Sebastian

Y E S LISTEN UP FOLKS I’VE BEEN WANTING TO TALK ABOUT THIS FOR A WHILE NOW

Let me introduce you to Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton: Elizabethan Bisexual Icon.

(Wriothesley = pronounced ‘rizzley’)

Henry was 19 years old and as you can see, he was a pretty effeminate guy, often seen in portraits with long hair or in women’s clothing.

His dad died when he was young so he was put under the care of the Queen’s Lord Treasurer (basically her Prime Minister), Lord Burghley. When Henry was 17, Burghley wanted him to marry his granddaughter. Henry had to pay a forfeit of like £2.5 million in today’s money in order to get out of it. He really didn’t want to marry that girl.

Henry has a mistress at court but also clearly enjoyed the company of men in the same way. For example, while he was serving in Ireland as Lord-General of Horse, he shared his quarters with a fellow officer who he would ‘hug in his arms and play wantonly with.’

Now, what does this have to do with Shakespeare, I hear you ask?

Basically, Shakespeare wanted Henry to be his patron. He dedicated his most successful narrative poem, Venus and Adonis, to him and the dedication is pretty gay:

Right Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden. Only, if your honour seemed but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours till I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather…

It goes on but you get the gist. Clearly, Shakespeare thought highly of this guy.

When Shakespeare wrote another narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece, he yet again dedicated it to Henry:

To the Right Honourable Henry Wriothesley,Earl of Southampton and Baron of Titchfield.The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end; whereof this pamphlet, without beginning, is but a superfluous moiety. The warrant I have of your honourable disposition, not the worth of my untutored lines, makes it assured of acceptance. What I have done is yours; what I have to do is yours; being part in all I have, devoted yours. Were my worth greater, my duty would sow greater; meantime, as it is, it is bound to your Lordship, to whom I wish long life still lengthened with all happiness.Your Lordship’s in all duty,William Shakespeare

Even gayer, right?

Like I said before, Henry wasn’t the most masculine guy. In 2002, a painting of him was discovered and dated 1590-93, around the time Shakespeare was after his patronage. Henry is depicted in the painting dressed in women’s clothing and posing in a way imitating the beautiful youth with ‘a woman’s face, with Nature’s own hand painted’ that Shakespeare described in Sonnet 20.

In fact, many believe that the ‘Fair Youth’ Shakespeare wrote about in his sonnets was Henry Wriothesley. The sonnets were never actually published with Shakespeare’s permission, so there is a strong likelihood that they were never meant to be published and were personal, especially because they were published so close to Shakespeare’s death, suggesting they had been kept unpublished for a while and were meant to stay that way.

This means that if that painting of Henry was created in order to imitate the descriptions in the sonnets, Shakespeare must have personally shared his sonnets with Henry because the sonnets were not yet in the public eye.

Yes, Shakespeare had a wife but she was in Stratford, never visited Shakespeare in London and was likely unaware of a lot of Shakespeare’s doings in London, meaning he could pretty much do whatever the fuck he wanted without telling her.

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and all the proceeds from the shirts are being donated to the callen-lorde health center to promote health education and wellness in the community.

Y E S LISTEN UP FOLKS I’VE BEEN WANTING TO TALK ABOUT THIS FOR A WHILE NOW

Let me introduce you to Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton: Elizabethan Bisexual Icon.

(Wriothesley = pronounced ‘rizzley’)

Henry was 19 years old and as you can see, he was a pretty effeminate guy, often seen in portraits with long hair or in women’s clothing.

His dad died when he was young so he was put under the care of the Queen’s Lord Treasurer (basically her Prime Minister), Lord Burghley. When Henry was 17, Burghley wanted him to marry his granddaughter. Henry had to pay a forfeit of like £2.5 million in today’s money in order to get out of it. He really didn’t want to marry that girl.

Henry has a mistress at court but also clearly enjoyed the company of men in the same way. For example, while he was serving in Ireland as Lord-General of Horse, he shared his quarters with a fellow officer who he would ‘hug in his arms and play wantonly with.’

Now, what does this have to do with Shakespeare, I hear you ask?

Basically, Shakespeare wanted Henry to be his patron. He dedicated his most successful narrative poem, Venus and Adonis, to him and the dedication is pretty gay:

Right Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden. Only, if your honour seemed but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours till I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather…

It goes on but you get the gist. Clearly, Shakespeare thought highly of this guy.

When Shakespeare wrote another narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece, he yet again dedicated it to Henry:

To the Right Honourable Henry Wriothesley,Earl of Southampton and Baron of Titchfield.The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end; whereof this pamphlet, without beginning, is but a superfluous moiety. The warrant I have of your honourable disposition, not the worth of my untutored lines, makes it assured of acceptance. What I have done is yours; what I have to do is yours; being part in all I have, devoted yours. Were my worth greater, my duty would sow greater; meantime, as it is, it is bound to your Lordship, to whom I wish long life still lengthened with all happiness.Your Lordship’s in all duty,William Shakespeare

Even gayer, right?

Like I said before, Henry wasn’t the most masculine guy. In 2002, a painting of him was discovered and dated 1590-93, around the time Shakespeare was after his patronage. Henry is depicted in the painting dressed in women’s clothing and posing in a way imitating the beautiful youth with ‘a woman’s face, with Nature’s own hand painted’ that Shakespeare described in Sonnet 20.

In fact, many believe that the ‘Fair Youth’ Shakespeare wrote about in his sonnets was Henry Wriothesley. The sonnets were never actually published with Shakespeare’s permission, so there is a strong likelihood that they were never meant to be published and were personal, especially because they were published so close to Shakespeare’s death, suggesting they had been kept unpublished for a while and were meant to stay that way.

This means that if that painting of Henry was created in order to imitate the descriptions in the sonnets, Shakespeare must have personally shared his sonnets with Henry because the sonnets were not yet in the public eye.

Yes, Shakespeare had a wife but she was in Stratford, never visited Shakespeare in London and was likely unaware of a lot of Shakespeare’s doings in London, meaning he could pretty much do whatever the fuck he wanted without telling her.

So, kiss this bottom. I’m on the top!

“And the living room becomes a garden And the TV set becomes a fountain And the music flows in the garden And everything grows”

“And the living room becomes a garden And the TV set becomes a fountain And the music flows in the garden And everything grows”