YET ANOTHER SHAKESPEARE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 975, 12 November 1908, Page 18

YET ANOTHER SHAKESPEARE.

Herr Carl Bleibtreu is still of opinion that Rutland wrote Shakespeare’s plays. “In 1564,” he says, “ the year when Shakespeare was born, a Gyldenstjerne went to England as Ambassador of Erich XIV., King of Sweden (not Denmark) , to propose a matrimonial union with Elizabeth Tudor. And this Gyldenstjerne studied notoriously at Wittenberg, quite an unusual occurrence, because all the other “ Rosenkranzs and Gui’densternes ” studied at Padua, where Rutland also studied. But we come even nearer to the mark when we find that a Holger Rosenkrands, born 1586—quite a young man, like the courtier in the play— went to England as Ambassador of Denmark at the coronation of James I. This nobleman was married to Lena Gyldenstjerne, born 1588. The poet’s idea to combine “ Rosencranz and Guildenstern,” was evidently suggested by his knowledge of the above-mentioned facts. The poet must have been a man of the highest circles, unusually versed in all matters of Court life and politics. The Stratfordian being out of the question, there is not the slightest evidence of any connection Bacon might have had with Scandinavian nobility and political life. It is only concerning Rutland that we have such evidence. Since he was chosen ambassador to Helsingor (Elsinore), this task was evidently given to him because he had personal connections with the Danish nobility, most probably becoming acquainted at Padua with his fellow students Rosencranz and Gyldenstjerne. Why did the poet choose the uncommon name Polonius? A statesman named Plonnies lived at the time of Gustav Wasa, and Polonius is purely the Latinised version of this name. We may ask again how a simple actor could have got such a knowledge of Scandinavian history?