Shakespeare’s Dark Lady of Spitalfields
Poet Niall McDevitt writes about Emilia Bassano Lanier, who was a long-term resident of Spital Sq and believed by many to be the inspiration for William Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’ of the Sonnets. On Sunday 22nd & 29th April at 2pm, Niall leads a walk starting at Tower Hill visiting the locations of Emilia’s life and telling her story. Click here to book.
Portrait miniature by Nicholas Hillard
Emilia Bassano Lanier is one of the most distinguished people to be born in Spitalfields, yet her reputation only grew four centuries after her death.
She was born in Spital Sq early in 1569 and baptised at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate on 27th January. Her family situation was highly unusual. Technically, Emilia was a bastard since her father Baptista Bassano was not married to her mother Margaret Johnson although they lived together as a couple. Baptista was a racial outsider, a Sephardic Jew from the Veneto region of Italy with family connections to Venice and the small town of Bassano del Grappa. As Jews had no legal status in England at that time, he should not even have been there officially.
Yet he was not alone. There were growing numbers of Bassanos in London. Henry VIII invited six Bassano brothers over to London as court musicians. They were a prodigious musical family who doubled up as fine instrument makers. Perhaps the brothers explained their reservations about their racial origin to Henry VIII’s negotiators and were told not to worry. Were they crypto-Jews, known as ‘Marranos’ then? It is not known for certain whether they practised Judaism, though it is not unlikely. In those days, a little Protestant window-dressing was sufficient to cover up secularism or any other illicit belief.
The Anglo-Italian, Anglo-Jewish Emilia grew up in an artistic and courtly milieu. Her father and uncles played in the royal palaces such as Greenwich and big houses such as Baynards Castle, as well as the burgeoning inn-yard theatres such as The Cross Keys in Gracechurch St. Interestingly, while most of the extended Bassano family lived in a mansion on Mark Lane, Emilia’s father Baptista lived separately in a row of three properties on Spital Sq, close to the site of the former church of St Mary Spital. There he died in 1576 – the same year James Burbage’s Theatre was constructed – and was buried at St Botolph’s Bishopsgate.
Emilia’s status as minor gentry meant she was familiar with aristocracy if not quite of it. At six, she went to live in the London home of Susan Bertie, Countess of Kent, possibly the original Willoughby House in the Barbican. She was fortunate to find herself in a Protestant humanist circle that prized education for women and she was brilliantly tutored. The musical talent that ran in her family was enriched by literary and philosophical learning. She became a musician and writer, although debarred by her gender from any professional status.
Yet despite the obstacles, Emilia became the first woman in England to publish a collection of her own poetry. Her Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611) is a profoundly Christian poem told from a feminist point of view two centuries before Mary Wollstonecraft who – coincidentally – was also born in Spitalfields. Note Emilia’s daring philosemitic title: ‘Hail God, King of the Jews.’ But her radical epic was ignored and forgotten and she died in 1645 at the great age of seventy-six, uncelebrated, and was buried at St James Clerkenwell.
It is thanks to the London diarist Simon Forman – also healer, astrologer and magician – that Emilia is remembered. He had many clients from all walks of Elizabethan-Jacobean society and his casebooks are full of detailed notes. In the last century, A.L. Rowse found information about Emilia among a mass of Forman’s unpublished papers.
During consultations, Emilia revealed to Forman that she had become the mistress of Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, Lord Chamberlain – patron of Shakespeare’s troupe, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men – when she was eighteen and he was sixty-three. Falling pregnant by him in 1592, she was forced to marry her cousin Alphonse Lanier, another musician, yet the affair with Carey continued until his death in 1596. Carey showered her with gifts and annuities which her aggrieved husband confiscated. Additionally, Forman tells of his own frustrated affair with Emilia who permitted every intimacy except penetration. This angered Forman and in his diary he accused her of sexual magic, ‘raising incuba’ and ‘villainy.’ He portrays Emilia as a dark, scheming psychopathic figure who inspires fear and, from 1600, she ceases to feature in his writings.
