The thing is, Mark Rylance, is that no-one who had *any* knowledge of 16th/17th century England could think a hereditary earl was more capable of writing Shakespeare's plays than a middling sort townsman.
The literature on the vibrancy of middling sort culture in the period is so vast that it would take wilful ignorance, and snobbishness of quite stunning proportions, to think this way.
Mark is a man of the left. Does he think Gerrard Winstanley, John Lilburne, Richard Overton, William Walwyn somehow incapable of thinking creatively about politics and society because they are mere middling folk?
What about John Taylor, Aphra Behn, John Bunyan? What about the Prynne, Burton and Bastwick? What about George Fox, Sarah Fell?
The Cecils had middling origin, so did Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell was a yeoman who became head of state.
There's some hard sociology behind this too. The period c. 1500-1640 saw the middling sort become very prosperous: Alex Shepard shows a *huge* increase in their wealth at this time, partly because they benefited from rising prices.
They spend their money on land, on new houses (Mark Rylance could have a look at some of the glorious surviving examples if he doesn't believe me), but also on things like books.
They took part in discussions over church ritual. They managed businesses. All in all, they survived in a harsh and unforgiving world. Don't tell me these guys were incapable of producing someone so intelligent as Shakespeare.
It's bullshit. It's bullshit peddled by people who have no understanding of the period, who probably haven't even read a book on the period, and who transpose ridiculous 19th century snobbery onto an age where it has little place.
It's bullshit peddled by people who are desperate to see a conspiracy where there isn't one. Who have no training in the social and cultural history of the period. Who have no understanding of the literary world of that period.
Mark Rylance, I know we are all 'sick of experts' these days. But please, just stop it. With the greatest respect, you don't know what you are talking about.
