MY BOOK, "THE SHAKESPEARE-CERVANTES CODE"
“Don Quixote”, by Michael de Cervantes, generally regarded as the first & greatest of Novels, came into the World in two, 500-page Installments…Part One, published in 1605….& Part Two, in 1615.
While it is generally assumed that Part One was written between 1598 & 1604, it is also assumed, with much less to go on, that it was written in Spain.
Curiously, there is no Record of Cervantes ever being employed in Spain during this six-year Period…& the Writer was simply too poor to have gone this Length of Time without a Source of Income.
Writing a Novel consisting of five-hundred printed Pages, moreover, would have called for a few thousand Sheets of hand-made Paper plus hundreds of Candles, which, by Weight, as “White Wax”, were pricey enough to be used as Currency.
Also, I would mention here, that there is no Record of the dirt-poor Spaniard receiving any Money from the Printer, Juan de Cuesta, for Part One, or, for that Matter, even for Part Two.
In the Course of the Novel, two Books are described that bear no resemblance to any other Books I can think of, but do bear a striking Resemblance to One Another.
The First is “Don Quixote” itself…& the Other, mentioned in Part Two, Chapter 62, is a book in Italian called “Le Bagattelle”…& in Spanish translation “Los Juguetes” …both meaning “The Playthings”.
Both Books are mentioned as being the Work of two Authors writing in two distinct Languages.
The Second Author, in both Cases, is a Spaniard writing in Spanish.
In the first Case the Author is Cervantes…in the Second, a Gent that Don Quixote meets in a Printing House in Barcelona.
The Reason the Second Author, in both Cases, deserves the title “Author”, presumably, is that his Contribution is one of being the Adapter of the original Text into another Genre…in the first Case, into a Novel…in the Second, perhaps, a Novel as well.
The First Author of “Don Quixote” is the Knight’s Biographer, “Cid Hamet Benengeli”, who we learn at the end of the Novel, is none other than the Alter-Ego of Cid Hamet, himself.
Cervantes converts this Autobiography into a Novel by adding a Character representing himself, “Sancho Panza”, as the Knight’s more down-to-earth Foil, thus becoming the Author of a Fiction.
Cid Hamet, like Don Quixote, is described as a “Manchegan”…that is “of La Mancha”.
If “Manchegan”, in this case, means “a Spaniard from La Mancha, Spain” there would have been no need for a translation of his text into Spanish.
The name,”Cid Hamet Benengeli”, it may be added, bears much more of a Resemblance to “Lord Hamlet of England” than it does to anything Arabic, something that Cervantes, a one-time, five-year Captive of Arabic-speaking Algiers, would have known very well.
The striking Resemblance of the name “Cid Hamet Benengeli” to “Lord Hamlet of England” has always been considered a Coincidence…for Part One of “Don Quixote” AND “Hamlet” were both published in 1605…& unless Cervantes had written his Novel at the Home of the Author of “Hamlet”, there is no way he could have known of Shakespeare’s “Prince of Denmark”.
Before we dismiss this Possibility out of Hand, however, let us take a brief Look at the Similarities between the two immortal Works, the Novel & the Play.
The Similarity of the Relationship between Hamlet & loyal Horatio, on the one Hand, & Quixote & loyal Sancho, on the Other, is striking.
Hamlet “thous” Horatio & addresses Horatio by his Christian name. Horatio “yous” Hamlet, & addresses Hamlet only as “my Lord”, “good my Lord” & even, “dear my Lord”.
Quixote “thous” Sancho & addresses him by his Christian name.
Sancho “yous” Quixote, & addresses Sancho only as “Senyor”, “Senyor Don Quixote” & “vuestra Merced”, (“your Grace”).
In “Hamlet”, a Play lasting over four Hours, the Prince, never once, is addressed as “Highness” by Anyone…only as “Lord”, not unlike Don John of Austria, the illegitimate Son of Emperor Charles V in the Court of Philip II.
Philip forbade anyone in the Spanish Court to address the illegitimate John as “Highness”…only as “Excellency”.
As “Mancha” in Spanish can also mean “Stain” or “Blemish”…& as we know that Quixote, like Don John, was an “Hijo de Algo” or “Son of a Somebody”…then “Hidalgo de La Mancha”, might well have the Meaning of “high-born Bastard” or even “Royal Bastard”.
