The World of All Souls

by Deborah Harkness

  There has been constant speculation about Shakespeare’s extramarital love affairs, cobbled together from his sonnets and the people he knew. The young man and Fair Youth of the sonnets has been thought by many to refer to Mary Sidney’s son, William Herbert (with the mysterious dedication of the collection made out to a Mr. W.H.), but arguments point to others, too. And who was the woman who inspired the lusty Dark Lady sonnets? The vampire king of London, Andrew Hubbard, knew her identity and hoped the young witch Annie Undercroft might help cure Shakespeare of his brooding obsession with another man’s wife.

  Christopher Marlowe undoubtedly had an influence on Shakespeare, and Marlowe’s work is alluded to in many of his plays. Specialist studies have revealed evidence of their collaboration, with academics seeing Marlowe’s hand in certain passages of Shakespeare’s plays, in particular those featuring demonic spirits. As Matthew revealed, Shakespeare was also the one who coined the phrase “School of Night” that came to describe Marlowe and his mysterious circle of friends. This was a jab at his rival. Shakespeare had no way of knowing he would eclipse Marlowe so fully in the future.

  Shakespeare seems to have moved back to Stratford in 1613, where he died three years later, on April 23, 1616. In 1623 the First Folio collection was published, which included all but two of what are now recognized as Shakespeare’s plays. The preface, a poem by Ben Jonson, hailed Shakespeare as “not of an age, but for all time.” Diana observed this tribute was fitting for her Matthew, too.

  See also: LITERATURE: Love’s Labour’s Lost

  MIRIAM SHEPHARD

  Origin of name: Miriam is of Hebrew origin, with various meanings—either “wished-for child” or perhaps “rebellious.”

  Date of birth: Unknown

  Date of rebirth: Unknown

  Physical description: Miriam is around five feet tall, petite and fine-boned. She is strikingly beautiful, with long wavy hair and a dark complexion. Her sense of style is as individual, strong, and clear as the woman herself. Miriam prefers short skirts, cowboy boots, and expressive T-shirts. They suit her diminutive frame and large personality.

  A member of: The Conventicle

  Family and romantic relationships: Miriam’s husband and mate, Bertrand, tragically died in the eleventh century. She keeps in touch with her last link to her mate, Bertrand’s son Jason. She is godmother to Rebecca Bishop-Clairmont.

  Personal history: Miriam Shephard is Matthew de Clermont’s close research colleague and friend. She is an ancient vampire with a shadowed past. In contrast to most vampires, she is honest to a fault and speaks her mind without seeming to fear the consequences. She is ferociously loyal to Matthew without being in the least bit cowed by him or his lofty position within the world of vampires. Unlike many of her kind, Miriam is completely comfortable with what she is: a predator. She makes no apologies for it, proud to have survived in situations that would have felled a lesser creature. Creatures, no matter who they are, need to earn her respect. Once they do, Miriam is an unshakable ally and friend.

  Miriam is of North African and Semitic descent and was living in the Holy Land when the Christian Crusaders arrived at the end of the eleventh century. She was already more than a thousand years old but had not yet mated. She fell in love and mated with a French vampire named Bertrand, who was Matthew’s closest friend. After they’d been together for a relatively brief time, Bertrand sacrificed his life to save Matthew and the de Clermonts. Following Eleanor St. Leger’s death, Eleanor’s family demanded justice. Bertrand took the blame to ensure that Matthew, the Knights of Lazarus’s grand master, would not be harmed. Bertrand was beheaded by a Saracen executioner, and before he died, he made Miriam promise to watch over his friend. That Miriam does so to this day, shielding Matthew from harm and watching him like a hawk, is a testament to her loyalty and strength. Miriam has not mated again and can’t seem to find anyone to live up to her deceased husband and mate.

