Pope Sixtus V renewed the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I in 1588 in support of the Spanish Armada

 

 In 1588 there sat in the see of Rome a fierce thundering friar, that would set all at six and seven, or at six and five if you allude to his name.

-- Francis Bacon 

Samuel Johnson was evidently a January 6th kind of Twelfth Nighter, not a January 5th

 

 

Twelfth Night, or What You Will (to give the play its full title) was probably commissioned for performance as part of the Twelfth Night celebrations held by Queen Elizabeth I at Whitehall Palace on 6 January 1601 to mark the end of the embassy of the Italian diplomat, the Duke of Orsino. It was again performed at Court on Easter Monday in 1618 and on Candlemas night in 1623.     

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