Should I really mark down November 28 as Shakespeare’s wedding anniversary? Or is that just one of those “best guesses” that academics come up with, like that time I read that Romeo and Juliet’s wedding would have been in…March, I think they said. Seems like we should be able to know Shakespeare’s anniversary date (we have his baptism, after all), but it occurs to me that I just don’t know it.
November 28 was the day a bond was entered exempting the bishop from liability should any irregularity turn up regarding Shakespeare’s marriage, since he and Anne did not proceed with the usual process of “having the banns” proclaimed 3 times. Shakespeare was also a minor, there was apparently no parental consent, and Anne was probably 3 months’ pregnant. They were probably married shortly after (some suggest a few days). The exact date was not recorded in any church and is certainly not known.
–Carl