In dedicationem: This paper is dedicated to the memory of my late father-in-law J. Raymond Moran, brother mason, my mentor, and Past Master of Enterprise Lodge No. 31, Jersey City. Ray entered De Molay in 1953 and was Initiated, Passed and Raised into Freemasonry in 1966. He ascended to the Grand Lodge Above in April, following nearly sixty years' service to Craft Masonry.
My paper concerns the Rosicrucian symbolism concealed within William Shakespeare's funerary monument located at Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. The monument is cantilevered (that is, affixed to the wall) of the chancel. It is supported by three cantilevers, the number of which is curious, as one or two only are typically used for monuments of this size.
The monument is distinguished by two Corinthian columns with polished black marble shafts, and inlaid panels in black touchstone. The sandstone capitals, bases, pedestals and crowning skull are sculpted sandstone, as are the two putti (one holds a trowel with an upheld torch; and the other an inverted, extinguished torch and skull). The architraves, frieze and cornice are the only parts of the structure replaced at its restoration in 1749. They were originally made of red-veined alabaster but are now white marble which is more resistant.
The entablature is surmounted by a triad of the 2 putti and the crowning skull, with Shakespeare's tripartite coat of arms in the centre. Seven red, gold embossed roses encircle the head of the central figure of Shakespeare, which is noted for its expressionless gaze. He holds his 3 working tools of quill, page and cushion upon which he either rests or works.
Already the passing Freemason will be familiar with much of the symbology in the monument, which resembles the first-degree tracing board in many respects.
The monument is believed to have been created by the Flemish London-based Dutch sculptor, Gerard Janssens. Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 a full century before the founding of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. His funerary monument was erected close to his grave sometime between his death and 1623. We know this because it is referred to in the Prologue to the first folio of 1623, written by his friend Leonard Digges. Digges father, Thomas, was the court astronomer to Elizabeth I, and had been raised in the household of her astrologer, Dr John Dee.
Several sketches and engravings were made of the memorial prior to its 1749 restoration. The first was made by William Dugdale in 1634, and we note the lack of detail in the inlaid panel. It also appears to show what appears to be a woolsack, not a cushion, and Shakespeare is not holding his quill and page.
The Bohemian artist Wenceslaus Hollar based his engraving (below) of the monument on Dugdale's sketch sometime in the 1650s, but it includes the epitaph on the inlaid panel, but again lacks the cushion, quill and page.
Dugdale's Sketch Hollar's Sketch
However, George Vertue's 1723 engraving is the most accurate presentation of the original monument prior to its 1749 restoration:
Virtue's Engraving
In Virtue's engraving, the epitaph, cushion, blank page and quill are clearly shown. The differences between the 1634 and 1723 sketches is cited by Anti-Stratfordians as evidence that Shakespeare was a farmer and not the author of the literature attributed to his name.
However, the monument is unlikely to have undergone any structural work in the 100 years since Shakespeare's death, and the Dugdale sketch lacks both evident symmetry and detail, and contains many other inconsistencies. Most academics generally agree that the monument looks much the same today as it did when it was first erected sometime between 1616 and 1623, save for the replacement of the original alabaster elements and its re-painting in 1749.
We do not know who commissioned and erected the monument. It could have been Shakespeare's friends, his widow, or surviving children. His widow Anne died in 1623, and one of her daughters, Suzannah, still lived in Stratford. Suzannah's husband John Hall was physician to some of the leading esoteric lights of the day, such as Bishop John Thornborough, chaplain to Elizabeth I and James I, and a highly regarded alchemist known to Robert Fludd.
An interesting and unusual aspect of the plan of Holy Trinity Church is that the 13th-century transepts, pulpit and original chancel were all built on a northeast slant, rather than the usual direction east you would expect.
A three-level chapel with an ossuary was built by Dean Bramhall in the C15th for a chantry. The ossuary was in the basement, and above the chantry chapel was a sacristy. The structure was demolished in 1800. It was built against the northeast wall, close to where Bramhall was later buried. Shakespeares monument and grave are also immediately next to it, notwithstanding that the chantry was disbanded between 1545 and 1547.
Here we see the layout of the Shakespeare family graves in the chancel. From the centre of the chancel, we can draw a northeasterly angle that passes from the top or ‘head' of Shakespeare's grave (green edged in red) directly through the memorial and into the corresponding part of the lost chantry. Anne Hathaway Shakespeare's grave (in pink) lies between her husband's grave and his monument. Next are Shakespeare's son-in-law, Dr. John Hall (yellow), and then Thomas Nash (blue), the first husband of his granddaughter Elizabeth (green).