At the End of the Play, a dying Hamlet entreats his loyal Side-Man, Horatio…to absent himself from “Felicity” awhile & to draw his Breath in Pain to tell the Prince’s Story.
This Line, traditionally, has been taken as one spoken simply for dramatic Effect.
The Idea that the Author of “Hamlet” was actually in such Despair of leaving behind a “Wounded Name” that he wanted Michael de Cervantes, of all People, to tell Hamlet’s Story “to the Unsatisfied”, is Something I have never heard raised.
That the Prince would admonish Horatio to “absent himself from Felicity awhile”, suggests that Horatio, not unlike Sancho…& not unlike Adriano de Armado in “Love’s Labors Lost”, was Something of a “Gracioso”, a “Droll”…& may have needed this Reminder.
As the Knight tells Sancho in Part Two, (Grossman translation)…”One of the Things that must give the greatest Contentment to a virtuous & eminent Man is to see, while he is still alive, his good Name printed & published in the Languages of different Peoples.
I said GOOD Name…for if it were the Opposite, no Death could be its Equal.”
That sounds remarkably like a dying Hamlet addressing Horatio.
In Part Two, Chapter 28, Quixote & Sancho are riding along together when Sancho asks Quixote for a six Real, per-Month, Wage Increase.
Quixote agrees that Sancho is worth it, & tells Sancho, who doubles as Quixote’s Bursar, to start paying himself the new Salary.
Then…out of the Blue…Sancho tells Quixote that his new Salary of thirty Reals per Month should be paid retroactively from the Time Quixote first promised Sancho the Governorship of an “Insula” or “Isle” along with the Title “Count”, “more than twenty Years before…”give or take three Days”.
Quixote angrily responds that his first “Salida” or “Sortie” as a Knight Errant began only sixty Days previous…& that Sancho had been with him only twenty-five Days of that Time.
This brings us to a remarkable Observation made by an Englishman, Edward Webbe, who, in the summer of 1575 happened to be touring Sicily.
“One Thing did greatly comfort me which I saw long-since in Sicily, in the city of Palermo, a Thing worthy of Memory, where the Right Honorable Earl of Oxford, a famous Man of Chivalry, at what Time he traveled in foreign Countries, being then personally present, made there a Challenge against all Manner of Persons whatsoever, at all Manner of Weapons as Tournaments, Barriers with Horse & Armor, to fight a Combat with Any whatsoever, in the Defense of his Prince & Country, for which he was very highly commended.
And yet no Man durst be so hardy to encounter with him…so that all Italy over, he is acknowledged the only Chevalier and Nobleman of England…this Title they gave unto him as worthily deserved.”
What Webbe is describing, let me suggest, is not only a flamboyant Gesture made by the 27 year-old Edward de Vere…but the Inspiration for Michael de Cervantes, also in Sicily at the time, & also 27 years of age, of “Don Quixote’s First Sally”.
De Vere, in 1575, firmly believed that he was the intended of Elizabeth I…as well as the future “Edward VII of England”.
As the Father of Elizabeth’s green-eyed, red-haired Son, Henry…later the 3rd Earl of Southampton, later still, the Addressee of “Shakespeare’s Sonnets”, Edward de Vere was, at the Time, the reigning, jousting Champion of England.
Like the Author of “Le Bagattelle”…AND like Don Quixote, de Vere was also a fluent Speaker of Italian.
De Vere’s Challenge to One & All, it is generally believed, was intended for Don John of Austria, who, as the Victor of Lepanto, at the Time, was Europe’s most-famous Soldier.
Holed up in Genoa, however, under Orders from his Half-Brother, Philip II, John, I believe, sent his Lieutenant, fellow Lepanto Hero, Michael de Cervantes in his Place, to meet with Edward de Vere.
The Viceroy of Sicily, at the Time, was one Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, the Third Duke of Sesa, who had been the military Mentor of Don John.
Fernandez was a noted Patron of the Arts…& like de Vere, AND like Cervantes, notably, theatre-mad.
It can be assumed, I believe, that during much of July, All of August & early September of 1575, de Vere & Michael de Cervantes along with Michael’s older Brother, Rodrigo, were Guests of Fernandez at the Ducal Palace in Palermo.
