Bardolatry: The Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 Zöe Wilcox – Lead Curator of Shakespeare in Ten Acts Exhibition I'm here in the British Library exhibition Shakespeare in Ten Acts. And I'm standing in the part of the exhibition which explores the theme of...
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Bardolatry: The Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 Zöe Wilcox – Lead Curator of Shakespeare in Ten Acts Exhibition I'm here in the British Library exhibition Shakespeare in Ten Acts. And I'm standing in the part of the exhibition which explores the theme of bardolatry. Bardolatry was a term coined by George Bernard Shaw in 1901 to describe the kind of god-like worship of Shakespeare that we're pretty familiar with today. And although it was only coined in the 20th century, it's actually a phenomenon that dates back much, much earlier than that. So in Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, there had been early signs of bardolatry in the century or so following Shakespeare's death where people would visit the town to look at the famous mulberry tree that Shakespeare supposedly planted in his garden at New Place. And they also requested copies of Shakespeare's funeral bust as well. It wasn't really until 1769 that bardolatry really took off. And that's because this was the year that Stra
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