Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Paul and Agrippa, not Becket? Fifth Day of Christmas, December 29: Bible readings for morning and evening prayer in Shakespeare’s England followed their own schedule, unrelated to feasts such as St. Thomas Becket (removed by Henry VIII and the English Reformation) [1]. Morning: Psalm 29 - Geneva Introduction: “The Prophet exhorteth the princes and rulers of the world (which for the most part think there is no God.)” [2]. Lesson 1: Isaiah 61 speaks of God’s anointed (which Christians interpreted to be Jesus) setting prisoners free. - At least six Shakespeare plays involve prisoners, real or figurative, some set free only in death [3]. - The point here is not that each of these plays alludes to Jesus as liberator of prisoners, but that the Bible readings in English churches (where Shakespeare’s attendance was required by law) shaped and influenced the development of religious and literary motifs related to prisoners and their liberation. Lesson 2: Acts 26 - Prisoner St. Paul encoun...

Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England, was assassinated in the middle of the Christmas season, on 29, December, 1170. He was canonized quickly in February of 1173, considered a martyr and a kind of folk hero for resisting expansion of royal authority over things then believed to be matters of the church. Henry II was forced to apologize and to do penance for his role (intentional or not) that prompted Becket’s killing. Nearly four centuries later, about five years after Henry VIII had first sought annulment from his first wife to marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn, Henry broke from Rome, became head of England’s church, and received an English annulment instead of a Roman one. In another five years, he (along with Protestant reformers) suppressed Becket veneration and pilgrimage, claiming it idolatrous, disliking the idea of superstitious miracles that transcended scriptural truth. Henry didn’t want his power over his church to be challenged or limited by a Beck...

What I learned today about Shakespeare's influence on the phrase, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" attributed to Henry II regarding Thomas Becket, (I may be coming late to this insight compared to some!) Timeline: 1170 - Archbishop Thomas Becket [1] is killed in Canterbury Cathedral. 1180 - Edward Grim [2] publishes a book on the Life of St. Thomas (Becket), based in part on his own witness, quotes King Henry II of England as saying to a gathering on Christmas, 1170, "What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric!" [3] This seems to have inspired eager followers of Henry II to assume that killing the archbishop would please the king. 1595–96 William Shakespeare writes his play, Richard II , published in 1597. In this play, Richard II relinquishes the crown to Henry Bollingbroke. In Act 5, scene 4, Sir Pierce of Exton...