But Emilia Bassano Lanier may have had another advocate. She is arguably the subject of one of the most celebrated sequences of poetry in literature, Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Sonnets 127-154 concern not so much a lady who is dark but a ‘mistress’ who is ‘black’. This does not imply an Afro-Carribean origin but someone dark-haired, dark-eyed, and ‘dun’ of complexion, such as an Italian Sephardic Jewess. The sonnets are a portrait in verse of someone remarkably similar in character and appearance to the woman that Forman desribes. The arc of both narratives is also similar – a sexually charged affair that ends in an atmosphere of toxic recrimination. Consequently, A.L. Rowse declared Emilia Lanier to be Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’ in the seventies and a host of proponents and opponents have followed ever since.
For Emilia Bassano Lanier, oblivion is over. She now has a place in the canon of English literature as an esteemed poet and feminist in her own right, as well as potentially being the female subject of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Emilia is becoming more and more present.
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
Portrait miniature by Nicholas Hilliard believed to be William Shakespeare
Sixteenth century drawing of St Mary Spital as Emilia Bassano Lanier may have known it with gabled wooden houses lining Bishopsgate
Title page of Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum by Emilia Basson Lanier, 1611, the first collection of poetry published by a woman in England
Simon Forman, Diarist, Healer, Astrologer and Magician c.1611
Spital Sq, home of Emilia Lanier who may have been the inspiration for the ‘Dark Lady’ of the Sonnets
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Last Of The Crooners At The Palm Tree
This Saturday 21st April promises to be a big night at The Palm Tree in Mile End. Accompanying the opening of an exhibition of portraits of celebrated musicians by photographer Tom Oldham is the release of limited edition of five hundred copies of The Last of The Crooners, a record of live recordings of the performers (including a portfolio of portraits) for £20 available exclusively on a first-come-first-served basis at the pub. The exhibition opens at 7pm and the music starts at 9pm.
“Jack Honeyborne on keys, Alan Jackson on drum and Izzy on bass, playing a more freeform instrumental track prior to the singer stepping up.”
Jack Honeyborne – “Jack used to perform with Vera Lynn and maintains the heyday for modern music in this country was before the rot set in, in the fifties.”
Charlie Willis – “Charismatic singer Charlie used to sing in down in the tube stations during the Second World War. They’d ask him to get up and give us a song, which is how he started performing.”
Alan Jackson – “The other rock solid element of the Palm Tree Trio rhythm section is Alan Jackson on drums. Cheeky, but an incredible talent at beating a jazz pattern out of the modest cocktail kit that comprises the absolute minimum of luxuries for a drummer.”
Izzy – “Izzy play bass. He’s the backbone of a rock solid rhythm section and one third of the Palm Tree Trio.”
Andy Gangadeen – “a drummer of world reknown, having played with greats such as Massive Attack, Jeff Beck and a huge variety of artists going back thirty years. He happily sits in at the Palm Tree and loves the gig for its challenges and the free range creativity it demands.”
Helen Keating – “Helen Keating is so glamorous it’s almost impossible to believe she’s almost eighty-one, dare I say it. She is a true performer and reglaulary played the last Sunday of every month for next twenty-five years before retiring a few months back. She also performed in Minder and the Sweeney back in the day.”
Bruce – “Bruce is a pianist at the Palm Tree and guests at the old piano occasionally. He plays beautifully and always makes a welcome return to the little stage.”
Shireen Francis – “Shireen has a beauty in her voice that brings so much to these old songs, everytime. A proper journeyman singer, she regularly performs all over London but still gives every show her all. A delight to see if you’re every in.”
Colin Anthony – “Colin Anthony is a guest singer and regularly travels to Bow to guest on the mic at The Palm Tree. He adds a stylish air of panache to the proceedings, as well as performing with a voice truly reminiscent of Tony Bennett.”
Kerrie Barrett – “daughter of Alf & Val, landlord & landlady at the Palm Tree. She’s also the owner of a great set of vocal chords and often graces the stage at the weekend to sing a jazz standard or two, which everyone looks forward to.”