The curse placed on his grave suggests Shakespeare of his family feared his remains might be disturbed by relic hunters, indicative of the fame in which he was already held in his lifetime.
GOOD FRIEND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE,
TO DIG THE DUST ENCLOSÉD HEAR:
BLESSED BE THE MAN THAT SPARES THESE STONES,
AND CURST BE HE THAT MOVES MY BONES.
Archaeologists surveyed the site with ground-penetrating radar in 2014 and determined that Shakespeare's grave has been disturbed. They believe he was buried in wool (a type of sackcloth) and that his skull is missing. Local legend has it that the grave was disturbed in the 1780s by relic hunters, who removed his skull. This is borne out by the 2014 radar results, where a brick structure supports the broken tombstone. The skull long assumed to be Shakespeare's at Beoley church turned out to be that of a woman aged in her 70s, reflecting the written testimony of one of the purported grave robbers that the skull they dug up at a shallow depth and was, quote, “delicate and small, not like a man's”. One theory is that it is the skull of Anne Hathaway Shakespeare, who may have moved her husband's remains to her own grave space. Indeed, given that her own grave is immediately below the monument makes it a more suitable resting place for Shakespeare himself. Unless there is a full exhumation we will of course never know.
The sculpted sandstone skull is typical of memorials from the period. The contrast between life and death was often emphasised, with images of the deceased contrasted with those of their bones. The skull directly corresponds with the figure of the living Shakespeare below, which connects perfectly with the two putti representing work and rest in the form of light and death either side. These symbols intentionally form a cross, an enduring symbol of humanity's deliverance from Adam's curse through the promise of eternal life beyond the grave.
The two putti form the basis of a triadic shape, where the skull crowns the structure and represents transition. This symmetry is reflected in the three cantilevers.
Shakespeare's coat of arms at the centre reflects the fact that he invested a great deal of time and money in obtaining a coat of arms, but it remains unclear why he was so keen to do so, given the untimely death of his only son in 1596. One clue lies in its symbolism, which conceals more than first appears, like the monument. The heraldic motto “NONS SANS DROICT” translates as “NOT WITHOUT RIGHT”.
Apart from the fact that the spear refers to the family name, it has a triple meaning. The first is that of the Catholic mystery of the Sacred Heart symbolised by the Spear of Destiny (which pierced the heart of Christ to draw water and blood from his body, itself a metaphor for his dual nature, and of the alchemical separation of soul and spirit from the body); the second is that Masonic guilds originally used the spear or a long pointed trowel instead of a sword to guard the entrance to their lodges; a third meaning is that the colours black, silver and gold are Rosicrucian and alchemical. Rosicrucian, since gold recalls the ‘golden ones' of Plato's Republic (the class of philosophers governing a just and harmonious society founded on reason, education and merit, not one of birthright). Alchemical, because black, silver and gold refer to the Three Principles of black earth; silver mercury for the soul; and gold the purification of the baser elements to reveal the spirit that is All.
The coat of arms is essentially a Rosicrucian and alchemical cryptogram. Bearing in mind that all of the proven evidence points to Shakespeare, and no one else, as the author of his work - including the printed copies of his plays and sonnets bearing his name, records of his theatre company and the comments of his friends and contemporaries, Digges, Jonson and Webster - the three epitaphs have major resonance.
The first of the three epitaphs reads as:
JUDICIO PYLIUM, GENIO SOCRATEM, ARTE MARONEM,
TERRA TEGIT, POPULUS MARET, OLYMPUS HABET
A PYLIAN IN JUDGMENT, A SOCRATES IN GENIUS, A MARO IN ART,
THE EARTH BURIES HIM, THE PEOPLE MOURN, OLYMPUS POSSESSES HIM.
The second epitaph is in English and reads:
STAY PASSENGER, WHY GOEST THOU BY SO FAST,
READ IF THOU CANST, WHOM ENVIOUS DEATH HATH PLACED
WITHIN THIS MONUMENT SHAKESPEARE: WITH WHOM,
QUICK NATURE DIED: WHOSE NAME, DOTH DECK THIS TOMB,
FAR MORE, THEN COST: SEE ALL, THAT HE HATH WRIT,
LEAVES LIVING ART, BUT PAGE, TO SERVE HIS WIT.
