Gasparo Contarini, The commonwealth and government of Venice, 1599 - Book 5 - p. 125 detail.

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Date:1599

Description:The law of Venice inspired Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

The trial in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (4,1, lines 15-36) of Antonio for non-repayment to Shylock of his loan, and the resulting justice against the jew for threatening the merchant’s life, was written with a knowledge of Venetian law. Shakespeare could have found this information in Lewkenor’s translation of Contarini.


Full title: Gasparo Contarini, The commonwealth and government of Venice. Written by the Cardinal Gaspar Contareno and translated out of Italian into English by Lewes Lewkenor, With sundry other collections, annexed by the translator, With a short chronicle of the lives and raignes of the Venetian dukes. London, Imprinted by John Windet for Edmund Mattes, 1599.


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1570s
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page

Shakespeare may have owned this book. Shakespeare purchased New Place, the largest ...

1590s
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view

A much-used book, possibly owned by Shakespeare. This prayer book, whose dimensions ...

1610s
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.

Duke Theseus’ hounds in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Theseus’s ...

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Donor ref:SR 87.9 Venice [19,575] (32/10582)

Source: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library

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