“generations of talent have stepped onto the stage at the Palm Tree”
Photographs copyright © Tom Oldham
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At The Caslon Foundry In Chiswell St
22/23 Chiswell St
Chiswell St is a canyon lined with glass and steel buildings leading from Moorgate to the Barbican today, yet once this was the centre of printing in the City of London. The foundry established by William Caslon in 1737, Britain’s most celebrated type designer, stood here until 1937. For more than two centuries, Caslon was the default typeface for printing in the English language and when the Americans wanted to make their Declaration of Independence and publish their Constitution, they imported type from the Caslon Foundry in Chiswell St to do it.
These historic photographs from St Bride Printing Library, taken in 1902 upon the occasion of the opening of the new Caslon factory in Hackney Wick, record both the final decades of the unchanged work of traditional type-founding, as well as the mechanisation of the process that would eventually lead to the industry being swept away by the end of the century.
22/23 Chiswell St with Caslon’s delivery van outside the foundry
The Directors’ Room with portraits of William Caslon and Elizabeth Caslon
Sydney Caslon Smith in his office
Clerks’ office, 15th November 1902. A woman sits at her typewriter in the centre of the office.
Type store with fonts being made up in packets by women and boys working by candlelight
Another view of the type store with women making up packets of fonts
Another view of the type store
Another part of the type store
In the type store
A boy makes up a packet of fonts in the type store
Room of printers’ supplies including type cases, forme trolleys and electro cabinets
Another view of the printers’ supplies store
Printing office on an upper floor with pages of type specimens being set and printed on Albion and Imperial handpresses.
Packing department with crates labelled GER, GWR, LNWR, CALCUTTA, BOMBAY, and SYDNEY
New Caslon Letter Foundry at Rothbury Rd, Hackney Wick, 1902
Harold Arthur Caslon Smith at his rolltop desk in Hackney Wick with type specimens from 1780 on the wall, Friday 7th November, 1902
Machine shop with plane, lathes and overhead belting
Gas engines and man with oil can
Lathes in the Machine Shop
Hand forging in the Machine Shop
Another view of lathes in the Machine Shop
Type store with fonts being made up into packets
Type matrix and mould store
Metal store with boy hauling pigs upon a trolley
Casting Shop, with women breaking off excess metal and rubbing the type at the window
Another view of the Casting Shop.
Another view of the Casting Shop
Founting Shop, with women breaking up the type and a man dressing the type
Casting metal furniture
Boys at work in the Brass Rule Shop
Boys making packets of fonts in the Despatch Shop, with delivery van waiting outside the door
Machine shop on the top floor with a fly-press in the bottom left
Woodwork Shop
Brass Rule Shop, hand-planing the rules
Caretaker’s cottage with caretaker’s wife and the factory cat
Photographs courtesy St Bride Printing Library
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A Chance To Visit The Old London Hospital
Inhabited only by the lonely ghost of Joseph Merrick, the former Royal London Hospital building in Whitechapel sits in limbo awaiting its new purpose as Town Hall for the Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Yet before the redevelopment begins there is a chance to take a guided tour of the hospital estate on Saturday 28th April, courtesy of the Survey of London whose volume on the buildings of Whitechapel will be published next year. Click here to book.
Contributing Photographer Phil Maxwell was granted privileged access to record the empty hospital. His new film Pensioners United, created in collaboration with Hazuan Hashim, has its premiere at the East End Film Festival on Friday 27th April. Click here to book.
Photographs copyright © Phil Maxwell
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At The House Mill
The House Mill of 1776 at Bromley by Bow is the largest tidal mill in the world and the only remaining mill at Three Mill Island on the River Lea, an artificial island created in ancient times – like Venice – by driving thousands of wooden stakes into the mud, for the purpose of harnessing the powerful tidal surge of the Thames. Daniel Bisson, a Huguenot, built the House Mill for grinding grain to bake bread and the manufacture of gin to supply London, and it functioned here until the end of World War II, before falling into disrepair.