This Palace, built by the Normans, would have been the Repository of Books & Records of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily…not Least of All, of the First Crusade, in which Aubrey de Vere, the 2nd Earl of Oxford was a Participant.
Had de Vere set his Eyes on these Documents, not likely to be found in Tudor England, he would certainly have wanted to take them back to England with him…but, being in the Midst of a fourteen-month, European, Grand Tour, he was out of Money & already weighed down by Souvenirs.
The Idea of transporting Chests of these Goods, by Mule-Train, through France…which at the Time was in the Midst of a Civil War, must have been daunting.
Now while this is Speculation…if Fernandez believed, with de Vere, that Edward was the future “Edward VII of England”, the Books on the Norman Kingdom, & their Transport back to England, by Sea, at Gonzalo’s own Expense, would have been Something that the Duke, commonly known as “The Magnanimous”, would not have been Reluctant to offer the Englishman.
While de Vere was strapped for Cash, he did own Titles to as many as eighty inherited Estates, two or three in particular, being run-down Vineyards…something a Spaniard might be expected to know how to revive.
The Depredations of Henry VII Tudor & his son, Henry VIII, between them, had largely wiped out a four-hundred year-old English Wine Culture that had been brought to England by the Normans & maintained, primarily at Monasteries, by the Angenvins.
It would have been just like de Vere to offer Fernandez the Deed to a run-down ancestral Vineyard…& it would have been just like Fernandez to have accepted the Offer, even though the Duke might not have had not the slightest Intention of ever claiming the Ground.
Had Cervantes been witness to this Transaction, it could explain the curious Line at the Beginning of Don Quixote, where the Knight is said to have sold MANY acres of arable Land to buy Books on Chivalry.
Hilly, rocky, semi-arid La Mancha, Spain, not unlike central Colorado, is Grazing Land, not Farmland, where the Establishment of even ONE arable Acre would be hard to come by.
“MANY” acres of arable Land do not exist in the Valley of the Upper Guadiana Valley…& the Translator, Edith Grossman, well aware of this, simply omits the “Many”.
Now…Don Quixote’s First Sally is said to have been on a Friday in July…& Michael & Rodrigo de Cervantes set sail from Naples to Barcelona on their ill-fated voyage on the 6th or the 7th of September 1575.
Sixty Days before September 6 would have been July 8…& 25 Days before September 6 would have been August 12, when de Vere & Cervantes, retracing the Tracks de Vere had made to Montiel/Monreale, promised Cervantes a Governorship of the much-mentioned “Insula” or “Isle” accompanied by the Title “Count”.
As the Novel, “Don Quixote” in Part One has the year “1598” stamped all over it, & as July 8, 1575 is indeed a Friday, Sancho is telling Quixote that from August 12th 1575, (more than twenty years ago from August 12, 1598, “give or take three Days”), he has considered himself to be in the service of Don Quixote.
As for the “Insula” or “Isle”, this Landscape, in Part Two, improbably, is described as being both “landlocked” & a “WALLED CITY”.
The Reference here is to the walled City of “Lille”, from “L’isle”…from “Insula”…the then Capital of Flanders, whose Governor carried the Title “Count”.
Flanders, in “Don Quixote”, is also called “Barataria” or “cheaply acquired”…for it was the great Hope of Charles V, Father of Philip II, to unload the Spanish Netherlands, including Flanders, onto an “Allied”, that is to say, “Catholic” England.
This is what was behind the Marriage of Philip II to Mary I, Tudor.
The Acquisition, by England, of the Low Countries, would have made England the Central Power of Europe…& oblique References to Don Quixote’s desire to be the successor to Charlemagne…& even to making Sancho the King of one of the Empire’s allied States, run throughout the Novel.
Charlemagne, it may be recalled, became an Emperor by conquering the Saxons of northern Germany, & establishing his eastern Boundary on the Elbe.
Points on this Boundary include the “Wittenberg” mentioned in “Hamlet”, & “Meissen” mentioned in “Henry V”.
De Vere believed he could conquer the Saxons of Germany, because, in a single Day in 1066, his Namesake (Shakespeare’s Namesake), “William”…that is “William the Conqueror”…conquered the Saxons of England.
