The Dark Lady

Book Four of Anonymous Agnostic Antichrists

Life is constantly in movement, constantly changing, providing concrete realities one minute, the next making them disappear.

After completing the third version of how the plays and poems with William Shakespeare’s name on them were created, John Ford’s tale, which was itself a shock that followed a previous shock, Thomas Watson’s journey, which followed the initial shock of Thomas Sackville’s story, I discovered there was indeed a fourth version of how the Shakespeare Canon was created: that Emilia Lanier was the true Bard behind the works.

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Lanier showed up in two of the previous manuscripts as an important character, Sackville’s and Ford’s (her older sister Angela in Watson’s) stories, and while depicted as a brilliant person in her own right, was not heavily involved in contributing to the Canon.

This fourth (and last??) manuscript that followed Ford’s shows her as being the main author, and with a similar beginning as Will Hunter (and so yes pretending to be a boy) for the first 15 years of her life, before moving permanently to England, taking on the identity of the recently deceased Aemilia Bassano for the rest of her long life. Lanier’s has similarities to the previous works, but drastic differences, one of which of course is her gender.

Already known for being far ahead of her time as a proto-feminist with a radical perspective and considerable poetic talent, in this manuscript - which ends at the publication of The First Folio of 1623, Lanier not being able to complete her autobiography though she would live for another 22 years - she shows just how radical and profound a thinker she really was, using the Shakespeare Canon as one of the most revolutionary bodies of work the world has ever seen.

Like with Ford’s manuscript, she left a note to the reader ~

To the Reader of the Future,

Here you will find my life story, which I began in the late 1630’s, towards the end of my life.

You may come across manuscripts of a similar nature, written by Sackville, Watson, and Ford, but I guarantee you, man or woman of the future, please trust me in believing that what I have written here is the reality of what took place.

I tell no lies, here within is the truth.

I hope that some day women will be able to claim sovereignty over their own work, something which I was obviously and sadly not able to do in my life time.

They say the work itself matters most, and this is partially true. But for those of us who are artists, of whatever persuasion, our lives matter, and the authenticity of who created what should be of genuine interest to every human being, regardless of one’s gender.

Best Wishes from the Past,

Sincerely,
Emilia Lanier

I hope you enjoy Lanier’s story as much as I have, she was indeed a woman far ahead of her time and one of the greatest creative individuals of all time - male or female. May we cherish her life as well as her (entire) body of work.

As I mentioned in my note at the beginning of Ford’s story, now having a fourth path, a fourth perspective, I truly do believe all four are equally plausible, and all are worth exploring and enjoying.

The journey of uncertainty, of embracing possibilities, is not one which we humans should shy from. Life itself is constantly presenting to us this reality.

Rather than run away from it, we should accept ambiguity and find our place within it, something which Lanier, Ford, Watson, and Sackville all did themselves.

Derek Hunter,
December 5th 2024