Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Off Beat: Shakespeare's Grave Cursed


A Reuters newswire article, via TheAge.com.au, reports that:

A curse engraved on the tomb of English playwright William Shakespeare may have saved his remains from being exhumed, an academic says.

Digging up the bones of the dead was common in Shakespeare's time, either for religious or research purposes. Often remains were removed to make way for more graves, and dumped in landfill sites or even used as fertiliser.

The playwright was so fearful of this happening to his own remains that he had the curse engraved on his tomb at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon, as a warning to gravediggers after his death in 1616.

More here.

Image source: www.gutenberg.org

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home