Alibech, Rustico, and Boccaccio's Decameron

Topic: Alibech, Rustico, and Boccaccio's Decameron

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• A National Archives catalogue record describes:

“Sixteen newsletters addressed to Thomas Savell of London by an anonymous correspondent, dated from Rome and Venice; in Italian”

• The same record gives the reference:

“PRO 30/50/70/2”

• The same record dates the item:

“1591 Sept-Nov”

• A 2026-04-21 web audit treats the National Archives Discovery record as the only external catalog-level control currently available for the PRO 30/50/70/2 newsletter packet. The Discovery site confirms the item identity at catalog level but does not expose the reverse-side handwriting images in this packet.

• The Decameron story named by the scribbles is Boccaccio's Day 3, Tale 10: the story of Alibech and Rustico. Brown University's Decameron Web provides both English and Italian text witnesses for III.10, making it the preferred public scholarly control for the story identification until a specific early-modern edition/source witness is chosen.

• The working Billingbear transcription and direct PNG inspection now support the separate "two Decamerons" library point:
• IMG_8177.png: Il Decameron di Boccaccio ... Salviati 1527
• IMG_8181.png: Il Decamerone di M. Giovan Boccaccio ... Vinc. Valg. ... 1555

• The estate-list line-image side of the Decameron evidence is therefore now strengthened, but this does not close the separate surviving-volume/shelfmark question, and it does not independently verify the 1591 Alibech/Rustico scribbles.

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• A Ken Feinstein blog post dated 15 Jan. 2020 identifies a 1591 document in which Neville wrote “Alibech”, “Rustico”, and “Rusticuccio” on the back of an Italian newsletter sent through Thomas Savile.

• The preserved Ken Feinstein blog post argues that the Alibech/Rustico story is relevant to Shakespearean material in:
• All's Well That Ends Well
• Cymbeline
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• Sonnet 144
• “The Alibech and Rustico story (from the Decameron) is extremely lewd, involving seduction with language equating the act to "putting the devil into hell."”
• “Sonnet 144, published in 1599, appears to allude directly to this story through its language of devils, hell, and temptation.”
• “"Rusticuccio" employs Italian diminutive suffixes, paralleling how "Petruchio/Petruccio" derives from "Pietro" in The Taming of the Shrew, written around 1591 -- precisely when Neville made these scribbles.”
• The preserved Ken Feinstein tweet trail also states that Neville owned two copies of the Decameron and that the scribbles are important for Shakespeare authorship arguments.

3. Citations

• “Sixteen newsletters addressed to Thomas Savell of London by an anonymous correspondent, dated from Rome and Venice; in Italian.” The National Archives Discovery, PRO 30/50/70/2, 1591 Sept-Nov, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6744768.
• Boccaccio, Giovanni. Decameron, Day 3, Tale 10, “Alibech and Rustico.” Brown University, Decameron Web, English text, https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/texts/DecShowText.php?myID=nov03010&lang=eng; Italian text, https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/texts/DecShowText.php?myID=nov03010&lang=it.
• Billingbear Book List Transcription, IMG_8177.png and IMG_8181.png. Working local transcription: Billingbear_Book_List_Transcription.md. Page images: IMG_8177.png; IMG_8181.png.
• Feinstein, Ken. “Henry Neville, Shakespeare, and Boccaccio's Decameron.” kenfeinstein.blogspot.com, 15 Jan. 2020, https://kenfeinstein.blogspot.com/2020/01/henry-neville-shakespeare-and.html. Local preservation: blog_boccaccio_decameron_2020-01-15.md.
• Feinstein, Ken. “Big Discovery: In 1591 Henry Neville wrote these scribbles on the back of an Italian news letter. It relates directly to Boccaccio's Decameron, a major source for the works of Shakespeare.” X, 15 Jan. 2020, https://twitter.com/user/status/1217456057154301956. Local archive: twitter_Books_Read.md.
• Feinstein, Ken. “The Decameron is a source for the works of Shakespeare. Henry Neville owned two copies of the book. He wrote Alibech and Rustico, an unambiguous reference to the book, on the back of a letter in 1591.” X, 17 Jan. 2020, https://twitter.com/user/status/1218231986415816704. Local archive: Books_Read.md.
• Feinstein, Ken. “Thomas Savile forwarded Neville newsletters in Italian. Because Henry Neville could read Italian and was very interested in Italy. Here on the back of one of them he scribbles “Alibech and Rustico” a reference to the Decameron — a major Shakespeare source.” X, 8 Jan. 2024, https://twitter.com/user/status/1744410550828941718. Local archive: twitter_Books_Read.md.
• Feinstein, Ken. “Shakespeare Authorship Day 9: Henry Neville made these scribbles in 1591 which reference Boccaccio's Decameron. At precisely the same time Two Gentlemen of Verona was being written with that book as one of it's sources.” X, 1 Jan. 2021, https://twitter.com/user/status/1344910344292978688. Local archive: twitter_Books_Read.md.
• tweet_figures/billingbear_decameron.jpg, local figure file connected to this document cluster.

4. Local Image Witnesses

5. Notes on Access

• This packet is anchored by the National Archives Discovery record PRO 30/50/70/2 plus Ken Feinstein blog/tweet/image material about the scribbles on the back of that newsletter item.
• The packet still does not include an independent archival transcription of the newsletter back with the Alibech/Rustico scribbles themselves.
• Brown University's Decameron Web confirms that Alibech/Rustico is a real and distinctive Decameron reference, but it does not by itself prove that Neville made the scribbles or that the scribbles were Shakespeare-source notes.
• The Billingbear Decameron entries now have estate-list line-image support through the working transcription and PNG inspection. That strengthens the library/source-book context, but it should not be substituted for direct archival verification of the Alibech/Rustico handwriting on PRO 30/50/70/2.
• Claims about Shakespeare-source importance are preserved as Ken Feinstein interpretation rather than recast here as neutral fact.
• Related play/source packets to cross-check later include:
• play_alls_well_that_ends_well.md
• play_cymbeline.md
• play_merry_wives_of_windsor.md
• northumberland_manuscript.md