This could be done, de Vere believed, with the Combination of Spain & England in a military Alliance, based on Calais, on the English Channel…(“La Mancha”, in Spanish), which de Vere considered English Patrimony.
Like “NATO”, “The North Atlantic Treaty Organization”…whose Adherents are known as “Atlanticists”, Adherants of “European England” like the Normans & Angevins…similarly, would be called “Manchegan”.
As an Assault on northern Germany by England, however, could be expected to prompt a French Assault on the English Rear…namely Flanders…it would have been up to battle-hardened Spanish Tercios, the pre-eminent Infantry of the Day, under the Command of the Count of Flanders, Michael de Cervantes, to hold the French at the Somme.
Elizabeth I, also an Imperialist, however, had a much different idea of Empire than de Vere.
The Tudors, being Welsh, with their purely insular History, had an outlook on the European Continent that was much different from that of the Normans & Angevins to whom the Continent was “The Old Country”.
The Tudors were “British” rather than “English”…& to this Day, Englanders who call themselves “British”, also refer to the Continent, in the Third Person, as “Europe”…being, in this respect, most un-Shakespearean…(& why Brits, today, remain in the Dark about their greatest Writer).
The Term “British” in Shakespeare, means the same thing as it did to the Romans, namely, “pre-Roman Inhabitants of the Britain”.
Elizabeth’s notion of Empire, what came to be known as the “British Empire”… was Mercantile & Overseas…& not, like that of the Empire of Charlemagne, Feudal & Continental…that is to say, not “Manchegan”.
Elizabeth I’s Refusal to consider the Acquisition of the Low Countries from Spain, even Free of Charge…should it have been offered by Philip II, even though it would have placed Tudor England as the heir the Carolingian Europe, gave Edward the Impression that Elizabeth (known in the English court as “Diana”…meaning “Diana of Ephesus”…& known in “Don Quixote” as “Dulcinea del Toboso”), was “Enchanted”.
In Fairness to Elizabeth, Philip II, who the Queen of England considered a “Sociopath”, never did make the Offer.
With Elizabeth so “enchanted” or “irrational” on this Matter, the Promise that de Vere made to Cervantes, in August of 1575, could not have been honored.
The Olympian Irony of Cervantes, as a Captive in Barbary Algiers, having, for his Part, risked three Death Sentences, each by one-thousand, one-hundred Lashes, in unsuccessful Attempts to escape, unable to honor his half of the Bargain…while de Vere, for his Part, having no Clue that Elizabeth, for a very good Reason, had not the slightest Intention of marrying Edward, unable to honor his Half either, is what “Don Quixote” is all about.
All of Part One of “Don Quixote” along with most of Part Two, I shall argue, was written at the Home of Edward de Vere, at King’s Place, in Hackney, England…
today, Hackney, London, England, between 1598 & 1604.
The Reason that neither Cervantes nor Cid Hamet Benengeli care to mention to Name of Quixote’s Village, obviously, is that the Novel is meant to be set in Spain.
At the Beginning of my Career as a Literary Sleuth, I was informed by a Veteran of the Trade, one Mildred Sexton, of “The First Rule of Shakespeare”…”If the Play is set in Italy…it’s not about Italy”.
“The Second Rule of Shakespeare”, I would add…”If the Novel is set in Spain…it’s not about Spain”.
(“The Third Rule of Shakespeare” if one be needed, would be…”If it looks like a “Throwaway Line”, it’s not).
The Inspiration for the Novel, the Outline of the Novel, the original Italian Draft from which the Novel was adapted…plus the Money for its Publication…both Part One & Part Two, I contend, was entirely the Work of Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford… & Cervantes, himself, says as much.
Cervantes, for his Part, contributing the immortal Character, “Sancho Panza”, meaning…”Holy Armor” or “Lepanto Veteran” (not “Fat Sancho”), & turning the Italian text into the world’s first & greatest Novel, thus, rightly deserves the Title as the book’s “Second Author”.
When Hamlet begs Horatio to draw his Breath in Pain to tell the Prince’s Story…the Story he wants Horatio to tell, is the story of his Relationship with three Women…Elizabeth I, Anne Cecil de Vere, & Anne Vavasour.
