanctified of holiest note’, his ‘Dark Lady’ was described as ‘no nun’. And if Anne Whateley was the inspiration for his tall, fair, saintly female figures, the ‘Dark Lady’ lurks behind such dangerous characters as Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.[…continued] Read Full Story

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