Idemjour[1]
It would likely not be unreasonable to state modernity celebrates Shakespeare’s birthday and date of death with more fireworks and pomp than he did. As luck would have it one gets to kill two birds with one stone, as it were: both celebrations can be had on one day – 23 April.[2] Admirers, revelers and those just needing a cause for drink – over and above honouring St. George – will never go wrong raising a glass on 23 April in memory of Shakespeare. And in the process recite something similar to what King Henry V, according to Shakespeare of course, said on St. Crispin’s Day, with the necessary emendations, of course:
…This day is called the feast of Shakespeare:
He that outlives this day and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Shakespeare.
He that shall live this day and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours
And say ‘Tomorrow is Saint ’Spearean.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his tattoos
And say, ‘These inks, I got on Shakespeare’s day…’[3]
But would they be right? Would revelers and admirers be correct in viewing 23 April as both Shakespeare’s birthday and death date? If so, can the investigation make use of such a fact? First, an examination must occur to determine if the long-held belief that Shakespeare died idemjour, that is to say, on his birthday – 23 April – is correct.
Those who are interested in such facts are led to believe – more or less – based on various foundations – some of which are factual, some not – Shakespeare’s birthday and death date are on the same day, i.e., idemjour. What are the chances, one might ask, of Shakespeare starting his days and then ending them having lived an idemjour life? That he died on his birthday? Well, one in 365, sort of.[4] Before it can be determined if Shakespeare died on his birthday an enquiry into the date of his date of birth must ensue first.
What Date Was Shakespeare Born?
It is a good question – and so far, unanswered with 100% certainty. Most commentary, research and scholarly opinion puts, more or less, his birthday as 23 April 1564; however, most commentary, research and scholarly opinion doesn’t make something so if it is not, in fact, so. The year is agreed upon as is the month but the day is proving tricky – the 23rd is by no means certain.
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust writes 23 April has “come to be celebrated as his birthday.”[5] Therefore, the closest the Trust is willing to commit is the 23rd is celebrated as Shakespeare’s birthday; not the actual day. The Trust then outlines reasons why 23 April could conceivably be Shakespeare’s birthday:
- The register of Holy Trinity Church under the date of 1564, April 26, in Latin, records the following baptism:
Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere[6]
[William son of John Shakespeare]
- By convention, and per instruction in The Common Book of Prayer (1559), baptisms ‘normally’ took place within three days of the birth but no later than the first Sunday after the birth. The deduction is as follows: Shakespeare baptism is recorded as having occurred on the 26th, so if convention was followed, three days prior to that was the 23rd, ergo, Shakespeare might have been born on 23 April.
That reasoning is far from defective and is attractive. Be that as it may, the 23 April birthday is not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. As conjectures go, it’s actually not a bad conjecture based on a written church register and informed by convention.
ShakespeareDocumented – the Folger Shakespeare Library’s scholarship – on balance, uses similar deductive reasoning when also suggesting it is possible Shakespeare was born on the 23rd. In addition, they also point to an inscribed quote on Shakespeare’s wall monument to confirm the 23rd is certainly a possibility. Being circumspect, they also add cautiously there is a real possibility Shakespeare’s birthday could be the 21st or 22nd.[7]
It’s interesting to note ShakespeareDocumented scholarship and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust research arrive at the same qualified conclusion – 23 April – but on their individual online resource pages they differ as to how the convention of when a baptism should occur is calculated.
ShakespeareDocumented posits, according to The Common Book of Prayer, infants “should be baptized on the next Sunday…” following the birth.[8] While Shakespeare Birthplace Trust notes, according to The Common Book of Prayer, that children should be “baptized no later than the first Sunday after birth.”[9] Other than just an observation, nothing turns on it, because at the end of the day, neither way of calculating the birth date from the baptismal date proves an absolute birth date one way or another.
Previous researchers – ShakespeareDocumented and Honan – identify who it was that possibly first suggested 23 April as Shakespeare’s birthday: William Oldys, in the 18th century. Later, in 1773, a second commentator adopted Oldys’s suggestion as 23 April being correct. No doubt Oldys would have relied on the church register, the inscription on Shakespeare’s wall monument, instruction in the Book of Prayer and convention to arrive at 23 April.
