London Lay Subsidy Roll, St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, naming William Shakespeare as a householder in 1598

Lay subsidies were a type of tax based on personal wealth. In London, the collection of subsidies was managed at the local level of ward and parish. As a result, names listed in the subsidy rolls created from these tax collections constitute a kind of census of householders of substance in each parish. Each collection typically generated one lay subsidy roll and one default roll for each ward. For a full explanation, and references to associated documents, see “William Shakespeare as taxpayer and tax defaulter.”

The Lay Subsidy Roll for St. Helen’s parish, Bishopsgate ward, 1598, lists “William Shakespeare” among the seventy-odd householders of the parish:

William Shakespeare vli  xiijs iiijd

Shakespeare’s wealth is estimated at £5, on which he is to pay 13s 4d in tax, calculated at 2s 8d per pound.

Shakespeare is one of seven householders tagged with the notation “Affid.,” an abbreviation of “Affidavit,” signifying that for some reason money was not collected, the collectors swearing an affidavit or oath absolving themselves of the responsibility to make payment from their own purses.

This roll implies the existence of a default roll, now lost, similar to the surviving default roll for 1597, listing William Shakespeare along with the other six defaulters of the parish.

Three subsequent documents, called Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, Accounts of Subsidies, from 1598-9, October 6, 1599, and October 6, 1600, track the crown’s attempts to recover the unpaid tax of 13s 4d.

This Lay Subsidy Roll reveals that in 1598 William Shakespeare was, or recently had been, a householder in the parish of St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate. Due to incomplete documentation, it is not known when he first took up residence in the parish.