@ProfShakespeare
@profshakespeare.bsky.social
Professor Emerita, University of Reading; Founder & Director https://henslowe-alleyn.org.uk; Shakespeare, drama, theatre history, literature and manuscripts expert.
Weirdly, today I’m revising my chapter in my forthcoming @headlinepg and @wwnorton book “The Essex Sisters” on Dorothy Devereux Percy’s crusade to prove her husband Henry’s “innocency” in the Gunpowder Plot. Henry died on the 27th anniversary of the Plot. What timing!
November 5, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Weirdly, today I’m revising my chapter in my forthcoming @headlinepg and @wwnorton book “The Essex Sisters” on Dorothy Devereux Percy’s crusade to prove her husband Henry’s “innocency” in the Gunpowder Plot. Henry died on the 27th anniversary of the Plot. What timing!
There is nothing like an ancient English tradition:
October 25, 2025 at 6:28 PM
There is nothing like an ancient English tradition:
An exciting opportunity @lampallib for school students aged 16-18 and University students interested in the work of librarians, conservators, archivists and the operations team (This is one of my favourite libraries in which to do research).
www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/careers-open...
www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/careers-open...
October 2, 2025 at 12:03 PM
An exciting opportunity @lampallib for school students aged 16-18 and University students interested in the work of librarians, conservators, archivists and the operations team (This is one of my favourite libraries in which to do research).
www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/careers-open...
www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/careers-open...
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.
You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry:
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on.
(#Shakespeare, The Tempest).
Happy #August
A contract of true love; be not too late.
You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry:
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on.
(#Shakespeare, The Tempest).
Happy #August
August 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.
You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry:
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on.
(#Shakespeare, The Tempest).
Happy #August
A contract of true love; be not too late.
You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry:
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on.
(#Shakespeare, The Tempest).
Happy #August
Inside Jane Austen's Winchester home, where she penned her final words and drew her final breath: countrylife.co.uk/feature/a-room…
July 29, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Inside Jane Austen's Winchester home, where she penned her final words and drew her final breath: countrylife.co.uk/feature/a-room…
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned,
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned.
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 104).
Happy #June:
shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/docum…
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned.
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 104).
Happy #June:
shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/docum…
June 1, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned,
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned.
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 104).
Happy #June:
shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/docum…
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned.
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 104).
Happy #June:
shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/docum…
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint
George!'”
{#Shakespeare, Henry V)
Happy #StGeorgesDay!
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint
George!'”
{#Shakespeare, Henry V)
Happy #StGeorgesDay!
April 23, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint
George!'”
{#Shakespeare, Henry V)
Happy #StGeorgesDay!
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint
George!'”
{#Shakespeare, Henry V)
Happy #StGeorgesDay!
“Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg?”
(#Shakespeare, Henry IV, Pt 1)
Happy #GoodFriday
(#Shakespeare, Henry IV, Pt 1)
Happy #GoodFriday
April 18, 2025 at 7:15 AM
“Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg?”
(#Shakespeare, Henry IV, Pt 1)
Happy #GoodFriday
(#Shakespeare, Henry IV, Pt 1)
Happy #GoodFriday
“Yet I have not seen
So likely an ambassador of love:
A day in April never came so sweet
To show how costly summer was at hand”
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice).
Happy #April
internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/media/facsim...
So likely an ambassador of love:
A day in April never came so sweet
To show how costly summer was at hand”
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice).
Happy #April
internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/media/facsim...
April 1, 2025 at 10:33 PM
“Yet I have not seen
So likely an ambassador of love:
A day in April never came so sweet
To show how costly summer was at hand”
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice).
Happy #April
internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/media/facsim...
So likely an ambassador of love:
A day in April never came so sweet
To show how costly summer was at hand”
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice).
Happy #April
internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/media/facsim...
“Yes, by Saint Patrick”
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
Happy St Patrick’s Day ☘️
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
Happy St Patrick’s Day ☘️
March 17, 2025 at 10:39 AM
“Yes, by Saint Patrick”
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
Happy St Patrick’s Day ☘️
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
Happy St Patrick’s Day ☘️
Caesar: The ides of March are come.
Soothsayer: Ay, Caesar, but not gone.
(#Shakespeare, Julius Caesar).
Happy #IdesOfMarch
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
Soothsayer: Ay, Caesar, but not gone.
(#Shakespeare, Julius Caesar).
Happy #IdesOfMarch
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
March 15, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Caesar: The ides of March are come.
Soothsayer: Ay, Caesar, but not gone.
(#Shakespeare, Julius Caesar).
Happy #IdesOfMarch
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
Soothsayer: Ay, Caesar, but not gone.
(#Shakespeare, Julius Caesar).
