Discovering Mary Arden's House: Property and Society in Wilmcote, Warwickshire

The social and economic standing of William Shakespeare's parents are key components of his biography. In contrast to his father, following the prosaic trade of a glover in a small Midlands market town, his mother Mary Arden has offered a link to the more glamorous Arden family of Warwickshire gentry, with their Anglo-Saxon ancestry and name. No small part of this Arden romance has derived from the ancient house in which, by tradition, she grew up. However, for a century or more, scholars have suspected that the reality differed from this tradition. The research detailed here has now revealed the actual home of the Arden family and their social role in the small Warwickshire village of Wilmcote in which Mary grew up. ¹

The first section of the paper examines the original identification of the former "Mary Arden's House." Following this is a summary of the new evidence by which the property long known as Glebe Farm has now been identified as the copyholding of Robert Arden (section II) and of the information this identification gives about his status and lifestyle (section III). To clinch the identification both positively and negatively, I examine the real ownership of the former "Mary Arden's House" (section IV) and describe this late-sixteenth-century freehold house (section V). ² Finally, I identify Robert Arden's freehold property in Wilmcote, "Asbyes" (section VI) and review the significance of all the new evidence about Arden's position in society (section VII). ³ The location of Asbyes and confirmation of Palmer's ownership require detailed examination of the topography of the village, which is included in an appendix.

I

The reidentification of Shakespeare's maternal grandfather as Robert Arden of Wilmcote was made by Edmond Malone only in the late-eighteenth century; he also found Robert Arden's will and probate inventory in the Worcester diocesan archives and recognized the first documents relating to the Shakespeare/ Lambert lawsuits about Asbyes (discussed below). ⁴ This information was the necessary prelude to the antiquarian John Jordan's identification of "Mary Arden's House." The realization that Mary's family came from Wilmcote hinged on the discovery and correct interpretation of two documents concerning the grant of arms to her husband, John Shakespeare. Both describe John as married to the daughter and one of the heirs of Robert Arden: the earlier document, of 1596 (which survives in two drafts), is the grant of the Shakespeare arms to John, and the second, of 1599, a license to quarter his wife's arms with them. ⁵ The latter record was first identified by John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, and transmitted by him to Alexander Pope for inclusion in the introduction to Pope's 1725 edition of Shakespeare's works. ⁶ It names Robert Arden as of "Wellingcote, in the county of Warwick." The former was drawn to public attention by George Steevens in a brief note to his 1778 edition of the plays. ⁷ This document would have resolved the problem of misidentification had Steevens given more detail, for it describes Robert Arden as of Wilmcote. But Steevens omitted this information, and his note went largely unnoticed. When Malone, some ten years later, began his search for additional biographical material, he was aware only of the "Wellingcote" reference.

John Jordan of Stratford-upon-Avon, wheelwright and self-taught poet, had by 1790 established for himself a local reputation as an antiquarian and a literary figure. Hearing of Malone's interest in Shakespeare, and perhaps sensing an opportunity to further his own interests, Jordan sent Malone his collections on the Shakespeare family. Malone found some of this material very useful, and a correspondence was struck up. ⁸ From Jordan's notes it is clear that at this point he, too, knew only of the 1599 grant of arms...