Who Wrote Shakespeare? - The Dark Lady Discovery

for more info see www.darkladyplayers.com John Hudson has discovered the real author of Shakespeare's Plays. Amelia Bassano Lanier - A Black Jewish woman who many suspected was Shakespeare's Dark Lady.

[@fundo6666]

40% of English people don't believe Shakespeare wrote his plays?! Are you mental?! I'd wager way more than 60% of the English don't even KNOW that there's a question of authorship!

[@lionsden6457]

A lot of you people are going to have a hard time swallowing the fact that a black woman possibly wrote all of Shakespeare's plays....

[@lionsden6457]

+GerMart Why don't you do the research? All of this woman's legal and medical documents describe her as "black." Your comment has proven my statement to be very true...so I say again, A LOT OF YOU PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HAVE A HARD TIME SWALLOWING THE FACT THAT A BLACK WOMAN POSSIBLY WROTE ALL OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS. Btw, I hold a master's degree in English Literature and spent years extensively studying the history of William Shakespeare. I'm not just on here making idle comments like some of you.

[@maximus0307]

+Danielle Dixon dude she wasnt blaack, she had a dark skin tone like maybe a lebanese or palestinian or italian would, thats fare from black...

[@blackmetalmagick1]

You're right I have a hard time swallowing that. Don't be ridiculous.

[@DavidMacDowellBlue]

+Danielle Dixon I wouldn't have a problem with the idea if there were any evidence at all backing up the idea--as well as noting there is lots of evidence strongly indicating this guy from Stratford-upon-Avon named William Shakespeare wrote the plays. I would also point out the "expert" cited in this begins his entire case by making assumptions about Shakespeare's accent--an accent for which there is no evidence whatsoever! He blithely (if typically) ignores the Ardens, Shakespeare's mother's family (who were gentry) as well as the London-born teachers at the Grammar School we have every reason to suppose the son of the Chief Alderman attended (although the school kept no records of the students who attended in this period). It is as if he presumes close family members and teachers paid to instruct children on how to speak would have zero impact! Or that he himself knows what Shakespeare sounded like at all! This is the kind of sloppy "scholarship" that permeates Anti-Stratfordian theory. Assumptions taken as fact without bothering to double check anything is fairly typical--like looking at the wills of other men we know owned large libraries. Sometimes such libraries are mentioned in their wills and sometimes not. So that lack in Shakespeare's will means exactly nothing. Just as the lack of reference to any copyright--a legal concept which did not exist at the time--is also meaningless. The other great factor in Anti-Stratfordian theory is different standards of evidence. If you dismiss the kinds of evidence historians use to assign W.S. the authorship, then there is no evidence of anyone being the author at all. If however you use the kinds of evidence Anti-Stratfordians insist "prove" the Earl of Oxford, the Dark Lady, Chritopher Marlowe, etc. wrote the plays, then by THAT standard W.S. simply must have written them because then the evidence is absolutely overwhelming! There is no "fact" a black woman wrote these plays because there is no credible evidence for it. It would be terribly exciting if there were! But there isn't. There are many other extremely fine black women playwrights--one I'm firmly convinced would be remembered with Tennessee Wiliams, Shakespeare, Albee and Anton Chekhov had she only lived. But that is a different story.

[@len6842]

I agree with you 1000%. In the UK, I saw Black students rap "Shakespear", and the rap had a nice flow. Now, I don't know how others think it is possible that a white man who could barely write his own name could possibly right plays with complex sentence structure AND has the ability to be rapped.

[@mitchellriggs]

The sonnets aren't his. There, I claimed it. Why does the idea of a highly educated woman (with compatible life experience) writing these works seem so far fetched? I believe Shakespeare served as curator and producer. This is much more plausible than than someone of Shakespeare's background actually writing this volume of work.

[@joannemoore3976]

For goodness sake. Most of Shakespeare's contemporary playwrights came from similar backgrounds.

[@MatchlessAbove]

@@joannemoore3976 Shakespeare left school at 14 had illiterate parents never left. Any recorded books made scripts or documents behind. Never wrote any letters to anyone and never wrote anything in front of anyone or left anything behind that anyone know of other than about six signatures and three of them were on his wheel and none of them was almost legible or looked alike so you tell me where did he get all this great knowledge and experience and understanding from answer that question because people like to downplay different things because of a woman or because of this black Jewish inheritance so tell me where did he get his understanding and knowledge from and where did he get all this verbiage from to write so many plays and write books, but there’s no evidence that he wrote any of them and no one ever seen them write and nothing is left behind. Where is the evidence?

[@joannemoore3976]

@@MatchlessAbove sorry but you have no evidence of what Shakespeare was doing between leaving school and first mention of him as an actor and playwright. Also no evidence as to whether his father was illiterate and it's not relevant anyway since no one is saying John Shakespeare wrote the works. There are surviving letters written to Shakespeare and he seems to have been a pretty successful business man as well. When his coat of arms permission was questioned, the response referred to him as an actor. When he appeared in court as a witness to a dispute with his old landlord in Silver Street he is clearly referred to as William Shakespeare, gentleman, of Stratford-upon-Avon. We therefore have definite evidence of Shakespeare of Stratford living in London and known for his theatrical connection. Add to that the fact he is referenced by many of his contemporaries as a playwright, listed as a shareholder in the company, and celebrated by his fellow actors and playwrights and ask yourself why, if you are correct, all of these people colluded and chose an obscure person you claim never left Stratford... it does make any kind of sense. Finally, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence - that's not how history works. The fact no letters in his hand have survived proves nothing apart from the transitory nature of much of the evidence of the past.

[@joannemoore3976]

Doesn't make sense I meant

[@joannemoore3976]

@@mitchellriggs you do realise Ben Johnson came from much the same background right?

[@Manoo62]

Easily the best argument I have heard for who actually wrote Shakespeares literary works.

