financial condition in 1582 would have rendered him unacceptable as surety for so large a bond as forty pounds, and that the license would not have been issued at all unless the Bishop’s representatives had received satisfactory assurance that he would not make serious complaint about the marriage.
The purpose of the bond and Bishop’s license was to save time. Normal procedure in the case of marriages was by thrice reading the bans on successive weeks; but December 1, 1582, began a prohibited period in the church year, the effect of which would have been to postpone for about two months the performance of the ceremony by the ordinary method.
III. BIRTH OF SHAKESPEARE’S DAUGHTER, SUSANNA (1583).
Baptismal Register, Stratford-on-Avon.
1583 May 26 Susanna, daughter to William Shakspere.
Note. Susanna Shakespeare married John Hall of Stratford, an eminent physician, June 5, 1607, and died July 11, 1649. She had one daughter, Elizabeth Hall (baptized February 21, 1608), who married successively Thomas Nash of Welcombe near Stratford (April 22, 1626) and John Bernard, later Sir John Bernard, of Northamptonshire (June 5, 1649). She died without issue, February 17, 1670, being the poet’s last living descendant.
IV. BIRTH OF SHAKESPEARE’S TWIN CHILDREN (1585).
Baptismal Register, Stratford.
1584 [i.e. 1585] February 2 Hamnet and Judeth, son and daughter to William Shakspere.