Without his Side of this Story coming out, Hamlet fears he may go down in History as one of the “Great Reprobates of all Time”.
De Vere, he learned to his Horror in 1586, at the Age of 38, was not really the Son of John & Margery de Vere, born in 1550, as he had always assumed…(& as Wiki still lugubriously insists)…but of almost-fifteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth Tudor by Thomas Seymour, brother of Queen Jane Seymour, & uncle of Edward’s Namesake, Edward VI, born in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, on July 21, 1548.
It was Edward’s Horror of Incest, in the first Place, that prompted the Reaction of Quixote/de Vere to the Marriage Proposal made by Altisadora/Anne Cecil, in Part Two, Chapter 44, who Quixote/ de Vere had always thought of as his his “Kid Sister”.
The Duke & Duchess/ William Cecil & Mildred Cooke Cecil, clearly, had put their fourteen-year & three-month Old up to it in March of 1571, Something that under the “Treason Act of 1571”, drafted by Cecil, would have set William & his Wife up to be Grandparents of an English, Royal Line.
(See the Movie “Anonymous” for the Dramatisation)
Word for Word, I believe, we hear Altisadora/Anne, tell Quixote/de Vere that unlike her Father, with his Hare Lip & maybe Cleft Palate as well…& unlike her Brother, Robert, with his Hunchback…a good Look at Altisadora/Anne would show that there is Nothing wrong with HER.
Quixote/de Vere responds that there is no Way he is going to marry his Kid Sister…that his Heart beats only for the greatest Step-Mother a Guy could have, “Dulcinea del Toboso/ Diana of Ephesus, Aldonza Lorenzo/Maiden Laureate, Elizabeth I of England”.
In Part Two, Chapter 48, we are let in on the Background of a notorious Affair de Vere had with one Anne Vavasour…
Anne Vavasour was a Lady-in-Waiting to Elizabeth I, who, covered-up in loose Clothes, was able to go full Term in the Court without Elizabeth knowing she was pregnant with a Son by de Vere.
When on March 17, 1581 she gave Birth to Baby, Ned Vere, Elizabeth, along with Edward’s father-in-law William Cecil may well have suspected a Coup d’Etat was afoot.
The Pope & Catholic Philip II had both put out a Hit on Elizabeth for religious Reasons…& while the Cecils were the most prominent Protestant Family in England, the Vavasours may well have been England’s most-prominently Catholic.
On the Day that Anne Vavasour gave Birth to little Ned, she had her Baby taken away, & was sent to the Tower, followed, Hours thereafter, by de Vere himself.
I don’t believe it was “Cats” that had raked the Face of Quixote/de Vere, but Elizabeth, herself…& it would have been just like Cecil, in an Attempt to get to the Bottom of the Story, to have Anne’s Mother visit her Daughter in the Tower…& then visit Edward, while eaves-dropping on both Conversations.
In 1581, at the Time of this High Drama, de Vere still did not have any biological Children by his Wife, Anne Cecil.
His “Daughter”, Elizabeth, was fathered by Anne’s Half-Brother Thomas Cecil…Laertes in “Hamlet”, “Tome Cecial in “DQ”.
Margaret Vavasour, Anne’s Mother, “Donna Rodriguez” in “DQ”, lets Quixote know that she thinks her Daughter is beyond any Comparison to Anne Cecil…knowing that de Vere, mentioned also as “the Son of a wealthy Farmer” who had “mocked” her Daughter, would have agreed.
In a wicked Play on her Yorkshire Roots, Anne Vavasour in “Love’s Labors Lost” is immortalized as “Roseline”.
York was the “Land of the White Rose”…& Anne was a notably dark Brunette with black Eyes & Hair.
“Dark” was not only Not de Vere’s Type…it was the Opposite of his Type…& Berowne, throughout the Play, mercilessly teases Anne about her Complexion…& mocks himself for falling for her in Spite of it.
In the Course of their Conversation, Margaret tells of how she came into the Royal Court.
Her husband, it appears, had previously been a Courtier who, on one Occasion, had taxied Mildred Cecil on the Pillion of Mule down ” Calle de Santiago”…”St. James’s Street”…&, when going through the narrow “Gatehouse” at St. James’s Palace…at the Time a Magistrate’s Court, when a Magistrate with an entourage was coming out.
