Anne Shakespeare's Epitaph

The Shakespeare family occupies five gravesites on the chancel steps at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. Anne Shakespeare's grave is the only one commemorated with a brass plaque and an epitaph in original Latin poetry, eulogizing her as a beloved mother, pious woman, and 'so great a gift'. For nearly four hundred years, this epitaph has remained largely unreadable to visitors, enabling a long history of undervaluing Anne's significant maternal role in the Shakespeare family. Anne Shakespeare's Epitaph offers a new reading of the content and the related material conditions and interpersonal connections behind this text. It provides new evidence about the identity of the engraver and suggests several possible scenarios for how the Shakespeare family came to memorialize Anne as a cherished maternal figure. This Element reinscribes the original significance of Anne's epitaph, and reclaims it as an important Shakespearean text that offers traces of a lost documentary record.

List of contents

Preface: loss and the life of Anne Shakespeare; Introduction: Anne Shakespeare's epitaph; 1. In the shadow of the bard: the dating and location of Anne Shakespeare's epitaph; 2. Materializing memory: the production of Anne Shakespeare's epitaph; 3. Memorializing the maternal: creating the content of Anne Shakespeare's epitaph; 4. Beyond the words: the engraver of Anne Shakespeare's epitaph; 5. The epitaph's geography: possible London and Stratford-upon-Avon networks; Conclusion: expanding the world of Anne Shakespeare; Appendix: an edition of Anne Shakespeare's epitaph.

Product details

• Authors: Scheil Katherine West
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 28.02.2026
• EAN: 9781009611084
• ISBN: 978-1-009-61108-4
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Series: Elements in Shakespeare and Text
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Journalism; European History, Theatre Studies, Literary studies: general, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Shakespeare Studies & Criticism, European history: Renaissance, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, Literary studies: c 1400 to c 1600, Relating to Shakespeare / Shakespearean