Neville Close, Salisbury

Neville Close was named after Robert Neville, who was Bishop of Salisbury from 1427 to 1438 ¹.

Neville Close is on Bishopdown, which is to the north east of Salisbury. Many of the roads in the area are named after other Bishops (²) in reference to the name ‘Bishopdown’.

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Robert Neville

It might be fair to say that Bishop Neville’s reputation is not the most impressive compared to some of the other bishops of Salisbury. The Dictionary of National Biography says that:

Robert Neville was a man not blessed with an outstanding intelligence; his education seems to have been rudimentary, and, with one disastrous exception, he seems always to have done what the dominant members of his family wanted.

He left Salisbury to become Bishop of Durham in 1438. He died in 1457.

He was, though, part of an illustrious and influential family. I’m going to write a little bit about two interesting members of the Neville family:

• Bishop Neville’s nephew, Richard, better known as Warwick, the Kingmaker
• Bishop Neville’s great, great nephew Henry, who has been claimed as the real author of the Shakespeare plays

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Kingmaker

Robert Neville’s nephew, Richard, gained the title of Earl of Warwick, and fabulous wealth through marriage to Anne Beauchamp. Anne Beauchamp was the daughter of the previous Earl.

Robert Neville, as Earl of Warwick, is referenced by the name of Warwick Close, in the group of roads in Stratford which are all named in reference to Shakespeare.

Neville rose to a position of great power through his military and political skill. He was instrumental in replacing the Lancastrian Henry VI with the Yorkist Edward VI in 1461.

Neville was well rewarded for his support of Edward VI – among his titles were:

• great chamberlain of England,
• master of the king’s mews,
• warden of the Cinque Ports,
• constable of Dover Castle,
• captain of Calais
• admiral of England

However it is believed that the new king grew to resent Neville’s power. The king kept his marriage secret from Neville, and they gradually became estranged.

Eventually they argued over foreign policy – the King supported Charolais of Burgundy, whereas Neville was close to Louis XI of France.

Neville rebelled against Edward VI, but he was unsuccessful, losing his life at the age of 42 in a battle at Barnet.

Shakespeare characterized him as the ‘proud setter-up and puller-down of kings’

Sir Henry Neville – the ‘real Shakespeare’

Sir Henry Neville was, I think, the great, great nephew of Robert, the Bishop of Salisbury.

He was a successful politician and diplomat ³, but is probably now best known as one of the several candidates for the ‘true’ authorship of the plays and poems of William Shakespeare.

The case is put forward by Brenda James and Professor William Rubinstein in their book ‘The Truth Will Out’⁴.

James and Rubinstein put forward many arguments:

• Neville visited many of the locations of Shakespeare’s plays ⁵
• they claim a match between the frequency of the use of certain words within Shakespeare and the letters of Neville ⁶
• after 1601 the style of Shakespeare’s plays change from histories and comedies to more sombre tragedies. This change coincident with Neville’s imprisonment in The Tower, under threat of execution ⁷
• Falstaff was originally going to be called Oldcastle – this is a pun on the name Neville, which is derived from ‘Neu Ville meaning ‘new town’. Apparently the conversion of ‘new’ to ‘old’ is called an ‘antonymic’ pun ⁸
• there is a ‘hidden code’ in the dedication of an edition of the Sonnets which identified Neville ⁹
• a manuscript with Neville’s name on it also has Shakespeare’s signature being repeatedly practised ¹⁰

Why would Neville have hidden his identity? The authors’ theory is that Neville needed a ‘front man’ because it would have been dangerous for him to publish politically contentious plays. The Neville family was connected to the college of Ben Johnson, who published Shakespeare. Johnson would have been ‘in’ on the conspiracy.

The case seems to me to be fairly persuasive, but I’m not remotely qualified to judge! As I did for the case of Mary Sidney, of the Pembroke family, I’ll quote Mark Rylance, actor, Artistic Director of Shakespeares Globe 1996-2005, and Chairman of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust ¹¹:

This is a pioneering book. I cant imagine that any scholar or student, actor or enthusiast of Shakespeare will be able to ignore it. I for one welcome and celebrate this book not only for its discoveries and clear style of expression, but for the wonderful partnership of a University professor and an independent scholar which gave it birth.¹²

A starting point for the contrary view that William Shakespeare did write the Shakespeare plays is the Shakespeare Authorship website.

Robert Neville – I am Legend

Coincidentally Robert Neville is also the name of the protagonist in the vampire novel ‘I am Legend’ by Richard Matheson.¹³

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Footnotes

1. Oxford DNB article: Neville, Robert [↩]
2. for example, Seth Ward Drive, Talbot Close and Woodville Road [↩]
3. Wikipedia [↩]
4. The truth will out: unmasking the real Shakespeare By Brenda James, W. D. Rubinstein Published by Pearson Education, 2005 ISBN 1405824379, 9781405824378 [↩]
5. Much ado about identity as scholars claim a diplomat was the ‘real’ Shakespeare – This Britain, UK – The Independent [↩]
6. Much ado about identity as scholars claim a diplomat was the ‘real’ Shakespeare – This Britain, UK – The Independent [↩]
7. Articles – henryneville.com [↩]
8. Much ado about identity as scholars claim a diplomat was the ‘real’ Shakespeare – This Britain, UK – The Independent [↩]
9. Articles – henryneville.com [↩]
10. Articles – henryneville.com [↩]
11. …and director of the only production of Shakespeare I’ve ever really enjoyed – Macbeth at Greenwich with Jane Horrocks as Lady Macbeth in about 1995 [↩]
12. The Truth Will Out: Unmasking the Real Shakespeare: Brenda James, Prof William D Rubinstein: Amazon.co.uk: Books [↩]
13. I Am Legend – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [↩]