The Husband took off his Cap & motioned to the Magistrate to go through first…but the Magistrate, still waiting for his Wife, stopped & waved Donna’s Husband & the Duchess to go through first.
The Husband still held back…& the Duchess, furious, took out a Bodkin from her Purse & skewered the Husband through a Kidney.
This caused the Husband to jump, the Mule to rear, & both Riders to hit the Deck.
The Husband got the Sack, & subsequently died…with Donna Rodriguez, then, being taken into the Court as a Seamstress.
In the Course of the Conversation between Quixote/de Vere & Donna Rodriguez/Margaret Vavasour we also learn that the Birth Date of Anne Vavasour in Copmanthorpe, Yorkshire…was “sixteen Years, five Months & three Days, give or take a Day”, at the Time of her giving Birth to Baby Ned on March 17, 1581…
The Record of the Birth of Anne Vavasour should be kept in either Copmanthorpe, York City or Leeds…& the keen literary Detective is welcome to look it up.
When it begins to appear from their Conversation in the Tower that Margaret Vavasour was Something of an Instigator of the Relationship between Edward & her Daughter, the Queen’s Men break into the Cell & give disloyal Margaret a Thrashing…& Edward a vigorous Round of Pinches to go with his Scratches.
The Tale is rounded off in the Episode of the “Footman” Tosilos/Sir Henry Lee, who falls in Love with Anne Vavasour/ Roseline/ AND Juliet…& by forfeiting a Jousting Match with Quixote/de Vere, is obliged to marry her.
In late 16th century England, there were two champion Jousters…de Vere…undefeated in the few Times he competed…& Sir Henry Lee, “The Queen’s Champion”, who was eight years older than de Vere.
While de Vere was either unwilling or unable to marry the Mother of their baby Ned…Sir Henry, then, Did marry Anne Vavasour, & also fathered a Son by Anne…one “Thomas Lee”.
In the aborted Jousting Scene we see Something we have already seen in the “Wedding Scene of Quitiera”…a profoundly English & Royal Event depicted as Something that happened in La Mancha, Spain.
In the full-contact Joust, celebrated by the English, but not Spaniards, Tosilos rides a Friesian Charger…ridden by the English, but not the Spaniards.
In “Quitiera’s Wedding”, presented as a rustic Event held in a semi-arid La Mancha, we witness a Celebration that features a strictly-royal, classical Allegory set in a verdant Garden.
The Tale of the “Second Sally of Don Quixote” conflates the Ride de Vere & Cervantes had taken from Palermo to Monreale, on August 12, 1575 with the more adventurous Tale the Pair took more than twenty Years later.
In return for Robert Cecil allowing Henry Wriothesley to be let out of the Tower in 1603, de Vere, it appears, agreed to be grounded at King’s Place, Hackney for an entire Year.
Stricken with Cabin Fever, de Vere & his Second Author, Cervantes, planned a daring midnight Ride out of Hackney to have a Tour of the English southeast, notably to view the “Long Man of Wilmington”, a gigantic Carving in the chalky southern Slope of the Sussex Downs…known in Folklore as “Freston the Giant”.
The Giant (located near the town of Friston, formerly Freston), is seen brandishing the broken Lance of an Invader…
Back in the Time the Novel was written, the Carving was to be found in the Shadow of more than thirty Windmills, the Sussex Downs, being, then, the “Windmill Capital of Europe”…the Number, “between thirty & forty” &, once again, “more than thirty”, is mentioned for Emphasis.
According to Vladimir Nabokov, “Windmills in the 17th Century, were an Innovation in Spain”…& it is hard to believe that there have ever been more than a dozen Windmills seen in one Place anywhere in that Country…least of all in sparsely populated La Mancha.
The Knight takes on a Windmill, imagining it to be the Freston, the Giant”, because he believes Freston was the “Enchanter” who took off with his Library of Books on Chivalry.
The Sobrina/Niece tells Quixote that she thinks the Enchanter called himself “Muniaton the Wise” which suggests “Dwarf” in Anglo-Spanish”.
I say “Anglo-Spanish” because Spanish names, as the late Francis Carr has noted in his book, “Who Wrote Don Quixote?”, “don’t end in “ton”.
