Feast of the Epiphany in Shakespeare's Time (Series, Part 14)

The FEAST of the EPIPHANY in churches of Shakespeare’s time [1], JANUARY 6, celebrates the magi “from the east” who followed a star, met with Herod, paid homage to Jesus, and were warned in a dream to go home by another way [2].

City-dwellers may neglect the stars, but in Shakespeare they can be foreboding or determine fate;
one can be “star-crossed” (Romeo and Juliet),
or out of another’s star (Ophelia/Hamlet),
or one might guide a ship by them;
Shakespeare mentions them more than 100 times (a sample):

“Look, the unfolding star calls up the shepherd.” - Measure for Measure

“That I should love a bright particular star” - All's Well That Ends Well

“O eastern star!” - Antony and Cleopatra

“Our Jovial star reign'd at his birth” - Cymbeline

“When yond same star that's westward from the pole
Had made his course t' illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns…” - Hamlet
    
“I am constant as the northern star” - Julius Caesar

In the gospel, and in sleepless dreams of Shakespeare’s characters, warnings can arrive,
as for the wife of Caesar, or Lady Macbeth,
or Hamlet on his sea-voyage toward England;
or dreams can deliver transcendent revelations, as for Bottom the Weaver in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The gospel names three gifts of the magi: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, so evolving tradition later claimed there were three wise men and named them Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar. Some painters have portrayed one of the magi as female [3], and often, one of the three as dark skinned [4], perhaps from Africa (south-west) instead of "the east,” hopefully asserting Jesus as world savior.

The name Balthazar occurs five times in Shakespeare’s plays [5],
twice as servants (Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice),
once as a singer in Much Ado About Nothing,
once as a merchant in The Comedy of Errors,
and once as a lawyer, Portia’s courtroom disguise in The Merchant of Venice, a play in which Portia considers suitors from many lands.
Balthazar’s (Portia’s) courtroom scene points to Epiphany as well as Emmaus [6].

[To be cont.]

INDEX for posts in this series on the TWELVE DAYS of CHRISTMAS in Shakespeare’s time (and possible influences on the plays):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/twelve-days-of-christmas-in-churches-of.html

NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu

[1] Epiphany January 6, is counted by some as the 12th day of Christmas instead of January 5 being counted as such:
- If one counts Christmas as the first day, then Epiphany would be 13;
if one counts the first day AFTER Christmas as the first day, then Epiphany would be day 12.

[2] The tale of the magi is from Matthew 2, repeated on Epiphany, January 6, after also being read on January 3 for the second lesson of morning prayer in the Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer.
Events narrated in this tale trigger the Holy Family’s alleged flight into Egypt to flee Herod’s slaughter, and which paints Jesus as a type of Moses (who had escaped Pharaoh’s alleged slaughter). These are not necessarily historical tales, but certainly at least meant to stress religious-catechetical ideas about Moses and Jesus.
See also https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/01/10th-day-of-christmas-in-churches-of.html  

[3] As noted by Pino Blasone: <“The Adoration of the Magi” by the Tuscan masters Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi (tempera on panel: Samuel H. Kress Collection, New York; 1440-60). There, actually the first “wise man” on the left looks rather like a “wise woman” (let's notice also the page boy or girl, holding the train of her princely dress).> Accessed 7 Jan., 2025:  https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pino-blasone-a1525847_iconography-of-the-magi-once-more-at-activity-7281937792983535616-x5JM?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

[4] See “Balthasar and Epiphany in Shakespeare and Renaissance Paintings” - - January 04, 2023:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/balthasar-and-epiphany-in-shakespeare.html

[5] As already noted: See earlier post today on Epiphany and Balthazar in Shakespeare, https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/01/epiphany-and-balthazar-in-shakespeare.html

[6] See previous post from May 07, 2018:  EMMAUS IN MERCHANT OF VENICE,
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/01/emmaus-in-merchant-of-venice-in.html


IMAGES:
Lower left:
(with thanks to Pino Blasone for highlighting the female magi)
The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1440/1460
Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi
The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.41581.html

Upper right:
(with thanks to  Dr. Christine Quintlé for recent discussion of this sculpture)
The Three Magi's Dream,
Gislebertus (Gisleberte?)
circa 1120-1130
Saint-Lazare Cathedral, Autun, France
Public domain via
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60a38ab8411b97685079adb0/1621330757776-S5V3SOLWTLW7K5U177CG/Slide+18a+Dream+of+the+Magi.jpg?format=750w


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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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