This argues that Ralph Sheldon (1537-1613) was the Hydden Man behind the Shakespeare oeuvre, and a pioneer of English drama
This argues that Ralph Sheldon (1537-1613) was the Hydden Man behind the Shakespeare oeuvre, and a pioneer of English drama
The story of Ralph Sheldon matches the perfect Shakespeare profile: Warwickshire roots, legally trained, he raised hawks and had nine daughters. He died in 1613, when the plays ended, and the pseudonym protected his works from his identity as a Catholic recusant. But many more specific details confirm the profile.
This is a summary published on the Substack of the Shakespeare Authorship Trust (SAT) on 26 July 2025. Each point in the summary is connected to page references from the book -- links that allow the reader to identify the full historical argument & sources for the individual points.
Was Shakespeare a 'Hydden Man'? puts together evidence of the literary life of Shakespeare gleaned from investigative findings of eminent scholars such as Geoffrey Bullough, Kenneth Muir and others, comparing this to the life of Ralph Sheldon. The book is set forth below, or available in paperback from Amazon for $11.
Nancy Peters Maude is an attorney who lives in Washington, D.C. In this study, she has followed the general principles of Harold Love in his work Attributing Authorship (2002). Her previous such study was "Was Thomas Lodge Also Misodiaboles?" published in The Review of English Studies, (June 2017): 488-506.
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