[@mickmaphari6606]

Mark Twain once said something like: "No, William Shakespeare did not write those plays, they were written by another man, who was born at the same time and in the same place, and who also happened to be called William Shakespeare." An explanation could be that the plays were written by a secret group of adepts, including women, in which the man Shakespeare was a leading light. There is evidence that he was some kind of 'style consultant' employed in the production of the King James Bible. Many scholars are unable to understand genius. The modernist Portuguese poet, Fernando Pessoa is an example of genius closer to our time. His works, written under several 'heteronyms', are immensely wide ranging in scope: in style, learning, literary form and so on, and would appear to be the work of several brilliant minds. Shakespeare is sometimes reviled for coming from the provinces and being of 'lower class' a man who didn't even attend a University ... as if being upper class, university educated and metropolitan, bestows upon a man the gift of genius too ... Far far from it. There are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy.

[@whitehair8824]

Absolutely perfect analysis.. Shakespeare was a genius! Alot of these people don't like to think of a normal mam being blessed with such a genius . The muses Gabe him the gift and they will do everything not to believe it

[@TotinosOtherBoy]

"Hur dur a black woman wrote all Shakespeares plays he couldn't even read or write!" *[CITATION HEAVILY NEEDED]*

[@georgeshimanovich217]

Not black, pal. Bassano's dad was morano Jew, so by stupid PC standards she was WHITE.

[@TheMaleak]

@@georgeshimanovich217 You are wrong! She had dark skin. It's the truth so get over it. The Jews are converts

[@ashiacameron]

@@TheMaleak say it again

[@dadajonjon777]

​@@TheMaleak the Jews were not converts

[@evukelectricvehicles]

It's long been pretty obvious that various playwrights including women - often aristocratic, highly-educated and well-travelled - submitted their plays to London's theatre-owners. Many if not most of them sought anonymity(not money) and aimed to (politically) influence London's mixed-class theatre audiences for reasons that have been thoroughly researched and elucidated elsewhere - even in the Shakespeare authorship movie "Anonymous" starring Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave. However that movie/film and its director and actors conspicuously avoid even suggesting that a woman may have written some or all of William Shak'pear's(spelling!?) works - despite the fact that women had one major additional reason to hide their true identities: women were still not permitted to write plays in ostensibly enlightened and liberal Elizabethan England. In fact the 2010 hit movie revival "St.Trinians - Fritton's Gold" starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth and David Tennant is infinitely bolder in that respect. In the following two film clips the St.Trinians' girls discover the truth( "Shakespeare was a woman!") in the hidden vaults of London's Globe Theatre during a performance of Romeo and Juliet: 1)kzbin.info/www/bejne/foXSdH6Xi9migsk 2)kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGWahaOQftSneacsi=vpEHdgMBmbQCYygQ Paul G

[@librarylu]

"Who would have ordered De Ver to write under another name?" Elizabeth, for one. Not only was play writing not respectable, it was dangerous. Kyd was tortured for writing a slanderous play. "Augustine Phillips, one of the heads of the company was tortured and questioned by government officials but the company was cleared of any wrong doing." hudsonshakespeare . org Why wouldn't the author have been tortured along with Phillips? Perhaps Elizabeth knew Shakpere wasn't the author.

[@bondurango]

Hudson's problem is that Marlowe didn't die. His essay on Marlowe proves he was an atheist who discovered that the Gospels were written by Josephus & the Flavian emperors of Rome & says nothing about his death (see Ros Barber on Marlowe's escape). If Marlowe escaped to Venice, then he (not Lanier) is the true author of Shakespeare's work. Lanier, as pointed out by Hudson's friend, Joseph Atwill, was actually Marlowe's wife, which accounts for her connection to the plays.

[@librarylu]

Spenser's work on Northern Ireland was apparently suppressed (he favored a scorched earth policy). He was driven from his home by Irish rebels in The Nine Years war. Kathman says Spenser " was unquestionably regarded by his contemporaries as the greatest English poet since Chaucer; in fact, he was compared to Chaucer so often that it almost became a cliche... Unlike the other three men, Spenser's fame was entirely due to his poetry (he was a civil servant all of his adult life)."

[@1000buffalos]

The entire concept of Shakespeare as the author of these incredible works is the ludicrous one, and if any conspiracy exists, is the one forced upon history. The lady in question had ample opportunity to be informed enough to conceive of such stories.

[@whitehair8824]

He wrote the plays man. There's some realy interesting points here but if he hadn't written them then someone would ha e just come out with it after his death..like actually didn't write them ... Why the huge cover up at the time. He by no means as famous he is now...

[@momchilandonov]

@@whitehair8824 There is a simple explanation. His works become a lot more famous AFTER his death and are a big deal in 20th century and not so much couple of centuries ago.

[@mitchellriggs]

​@@whitehair8824 Not a "coverup" . Women were simply not allowed to publish. Shakespeare curated the plays under his name. There was no other path to publication at the time. I don't think this is complicated enough to qualify as a conspiracy.

[@AmahJones]

