Sometime in the late 18th century, a sign appeared outside a shambly butcher’s hut in the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon: “The Immortal Shakspeare was born in this house,” it announced, using a then common spelling of his name.
Devotees began making pilgrimages — dropping to their knees, weeping, singing odes: “Untouched and sacred be thy shrine, Avonian Willy, bard Divine!”A tradesman grew rich selling carvings from a local mulberry tree, like pieces of the true cross.
Some skeptics suspected that the sign was part of a scheme to bring visitors to Stratford; others wondered if it had been hung by the property’s occupant.
About 250 years after its break from the Catholic Church, England had its own Bethlehem and manger.
The problem: No one really knows where Shakespeare was born.
Persons:
Shakspeare, Avonian Willy, Shakespeare
Organizations:
Avon, Catholic Church
Locations:
Stratford, ”, England, Bethlehem