Romeo, Romeo - Shakespeare's inspiration

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? – Longleat should probably be the answer to that famous line as it seems the Bard was inspired by a real-life love affair in the 16th century.

The star-crossed lovers were Thomas Thynne, 16-year-old grandson of Sir John who built Longleat and Maria Tuchet who fell in love and married on the night they met in 1594.

And to mark Valentine’s Day Longleat has released a video with House Guide Colin Piper recounting the story and sharing images of paintings of the pair.

Maria was the teenage daughter of George Tuchet, Lord Audley, who was the husband of Lucy Marvin.

It was due to Thomas’ father, also called Sir John, pulling out of a proposed marriage with Lucy which sparked the bitter feud between the Thynnes and the Marvins.

Emma Challinor, archivist, said: “Lucy was Sir James Marvin’s sole heir and Sir John junior pulled out of the engagement in a dispute over her dowry. The rivalry between the two families resulted in street brawls and bloodshed with court cases ensuring the dispute became famous.

“One outrage was the murder of Sir Henry Long while sitting at dinner. His brother Sir Walter, brother-in-law of Sir John Thynne senior, was also injured resulting in an outcry and the pursuit and exile of the perpetrators in a similar fashion to the murders of Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.

“In 1979 historian and lecturer Alison Wall first suggested that these English circumstances may have shaped Shakespeare’s plot.“She even noticed that one of the Queen’s ministers charged with ordering an immediate investigation into Long’s murder was the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Hunsdon, famously patron of the company of players to which Shakespeare belonged.

”The marriage of the two teenagers had been kept secret but came to light after the murder. Unlike Shakespeare’s Juliet, Maria had the support of her mother, but Thomas’ parents were furious and their legal proceedings over the validity of the wedding rumbled on for years.

Says Emma: “There is compelling evidence that Shakespeare was inspired by the Thynne-Marvin feud, in writing his new version of this old tale, and it would have been very fresh inspiration: it is thought the play was composed in 1595-6 and published (unofficially) in 1597.

“The high emotions and passions expressed in letters at Longleat connected to these episodes would not seem out of place in a Shakespearean drama.”Thomas and Maria were happily married until Maria’s death in childbirth in 1611, unlike the fictional Romeo and Juliet. The 8th Marquess of Bath is the great (x10) grandson of Thomas and his second wife Catherine and lives at Longleat today with his family.

Longleat House is home to one of the very few copies of Shakespeare’s First Folios remaining in private possession.

A portrait of Sir Thomas Thynne, knighted in 1604, can be seen by guests to the estate enjoying a self-guided tour of Longleat House as part of the day ticket. It hangs in the Lower Dining Room.

Extract from a letter from Thomas’ mother Joan to a cousin – 1595

“My good cousin, how hard is my hap to live to see my chief hope of joy my greatest grief and sorrow, for you know how much I have always disliked my son to match in this sort, but alas I fear it is too late, but if there be any remedy for it good cousin let there be speedy orderof it.  He is contented to love her seeing neither I nor his father are contented with the match, alas the boy was betrayed by the Marvins which I have often told Mr Thynne what they would do and now it is too sure, but I trust they may be denounced for I think it is no good marriage in law for that he is under age…”