But might Oldys have been influenced by knowing Shakespeare’s date of death – 23 April – when he proposed 23 April as a birth date? Possibly. When the historical record is silent on an actual birth date, having a bit of flexibility in your analysis when writing about your subject’s biographical life details, suggesting an idemjour is a very attractive option; it appeals to a human brain in terms of symmetry and tidiness – and coolness. But hoping for an idemjour doesn’t make it so.
Honan, further, points to the date of Shakespeare’s granddaughter’s wedding – 22 April – as a possible reason pointing to that date as Shakespeare’s birth date. It follows, suggests Honan, his granddaughter might have symbolically picked 22 April as her marriage date if that date had family significance, i.e., her grandfather’s birthday.[10] Or, if she wanted to get married as close to her grandfather’s birthday as possible, 22 April might have been her best option – based on a whole host of contemporaneous factors – if Shakespeare’s birthday was 23 April.
Can the investigation make a concrete finding as to what date Shakespeare was born on? No. No fireworks yet. At least, no Investigative Finding can be writ at this juncture of the investigation. One point to remember, though, is notwithstanding nobody that came after – not Oldys, not present-day researchers – knows with 100% certainty the date of Shakespeare’s birthday, Shakespeare did. That could prove important.
What Is Shakespeare’s Date of Death?
Far less confusion abounds as to the date of Shakespeare’s death: based on dates inscribed on Shakespeare’s Holy Trinity wall monument. Folger’s ShakespeareDocumented,[11] and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust[12] all adopt, with no or very little equivocation, 23 April 1616 as Shakespeare’s date of death. Remember, it is more than likely Shakespeare knew the date of his birth. It is also not unreasonable to suppose Shakespeare knew his birthday was around the corner in the run-up to his death. Not only that, unless he was in a coma or otherwise unaware, he knew the date of his death. Given those two not unreasonable suppositions it can likely be stated Shakespeare knew, one way or another, he might die on his birthday. While modernity might not know – at present – if Shakespeare’s birth date and death date can be classified as idemjour, he knew. Or, if he didn’t know, he certainly knew it was a possibility.
Idemjour-Generally
Scientific research has been undertaken studying the idemjour phenomenon. A superficial mention of two of such studies will occur; if for nothing else, to illuminate the fact studies have been undertaken by scholars looking into the phenomenon of dying on one’s birthday.
A Swiss study published in the Annals of Epidemiology in 2012 concludes “in general, birthdays do not evoke a postponement mechanism but appear to end up in a lethal way more frequently than expected (the ‘anniversary reaction’).”[13] Which is to say, birthdays in and of themselves do not trigger a delay of death but in other ways birthdays do attract more deaths than expected by what the authors have termed the ‘anniversary reaction.’ They find there was a 13.8% increase of deaths over and above what should be the statistical average. They opine this increase is variously due to accidents, suicides and cardiovascular diseases. It’s an interesting finding.
In 2003, Vaiserman et al, analyzing a decade of deaths in Kiev from 1990-2000 found “the month of birth was significantly associated with the month of death” with an “excess around the birthday.” While acknowledging more study and better understanding of the subject is needed, the authors suggest there might be some sort of “birth stress” present in the body throughout its life and that birth stress could be imprinted in biological rhythms.[14] In non-medical terms, for lack of better phraseology, it would mean the body might feel birth stress in terms of a biological rhythm and, on the birthday, it comes home to roost on the annual cycle; as age increases this rhythm might be felt as more pronounced.
This is not to say illness pays attention to biological rhythms when looking for a host. All the investigation gains by looking at idemjour–generally is that for hundreds of years Shakespeare’s birthday and death date are celebrated on the same date, idemjour. Suggesting Shakespeare lived and died idemjour is a nice neat, tidy ribbon to tie up a couple of loose ends in an attractive fashion that appeals to modernity’s proclivity for romanticism, neat stories and cool nostalgia.
However, at present, there is zero bullet-proof evidence Shakespeare was born on the 23rd. That said, the convention in place at the time regarding dates of baptismals leads one close to the 23rd as the birth date. The fact the 23rd has won out in the Shakespeare Birthday Gambit thus far is, in the main, because of its attractiveness to find its twin bookend at the end of his life – the death date of 23 April 1616: an idemjour.
