Bellott v. Mountjoy: Final Order referring the dispute to the French Church in London

Shown here is the third of three orders given by the Court of Requests in Bellott v. Mountjoy. The lawsuit, begun on January 28, 1612, was between Stephen Bellott and Christopher Mountjoy, head of a French Huguenot family living in Silver Street in Cripplegate Ward, just north of Cheapside and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Members of the household included Christopher and Marie Mountjoy, their only child Mary, and Stephen Bellott, an apprentice in the family business, the fabrication of elaborate and fashionable headpieces called “tires.” The lawsuit concerns negotiations which led to the marriage of Stephen and Mary on November 19, 1604. Bellott complains that his father-in-law subsequently reneged on an agreement to support the young couple financially. On May 11, 1612, William Shakespeare deposed as a witness. Depositions in the case reveal that Shakespeare, then a lodger in the Mountjoy household, had been engaged to persuade Bellott to enter the marriage.

This final order refers the dispute to the overseers and elders of the French Church in London.

An entry in the French Church archives dated July 30, 1612, records that the overseers and elders of the Church in London appointed Abraham Hardret and Gedeon de Laune to represent Christpher Mountjoy, Dauid Carperau & Pierre Beauuais to represent Stephen Bellott. A final note asserts that both father-in-law and son-in-law are “desbauchéz” or, in English, debauched, perhaps meaning merely that they had fallen away from faithful attendance at the French Church. Entries in the archives of the French Church in London are transcribed in Charles William Wallace's “Shakespeare and his London Associates” (pages 40-1).

Twenty-six documents survive from Bellott v. Mountjoy. Twelve of these refer to Shakespeare explicitly or implicitly (including one with his signature), although the document shown here does not. The lawsuit is generally unremarkable and Shakespeare’s involvement is minor. However, the case does contribute to our understanding of Shakespeare's life: that in 1604 he was living in Silver Street with a family of French Huguenot tiremakers. In 1909 Charles William Wallace and his wife Hulda Berggren Wallace discovered Bellott v. Mountjoy in the Public Records Office, now The National Archives.