Biographers of William Shakespeare know very little about him. What they know for absolute certain is what was recorded and documented. For instance, they know where he lived, that he was the son of a glove maker, he was an actor in small parts and that he successfully invested in the King’s Men theater company. Also known of are his baptism, marriage, taxes and death.
There was nothing recorded or documented in his town of Stratford-on-Avon that William Shakespeare was even a writer. No manuscripts or letters were left behind and nothing in his will alludes to writings of any kind.
Shakespeare’s writings portray a vast knowledge of other countries, their royalty, medicine, history, law and philosophy. Yet nothing on record states he even went to grammar school, let alone that he traveled to and studied other countries and their politics.
So if William Shakespeare of Stratford did not produce these writings that have stood the test of time, who did?
Francis Bacon
The belief that “Shakespeare” was a pen-name came about in the 19th century. Proponents of this idea began declaring Francis Bacon was the true writer of William Shakespeare’s plays and poems.
Backing this idea was the fact that Bacon was a politician, lawyer, philosopher and scientist who spent time in Queen Elizabeth’s royal courts and who also traveled abroad.
In 1867 a man working for a library discovered a cache of bound documents where the names Shakespeare and Bacon were written side by side and over and over again. Two copies of Shakespeare’s plays were said to have been ripped from these documents and Shakespearian quotations reportedly littered the pages. These documents were later given the date of 1592.
Others adhering to this theory believed Bacon left behind the true identity of Shakespeare in complicated codes. Theorists in the 1800’s began trying to decipher these “codes” within Shakespeare’s writings and also in Bacon’s own letters. Believers in this code-breaking method took it to such exorbitant levels the theory was eventually dismissed.
Edward de Vere
In 1920 a new theory was proposed and pointed the finger at Edward de Vere as Shakespeare. He was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, the 17th earl of Oxford and a known poet and playwright. Not wanting to upset his family and how they were portrayed, theorists argued that de Vere had good reason to cover up his true identity.
Believers in this new idea stated the name Shakespeare was devised from de Vere’s family crest where a lion is shaking a spear.
Theorists said that since de Vere’s travels were more thoroughly documented, his traveling abroad could account for Shakespeare’s deep knowledge of foreign courts as written of in his plays and poems. There were also striking resemblances between de Vere’s own life and a few of Shakespeare’s plays; one of those plays being “Hamlet.”
However, Shakespeare’s plays were produced until 1614 and de Vere died in 1604. Also, at the time of de Vere’s death only 23 of Shakespeare’s 38 plays had even been published.
Please visit these sites for more information:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baconian_theory
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question