Shakespeare In Love--A problem with facts

The film Shakespeare in Love is a good chick flick. Its main theme concerns love, there is some romantic-y comedy and there is a self-affirming unhappy ending. It also tends to be entertaining enough to watch from beginning to end without going "is there anything else on".  At least for most people.

However as a History major I find the historical inaccuracies extremely distracting.

In no particular order

Issue #1:
When Will Shakespeare goes to Burbage to sell him his new play he claims that Henslowe gave him ten pounds for the play first. Burbage offers Shakespeare 2 Sovereigns with a promise of 2 more. 4 Sovereigns is equivalent to 4 pounds which is less than 10 pounds! You'd think if he wanted the play more he'd offer more for it than Henslowe!

Issue #2:
The Earl of Wessex says he is leaving for Virginia to grow tobacco. The movie is set in 1593, a time period where there would not have been a tobacco colony in Virginia. The colony was not established permanently until 1607 under James I. Sir Walter Raleigh received charter rights from Elizabeth the first to explore North America in 1585. The colony established by Raleigh was the Roanoke colony that infamously failed and had disappeared when English resuppliers returned in 1590. Even at that time they were not growing tobacco, but looking for gold and other precious metals.

Issue#3
There are two times in history that an "Earl of Wessex" has existed. The first time was in pre-normandy England where the Earldom of Wessex was a peerage of the man who would eventually become King Harold II (the same king killed during the battle of hastings in 1066). It was then passed onto William FitzOsbern where it was eventually assimiliated into the earldom of Hereford.
The earldom of Wessex was created again in 1999 for Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II. (The funny thing is that normally younger sons of English Monarchs are given dukedoms...the king and queen are promising Edward the dukedom of Edinburgh after Edward's father, Prince Philip dies. I wonder what Edward did to get this slight, since he supposed to get Cambridge or Sussex).
So obviously there was no Wessex in 1593.

Issue #4
The band playing at the party has a lutist in it who has an instrument with frets. I don't think that musicians in the 16th century had instruments with frets on them.

Besides that, good movie. for the most part. (I still think Saving Private Ryan deserved the best picture oscar for that year)


I felt like gushing. Other than that. Its a great film!