Twenty-five years ago, William Hill saw the derelict mill from the train and came to explore. He became one of a group of committed volunteers who have been responsible for overseeing the magnificent restoration programme of recent years, and it was he who showed me round. We spent a couple of hours, climbing up and down ladders, and exploring every corner of the huge old mill, including those parts not open to visitors – enabling me to create this photographic record.
Initials of Daniel Bisson, builder of the mill, and his wife Sarah
View down the River Lea
Some of the beams at House Mill are one hundred foot long and may be recycled ships’ timbers
Nineteenth century wooden patterns for casting the machinery of the mill
Stretcher frames from World War I
Hopper where the grain was channelled down to the mill stones
The oasthouses and the clock mill
The Miller’s staircase
Millstones
Pegs where the millers hung their coats
Mill worker in the nineteen thirties
The same spot today
Iron frames for the nineteenth century mill wheels
The Clockmill
Visit The House Mill, Three Mill Lane, Bromley by Bow, London E3 3DU
Volunteers are always required to act as stewards, guides and to run the cafe at the House Mill. If you would like to help, please contact info@housemill.org.uk
Harold Stabler’s Tiles At Bethnal Green
The author of A LONDON INHERITANCE (A private history of a public city) is one of the many luminaries among the alumnii of my blog-writing course and I am delighted to present his most recent post about the tiles at Bethnal Green Tube Station.
A few places are available for my next course HOW TO WRITE A BLOG THAT PEOPLE WILL WANT TO READ on 19th & 20th May. Join me for a weekend in an eighteenth century weaver’s house in Fournier St, enjoy delicious lunches from Leila’s Cafe, eat cakes baked from historic recipes at Townhouse, discover the secrets of Spitalfields Life & learn how to write your own blog!
I have no idea how many times I have walked along the Central Line platforms at Bethnal Green. Yet in all these years, I cannot say that the tiles on the walls have drawn a second glance from me or that I have appreciated the purpose behind their design – until now.
A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time walking up and down the platforms, studying the designs of the illustrated tiles interspersed among the plain ones and photographing them. Subsequently, I have tried to discover the inspirations for these designs which represent London landmarks and heraldic symbols for the counties served by London Transport. Many contain the initial ‘S’ for Harold Stabler who was the designer. Originally, Stabler was asked by Frank Pick, Managing Director of London Underground and first Chief Executive of London Transport, to design a rabbit mascot for the country buses run by London General in 1922.
Born in 1872, Stabler was a skilled designer working in a number of materials including precious metals, and one of his most famous commissions was the Ascot Gold Cup. In 1936, he was appointed by the Royal Society of Arts as the first Designer for Industry, consulting on design for industries and public bodies. He was involved in the creation of Poole Pottery who manufactured the tiles for the Underground. Although his eighteen tile designs were executed in the thirties, Bethnal Green station did not open until 1946 since work on the Central Line extension was delayed by the war.
The first tile represents of London Underground’s headquarters at 55 Broadway and my photograph below shows how accurate the representation is.
The swan been used as a heraldic badge since medieval times and it was adopted by the 2nd Duke of Buckingham and then by the County of Buckinghamshire, also being incorporated in the coat of arms of the Metropolitan Railway. The Dunstable Swan Jewel in the British Museum is an example of this symbol in the form of a brooch, made around 14oo and found on the site of a Dominican Priory in Dunstable in 1965. (photograph ©Trustees of the British Museum)
In this representation of the Palace of Westminster, there are two crowns and a bowler hat representing the Monarch, the Lords and the Commons.
The following tile shows five maidens which represent the County of Berkshire.
Another tile has five birds flying over water, representing the River Thames.
This design is of the Crystal Palace, however this tile does not have the ‘S’ to be found on all the other tiles, so it may not be one of Stabler’s originals.
The number five appears a common theme for the tiles. In this design, there are five birds with two pairs of parallel lines between them. This tile is one of several held by the Victoria & Albert Museum and their record identifies this design as “five martletts – the arms of the City of Westminster.”
This tile illustrates the coat of arms for the County of Middlesex as shown below.
The following design is a bird of prey representing the County of Bedfordshire.
