Note added to a 1598 survey of the property of the Stratford-upon-Avon Corporation that William Shakespeare and Thomas Combe now held the tithes at an annual rent of £34

On January 16, 1598 the Corporation entered a survey of its property into the “Bridge Book” (Minutes and Accounts, v, pp. 124-31). This book formerly belonged to the Stratford-upon-Avon bridge wardens, but by 1569 the Corporation had taken it over to record details of its own property holdings. The 1598 survey was regularly updated, including the edit regarding Shakespeare’s lease on the Stratford tithes, shown here on p. 59.

The Corporation’s most valuable single asset, entered on p. 59, was a large portion of the Stratford tithes, comprising the great tithes (of grain and hay) from the fields of Old Stratford, Bishopton and Welcombe, and the privy tithes of the whole parish. When the Crown granted these tithes to the Corporation in 1553, they had been valued at £34 a year. This income was supposed to primarily pay the vicar’s and assistant minister’s stipends. However, all of the parish tithes (including the portions granted to the Corporation) were subject to a 92-year lease dating from 1544, requiring the leaseholder to pay the Corporation £34 a year in rent for the portion it now owned. In 1580, John Hubaud acquired this lease, thus making him liable for this annual payment to the Corporation. Under his will of 1583, Hubaud further divided the lease of these tithes between two beneficiaries: his brother Ralph Hubaud and his “cousin,” George Digby, who were then each required to pay £17 (i.e. half of the £34 rent) to the Corporation. (To learn more about the history of the Stratford tithes, please refer to Ralph Hubaud’s 1605 assignment of a lease of a share in the Stratford Tithes to William Shakespeare.)

In surviving Corporation rentals, the subsequent payees of the £34 rent are rarely recorded. Indeed, when this early 1598 survey was complied, they were still referred to simply, as shown here in the fourth entry on p. 59, as “Thexecutors of S^r John Hubaud.” By that time, half the £34 was in fact due from Ralph Hubaud and half from Thomas Combe, who was sub-let Digby’s half-share in May 1595.

Entries in the “Bridge Book” were regularly updated when new leases were granted as happened, for instance, in the case of the first lease entered on p. 59. At some later date, Thomas Green, the steward, also looked through the entries and updated some of them in his distinctive hand. This included a note attached to the Stratford tithe entry to take account of recent developments, including the fact that in July 1605, William Shakespeare had acquired Ralph Hubaud’s half-share of the lease thus becoming liable for an annual rent of £17. Greene therefore underlined the phrase “Thexecutors of S^r John Hubaud,” – the convention to indicate deletion – and substituted “M^r Thomas Combes & M^r William Shakespeare.” As Thomas Combe died in early 1608, this would date the alteration to July 1605-January 1608.  

The annual rentals the chamberlains submitted each January did not always name the payees of the tithe rent. In January 1607, they were given as Thomas Combe and Anthony Nash and in 1615 as William Combe (Thomas’s executor) and Anthony Nash. However, by 1619, one half share was due from John Hall, Shakespeare’s son-in-law (BRU 4/1, p. 315) who had also been named as a lessee of the tithes in 1618 (ER 1/115/7), implying that Nash had simply been acting as Shakespeare’s agent, or on his behalf.