Shakespeare called grain hoarder, tax dodger, money lender and ruthless businessman of Stratford-upon-Avon
‘Over a 15-year period he purchased and stored grain, malt and barley for resale at inflated prices to his neighbors and local tradesmen,’ write researchers from Aberystwyth University in Wales.
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William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre made him money that he used to speculate in grain, say researchers.
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” William Shakespeare wrote — but apparently the bard thought it was OK to dodge taxes and hoard grain.
Shakespeare wasn’t just a celebrated playwright and actor, research shows. He was a ruthless businessman who dabbled in money-lending and grew wealthy during a famine by price-gouging hungry neighbors.
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Complicit biographers have gradually whitewashed from history the
avaricious side of the Stratford-upon-Avon merchant — preferring to
focus on his artistic achievements, say researchers from Aberystwyth
University in Wales.
“Shakespeare the grain-hoarder has been redacted from history so that Shakespeare the creative genius could be born,” reports the academic paper due to be delivered at the Hay literary festival in Wales in May.
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The oversight is the product of “a willful ignorance on behalf of
critics and scholars who I think — perhaps through snobbery — cannot
countenance the idea of a creative genius also being motivated by
self-interest,” said Jayne Archer, a lecturer in medieval and
Renaissance literature at Aberystwyth. She and her colleagues combed
through historical archives to uncover details of the playwright’s
parallel life as a grain merchant and property owner whose practices
sometimes brought him into conflict with the law.
In fact, some of Shakespeare’s business practices were as hard-nosed as anything done by Shylock, his money-loving character in “The Merchant of Venice,” they said.
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“Over a 15-year period, he purchased and store grain, malt and barley
for resale at inflated prices,” the paper claims, adding Shakespeare
went after “those who could not (or would not) pay him in full for these
staples and used the profits to further his own money-lending
activities.”
He was pursued by the authorities for tax evasion, and in 1598 was prosecuted for hoarding grain during a time of shortage.
Shakespeare wasn’t just a celebrated playwright and actor, research shows. He was a ruthless businessman who dabbled in money-lending and grew wealthy during a famine by price-gouging hungry neighbors.
RELATED: WALL-TO-WALL WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare could turn a mean rhyme — and focus on every dime, it seems.
“Shakespeare the grain-hoarder has been redacted from history so that Shakespeare the creative genius could be born,” reports the academic paper due to be delivered at the Hay literary festival in Wales in May.
RELATED: ACTORS' SERIES PRESENTS SHAKESPEARE AS THEY LIKE IT
Stratford-upon-Avon was home to Shakespeare the bard, and the businessman. He ruthlessly pursued those who owed him money, say researchers.
In fact, some of Shakespeare’s business practices were as hard-nosed as anything done by Shylock, his money-loving character in “The Merchant of Venice,” they said.
RELATED: ELIZABETH OLSEN TO STAR IN 'ROMEO AND JULIET'
Duncan Walker/Getty Images
William Shakespeare spoke of hoarding in Coriolanus, “Our sufferance is a gain to them," a citizen in the play said of patricians' practice of hoarding food.
He was pursued by the authorities for tax evasion, and in 1598 was prosecuted for hoarding grain during a time of shortage.
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