Why is trying to find Shakespeare’s definite birthday – and death date – important to the investigation? Why is determining if idemjour is present important? If idemjour can be proved – conclusively or as close to it as possible – it becomes symbolically important. Illness wouldn’t see it as symbolic – it not caring what day it caused Shakespeare’s death, if in fact illness is in play. But, make no mistake, idemjour could have been very symbolically important to Shakespeare personally and if so, then it would be important to the investigation.
All the commentary, research and scholarship – especially when studying Shakespeare’s birthday and death date – looks at it from modernity’s perspective, i.e., history just doesn’t know. Every single researcher then singles out the fact they don’t know for certain what date Shakespeare’s birthday is and then carry on with whatever research they are doing. Somewhat interestingly, no one has looked at it from Shakespeare’s perspective. Not one.
For the first time in 400 years, this investigation is going to look at it from a different perspective: Shakespeare’s. He knew his birthday and likely knew his death date. As a corollary to that, acknowledging Shakespeare knew his birth date and looking at Shakespeare’s last days in real time and what facts he knew and what was going on in his life and what was going through his mind from his perspective absolutely helps the investigation. Focusing on facts from a modern perspective gets researchers not very far from nowhere quickly. Confidently, the Project can put forth another Investigative Finding:
IF – Shakespeare knew what date he was born and, unless he was in a coma or otherwise in a state of delirium, also knew his death date. But, alas, he ain’t telling. Because Shakespeare knows his birthday and is keeping it a secret – and maybe keeping other secrets as well – the investigation must continue.
Notwithstanding the odds are a straight 365 to 1 of idemjour happening, when external factors are introduced there are other studies that show a person’s likelihood of dying does increase close to, or on, their birthday. This is based on various external inputs identified here using sub-indicators: idemjour-fete, caused by a celebration; idemjour-alcohol, caused by consumption or an event related to alcohol, such as a motor vehicle accident or the like; idemjour-geron, impacted by old age, etc. When the external input added is an underlying psychiatric disorder or a simple desire to die the phenomenon of idemjour–suicide arises. Think of it this way: if a person who has an underlying psychiatric condition, perhaps depression, or is prone to suicidal ideation or is just desirous to die, a birthday can act as a trigger. Birthdays can, not in everybody, but in some, induce heightened feelings of depression, sentimentality, emotions, failure, aging. Combining a birthday, existing adverse mental health conditions, being desirous of death or having heightened emotions or anxiety can, and does, increase the risk of suicide.
Alyson Williams, et al, after their 2011 study, concluded there is an increased risk of suicide, mainly in males, on their birthdays. In males between the ages of 34-54 there was an increase of suicide risk not only in the general population but also in their clinical population which they defined as those engaged in mental health care services.[15] They also concluded the risk extended to three days prior to one’s birthday.
Karoly Bozsony, et al, found an increased number of males committed suicide on their birthday than on any other day of the year.[16]
Many scholars have tried to nail down Shakespeare’s birthday; none have been 100% successful. Honan, canvassed above, posits Shakespeare’s birthday might just as easily be viewed as 21 or 22 April and not, 23 April; he’s not wrong. Either or, 23 April has become the accepted date to celebrate Shakespeare’s birth and death date. Therefore, modernity does not know, with certainty, what date Shakespeare was born; his date of death is far more certain to be 23 April. This is based on information on Shakespeare’s wall monument. If Shakespeare saw his birthday as holding symbolic significance that fact points back to 23 April 1564, a possible birth date, as having more importance than just conjecture, considering he died on 23 April.
Shakespeare knew both dates, except he’s not telling. Shakespeare, reasonably stated, knew the date of his birth and, unless he had passed into delirium or was in a coma, he also likely knew his date of death; and there is zero evidence to support the fact Shakespeare was in a coma or otherwise wouldn’t know the date of his death. Given those two not unreasonable suppositions, and changing the way one looks at the question of Shakespeare’s birth date and death date using a different lens, might there be a possibility the date of 23 April 1564 holds more symbolic significance than first thought? Not to modernity – but be of more symbolic significance to Shakespeare? Maybe.
