Jane Austen is considered to be one of the greatest authors of all time. While her works often revolve around love, some recently discovered documents suggest she had quite a sense of humor.
Jane was the daughter of George Austen, a reverend at the local church. One of his duties was to maintain their marriage registry, which meant Jane would have had easy access to those records. That’s apparently something she took advantage of as a teenager.
The Hampshire County Council recently unearthed documents announcing two marriages for Jane, one to Henry Frederick Howard Fitzsimmon of London and another to Edmund Arthur William Mortimer of Liverpool. The only problem is that Jane never got married.
It’s clearly a prank she pulled off as a teenager, revealing a funny side to this amazing woman.
Nobody knows for certain if either of these men existed, but they did show up later on in her books. Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park and Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Maybe Jane just couldn’t choose between these two men and married each of them fictitiously, thereby having her cake and eating it too.
Watch this video for some interesting facts about Jane Austen.
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