Were Shakespeare's Plays Actually Written By a Black Jewish Woman? This year commemorates the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, yet the question of the true authorship of his plays persists. Among the contenders, some advocate for Aemelia Bassano, a black Jewish woman, as the rightful playwright. When interviewed, Canadian journalist and author Michael Posner presented the evidence supporting his assertion thus: Why does the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays remain contentious? Posner highlights the scarcity of verifiable facts surrounding Shakespeare’s life, leaving questions about his extensive knowledge and the absence of any mention of his literary works in his will. Who are the potential authors besides Shakespeare? Various candidates have been proposed over the years, including Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, Christopher Marlowe, and Aemelia Bassano, who stands out for her diverse background and unique qualifications. What evidence supports Bassano’s candidacy? John Hudson, a proponent of Bassano’s authorship argues that her feminist perspective and expertise in areas such as music and Italian language align more with the content of Shakespeare’s works than Shakespeare’s own background suggests. What specific expertise did Bassano possess? Bassano hailed from a family of professional court musicians, providing her with an intimate understanding of music, Italian language, and culture, all of which are evident in Shakespeare’s writings. Are there any Jewish influences in Shakespeare’s plays? References to Jewish sources and themes in Shakespeare’s works, coupled with Bassano’s Jewish heritage, lend credence to the idea of her authorship in the subtle encoding of her name in certain plays. Did Bassano ever claim authorship? Given the societal constraints on women’s roles in Elizabethan England, Bassano might have discreetly signaled her authorship through subtle references in the text of Shakespeare’s plays, offering future generations clues to her true identity. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of playwright William Shakespeare, yet doubt remains about the authorship of the plays attributed to him. Some believe that a Jewish woman - Aemelia Bassano - is the true playwright. I asked Canadian journalist and author Michael Posner to lay out the evidence for this claim. ReformJudaism.org: Why is authorship of Shakespeare’s plays still an issue in some circles? Michael Posner: Verifiable facts of Shakespeare’s life are few. He acted in two of English playwright Ben Jonson’s plays, owned shares of the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars, sued people for petty sums, and bought land in Stratford. It remains a mystery, though, how he acquired his knowledge of foreign languages, where he developed dramatic mastery of the Elizabethan law, the royal court, mathematics, medicine, falconry, astronomy, and the military - to which he had no known exposure. And why did he leave a last will and testament that made no mention of anything he wrote? His name appeared on many of the plays, but no evidence demonstrates that he actually wrote them. In his diary, Jonson noted that although Shakespeare passed manuscripts of plays to the actors, who in their “ignorance” admired Shakespeare for providing clean copies, he was to be “most faulted” for telling them the copies were his original drafts. If Shakespeare didn’t write the plays, who did? The Shakespeare Authorship Trust, which was founded in 1922 “to seek…the truth concerning the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays and poems,” has endorsed about a dozen candidates, among them statesman and essayist Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere (the Earl of Oxford), playwright Christopher Marlowe, and Aemelia Bassano, daughter of a Venetian-born court musician and converso - a Jew who was forced to convert to Christianity but remained secretly Jewish. What evidence do we have to support the view that Bassano might have written the plays? The principal proponent of this view, John Hudson - a graduate of the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham, England - doubts that a man whose works portray strong, well-educated, proto-feminist women would raise his own daughters (as Shakespeare did) as illiterate. Such portrayals of women are more likely to come from the pen of Aemelia Bassano (1569-1645), a feminist and writer who possessed knowledge that Shakespeare seemingly lacked. In 1611, she distinguished herself as being the first woman to publish a work of original verse in the English language, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (Hail God, King of the Jews). What specific areas of expertise did Bassano possess that Shakespeare supposedly lacked? Shakespeare’s works contain some 2,000 musical references, many displaying a firm grasp of musical intricacies. Bassano’s 15 closest relatives were professional court musicians, among them Robert Johnson, the most popular musical composer for the plays attributed to Shakespeare. The playwright had to have known Italian well enough to make elaborate puns and to have read Dante and others in the original language. Bassano likely spoke Italian fluently, as attested to by letters written in Italian from her family to Queen Elizabeth. In 1592, the very year when the playwright started writing Italian marriage comedies, Bassano left the court - where she had been the longtime mistress of Lord Chamberlain, patron to the very company that mounted the Shakespeare works - and rejoined her family in Italy. One of Iago’s speeches in Othello describes a distinctive fresco painted on a house in Aemelia’s family hometown of Bassano. Whoever wrote the text must have visited the town, which was not a likely tourist destination. Are there any Jewish sources in the plays that would support the Bassano authorship theory? In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Mishnah’s Tractate Nedarim (The Book of Vows) is used to structure how Helena, the daughter of her absent father Nedar (in Hebrew nedar is an adjective that means “missing” or “absent,” and as a noun it means “pledge” or “vow”), compares herself to Hermia. Her criteria - beauty, fairness, and height - are the very same and in the same order as those in the tractate to determine the annulment of marriage vows. It’s highly unlikely, says Hudson, that the young man from Stratford somehow learned Hebrew and immersed himself in the Talmud. Did Bassano ever claim to be the playwright? As women were forbidden to write plays for the stage in Elizabethan England, Bassano may have signaled her claim to authorship by encoding her name in plays. In Othello, Emilia says, “Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan. And die in music. [Singing] willough, willough, willough” (Act V, Scene 2). The same swan analogy appears in King John, where it is associated with John’s son, and in Merchant of Venice, associated with the character Bassanio. All four names - Emilia, Willough, Johnson, and Bassanio - correspond to her own names: her baptismal name (Aemelia), her mother’s name (Johnson), her adopted name (Willoughby), and her family name (Bassano). Hudson believes these names were deliberately inserted by Bassano as clues, so that future generations could discover the author’s true identity. reformjudaism.org/blog/were-shakespeares-plays-actually-written-jewish-woman

[@librarylu]

"and mentions the actors comments about how Shaekespeare could write quickly without crossing out." This was a convention. Courtiers were supossed to be able to dash off poetry without raising a sweat. The same device was used in Amadeus regarding Mozart.

[@DrWrapperband]

It sounds more like an in joke, no one could write such intricate poetry or plays without corrections and that it was obviously inferring his was a copy of the original.

[@vivcroot8410]

Henry VI was not a Tudor....which kind of makes me wonder about the rest of the thesis

[@heliotropezzz333]

I note that the Francis Bacon advocates indicate that some of Shakespeare's plays were written after 1604 when De Vere died. If no one claimed to be Shakespeare during his lifetime, I for one am content for the Stratford man to have the credit.

[@librarylu]

"Timber" was published posthumously. This is where the "blotted out a thousand" line appears. The relatives couldn't have done much to him after he was dead. Pembroke died in 1630, Jonson in 1637. Jonson was often in trouble for his remarks and writings (he even killed a man). He was arrested and jailed for Isle of Dogs co-written with Nashe. He satirized poets in his plays; they retaliated in kind. He's another example of a playwright who could drink too much and still write fine plays. ;)

[@heliotropezzz333]

There are a lot of references to the sort of wildflowers that grew in Warwickshire in the plays, and other rural references including the setting of one play in the forest of Arden. Coming from Warwickshire I recognise the references as real. It looks like some pooling or combination of knowledge is going on in the plays. They don't sound like wholly attributable to Amelia.

