The Mysterious Mr. Shakespeare

Did Shakespeare have the wherewithal? 
Cogan University Professor Stephen Greenblatt makes the point in Harvard Magazine
that the little we know about Shakespeare’s life (e.g., being the son of a small town glover, the illiteracy of his wife and daughters, his Stratford real estate transactions, church records, and last will and testament) coupled there being no trace of any books he might have owned, diaries he might have written, or scripts in his hand, makes it difficult, if not impossible, to connect him with “the greatest body of imaginative literature in the English language.” He wonders how Shakespeare’s “seemingly ordinary existence yielded such astonishing plays.”

Which makes the case of Amelia Bassano Lanier, an extraordinary Venetian-English Jewish woman, that much more plausible. There are too many links to her life to ignore, which inspired the novel. www.ShakespearesConspirator.com

Curiosities About Shakespeare

For a man so famous, we actually know very little about Shakespeare’s personal life. We know approximately when he was born, when he died, when and who he married (Anne Hathaway who was 26 at the time while he was 18), the names and birthdates of his three children (Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith). We also know where he went to grammar school (until he was 14), and the contents of his will. Eleven of his 52 years of life (1578-82 and 1585-92), known as the “Lost Years” are unaccounted for. And we don’t know where he lived when in London. Is there another famous historical figure about whom we know so little?

Shakespeare is credited with writing 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Curiously, not one copy of an original scripts is in his handwriting, including those in the First Folio. There is no physical evidence of his authorship of any, except for three pages in a lengthy unpublished play about Sir Thomas More—which was primarily written by others. Shakespeare’s signature only appears on six legal documents.

Shakespeare’s plays include nearly 2000 musical references, many of which it seems could only be imagined by a musician. Yet he did not play an instrument and had no known musical training. Nor is he known to have had close relationships with musicians—with the possible exception of Amelia Bassano Lanier. She played the lute, harpsichord, the virginals, and possibly other instruments. Additionally, her father was a musician for the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and her uncles were musical instrument makers. Could it be she had a hand…or more than a hand…in writing many of Shakespeare’s scripts? http://www.shakespearesconspirator.com

Roughly 50% of Shakespeare’s 37 plays are set outside of England but he never set foot outside of the country. Have you ever wondered why or how he could learn so much about other cultures and their history…during a 23 year writing career?