Religious views of William Shakespeare the Anglican church in Stratford in order for his wedding to be performed as a Catholic sacrament. He was thought to have rushed his marriage ceremony, as Anne was three months pregnant. In 1611 the historian John Speed asserted Shakespeare's links with Catholicism, accusing him of satirising in "Henry IV" the Lollard (or proto-Protestant) martyr John Oldcastle (first portrayed by Shakespeare under his character's real name, then the alias John Falstaff after complaints from Oldcastle's descendants) and linking the playwright with Jesuit Robert Persons, describing them together as "the Papist and his poet". Modern critics have attributed other motives for
Sir John Pakington, 4th Baronet Sir John Pakington, 4th Baronet Sir John Pakington, 4th Baronet (1671–1727) of Westwood, near Droitwich, Worcestershire was a British politician. He was the only son of Sir John Pakington, 3rd Baronet and educated at St John’s College, Oxford. He succeeded his father to the baronetcy and Westwood House in 1688. He represented Aylesbury and Worcestershire in Parliament, where he was known for his Tory and High Church views. In the latter part of the eighteenth century he was said to be the model for Roger de Coverley, the mildly satirical figure of the Tory gentry guyed in "The Spectator", though