John Shakespeare’s ‘Spiritual Testament’: A Reappraisal

Summary

The document known to us as John Shakespeare’s ‘Spiritual Testament’, allegedly discovered during repairs in the 1750s to the roof of the house in which he once lived, is perhaps the greatest weapon in the arsenal of those who maintain that Shakespeare’s father remained a practising Catholic; and, if he did, that his son must at least have been reared in the Catholic faith. Moreover, it has been claimed, John’s subscription to this ‘testament’ can be dated to 1580 or 1581, the years of the Jesuit mission into England, led by Edmund Campion and Robert Parsons, thus bringing the Shakespeare family, during William’s formative years, into close contact with dangerous Catholic conspirators. However, there are difficulties to overcome if we are to accept the document’s authenticity, let alone its Jesuit associations; and even if we could, this would not establish that Shakespeare remained loyal to the Catholic church in later years. Be that as it may, it is the purpose of this essay to subject the ‘Spiritual Testament’ to close critical examination in an effort to determine whether it can indeed be safely used in the debate over Shakespeare’s religious beliefs.