Just below the poem is the following text:
DIED IN THE YEAR 1616
AGED 53 ON THE 23 DAY OF APRIL
As we have already observed, much of the symbolism in the monument relates to the number 3, or multiples of it. It is carefully constructed and rich in meaning. Each line of the Latin text is comprised of 2 lines of 27 letters. If we apply numerological reduction, we arrive at 9 by virtue of 2+7=9; and if we divide 27 by 3 it becomes 9. 9 is divisible by 3.
The first of the 3 references is JUDICIO PYLIUM. This means THE WISDOM OF NESTOR, King of Pylos. Judicio is judgement or wisdom. Nestor is a character in the Iliad known for ingenuity and worldly wisdom. Nestor negotiated peace, invented a signalling system for the Greek ships, and was mortal the grandson of the god Poseidon.
The second reference is GENIO SOCRATEM, meaning THE WISDOM OF SOCRATES. Genio is genius or wisdom. Socrates was famous for having formulated a cross-examination style in debate to avoid rashness, illogical conclusions or hasty judgment. This method of questioning developed an ability to take into account multiple perspectives. Socrates promoted meritocracy, and in doing so challenged the Athenian constitution. He advocated government by a philosophical class of men, educated in the art of his method of reasoning and who obtained their position by ability not by right of birth.
The third reference is ARTE MARONEM, which refers to the ART OF VIRGIL. Arte means ability or skill. Virgil was the author of the Aeneid, the “sequel” to the Iliad told from the Trojan perspective). In the Aeneid, the Trojan prince Aeneas enters the afterlife as a living man to converse with his thwarted lover, Queen Dido of Carthage. Dante would later use him to resurrect Virgil and make him his guide through the three realms of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Virgil's art or “skill” within the context of authoring
this epic poem alludes to the leadership abilities of Aeneas, the FOUNDER of Rome. Virgil himself was later considered semi-divine by the later Romans and achieved immortality by being adopted by Jupiter as JUPITER-INDIGES (which means “THE SPEAKER WITHIN”).
The Latin text, therefore, evokes the three principles of earthly, intellectual, and spiritual knowledge governing an idealised society, as exemplified by the three luminaries Nestor, Socrates, and Virgil.
The second Latin line below mirrors this same threefold pattern, by stating that THE EARTH CONCEALS THE PHYSICAL BODY, THE PEOPLE MOURN THEIR CHAMPION, WHO HAS ATTAINED PERFECTION. We see here the three processes of alchemy: disintegration; separation, and reintegration / purification. The black, red and white of the figure's clothing corresponds to the three principles which symbolise the process of the movement from death to the Artifex – shown here as the poet himself, the commensurate Man of Desire.
The Latin epitaph can also be read in three columns, each of which re-enforces this exact same meaning:
This establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the purpose of the Latin epitaph is to emphasise the separation of the physical from the spiritual. There are clear Rosicrucian ideals at play, since the attributes of genius demonstrated through wisdom create a Utopian vision (the meaning, of course, of “Olympus”). Each archetype and its corresponding state represent wisdom, truth and beauty; a metaphor of which is represented in the transformation implied in the black, silver and gold colours in the coat of arms Shakespeare designed.
We notice some of the letters in the Latin epitaph are higher than others. There are 6 in all: These 6 letters are I, P, S, M, T and O. They are an anagram of the Latin word POSTIM, which means ‘door' or ‘passageway'. We recall that the monument was cantilevered immediately next to the bricked-up door that once led to Dean Bramhall's Chantry. Furthermore - and if that were not Enough - when we select the 6 words highlighted by the 6 letters, a new sentence is revealed, which reads:
JUDICIO PYLIUM, SOCRATEM, MARONEM, TERRA OLYMPUS
In English, this reads as:
THE WISDOM OF NESTOR, SOCRATES AND VIRGIL ON OLYMPIAN EARTH.
The Latin and English epitaphs are likely a summa philosophorum, intended to be Rosicrucian cypher for the Three Archetypes or Golden Ones who govern a utopian society. The philosopher kings “open the door” or passageway to an entirely different world and way of doing things. In masonic terms, these 3 luminaries are represented by the wardens and master of the Lodge.
If you remain unconvinced, the remaining six words without higher letters also form a coherent sentence:
GENIO ARTE TEGIT, POPULUS MARET HABET
In English, this translates as:
WISDOM AND ABILITY ARE BURIED / THE PEOPLE MOURN WHAT THEY POSSESS.
