Judith Shakespeare
Judith Shakespeare was, according to one account, a daughter of William Shakespeare. According to another account, she was the third-born child of King Edward IV and the person history knew as Prince Richard, Duke of York. After Shakespeare inadvertently replaced the doomed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in this account, Judith and her sister Susan, with help from the Fifth Doctor, took their places in history as Shakespeare's daughters alongside Richard as Shakespeare.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Early life[[edit] | [edit source]]
According to one account, Judith was the third child of King Edward IV and his consort Elizabeth Woodville. Following the birth of her older sister Susan, Edward had lied and claimed she was a boy named Edward to ensure the continuation of his male line for the stability of crown and country in the midst of the Wars of the Roses. After Judith was born, Edward kept up the ruse to have two, "one for the succession and one for a spare".
Birth certificates were created for the two boys and they received an education as if they were princes. Only a small number of people knew the truth, including Hastings, a loyal friend of the King.
On 9 April 1483, Edward IV suddenly died of a chill. Earl Rivers, a materal uncle, was sent to bring Judith and the new King back to London under close escort so the Woodville family could keep them under their control. However, Richard, a paternal uncle who had previously been assigned as the young King's Lord Protector, intercepted the convoy on their journey and negotiated a compromise that they would both accompany "Princes" to London. While staying the night at a Stony Stratford inn, Peri Brown and Erimem were enlisted to tend to Susan's injuries in the Princes' bedroom after she was knocked unconscious running through a forest, but they fled when Peri discovered a detatched metal part of him and concluded the Princes had been replaced by robots. Richard momentarily suspected them of being Woodville spies come to help the Princes escape, but found "Richard" and his brother still in their room after rushing there. However, he noticed the loose metal Peri had abandoned on the floor, which was really a codpiece, and worked out that Richard and Edward were both girls merely posing as boys.
As noted by Henry Stafford, Richard became "twitchy and troubled, almost addled in his mind" after his discovery and went "completely loopy" when the escort arrived in London. In fact, he was systemically rounding up and executing everyone who knew the truth about the Princes. He then bribed their mother Elizabeth Woodville to keep quiet about the whole affair, who was as petrified about the truth coming out as Richard himself. After that, Richard declared the "boys" bastards by voiding the marriage of their parents, allowing him to legally crown himself king as the next in line. Richard later said that exposing the lies of the "beloved and dearly departed king [...] would have torn the whole kingdom apart".
For the first six months of Richard's reign, Judith and Susan stayed in the Tower of London. However, when "all the murder and kidnap plots started buzzing", he sent them to live with their Uncle Clarrie, who was already lying low, at the Kingmaker tavern, where they also worked as serving wenches. Richard forced Peri and Erimem to regularly pretend to be the Princes in their stead, with whom he had recently been reacquainted, with Erimem playing the role of Prince Richard. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
Meeting the Fifth Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1485, Judith fetched an Edward V coronation commemorative mug for her sister Susan, who was serving the Fifth Doctor and attempting to persuade him to buy one. In exchange for the purchase, the Doctor convinced the two girls to show him where they last saw the Princes as the Doctor knew from history that the last sighting of them was over a year prior in 1484 yet Susan had said they were known to still be living happily. They took the Doctor to a hill overlooking London from which they saw the Princes excerising in the Tower's garden. Peri, who was impersonating Edward, saw the Doctor come and go, making the conclusion that he had abandoned her and Erimem and got himself new companions.
Later, upon learning from Clarrie that Richard had detained the Doctor in the Tower, Judith and Susan launched a rescue attempt, persuading Clarrie to come along with them. They easily infiltrated the Tower by using a secret entrance to the dungeons which had been left unlocked. They found the Doctor, in chains, speaking to Richard but swiftly learnt that their efforts had been wasted as Richard had been about to let him go, being not willing to kill without good reason. Suddenly, William Shakespeare entered the room armed with a Cyber-rifle. As the Doctor and Richard exchanged words with Shakespeare about the motives and likelihood of success of the latter's plans, Judith and the others kept quiet until they asked to leave, saying they did not understand anything of what was being discussed. Shakespeare questioned them on their identities and, although a little suspicous of their story, allowed them to leave based on the claim that Judith and Susan were wenches who brought food to prisoners and Clarrie was the chief gobber.
As Judith, Susan and Clarrie started the journey back to the Kingmaker on foot, they encountered James Tyrell, who recognised Clarrie as the traitorous and supposedly deceased Duke of Clarence and called for some guards to detain him. They attempted to make an escape but Clarrie quickly realised the guards were only after him, clearly not realising who the girls were, and so bade farewell to his neices before drawing Tyrell and his men away. Judith and Susan watched him run out of Traitors' Gate and fall into the River Thames. Despite the fact they were aware he couldn't swim, they reluctantly fled, knowing there was nothing more they could do for him with guards swarming the area. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
Life in Elizabethan times[[edit] | [edit source]]
After a series of events led inadvertently to Shakespeare replacing Richard at the Battle of Bosworth, Richard took Shakespeare's place in 1597. The Doctor also brought Judith and Susan forward in time so that they could pretend to be Shakespeare's daughters, Judith and Susanna respectively. He knew this was the correct course of action because Shakespeare had previously told him he had lost his only child Hamnet to illness yet history recorded that he also had two daughters. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
According to a book from the Coal Hill library, Judith was the twin sister of Hamnet, born to Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway in 1585. (PROSE: A History of Humankind)
Judith pretended to be a boy to allow her to act in her father's plays, calling herself "Jude". She was an accomplished swordswoman, saving the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton from an enraged man on her first encounter with the time-travellers in 1601. (AUDIO: The Hollow Crown)
Judith and her sister both outlived Shakespeare, living, in the words of the Fifth Doctor, "very rich, full lives". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
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