This tile shows a crown above oak leaves with acorns from the coat of arms for the County of Surrey.
This tile has the design of a rearing horse from the coat of arms for the County of Kent.
This winged griffin was the original symbol of London Transport.
This tile above is a representation of the coat of arms of the County of London.
I hope I found all the different designs at Bethnal Green, I spent some time walking up and down, photographing the tiles. There are multiple copies of each of these designs on both platforms.
In 2006, many of the plain tiles along the platform were replaced with replicas. There are still some original panels of tiles and I understand that the decorated tiles are original. Yet the Crystal Palace tile may be a reproduction as it does not include Stabler’s trade mark letter ‘S’ and has different finish to the rest.
Stabler’s decorated tiles were also installed at St. Paul’s, Aldgate East, St. John’s Wood and Swiss Cottage Underground stations. I believe they are still to be seen at Aldgate, but I am not sure of the other stations – something to check when I next visit.
Harold Stabler died in London in 1945 but his designs live on at Bethnal Green.
Photographs copyright © A London Inheritance
HOW TO WRITE A BLOG THAT PEOPLE WILL WANT TO READ – 19th & 20th MAY
Spend a weekend in an eighteenth century weaver’s house in Spitalfields and learn how to write a blog with The Gentle Author.
This course will examine the essential questions which need to be addressed if you wish to write a blog that people will want to read.
“Like those writers in fourteenth century Florence who discovered the sonnet but did not quite know what to do with it, we are presented with the new literary medium of the blog – which has quickly become omnipresent, with many millions writing online. For my own part, I respect this nascent literary form by seeking to explore its own unique qualities and potential.” – The Gentle Author
COURSE STRUCTURE
1. How to find a voice – When you write, who are you writing to and what is your relationship with the reader?
2. How to find a subject – Why is it necessary to write and what do you have to tell?
3. How to find the form – What is the ideal manifestation of your material and how can a good structure give you momentum?
4. The relationship of pictures and words – Which comes first, the pictures or the words? Creating a dynamic relationship between your text and images.
5. How to write a pen portrait – Drawing on The Gentle Author’s experience, different strategies in transforming a conversation into an effective written evocation of a personality.
6. What a blog can do – A consideration of how telling stories on the internet can affect the temporal world.
SALIENT DETAILS
The next course will be held at 5 Fournier St, Spitalfields on 19th & 20th May. Each course runs from 10am-5pm on Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday.
Lunch will be catered by Leila’s Cafe of Arnold Circus and tea, coffee & cakes by the Townhouse are included within the course fee of £300.
Accomodation at 5 Fournier St is available upon enquiry to Fiona Atkins fiona@townhousewindow.com
Email spitalfieldslife@gmail.com to book a place on the course.
The Hackney Treasure Map
Each Saturday, we shall be featuring one of Adam Dant’s MAPS OF LONDON & BEYOND from the forthcoming book of his extraordinary cartography to be published by Spitalfields Life Books & Batsford on June 7th.
Please support this ambitious venture by pre-ordering a copy, which will be signed by Adam Dant with an individual drawing on the flyleaf and sent to you on publication. CLICK TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY OF MAPS OF LONDON & BEYOND BY ADAM DANT
The Hackney Treasure Map was inspired by the discovery of the Hackney Hoard by Terry Castle and informed by the knowledge of Stephen Selby, the Hackney Antiquarian. Describing the pre-industrial riches of the borough, it is conveniently marked with suitable spots to dig. (Click to enlarge and study it further)
Prince Rupert’s Mill. Prince Rupert’s secret died with him – it was a composition from which indestructible cannons were cast and bored here in Hackney.
Temple Mills. Once belonging to the Knights Templars, these mills were used for grinding points on pins and needles, sent on to Worcestershire to receive eyes.
Beresford’s White House. Occasional residence of highwayman Dick Turpin, attached to the house was an extensive fishery, offering sport for one shilling.
Roman Burial Ground. Discovered under Hackney Marsh, part of the Roman stone causeway to Essex, and a marble sarcophagus at Brooksby’s Walk.
