Nov 2, 2020
Shakespeare’s play King Lear is based upon the story of the ancient British King who founded Leicester in England, written by Geoffrey Monmouth. Monmouth based his story on real elements of Leicester’s history, including the Jewry Wall and ancient roman tombs, some of which are still there in Leicester today. For the 16th century, this story was already hugely popular when Shakespeare decided to adapt it for his play version. The story was so tied up with the city of Leicester, that historians believe the visit of the King’s Men to Leicester in 1606 was specifically to perform King Lear, which had been written that same year. While the framework of Shakespeare’s version does seem to follow in Monmouth’s footsteps, there are specific elements in Shakespeare’s version which are strikingly similar to actual court cases in 17th c England which were captivating the cultural mindset at the time. There were real court cased being heard in 1605-1606 involving men accused of madness by their daughters, and the names of these daughters are just a few letters off from the name Cordelia which Shakespeare named one of Lear’s daughters in his play. Details like these are tantalizing to explore, and we have invited our guest this week, Mathew Morris, who knows the archaeological history of Leicester best, to help us sort out the real history from the legend of King Leir.