William Shakespeare at Oxford

King James I visited Oxford on 27 August 1605 and an entertainment was provided for him at St. John's College: a performance of a playlet called "Tres Sibyllae." It showed the prophecies by the three witches about the Scottish royal ancestors of James, as seen by Macbeth (described in Holinshed's Chronicles; see "Holinshed" in "Primary Renaissance Texts" in Performance Bibliographies under "During Shakespeare's Time"). Whether Shakespeare actually saw this performance, as portrayed in this Edwardian postcard, is uncertain, but his hearing of it might have suggested to him the concept for "Macbeth." HMR