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Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
February 10,
1616

DR243/1: Marriage register, folio 13 verso

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DR243/1: Marriage register, folio 13 verso
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Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

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The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Creator: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Title: Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Date: 1558-1776
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: DR243/1: Marriage register, fol. 13v
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Item Creator
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Title
Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Date
1558-1776, entry for February 10, 1616
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
DR243/1: Marriage register, fol. 13v

DR243/1: Marriage register, folio 13 verso, entry detail

View Image Assets
DR243/1: Marriage register, folio 13 verso, entry detail
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Creator: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Title: Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Date: 1558-1776
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: DR243/1: Marriage register, fol. 13v
View online bibliographic record

Item Creator
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Title
Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Date
1558-1776, entry for February 10, 1616
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
DR243/1: Marriage register, fol. 13v

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Creator: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Title: Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Date: 1558-1776
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: DR243/1: Marriage register, fol. 13v
View online bibliographic record

Robert Bearman, "Parish register entry recording Judith Shakespeare and Thomas Quiney's marriage," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/515.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, DR243/1: Marriage register, folio 13 verso. See Shakespeare Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/515.

Judith, William and Anne Shakespeare’s younger daughter, married Thomas Quiney on February 10, 1616, according to the Holy Trinity Church parish register. Next to the entry, an “X” added by a later hand highlights its significance. Judith was 31 and Thomas, the third son of Richard Quiney, was 27. Judith was well above the Stratford average age of first marriage over the period 1570–1640 (24) which was also the age at which the highest number of women were first married. Thomas was closer to the average age of first marriage for men (26), though it was unusual for men to be younger than women.

Judith and Thomas were married during Lent (which in 1616 ran from January 28 to April 7), a traditionally prohibited season. In theory, the couple would therefore have required a bishop’s license to be married, but they did not receive one. How strictly this practice was observed is not clear, but in this particular case, Judith and Thomas’ failure to observe proper process was reported to the diocesan court. Presumably banns were still called but the irregularity of a Lenten wedding implies some haste, which may be attributed to Thomas Quiney’s illicit relationship with Margaret Wheeler. Margaret died just over a month later on March 15, giving birth to his illegitimate child, who also died.

Written by Robert Bearman.

Last updated May 22, 2020