[@TennisBlossom]

Thank You for the post!

[@mitchellriggs]

@m1klgordon , your argument ignores that fact that women were simply not allowed to publish plays. If I understand you correctly, you think that Shakespeare learned everything he needed to understand in a year? Is that really a more plausible scenario?

[@DerekHunterDHChaosRiddler]

If all it came down to was about having your name on a work, then that would be mean would have to include Arden of Faversham, Yorkshire Tragedy, the Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine, Mucedorus the King's Son of Valentia, The London Prodigal, Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cromwell, King Edward the Third, Sir Thomas More, Faire Em, Edmund Ironside, The Second Maiden's Tragedy, The Puritaine Widow, Thomas of Woodstock, The Merry Devil of Edmonton. These all had Shakespeare's name as the author.

[@DerekHunterDHChaosRiddler]

For about 15 years I believed it was either Edward de Vere who wrote the plays and poems or, in more recent years, Christopher Marlowe (who by the way seems to have had a relationship with Emilia Bassano Lanier and a fair youth as well and so the Sonnets, most of them, were written probably by him). I recently discovered a theory put out by a man named Joseph Atwill that the Romans created Christianity to suit their purposes, one of which was to destroy a Jewish resistance to Roman power.

[@librarylu]

"Ben Jonson said that Shakespeare was the author." Jonson was in the employ of the Earl of Pembroke during the compilation of the First Folio. The folio was dedicated to Pembroke and Montgomery, Mary Sidney's sons. Montgomery was married to Susan Vere, Edward's youngest daughter. Susan is known to have acted in some of Ben Jonson's masques.

[@librarylu]

I'd suggest Mark Anderson's "Shakespeare" By Another Name. Agree or not, it's a rousing good read and a fascinating portrait of Elizabethan England.

[@librarylu]

There are two surviving signatures of Susanna's on documents. Being able to write her name doesn't necessarily mean she could write anything else. Hamnet would not have been eligible for the King Edward School (according to them) because his father wasn't a burgess. Did you see my post on The Shakespeare Enigma on the schoolboy in Jacques' speech and the mural in Siena ? The walk from the alleged birthplace on Henley Street to the Grammar School would have taken between 5 and 6 minutes:

[@joannemoore3976]

Actually any boy in Stratford-upon-Avon could go to the grammar school. The reason it tended to be boys whose families were relatively well off, was because they were needed to help earn money for the family.

[@72Yonatan]

Wagner researched his book very well, and there is already evidence in the British Museum, in famous scholarly libraries of Europe, and in the plays themselves. You should make yourself a copy of the Elizabethan ciper table, however. It will help you follow the discussion in the online form of the book. One strong piece of evidence is the names written inside the passport of Anthony Bacon, which appear as four characters in one of the plays-British Museum. Lavish praise followed Bacon's death.

[@bcole1240]

Great presentation so much of history most be retold so much lies have been told the truth is offend a offence.

[@heliotropezzz333]

Gentle does not always mean that. There is a perfectly good use of the word with its other meaning. Also Shakespeare's father did claim noble ancestry (as did his mother) and a heraldic shield was applied for and granted to the family.

[@modifiedcontent]

This Dark Lady connection is yet another obvious argument for the theory that Christopher Marlowe = Shakespeare. Read the biographical info about Amelia Bassano Lanier on this link - marlowe-shakespeare.blogspot.ca/2011/09/marlowe-and-dark-lady-by-maureen-duff.html - She came from Venice! And the sonnets were written in the years around the time Marlowe supposedly died; he didn't he escaped to Venice.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@librarylu Shakespeare's genius was often in the way he reworked old stories and plays.

[@robertpadgett4192]

Congratulations on solving one of the greatest mysteries in Western literature!

[@angelialvares]

I was at a poetry reading some years ago and read out the part where Romeo sees Juliet at the balcony and he cries out, 'What yonder light through window breaks...It is the East and Juliet is the SUN!" It struck me then and there that the play was written by a woman because no man at that time of History (or even today for that matter) would ever call a woman the Sun!....Then of course, all the plays had Italian names, took place in Italy, had the language of the Court a most delightful poetry.....so I wondered what role this fellow Shakespeare had to play in these works? It was obvious to me that Emelia who spoke the language of the Court would not have been able to write the servants parts in the play and here is where Shakespeare. a butcher by profession came in and supplied the language servants and the labour class spoke. Shakespeare was a businessman is clear from the fact he owned the theatre, 'The Globe" which was later burned down...perhaps by angry relatives of Bassano as he did not clarify the authorship of the plays by Bassano Lanier. A hundred years earlier, Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake for leading French soldiers against the British, and who knows how many others were burnt as witches for daring to write plays and books of interest. Women were not even allowed to act in plays leave alone write them! The Shakespearean plays, all the female parts were acted by males. In that scenario it would have been even dangerous to reveal the true authorship of a woman writing the plays....So it really makes sense that the actual writer of the plays was a woman with a feminist attitude and one who was perhaps also thrown out of a previous marriage due to a discovery that she really wrote the plays from the British court. Of course John Hudson gives a more educated and technical explanation as to why Emelia really wrote the plays and we have to be truly grateful for his research and input in the matter.

[@librarylu]

I've found Henslowe's diary and Alleyn's memoirs online but I'm not sure how accurate or complete they are. That is great news.

[@MrDoremouse]

Hello sir. I wonder if I can interest you in the latest book I've been reading ? Michael Wood's 'In Search of Shakespeare' gives evidence that William Shakespeare was the real author of the plays. Wood shows there is Warwickshire dialect in the plays, including 'kecksies' (a term for grass that children used to make whistling sounds, which is still in use today). He also mentions Robert Greene's pamphlet from around 1592 which puns Shakespeare's name and alludes to Henry VI part 3.