There is evidence to support just prior to Shakespeare’s death the Shakespeare family name and reputation met with some fairly strong, unwanted, nasty headwinds: Judith’s husband of one month was being publicly shamed for adultery, the other woman died giving birth to Thomas’s child, the child also died, Thomas was brought in front of the ecclesiastical court and punished. This scandal might have run off Shakespeare’s back like water off a duck and went in one ear and out the other. Possibly. Or, he might have taken it harder. The scandal might have had a serious, profound impact on Shakespeare and his mental health. It might have shamed him to no end. It might very well have been the catalyst to make those last minute, final changes on his will. Might this scandal be one of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune he no longer wanted to suffer? Did he have a sea of troubles consisting of scandal and illness? Did he want to end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to? Because Shakespeare often referred to suicide in his plays was he predisposed to taking his own life should he be beset with circumstances which opened that door?
If Shakespeare actually contracted the mysterious illness that everybody who has thought about the matter seems to infect him with is it possible the Quiney affair scandal added to his woes? If he had an illness and if he knew the illness – the illness that modernity universally supposes he had – was fatal and his birthday was a few days away might Shakespeare have welcomed the opportunity to shuffle off the mortal coil on a symbolic date? Is that why the silence sickness inflicted everybody? Did Shakespeare want to pick the day of his death, defeat death and go out on his own terms? On his birthday? Is it possible Shakespeare’s death can be classified as idemjour-suicide? By his own hand or with the help of a medically-assisted suicide by a trusted, discreet, say-nothing medical doctor? Maybe. But where would Shakespeare find such a man?
If the last 400 years of scholarship point to Shakespeare’s possible cause of death as fevered illness – based on a shaky signature on his will as evidence which was likely written three years before he died – then, suicide – informed by new analysis of information contained in the historical record – by his own hand or a medically-assisted, idemjour-suicide cannot be ruled out; dates can be very, very symbolically important.
A general Investigative Finding can be made – not only applicable to Shakespeare but to anybody:
IF – Should someone want to commit suicide on their birthday and/or make use of a medically-assisted suicide by way of a soporific permanent sleeping potion knowing a discreet, say-nothing medical doctor would be handy.
It might be time to visit Holy Trinity Church.
SDRP
[1] Idemjour – idem, Latin for ‘same’; jour, French for ‘day.’ Idemjour, same day. Idemjour, coined by the Project – an English word with Latin and French etymology – is the phenomenon of dying on one’s birthday. Oddly, the scientific community studying those born and died on the same day calls the phenomenon of dying on one’s birthday ‘the phenomenon of dying on one’s birthday’; it’s rather cumbersome.
[2] St. George’s Day.
[3] Paraphrasing a portion of Shakespeare’s St. Crispin’s Day speech in King Henry V, 4.3.19-67, 576.
[4] However, notwithstanding the odds at first blush are a straight 365 to 1 of idemjour happening, there are studies that show a person’s likelihood of dying does increase closer to their birthday; this will be explored hereafter. Sub-indicators, when introduced to someone’s life, act as factors which change the odds of idemjour occurring. These sub-indicators are then added to the description: idemjour-fete, caused by a birthday celebration; idemjour-alcohol, caused by consumption or an event related to alcohol, such as a motor vehicle accident or the like; there could be countless impacting factors.
[5] https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/william-shakespeare/when-was-shakespeare-born/. Accessed 07 January 2024.
[6] https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/file/details/178. Accessed 07 January 2024.
[7] https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/file/details/178. Accessed 07 January 2024.
[8] https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/file/details/178. Accessed 07 January 2024.
[9] https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/william-shakespeare/when-was-shakespeare-born/. Accessed 07 January 2024.
[10] Honan, A Life, 16.
[11] https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/document/parish-register-entry-recording-william-shakespeares-burial . Accessed 08 April 2024.
[12] https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/birth-and-burial-records-william-shakespeare. Accessed 08 January 2024.
[13] Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross et al, “Death has a preference for birthdays – an analysis of death time series”, Annals of Epidemiology, 2012 August; 22:8, 603-606.
[14] Alexander M. Vaiserman et al, “Variation of mortality rate during the individual annual cycle”, Biogerontology, 4: August, 2003, 221-225.
[15] Alyson Williams, et al, “Birthday Blues: Examining the association between birthday and suicide in a national sample”, Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, Vol 32, No. 3, January 01, 2011. Accessed online 07 January 2024.
[16] Karoly Bozsonyi, et al, “The effect of birthday in the fluctuation of suicides in Hungary (1970-2002)”, Psychiatric Hungary, 2010; 25(1), p. 74-79. Accessed online 07 January 2024.