39th year. Which is required upon the same roll there.
This is annotated in the margin, ‘Episcopo Wintonensi,’ meaning that the person referred to was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester, who controlled the Bankside district.
Note. The second of these documents was first pointed out by Joseph Hunter, Illustrations of Shakespeare, 1845, 76–79; the others by J. W. Hales, Athenaeum, March 26, 1904. They indicate that Shakespeare had resided, probably for a number of years, in St. Helen’s parish, which was near the Shoreditch theatres (‘Theatre’ and ‘Curtain’), but that he had removed before 1597 and by 1599 had been traced by the inefficient tax collectors to the Bishop of Winchester’s liberty (i.e. the Bankside in Southwark). He seems then to have discharged the debt, as his name does not appear in the list of delinquents for the next year.
Confirmation of Shakespeare’s removal to Southwark is found in an uncorroborated note by Malone: ‘From a paper now before me, which formerly belonged to Edward Alleyn, the player, our poet appears to have lived in Southwark, near the Bear Garden, in 1596.’
XV. SHAKESPEARE PURCHASES ‘NEW PLACE’ IN STRATFORD (1597).
‘Foot of fine’ (essential part) of deed transferring New Place from William Underhill to William Shakespeare, Easter Term (May 4), 1597. In Public Record Office.
Inter Willm Shakespeare, querentem, et Willm