[@librarylu]

The death of Prince Henry in 1612 at the age of eighteen, probably from typhoid, and the departure for Heidelberg of the sixteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth in April 1613, after marrying Elector Frederick V of the Palatine, further weakened the family ties binding Anne and James. Henry's death hit Anne particularly hard; the Venetian ambassador was advised not to offer condolences to her 'because she cannot bear to have it mentioned; nor does she ever recall it without abundant tears and sighs'.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@librarylu John Cooke in his epigrams 1604 refers to Shakespeare, Jonson and Green as writers. John Manningham, a lawyer, in his diary of 1603 refers to Shakespeare, Jonson and Greene as poets.

[@librarylu]

Don't forget some 200 source texts, many of which were never translated into English. How much time would it take to read them all? Hamlet is thought to be based on Beowolf, but the only copy was in Lord Burghley's household - The Nowell Codex. Nowell was (drumroll) Edward de Vere's tutor.

[@72Yonatan]

The plays were published, but they were not owned by the miserly man called Shaksper. He had no education, and it is rumored that he knew Bacon from his childhood, therefore Bacon allowed people to think that he might be the secret author, perhaps. Bacon did not want the Queen to know of his authorship; he hoped she would appoint an heir, but she waited too late and ended up with James Stewart.

[@365DaysOfVerse]

The biggest argument against her being the author is that, while she published poetry and may have been an accomplished poet, there's no evidence that she was a highly skilled dramatist. She could have contributed, certainly, but primary author? There are many interesting coincidences, but all in all it seems far-fetched. Marlowe is a much stronger candidate (as an accomplished dramatist and poet), if you're looking for an alternative author. After all, he began by translating Ovid...

[@MatchlessAbove]

Anything but give a black Jewish woman credit anything just find it from anywhere just not her just put somebody else’s name there. She have the ability to write, but just maybe not be dramatic enough as if life couldn’t have taught her how to be dramatic and all that I’m probably sure that she went through an obstacles of just being a woman then a black Jewish woman, I tell you this to believe but her or them sort of people you know it’s Mar Y Mar

[@heliotropezzz333]

@librarylu Another piece of evidence to link the Stratford Shakespeare with the London Theatre (for those who doubt the link) comes from what is known about his younger brother Edmund, born 1680 in Stratford-on Avon died 1607 in London. Edmund had a son born who died in 1607 and was baptised in St Leonard's church Shoreditch, which is the church where other Shakespearian actors are buried. The child is recorded as "base born" with his father from "Moorfields" location of the Curtain Theatre.

[@antonym811]

I am with you MR and I welcome the theory. The evidence is interesting but not as good as for Munday et al. How could this female, in those times, have attended rehearsals, watched and edited and re-watched and re-edited to polish the plays, as every play, then and now, needed to be. The fact that she was female would have been the talk of the town. Male actors who were not working for an aristocrat were liable to arrest as vagrants. Women, then, were not even allowed to act on stage, there’s the measure of why it could not be a woman author. The sonnets are a better guide to who the author is, and they point strongly away from the life of Stratford-Shakspere and A. B. Lanier. The ‘Fair youth’, for instance, is his son. He is not a mystery, it clearly says it is his son in the sonnets. Stratford’s son died at 11 years old so it cannot be him. Many times, Anthony Munday’s words and ideas re-appear in the later plays by London-Shakespeare. Don’t take my word for it, search ‘Shakespeare and Munday’ and you will find the essay by a leading (Stratfordian) academic. I won't trample on the/your theory further and I thank you for allowing comments.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@librarylu Francis Meres says that Shakespeare was the author of the plays and is complementary about him. So that's a second contemporary writer that attributes the plays to Shakespeare.

[@metyuewb]

I ran into Shakespeare yesterday and he told me he couldn't even write. He tried holding a pen but it continually kept falling out of his hand.

[@mitchellriggs]

?? Your dismissal of the theory with the term conspiracy is unfounded...they could have all written these plays as a group that was organized and produced by Shakespeare. Where are your "proofs" that they were mutually exclusive? It's not a conspiracy that women were not allowed to publish plays. The education and background of Shakespeare make him an unlikely candidate. This is a conclusions, not conspiracy.

[@joannemoore3976]

You know why so many people think Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare? Because of this endless stream of books, articles, and blogs claiming that he didn't, based on no bloody evidence whatsoever.

[@72Yonatan]

The burning issue is not whether Shakes-speare wrote his plays, but who was the author himself. All evidence points to a man of considerable knowledge and genius as being the author. The nome de plume is not in dispute. But the will of someone named "shaksper" - which is not the same name - did that will contain any literary properties? Did anyone write eulogies for this man, or take note of his passing? And what about all the plays that were published/edited after his unremarkable death?

[@librarylu]

@angerdux8 Oxford's surviving poetry was written when he was sixteen or younger (the original compiler, Richard Edwards, died in 1566) and was meant to be sung. He was known as a top courtier poet, but I doubt that his reputation was based on his "dainty devices". See his letter to Thomas Bedingfield for a glimpse of a more mature style, full of Shakespearean sound if not fury. Bacon was de Vere's cousin, and Marlowe lived blocks away from Fisher's Folly.

[@DerekHunterDHChaosRiddler]

As I was looking into this theory of Bassano Lanier as the true author, I went and read the one published work of hers, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, I found it difficult to see the similarities in the style of Shakespeare's plays and poems with this poem of hers. The differences were too vast. So ... what the hell is the answer? I don't know. It's worth mentioning that in those days the NORM for the way plays were written was as collaborations, that multiple writers almost always worked together.

[@mitchellriggs]

I found many examples of terminology coined by Shakespeare that exists only is the plays and "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum". The link is undeniable.

[@Hudson41John]

Amelia was the first woman in England to publish a book of original poetry. Whitney's poetry was (a) not a whole book but in an anthology or (b) not original. Two of Hudson's articles online are "Amelia Bassano Lanier A Ne paradigm" and "Midsummer Night's Dream; A Religious Allegory". Scribd is for working notes for the DLP.