This hidden phrase creates a binary message: what humanity mourns as lost (knowledge and the application of Utopian government) is within reach. You will recall the motto on Shakespeare's coat of arms on the monument: NONS SANS DROIT : NOT WITHOUT RIGHT
The English epitaph below the Latin, is often attributed to Shakespeare's friend and collaborator, the playwright Ben Jonson. The verses are interpreted by referring to the keys in the Latin text preceding them.
The phrase “WHOM ENVIOUS DEATH HATH PLACED WITHIN THIS MONUMENT SHAKESPEARE” corresponds to the earthly wisdom of Nestor, the mortal archetype of a just and wise ruler. We are also reminded that Virgil's adoption as a son of Jupiter known as JUPITER-INDIGES means “THE SPEAKER WITHIN”. Further, that his principle character, Aeneas, founds a new civilisation at Rome.
“FAR MORE THAN COST: SEE ALL THAT HE HAS WRIT" refers to the fact that Socrates perfected the art of memory, and Plato memorised that knowledge without writing it down to avoid his mentor's fate; and used this to later compose his epic “Republic”. Hence the blank page held by the figure of Shakespeare.
“LEAVES LIVING ART BUT PAGE” also corresponds to this, and also the ability of the immortal Virgil. We see this application of wisdom in the founding of a new society by Aeneas.
Thus, we see a trifold correspondence with Nestor's worldly wisdom, Socratic governance and the ideals of Virgil, all pointing to a Utopian state built on the three pillars of Wisdom, Truth and Beauty.
It is often noted how these four-letter T's are carved into a symmetrical double. They are intentionally aligned in the epitaph this way, and of that there is no question. The issue is why. The Greek letter Tau was given a geometric value of 400, and applying numerological deduction becomes 4. I will come back to this in a moment, but for now it is interesting to note that the ancient Greek architects used the letter Tau as a symbol of measurement representing a complete turn, or circle of 360 degrees.
Regarding the dates in the third epitaph, it is possible that the fifth element, spirit, is being alluded to. Shakespeare is given the incorrect age being stated as 53. He died at 52. This was well known to his family and friends, and there must be a reason for this obvious mistake. One theory lies in the separation of the numbers “5” and “3”. In Pythagorean mathematics the values of 5 and 3 form part of the “Pythagorean Triple” or right-angled triangle, consisting of the numbers 5, 4, and 3. If so, the four Ts immediately above may represent the number 4, and if so that may represent a concealed code for the completion of an allegorical triangle.
If you think this outlandish, consider that the engravers of the monument were Flemish migrants working cheek by jowl to Shakespeare's theatres, in the very borough of Southwark where the Elias Ashmole's “Lodge of the Accepted” were known to have been located a mere 20 or 30 years later. Were the operative guilds of stonemasons infiltrated by the Rosicrucians? Were fashionable gentlemen lured into their ranks to learn the art of sacred geometry? Masons were architects, the holders of knowledge of design, Pythagorean geometry and construction. Consider also that all 3 of Shakespeare's working tools (quill, pen and cushion) are silent. Might this monument mark the genesis of Freemasonry in England?
The seven red roses inside the arch above the figure of Shakespeare are in gold relief. Do they allude to the seven basics, the seven magisteries and seven-fold distillation of alchemy? Do they refer instead to the seven luminaries (the 7 classical planets), or the 7 Fountain Spirits of creation? Do they allude to the sevenfold nature of man? This is, his physical, etheric and astral bodies; ego; spirit-self; life spirit and Atma?
Might these seven aspects connect with the subtle Platonic notion of the threefold inferior, middle and superior nature of man, as reflected in the figure of Shakespeare? Namely the thinking soul, located in the head, the emotional soul, located in the chest, and the desiring soul, located below the waist?
Finally, and to conclude this paper, I would draw your attention to parallels between the monument and the Kabbalah. Given the essential Kabbalistic nature of Freemasonry, this should come as no surprise. Nor should we rule out the hypothesis of an early introduction of Kabbalistic influences into English Masonry at this time since London was a cultural melting pot. How so? Because in my view the kabbalah is nothing more nor less than a mandala of alchemy and the visualisation of philosophical alchemy's process of transmutation.
Regrettably the subject is so vast we do not have time to go further into the secrets of the monument this afternoon. However, if you are interested to read more around the subject in further detail, I would refer you to my book titled Allegory in Stone, available in paperback and hardcover.
In Memoriam J. Raymond Moran XXXII° (1939-2025) Enterprise Lodge No. 31 & Salem Lodge No. 330
Article (c) M.R. Osborne, 2025
