Published 15 January 2010 in The Catholic Herald.

In December the Venerable English College in Rome revealed that it had uncovered a mysterious parchment. According to the College, it suggests that Shakespeare spent “missing years” in Rome and that the Bard was a recusant Catholic for most of his adult life.

The evidence amounts to three signatures: those of “Arthurus Stratfordus Wigomniensis”, dated 1585, “Shfordus Cestriensis”, dated 1587, and “Gulielmus Clerkue Stratfordiensis”, dated 1589. Fr Andrew Headon, vice-rector of the College, thinks they should be decoded as: “[King] Arthur’s [compatriot] from Stratford [in the diocese] of Worcester”, “Sh[akespeare from Strat]ford [in the diocese] of Chester” and “William the Clerk from Stratford”. Read the rest of this entry »