[@heliotropezzz333]

Jonson, in Timber describes Shakespeare as " of an open and free nature, had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and gentle expressions, wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes it was necessary he should be stopped". An aristocrat used to the ways of court would never be "open and honest". It sounds more like someone who grew up in an open and honest atmosphere away from court, and that description and the term "gentle" would fit the characteristics of Midlanders even today.

[@librarylu]

"De Vere was not an actor." He wrote plays and acted. He owned two acting companies, employed Mundy and Lyly, had a lease on Blackfriar's (Jonson wrote almost exclusively for Blackfriar's circa 1600). De Vere stopped publishing under his own name in 1593, the year Venus and Adonis was published. The plot is based on passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The early poetry was written when de Vere was in his twenties. Why wouldn't he mature, especially with travel and lived experience?

[@librarylu]

To Oxfordians the Mousetrap is clearly about the death of de Vere's father. His mother married a former Master of the Horse for the Dudleys, the Queen took some of Edward's lands and gave them to suspected poisoner Robert Dudley. Hamlet would seem to be more de Vere than Beowulf (no dragons). Peregrine Bertie, de Vere's brother-in-law, was an ambassador to the Danish Court. Ophelia would be Anne Cecil, Laertes the wayward Thomas, and Polonius Lord Burghley. De Vere's cousins are there too.

[@librarylu]

In fact it's not known when they were written, only when they were published. Roberts printed many, but after 1604 there were no more revisions by the author. The Tempest was supposed to be based on Strachey, but it's been shown he borrowed from earlier works. De Vere invested in an ill-fated ship as I've mentioned. MacBeth is short and may have been finished by another - Lord Derby, perhaps, de Vere's son-in-law. If the Stratford man wasn't the author, why should he have the credit?

[@librarylu]

"small latin and less Greek" is not a conditional tense." That's the Stratfordian reading. The Oxfordian reading is as I stated. See Whalen's book online for more on this too.

[@librarylu]

Not only was he named in the writ he was named first. The practice was to name the chief culprit first which strongly suggests he was Langley's "enforcer". Langley took out the first writ. "Be it known that Francis Langley craves sureties of the peace against William Gardiner and William Wayte for fear of death, and so forth." Langley was charged with extortion and violence in Star Chamber and was involved with a stolen diamond. "Gentle master William", huh? (Gentle meant "highborn", BTW.)

[@librarylu]

Helio, there's a letter saved to Shaksper asking for a loan. I agree that the author was no idle rich dillettante. Vere was extremely well-educated, a top courtier, took firsts in tournaments, enlisted with the Earl of Sussex for the Scottish campaign, exposed a plot, sat on legal commitees and juries (most notably those of Mary, Essex and Southampton), was known as a prolific poet (described by William Webbe as most excellent among court poets) and excellent musician... Idle? Hardly.

[@antonym811]

Wil Shakespeare was the pen name of Anthony Munday. The early Italianesque plays were by him but all the following ones were collaborations. (Francis Meres’ Paladis Tamia tells us who the other authors were in 1598 and says Munday is ‘our best plotter’. We know the plays with the best plots, don’t we). Look at the Droeshout portrait in the First Folio of Shakespeare plays, 1623. The arms are the front and back of the same arm telling us it’s a puzzle picture and a second person is concealed. There are two crescent moons, one under each eye. The odd-looking bright patch on the head simply says ‘day’. The shadow to the side of the head also says ‘day’. Moon and Day. Monday. The embroidered borders across the jerkin are letters. M, is across the whole chest. The letter n is formed by the right of the M. The odd-looking collar is a letter D, and from the neck down is a letter Y. MNDY, MuNDY. Jonson’s poem on the facing page is, against the odds, devoid of the letters M and Y, the first and last letters of Munday. Now, knowing this, go and stare at the Marshall portrait of 1640.

[@mitchellriggs]

Antony M why not study the actual work and draw conclusions accordingly?

[@heliotropezzz333]

@librarylu It's stretching it a bit to say that the mousetrap is based on De Vere's father. Was De Vere's father murdered by his brother? No Did De Vere's mother marry De Vere's father's brother? No Were Hamlet's lands given to a posioner (no Hamlet remained the heir)

[@MrDoremouse]

My initial reaction to that, based on my very, VERY, limited knowledge of all this, is : ''could be.'' I once got a very convoluted, but plausible e-mail explaining why Bacon was the illegitimate son of Elizabeth 1. I believe there's even a theory that good queen Bess could herself be author of the plays ? Gadzooks !

[@librarylu]

Reality check: "After 1607, she and James rarely lived together, by which time she had borne seven children and suffered at least three miscarriages. After narrowly surviving the birth and death of her last baby, Sophia, in 1607, Annes decision to have no more children may have widened the gulf between her and James."

[@Hudson41John]

Look at the detail! Jonathan Bate in Shakespeare’s Face claims that this was a Warwickshire usage based on a reported use in the mid 20th century which was noted by Hugh Kenner in The Pound Era. The 20th century usage could have been borrowed from the song in Cymbeline, rather than representing a prior tradition 300 years before and does not prove that this usage was exclusive to Warwickshire. Indeed as The English Dialect Dictionary shows it was historically found elsewhere.

[@heliotropezzz333]

Some evidence of Shakespeare being the author. The names of William Fluellen and George Bardolph are found in a list of Stratford recusants beside that of John Skakespeare. Bardolph and Fluellen appear as characters in Shakespeare's plays. 2 wool dealers his father dealt with George Vizer o Woodmancote, locally pronounced Woncote ans Perkes of Stinchcombe Hill, appear in a line from Henry IV part II "I beseech you sir to countenance William Visor of Woncote against Clement Perks a'th hill"

[@librarylu]

It seems even more likely it was permissible for Meres to list plays that had been published anonymously because Lord Burghley died in 1592 and censorship was eased up a bit. It's thought the Stratford man came to London between 1585 and 1592. Since there were earlier versions of many of the plays (The Troublesome Reign of King John , e.g.) it makes sense Oxford wrote them in the 1580s and then revised and updated them over the years.