Lord Zouch’s House. A peer who sat in judgement on Mary Queen of Scots, Edward Lord Zouch amused himself with experimental gardening.
The Mermaid Tavern. 12/8/1811, Mr Sadler ascends in a balloon above Mr Holmes’ pleasure gardens, bowling greens and Hackney brook.
Sutton House. Known as “Bryck House,” it was built for Henry VIII’s courtier Ralph Sadleir who sold it to cloth merchant John Machell. The house still stands.
The Black & White House. Home of Robert Vyner, drinking partner of Charles II, its name “Bohemia Place” arising from the residence of the Queen of Bohemia.
Loddige’s Nursery. George Loddige’s forty foot palm house and orchid houses maintained tropical heat. Many of his plants and houses were removed to Crystal Palace.
Barber’s Barn. Home of the low-born John Okey, sixth signatory of Charles I’s death warrant, its grounds later cultivated by John Busch, nurseryman to Catherine II of Russia.
St John’s Place/Beaulieu. Said to have been home the priory of of St John, it later acquired the name “Shoreditch Place” after Jane Shore, lover of King Edward IV.
Brook House. Granted by Edward VI to the Earl of Pembroke, the house passed to the Earl of Warwick then to Dr Monro as a ‘recepiticle for insane persons.’
Gothic Hall. Mr Thomas Windus fitted out his house as a museum containing china, grecian pottery and six hundred drawings and paintings by Rubens, Van Dyke etc.
Shacklewell House. The ancient seat of the Herons, and residence of Cecilia, Thomas More’s daughter, later home of regicide Owen Rowe.
Abney House. Built for Thomas Gunstone to hymn writer & divine Isaac Watts’ plans. Gunstone died on its completion.
Brownswood House. The Hornsey Wood Tavern was formed out of the old Copthall and the Manor House of Brownswood. Victoria halted here in 1848.
Newington Green Manor. An area home to dissenters in the seventeenth century, Daniel Defoe unsuccessfully bred civet cats nearby.
Palatine House. Built to house protestant refugees from the Rhine Palatinate, later used as a retreat by John Wesley, friend of owner C. Greenwood.
Whitmore House. A moated house adapted by London haberdasher Sir William Whitmore for his son Sir George Whitmore.
Francies House. Built by William Francies, a merchant tailor, in 1706, owned by the Tyssens family and leased to carpenter Richard Tillesley.
Baumes House. Built by two Spanish merchants in 1540, it became known as Sir George Whitmore’s house and in 1691 hosted King Charles I. It later was used as a madhouse.
Alderman John Brown’s House. Home of the serjeant, painter to Henry VIII.
Nag’s Head. A coaching inn and haunt of robber & highwayman Dick Turpin.
The Theatre. Home of Shakespeare & Burbage’s Lord Chamberlain’s New Acting Troupe. The timber was dismantled and used to construct the Globe.
Holywell Mount. Nearby the priory of St John the Baptist, plague burials were said to take place at Holywell Mount.
The Rectory, Hackney. Site of the Manor of Grumbolds and home of John & Jane Daniel, accused of blackmailing the Countess of Essex.
Geffrye Almshouses. Paid for by Sir Robert Geffrye in his will of 1703 which declared his remaining fortune to the Ironmongers’ Company for provision of almshouses.
CLICK TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY OF MAPS OF LONDON & BEYOND BY ADAM DANT
Adam Dant’s MAPS OF LONDON & BEYOND is a mighty monograph collecting together all your favourite works by Spitalfields Life‘s cartographer extraordinaire in a beautiful big hardback book.
Including a map of London riots, the locations of early coffee houses and a colourful depiction of slang through the centuries, Adam Dant’s vision of city life and our prevailing obsessions with money, power and the pursuit of pleasure may genuinely be described as ‘Hogarthian.’
Unparalleled in his draughtsmanship and inventiveness, Adam Dant explores the byways of English cultural history in his ingenious drawings, annotated with erudite commentary and offering hours of fascination for the curious.
The book includes an extensive interview with Adam Dant by The Gentle Author.