Quixote dismisses the Idea that his adversary is a Dwarf..the Knight is not one to do Battle with a “Dwarf”…& comments, “He must have said “Freston”, a Giant.
The Reason for this Assault on the Library, we learn, (translation by Grossman)…”He (Muniaton/Freston) is a wise Enchanter, a great Enemy of mine who bears me a Grudge because he knows through his Arts & Learning that I shall, in Time, come to do Battle in single Combat with a Knight he favors…& whom I am bound to vanquish…& he will not be able to stop it…& for this Reason he attempts to cause me all the Difficulties he can…but I foresee that he will not be able to contravene or avoid what Heaven has ordained”.
De Vere’s Arch Enemy at the Time was the dwarfish, Robert Cecil, whose “Knight” was James I.
Amongst any of de Vere’s numerous Books in de Vere’s Library, there could always have been Proof that the de Vere-Southampton Line was English Royal…Something James Stuart was not…at least not to the Population of London, which would have viewed James as a “Scots-speaking Foreigner”.
The Reference to Quixote’s “fifteen days at Home”, before setting off with Sancho in the novel’s Second Sally is a Reference to “Half a Lunar Cycle”.
If, for fifteen, moonlit Nights, the Lights at the de Vere Household were turned off, say, at Ten o’ Clock sharp, Robert Cecil’s Watch at de Vere’s Residence, after a few Evenings, would likely have been taken to turning in shortly thereafter.
If, on the Night the Moon rose only after Midnight, Cervantes, with two Horses a Mile away, might have been waiting for de Vere, clad in Black, to stealthily hike the Mile in the dark, & mount up out of Earshot, & put their Sequestration at King’s Place behind them.
This High Drama I believe, is what the Author felt he needed to spritz up the original, conversational, Second Sally, thus making it one for the Book…(or for another Roland Emmerich Movie)
The Ride through the Night would have gotten the Knight & Squire across London Bridge & to the Sussex Downs by the next Morning…just as it happened in the Novel.
Their Return, into London, through the “Gate of Spikes” refers to the Entrance to London Bridge from the South.
Heads on Spikes seen at lower Right…
Don Quixote, just like Edward de Vere, died at Home in Bed after an unexpected six-day Illness.
Like Quixote who was surrounded at bedside by six of his Nearest & Dearest, the “Ama”, the Sobrina” the “Cura” the “Barbero”, “Samson” & “Sancho”…de Vere might well have been surrounded by the six of his Own.
The 50 year-old “Ama”, called the “Housekeeper”, is more correctly “The Lady of House”…in this case 50 year-old Elizabeth Trentham de Vere, the Countess of Oxford.
The “Sobrina” the “Niece”, in those days also a euphemism ( where one was needed), for “Daughter”, is named “Antonia Quijana” the feminine of the Knight’s supposed real name “Quijano”.
Earlier in the Book, however, Antonia is identified as the Daughter, not of the Knight’s Brother, which would have given her the name “Quijana”, but of his “Sister”…& “Sister” is exactly how de Vere considered his long-suffering Wife, Anne.
“Antonia”, moreover, is the feminine of “Antonio” the Patron Saint of Ships & Sailors.
“Antonio”, in Shakespeare, always carries this meaning….”Marina” in Pericles, “Perdita” in “A Winter’s Tale” (In French “Un Conte D’Hiver” “A Tale of E. Vere”…”Vere” in those days being pronounced as “Vair”) & “Miranda” in “The Tempest”, like “Antonia”, all represent Susan de Vere…
Edward’s rediscovered youngest Daughter, one of England’s first professional Actresses.
Susan was to be married later, in 1604, to Philip Herbert, the Earl of Montgomery, later the Earl of Pembroke, the “Cura”, in Latin, the “Care-giver” or in this case, the “Fiancé”.
Philip’s older Brother, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, with a full Beard, perhaps, at the age of twenty three, is “Barbero”, in Latin, “Bearded”.
Philip & William, the “Incomparable Brethren” as they were known, were amongst other Things the Power behind the Publication of Shakespeare’s “First Folio” in 1623.