[@librarylu]

Jonson was particular about meter. (The criticism about the Caesar line had to do with it being short ten syllables in a play that was all in regular meter.) He was listed as among "the chiefs" of English stylists for ."proper graces" and "most warrantable English". He probably wrote it to mean exactly what he meant, whatever that was, and still fit the meter.

[@heliotropezzz333]

Which 2 words? I think "Golden Lads and Lasses" as in the Sonnet reference to "Golden Lads and Lasses must as chimney sweepers come to dust", is a Warwickshire dialect term for Dandelions. Some characters referred to are named after locals around Stratford. There's text in The Taming of the Shrew that refers to a cheeky schoolboy called William having a Latin lesson from a Welsh teacher . There was a Welsh teacher at the Stratford grammar school at the time when Shakespeare would have attended.

[@librarylu]

Hudson says Amelia's step-uncle was Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby, ambassador to Denmark. Peregrine Bertie married Edward de Vere's sister. Isn't this fun?

[@librarylu]

According bto Wikipedia, "He was recorded as among several local men who stayed away from Church services for fear of being arrested for debt." De Vere may have had Catholic leanings until he turned his friends in for plotting against the Queen. They accused him of being "irreligious" and the state charged him with atheism. Apparently the charges weren't taken very seriously. I wonder how Elizabeth took the news he'd criticized her singing voice.

[@librarylu]

Greene's The Player was leader of a troop. In 1592 Alleyn was the lead actor of Lord Strange's Men while they were performing Henry VI, Part III. Alleyn would have played, Richard Duke of York, the character who spoke the "tiger's heart" line. There's no record of WS the actor until 1594. So, could Jonson, who wrote an epigram to Alleyn in much the same vein as the praise to Shakespeare, complete with Romans, have been referring to the "thundering" actor when he wrote about the poet-ape?

[@awatcher1980]

the bassanos, her family, did the sets, the costumes and the music. She grew up in the theatre! she is my great aunt very great aunt.

[@librarylu]

It's not known the Stratford man wrote about the Forest of Arden - or anything else. He was named in a writ wtih Langley who was accused of violence and extortion by the Star Chamber. The Shaksper who owned shares in the Globe seems to have been involved in some business involving the Swan. Henslowe recorded payments to twenty-seven Elizabethan playwrights but did not mention Shaksper. The records of payment (a bolt of red cloth, e.g.) to the actor do not identify him as William of Stratford.

[@librarylu]

Conditional phrases and clauses can be in the past or present tense. By definition a conditional phrase or clause is one stating, containing, or implying a condition. Jonson's phrase can be read either way. Too bad we can't ask him what he meant. Both William Shaksper and Edward de Vere were dead when the First Folio was compiled. Jonson may just have been using the pen name instead of the real name in Timber.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@librarylu A month later Edmund's son was buried in St Giles Cripplegate near the fortune Theatre.Edmund himself died and was buried over 4 months later in St Saviour's Southwark the parish church of the Globe Theatre. He had a more than usually expensive burial, inside the church and with a forenoon knell of the great bell. It is thought that the location of the burial and extra expense lavished on it was organised and paid for by his brother William.

[@MrDoremouse]

Thanks 4 that. Just before going to bed I looked up Amelia on wiki.answers.com and the article says her mother wasn't Jewish and there is no hard evidence her father was either.It also says Isabella Whitney published 2 books decades before Amelia. All these theories seem so complicated.The video's speaker, John Hudson, has lots of 'Shakespeare' articles on Scribd.com , so it all sounds complicated and messy (but that's life!) .What do you think of Chris Marlowe as a candidate?

[@librarylu]

"Why would he be writing this about De Vere...." His son was very much alive and in the tower. Daughter Susan's husband was a leader of the opposition to nthe Spanish Match (viewed as giving Protestant England to Spain). Her brother-in-law was another leader of the opposition. The Herbert brothers were the patron's of the First Folio. Jonson was involved in the Gunpowder Plot. These plays weren't just harmless entertainment - discretion may have been the better part of valor.

[@librarylu]

The danger would have been that the public might figure out who was being satirized and take the criticisms seriously. The Court of Henri of Navarre is practically named. The King of Spain was upset at the way he was being treated in English plays and masquerades. The Lord High Treasurer was satirized in Hamlet. Elizabeth may have allowed him to write on condition he did so anonymously or under another name. He was a favorite, winner of tournaments and rumored to be her lover.

[@RasMajnouni]

I wrote all the plays attributed to William Shakespeare & my wife & I wrote the sonnets. "How does this concur with the fact that the plays themselves were performed on stage 400 years ago"? Well, this is where my clam falls to the ground I can see I won't last a minute with you. "Next we have Mr. Voles from Gravesend..." I was right

[@librarylu]

Did I mention the Armada?

[@heliotropezzz333]

Lanier was probably his lover and muse. She was undoubtedly more than his equal in learning an education. It is likely it was a collaboration to some extent and we don't know who Shakespeare's other influences, friends and mentors may have been. It seems he was quick to pick up influences though and Jonson's description of him sounds like a man much inspired, full of creative spirit and a love of the theatre.

[@librarylu]

His six comedies survive, but he was thought to be a front for other writers. Jonson was a satirist. His meanings may have been obvious to his friends but they're a puzzle four hundred years later.

[@librarylu]

@angerdux8 You said " 'Shake-spear' was a common pseudonym for poets who preferred to remain anonymous." What's your source on that?

[@librarylu]

My point was that he didn't seem to mind speaking ill of the dead. He'd had too much wine at the time. Google Shakespeare - Who Was He? and find page 55 in the Google book for how much Jonson actually wrote about Shakespeare during his (Shakespeare's) lifetime.

[@librarylu]

From this time forward, Annes health deteriorated, and she withdrew from the centre of cultural and political activities, staging her last known masque in 1614 and no longer maintaining a noble court." -Wikipedia There may have been scandalous rumors about her but you have shown no evidence she was "wild" or connected in any way with the Stratford man. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. James thought she was "willfull" for wanting custody of her own son. Shocking!