Happy #IdesOfMarch
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
I am thrilled that 40 years of work by my late and beloved husband Dr Peter Beal on English Literary Manuscripts and celm.folger.edu will be celebrated in this RSA/SAA Panel on March 22nd, chaired by @emherstory.bsky.social
rsa.confex.com/rsa/2025/meeti…
rsa.confex.com/rsa/2025/meeti…
March 13, 2025 at 8:03 PM
I am thrilled that 40 years of work by my late and beloved husband Dr Peter Beal on English Literary Manuscripts and celm.folger.edu will be celebrated in this RSA/SAA Panel on March 22nd, chaired by @emherstory.bsky.social
rsa.confex.com/rsa/2025/meeti…
rsa.confex.com/rsa/2025/meeti…
It was not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on Black-Monday last at six o'clock i' the morning, falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was four year, in the afternoon”.
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice)
Happy #AshWednesday
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice)
Happy #AshWednesday
March 5, 2025 at 6:44 PM
It was not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on Black-Monday last at six o'clock i' the morning, falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was four year, in the afternoon”.
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice)
Happy #AshWednesday
(#Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice)
Happy #AshWednesday
My cat has been very helpful to me today by surveying my research files for my book “The Essex Sisters”, which I am finishing this month. She was paid for her efforts in cat treats.
March 4, 2025 at 2:59 PM
My cat has been very helpful to me today by surveying my research files for my book “The Essex Sisters”, which I am finishing this month. She was paid for her efforts in cat treats.
March 4, 2025 at 8:26 AM
“Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate
Upon Saint Davy's day.”
(#Shakespeare, Henry V).
Happy #StDavidsDay
Upon Saint Davy's day.”
(#Shakespeare, Henry V).
Happy #StDavidsDay
March 1, 2025 at 11:01 AM
“Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate
Upon Saint Davy's day.”
(#Shakespeare, Henry V).
Happy #StDavidsDay
Upon Saint Davy's day.”
(#Shakespeare, Henry V).
Happy #StDavidsDay
Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
(#Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
(#Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
February 15, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
(#Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
(#Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
#HappyValentinesDay
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
#HappyValentinesDay
February 13, 2025 at 10:11 PM
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
#HappyValentinesDay
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine
(#Shakespeare, Hamlet).
#HappyValentinesDay
Why, what's the matter
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
(#Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing).
Happy #February
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
(#Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing).
Happy #February
February 1, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Why, what's the matter
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
(#Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing).
Happy #February
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
(#Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing).
Happy #February
“New years daye; we went to Camberwell Chirch for mr doc dune preacht”.
On January 1, 1619, actor and theatre entrepreneur Edward Alleyn and his wife Joan heard poet and clergyman John Donne preach in Camberwell, London: henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/catalogue/mss-…
#HappyNewYear2025
On January 1, 1619, actor and theatre entrepreneur Edward Alleyn and his wife Joan heard poet and clergyman John Donne preach in Camberwell, London: henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/catalogue/mss-…
#HappyNewYear2025
January 1, 2025 at 9:31 AM
“New years daye; we went to Camberwell Chirch for mr doc dune preacht”.
On January 1, 1619, actor and theatre entrepreneur Edward Alleyn and his wife Joan heard poet and clergyman John Donne preach in Camberwell, London: henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/catalogue/mss-…
#HappyNewYear2025
On January 1, 1619, actor and theatre entrepreneur Edward Alleyn and his wife Joan heard poet and clergyman John Donne preach in Camberwell, London: henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/catalogue/mss-…
#HappyNewYear2025
That season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
December 25, 2024 at 10:47 AM
That season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
My favourite news story today:
December 5, 2024 at 7:09 PM
My favourite news story today:
My cat prefers my edition of “King Lear”:
December 1, 2024 at 4:31 PM
My cat prefers my edition of “King Lear”:
How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness every where!
And yet this time removed was summer's time
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 97).
Happy #December
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness every where!
And yet this time removed was summer's time
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 97).
Happy #December
December 1, 2024 at 4:26 PM
How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness every where!
And yet this time removed was summer's time
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 97).
Happy #December
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness every where!
And yet this time removed was summer's time
(#Shakespeare, Sonnet 97).
Happy #December
I’ve been reading 16th-century manuscript and printed records of the gruesome and slow death of Sir Philip Sidney, shot in the thigh during the battle of Zutphen in 1586. Gangrene made the wound putrid, and he suffered horrible pain. He was lovingly tended by his wife Frances.
November 13, 2024 at 2:18 PM
I’ve been reading 16th-century manuscript and printed records of the gruesome and slow death of Sir Philip Sidney, shot in the thigh during the battle of Zutphen in 1586. Gangrene made the wound putrid, and he suffered horrible pain. He was lovingly tended by his wife Frances.