A new exhibition at Somerset House in London is shining a light on William Shakespeares life through legal documents and its centrepiece is the bard’s Last Will and Testament.
Notoriously Shakespeare left his second best bed to his wife Anne Hathaway – not, it would seem, much of an inheritance for his wife! However her dowry and the right to live in their house in Stratford-upon-Avon during her lifetime left her relatively affluent.
While its been almost exactly 400 years since the Bard wrote his Will its clear that the main reasons people make a Will haven’t changed. The bard sought to look after the financial future of his family – principally his daughters and in the final months before his death made a series of sentimental personal bequests to friends and family. In those days these updates were made by quill pen between the lines. Nowadays you can quickly and simply up date your whole Will using Affio’s online service and keep your quill pen for penning your masterpiece.