[@heliotropezzz333]

I've just looked at the poem. He says "and though though hadst small Latin and less Greek, and the sense of the rest is that in spite of that he can still be favourably compared to Aeschylus etc. ie. the rest of the the verse supports the fact that it was not conditional.

[@heliotropezzz333]

The quotation from Jonson is about "gentle expressions" and even if he did mean "noble", you don't have to be noble to have noble expressions. Jonson is talking here about a quality not a rank.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@librarylu P.S. I read in the newspaper the other day that all of Philip Henslowe's and Edward Alleyn's records are being uploaded onto the internet -great!

[@librarylu]

Richard II had previously been censored because of the scene where the ruler is deposed. It was usually performed sans the abdication scene. They did plead they did it for the money - an extra forty shillings. The same subject was covered in 1599 by Sir John Hayward. The book was dedicated to Essex. She thought Essex was the true author. and wanted Hayward tortured to determine the truth. Hayward was imprisoned for life - hers. "I am Richard II, know ye not that?" spake Elizabeth.

[@librarylu]

No, but most authors draw on their own experience. If Oxford was Shake-speare he was writing about his friends and relatives and places he'd visited (such as the Bohemian Coast). His nobles are realistic, the commoners stereotypes with funny names. With Jonson it's the opposite. Jonson was in the circle, but not one of the peerage - and he was wrong about Bohemia not having a coast.

[@librarylu]

"An aristocrat used to the ways of court would never be "open and honest". " If any of the Arundel slanders were true, he was "open and honest" among his friends - to a fault! De Vere was a great storyteller. Another uncle, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was praised by Sir Thomas Wyatt as one of two top courtly poets, but nothing, except a tribute to Wyatt, was published until after Surrey's death. Wyatt and Surrey invented the "Shakespearean sonnet", and Surrey invented blank verse.

[@librarylu]

Jonson published Epigrams in 1616, the year Shaksper died. Wasn't that a little late to be jealous? The volume was dedicated to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Jonson seems to include himself- "As we, the robb'd, leave rage, and pity it..." Since he co-wrote Isle of Dogs with Nashe, Nashe comes to mind. Many of the source texts were never translated into English. Shake-speare quoted Ovid, but in Golding's translation. Nowell owned the only copy of Beowulf. How would WS have seen them?

[@librarylu]

From the website: "The next chapters examine how she employed the man from Stratford- Gulielmus Shagspere-- as a front man and play-broker once Lord Hunsdon was no longer there to protect her. " Charles Vere claims his ancestor used the Stratford man as a front. Is this claim okay for John Hudson but not Oxfordians?

[@gbennett58]

A fascinating candidate to be sure. Of course, I had to look her up on Wikipedia and elsewhere. It turns out that there is no historical reference to her possibly being of African ancestry. Her portrait is of someone with a very fair complexion, brown hair, narrow nose and thin lips. There is some suggestion that she may have actually been of dark complexion, but it is controversial. Same thing with being Jewish. She was a baptized Christian. There was some suspicion that her family may have had some Jewish ancestry, but it was only speculation. So I think it is unwise to categorize her as a black Jewish woman when there is no historical evidence of it being so. Interestingly similar to characterizing William Shakspear of Straford as the author of Shakespeare's work.

[@heliotropezzz333]

No one doubts that the Sonnets were Shakespeare's and look at the skill with language and wordplay in those. What makes you think that Shakespeare was humble?

[@heliotropezzz333]

Hamlet with David Tenant as the Prince, is on TV on Boxing Day. I'm so thrilled. I went to see it in the theatre but David Tennant was ill and I only saw his understudy. It was still great, but it will be good to see what I missed. I'm also going to see Twelfth Night on Jan 4.

[@heliotropezzz333]

If Jonson knew De Vere wrote the plays, a relative by marriage of his employer, he would hardly have criticised the writing of the plays the way he did.

[@librarylu]

Ya got me. I don't know. But the Globe was moved, board by board. Why would a little thing like burning to the ground slow them down?

[@brennankerrnelson7946]

The evidence is overwhelming!

[@librarylu]

No one in his lifetime wrote much about him at all. Jonson was in Pembroke's employ in 1623 and the conversations with Drummond may be a forgery. If the "shake-scene" (who may have been Alleyn) and poet-ape and Sogliardo were indeed Shaksper then there was rumbling and plenty of it. (The Shaksper motto was taken from a marginal note on an application that meant, no, without right to the coat of arms.) Only those of gentle birth were addressed as Master and Mistress. "Will" had a bawdy meaning.

[@heliotropezzz333]

Who would have ordered De Ver to write under another name? Richard the II was not Shakespeare's first play. It was the timing of the play I thought that bothered Elizabeth because it concerned the dethroning of a King at the time when Essex was preparing his rebellion against her. Shakespeare was never punished for writing it. She realised it was those who paid for the play to be staged at that time who were among the plotters and that the players themselves were not plotters.

[@heliotropezzz333]

edboswell, librarylu, You have both made the same comment. Recusants often gave such excuses for missing church otherwise, they would have been fined,but it did not stop John Shakespeare attending council meeting where he could just as easily been served for debts. His wife came from a catholic family. Shakespeare's daughter Susannah was threatened with fines for failing to attend church. There's more evidence than I can state here; circumstancial sure, but people had to be careful.

[@librarylu]

Ed, I'm not so sure Sogliardo is Shaksper. The coat of arms described doesn't resemble the Shaksper family crest. "Not without mustard" recalls Nashe's Pierce Penniless, not just the motto that was derived from an earlier refusal, "Non, sans droit". He's told how to act like a gentleman - "CAR. Ay, and sit on the stage and flout, provided you have a good suit. SOG. O, I'll have a suit only for that, sir." Why would an actor sit on the stage? See also the epigram to the knight.

[@librarylu]

It's unfortunate there's no evidence for him moving in any circles, unless the anecdote about him insinuating himself into a lady's good graces and then into her sheets before Burbage arrived should happen to be true. Manningham didn't name her. The only known letter to him is a request for money.