  To better watch over Matthew, Miriam has been sharing his work life for the past two hundred years. The holder of several advanced degrees in chemistry and biology, Miriam is an invaluable member of Matthew’s research team. Her probity and command of details are second to none, both assets when working with complicated data sets and contradictory laboratory results. Miriam occupies the important role of Matthew’s laboratory manager, making sure that the team stays on task and that work continues in an organized and timely fashion. She is an exacting taskmistress and a bit of a workaholic. She is one of the rare creatures who tells Matthew the truth, even when she knows he won’t listen to it. When not working, Miriam enjoys solving crossword and Sudoku puzzles and watching film noir. Sometimes, when bored, she gets a kick out of frightening humans by telling them what vampires are really like.

  URSULA SHIPTON

  Full name and other names: Ursula Southill, Ursula Soothtell, Ursula Sontheil, Mother Ursula, Mother Shipton

  Date of birth: c. 1488

  Personal history: According to legend, Ursula Sontheil (later Shipton) was an English prophetess who foretold a number of major events, including the defeat of the Spanish Armada. She was also a great weaver, and Goody Alsop was her student. Diana met her descendant, waterwitch Tamsin Soothtell, in present-day London. Tamsin revealed how her family had kept Mother Shipton’s prophecies alive through the centuries, including that of the dragon and serpent, which would mark the advent of a new golden age for creatures.

  See also: LITERATURE: Mother Shipton’s Prophesies

  LEONARD SHOREDITCH

  Leonard Shoreditch is a member of Andrew Hubbard’s flock and part of a gang, including Amen Corner and Jack Blackfriars, who often cause trouble on the streets of London. Like many of Hubbard’s children, Leonard received his surname to denote his place of origin in London.

  MARY SIDNEY

  Full name and other name: Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke

  Origin of name: Sidney has origins in an Anglo-Saxon locational name meaning “wide island” or “watermeadow.”

  Date of birth: October 27, 1561

  Astrological sign: Scorpio

  Physical description: Tall and willowy, with creamy skin and deep-set brown eyes. Her likeness can be seen in her portrait (c. 1590) by Nicholas Hilliard.

  Family and romantic relationships: Daughter of Sir Henry Sidney and sister to the writer Philip Sidney. Married to Henry Herbert, with whom she had four children.

  Personal history: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, wielded tremendous political and private influence in sixteenth-century London, especially for a woman who was not the queen.

  Mary was born into great privilege. Her father, Sir Henry Sidney, was a childhood companion of King Edward VI and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth; her brother, Philip Sidney, was an esteemed writer, and her mother, Mary Dudley Sidney, was a favored member of the queen’s court, a gentlewoman of Queen Elizabeth’s Privy Chamber. Mary received an excellent classical education, as well as training in the domestic arts of needlework and music. When Mary was thirteen, the queen invited her to court and later helped arrange her marriage at fifteen years old to Henry Herbert, the 2nd Earl of Pembroke and twenty-five years her senior. She had four children when she was still quite a young woman and quickly learned to manage her many households, as befitted an Elizabethan woman of her standing.

  Mary Sidney parlayed the advantages of her relations and education into avenues that extended well beyond her home and children, building her reputation as a writer and patron. She famously helped publish her brother’s book Arcadia and other works after his death. And Mary penned and published poems and other writings of her own, which included finishing a project of lyrical poems of the psalms begun by Philip. These she released under her own name, unusual for a woman of her position in this era, and established her literary fame.

  Mary is known to have practiced alchemy and had her own laboratory. Diana Roydon spent many happy hours hunting th
e green lion with her, as well as conducting other, less explosive experiments, while discussing the position of women in society. Though Mary’s Protestant upbringing made her reluctant, initially, to help a pagan witch like Diana, Mary’s keen intelligence took her past their differences. She became an invaluable friend and a critical link in Diana and Matthew’s pursuit of the Book of Life.

