Shakespeare and Cervantes
England's and Spain's great writers share their date of death (sort of).
1616 (Julian calendar) The death of William Shakespeare (born, also, on this day in 1564), English playwright and actor. A curious will bequeathed his "2nd best bed with the furniture" to his wife, Anne Hathaway.
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, and so did Spain's popular author of Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes (b. 1547). However, it must be remembered, before one gets too cosmic about the coincidence, that Spain had changed in 1582 to the Gregorian calendar, which England did not adopt till 1752. Consequently, in 1616 the 23rd day of April in Spain corresponded with April 13 in England.
April 23 is not the brightest day for poetry. Not only did Shakespeare and Cervantes shuffle off this mortal coil, but also poets William Wordsworth (1850) and Rupert Brooke (1915).
Although the records of Cervantes indicate he wrote 20 to 30 plays, only two survive. He worked as a tax collector and as a requisitioner of supplies for the navy, but was jailed for … shall we say … irregularities in his bookkeeping.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Categories: shakespeare, english-literature, england, spain, biography
1616 (Julian calendar) The death of William Shakespeare (born, also, on this day in 1564), English playwright and actor. A curious will bequeathed his "2nd best bed with the furniture" to his wife, Anne Hathaway.
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, and so did Spain's popular author of Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes (b. 1547). However, it must be remembered, before one gets too cosmic about the coincidence, that Spain had changed in 1582 to the Gregorian calendar, which England did not adopt till 1752. Consequently, in 1616 the 23rd day of April in Spain corresponded with April 13 in England.
April 23 is not the brightest day for poetry. Not only did Shakespeare and Cervantes shuffle off this mortal coil, but also poets William Wordsworth (1850) and Rupert Brooke (1915).
Although the records of Cervantes indicate he wrote 20 to 30 plays, only two survive. He worked as a tax collector and as a requisitioner of supplies for the navy, but was jailed for … shall we say … irregularities in his bookkeeping.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Categories: shakespeare, english-literature, england, spain, biography
Pip Wilson posted item above at 9:51 PM | Permalink
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