“Samson” is Henry Wriothesley, the son of Edward & Elizabeth, “about twenty four” in 1598, who wore his Hair long a Generation before it became fashionable early in in the 17th century….& called “The Bachelor”, presumably, because during most of the Time the Novel was written, Henry was living alone in the Tower.
His Surname “Carrasco”, moreover, suggests “Gallows”.
“Sancho”, of course, is Cervantes…”Dromio” in “A Comedy of Errors”, having been the Lieutenant of both “Antiphoulus of Syracuse”, Don John…& then “Antiphoulus of Ephesus”, de Vere.
“Adriano de Armado” in “LLL” (The Spanish Armada fought only once in the Adriatic, at Lepanto…”Adriano de Armado” having exactly the same Meaning as “Sancho Panza”).
It is a staggering Thought that “Love’s Labors Lost”, one of the most majestic of Shakespearean Plays, may have been first performed at Wilton House, Wiltshire, on Twelfth Night, January 4, 1599, with Elizabeth I as “The French Princess”, Anne Vavasour as “Roseline”, Edward de Vere as “Berowne” & newly-arrived, Michael de Cervantes as “Adriano de Armado”.
Cervantes, along with Lepanto Brother Alessandro Farnese, is also half of “Michael Cassio” in “Othello”…& not least of all, Cervantes is “Horatio” in “Hamlet”….a Reference to two Roman “Horatios”…Horatio at the Bridge…as Cervantes fought from the Bridge of a Ship at Lepanto…& Horace the Poet.
The financial Arrangements for the Completion of “Don Quixote” the Novel, are worked out with Sancho, as the Knight makes his will on his Deathbed.
“Alonso Quijano”, the name of the defeated, Horizontal Sage, takes some Explanation.
“Alonso” a typical Spanish, royal Name, as “Edward” is in England, is originally the Germanic “Adelfons”.
“Qui-jano”, I believe, has the Meaning of “like Janus” who projected two Faces to the World…Edward de Vere, the failed Man of Action…& William Shakespeare, the immortal Poet-Playwright.
At the end of Part One, it is suggested that the recently deceased de Vere has been interred along with his Writings in a Crypt in the Foundations of Westminster Abbey…& that eventually, they will all turn up…not that Anyone would be looking for them, but by Chance, as Workmen had the Foundations under Repair.
A curious Line suggests that Spain, having seen the original Manuscript of “Don Quixote”…& possibly even the Body of Cervantes, himself, turning up in Westminster Abbey, would want to have it/them returned to Spain…but it/they should remain just where they are.
Cervantes, it may be noted, once wrote a Short Story entitled “La Espanyola Inglesa” about a young Girl who was abducted by English Marines in the Raid on Cadiz & raised in the Court of Elizabeth I.
The Daughter of Cervantes was named “Isabel”, which is, of course, “Elizabeth”.
As the only recognition Cervantes ever received during his Lifetime, apart from that of the Lepanto Brothers, came from England…more to the Point, from one Englishman, Edward de Vere, who was in Awe of the Spaniard, it is not inconceivable to me, that Cervantes, like de Vere, a political Disciple of Charles V, may have died an Englishman with a Wish to be buried in the de Vere Crypt in Westminster Abbey along with his Manuscripts…& along with the Manuscripts of Shakespeare.
The greatest Exchange in all Literature, in Conclusion, cannot go unmentioned.
In Part One, Chapter 23 Quixote & Sancho are riding through the Sierra Morenas when they come upon a Saddlebag lying in the Trail.
Sancho hops off his Donkey, goes through the Saddlebag, finds a Pile of gold Escudos along with some Linen, a Handkerchief & a Diary.
In the Diary is a rough Draft of a Sonnet by the lovesick Diarist, which Quixote reads to the illiterate Sancho.
“Then”, said Sancho/Cervantes, “does your Grace also know about Poems?”
“More than you think” responds “Don Quixote/Edward de Vere/William Shakespeare”.
“Don Quixote” is not only the First & the Greatest of novels, but also, having Nothing, remotely, to do with Spain, the most English.
For sheer Englishness no Novel by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens or JK Rowling can top it…the Spanish Title “El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixotes de la Mancha” you may be thrilled to discover translates into “Lord Shakespeare, Ingenious, European Royal Bastard”
All is revealed in my Book, “The Shakespeare-Cervantes Code”