  See also: DECORATIVE ARTS: Mary Sidney’s Laboratory

  LITERATURE: Arcadia

  PAVEL SKOVAJSA

  Pavel Skovajsa worked as a librarian in the conservation department of the Strahov Library, located in modern-day Prague in the Czech Republic. Employed as a spy for Peter Knox of the Congregation, Pavel was unable to discover anything of interest to his handler for years until he stumbled upon a letter hidden in a copy of De arte cabalistica. The letter, from Rabbi Judah Loew, mentioned the Book of Life and the disposition of its lost pages in the spring of 1591. Knox was secretly overjoyed by this discovery and rewarded Pavel for his efforts by casting a spell that caused the librarian to have a stroke and die.

  VILEM SLAVATA

  Full name and other names: William Slavata, Count Vilem Slavata of Chlum

  Date of birth: December 1, 1572

  Astrological sign: Sagittarius

  Family and romantic relationships: Son of Adam Slavata, a Protestant administrator of Rudolf II

  Personal history: Vilem Slavata was a Czech nobleman from an old Bohemian family who followed in the footsteps of his father and worked at the imperial courts of Rudolf II and Rudolf’s successor, Matthias. Despite being raised a Protestant, Slavata converted to Catholicism in 1597. He later played a role in the fierce religious clashes of Bohemia. In 1618 Protestant Bohemian nobles, rebelling against their new Catholic ruler, Ferdinand, carried out the famous Defenestration of Prague (an event believed to have triggered the Thirty Years’ War in Europe). Slavata, a supporter and representative of Ferdinand, was one of those thrown out of the third-floor window of the Bohemian Chancellory that day. Miraculously, Slavata survived the fall, though he was severely injured. He escaped and went on to live until 1652.

  Sent as ambassador to Elizabeth’s court at a mere nineteen years of age in 1590, Slavata was nonplussed when Elizabeth thanked him for her supposed gift from Rudolf. This was the collar bearing the emblem of the Drăculeşti, which Rudolf actually gave to Diana. Matthew calmly reassured the confused ambassador in Czech, “Don’t worry about it. Tell the queen that Rudolf is delighted to give her this jewel. Then we can have dinner.”

  MASTER SLEFORD

  Full name: Roland Sleford

  Date of birth: Unknown

  Personal history: The city of London appointed Master Roland Sleford to his post at Bedlam in 1579. The former cloth maker was charged with watching over the poor souls housed in the hospital, including numerous suffering daemons, witches, and even a vampire, as well as various lunatics and debtors. As Bedlam’s manager, Sleford was either heartless or greedy or both, for under his lax administration the walls, windows, and roof of the former Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem crumbled and fell in until the building was declared unfit for habitation by any creature. It continued to be used as an asylum until a new building was constructed between 1675 and 1676.

  MASTER SOMERS

  A gray-haired man in his seventies, Master Somers was a glover in sixteenth-century Woodstock who worked for Master Iffley. Like his employer, he was fearful of Matthew Roydon and his household, as well as his wife, with her strange manners.

  OTTAVIO STRADA

  Date of birth: 1550

  Physical description: Slender, with an olive complexion and dark hair

  Family and romantic relationships: Father of Rudolf II’s mistress, Katharina Strada

  Personal history: Ottavio Strada was Rudolf II’s imperial librarian and historian. Diana and Matthew Roydon encountered him at Rudolf’s palace, and Matthew believed it was Strada who engineered the theft of the Book of Life from Dr. Dee’s library, using Edward Kelley as his instrument. A painting of Ottavio Strada, attributed to Tintoretto’s daughter, Marietta Robusti, depicts him accepting a stream of coins while holding a small statue of a naked woman, his finger tucked between her legs. It currently hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

  CATHERINE STREETER

  Catherine Streeter was a witch in sixteenth-century London and a member of the St. James Garlickhythe gathering. Handsome but unmemorable to the nonmagical eye, she was surrounded by a nimbus of light that Diana could see. She was the offspring of two firewitches, which is highly unusual. As Goody Alsop said, “It happens rarely, as though nature herself knows that such a light cannot be hidden.” Her role was to help Diana manage her elemental powers of fire.

  T

  TABITHA

  Sarah Bishop’s skittish cat is gray and almost as troublesome as Corra. She has an uncanny knack of picking up any tension in the Bishop household. She’s particularly fond of Matthew.

  PHOEBE TAYLOR

  Origin of name: The name Phoebe is of Greek origin, from phoibos meaning “bright” or “pure.” In mythology Phoebe was a Titan associated with the moon and related to Artemis, goddess of the moon and hunting.

  Date of birth: May 17, 1985

  Astrological sign: Taurus

  Physical description: Phoebe is young and beautiful, with olive eyes.

  Family and romantic relationships: Phoebe Taylor is from a very proper English family. She is Marcus Whitmore’s fiancée and mate, and godmother to Philip Bishop-Clairmont.

  Personal history: Phoebe is the well-brought-up daughter of an English diplomat. She was a junior employee at Sotheby’s when she met one of their important de Clermont clients, Marcus Whitmore. At first she was not impressed by his rakish advances, but his charm soon won her over. When he introduced her to the world of witches, daemons, and vampires, she took it in stride and managed being thrown into the de Clermont family politics with the diplomacy and skill she’d been taught from a young age. Her gentle manners hide a steely determination, which shows in her mediation between Marcus and his father.

  An expert in the history of art, Phoebe is continually amazed by the contents of the de Clermont family houses, where objects that should be behind glass in a museum are used casually day to day. The Holbein in the loo at the Old Lodge is just the tip of the iceberg. Baldwin has come to appreciate Phoebe’s knowledge in this area and how it might be used to the family’s benefit. After resigning from her position at Sotheby’s, she is focusing on cataloging and curating the de Clermont treasures. She was also an invaluable research companion for Diana when tracking down the Book of Life’s missing pages.

  Marcus and Phoebe’s engagement was not a surprise to the de Clermonts, who can see how devoted they are to each other. Phoebe’s wish to become a full vampire mate to Marcus, however, causes conflict. Matthew is against it, perhaps because of his own complicated feelings toward his warmblooded mate, Diana. With the dangers of Marcus being a blood-rage carrier, there is also the question of who will give Phoebe the blood she’ll need to become a vampire.

  TEREZA

  Tereza was a housekeeper in Sporrengasse, Prague. Along with Karolina, the cook, she is from a clan of Bohemian vampires who served the aristocracy, as well as important visitors. Her family promises to serve with secrecy and loyalty.

  THOMAS

  A young servant at Sept-Tours who, along with Étienne, looked after Diana while she was there in 1590.

  BESS THROCKMORTON

  Full name and other names: Elizabeth Throckmorton, Elizabeth Raleigh

  Origin of name: Throckmorton is an Old English habitational name (from Throckmorton in Worcestershire).

  Date of birth: April 16, 1565

  Astrological sign: Aries

  Physical description: Attractive and golden-haired, with lively, intelligent eyes

  A member of: The Que
en’s Privy Chamber

  Family and romantic relationships: Bess was the daughter of the royal diplomat Sir Nicholas Throckmorton and his wife, Anne Throckmorton (née Carew). She was lover and wife to Sir Walter Raleigh.

  Personal history: Bess and her brother, Arthur, were courtiers to Queen Elizabeth I, and Bess later became Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to the queen. An intelligent, educated, and beautiful woman, Bess caught the attention of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was around eleven years her senior, and they fell in love. The couple married in secret in the autumn of 1591, and Bess gave birth to a baby boy in March 1592. The child died in infancy. Elizabeth I found out about the secret marriage and child, and, angry that this union had taken place without royal permission, she placed the couple under house arrest. By June 1592 they were sent to the Tower of London. Raleigh was released in August and Bess in December that same year, and they moved to Sherborne Castle, Raleigh’s estate in Dorset. The queen assumed that the Raleighs would then sue for pardon, but they refused and continued to be cast away from court and out of favor.

  Bess and Walter remained committed to each other, although Bess had to shoulder a lot during Raleigh’s frequent absences, either abroad or in prison. The couple had two more sons, Walter and Carew. The latter was christened within the Tower of London during one of Raleigh’s imprisonments.