William Shakespeare was a “black Jewish woman”, a shocking new book has claimed.
In a newly published work by feminist historian Irene Coslet, the author has claimed Britain’s most famous playwright was in fact a woman named Emilia Bassano.
“The Real Shakespeare”, released by Pen and Sword Books, identifies Bassano as a poet who maintained connections with the Tudor court during the Elizabethan era.
The book’s central thesis maintains Bassano composed the Shakespearean canon under the pen name “Shakespeare”.
According to the work’s arguments, an uneducated individual from Stratford-upon-Avon, recognised today as William Shakespeare, subsequently appropriated her writings.
Coslet’s work argues “Western-centric and Eurocentric ideology” spanning centuries has kept the real story of the plays’ authorship concealed.
The thesis goes on to question how an individual from Stratford, characterised as a “semi-illiterate moneylender”, could have achieved such erudition.
It describes Bassano as possessing both Jewish and Moorish ancestry and acknowledges that existing portraits depict Bassano with light skin.
The book claims the man we know as William Shakespeare ‘appropriated’ Bassano’s writings
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However, it proposes that portraitists may have deliberately lightened her complexion as flattery, since Elizabethan England considered pale skin aesthetically desirable.
The volume concludes the English-speaking world has “a mother with a multi-cultural identity”, describing Bassano as the “mother of a civilisation”.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Coslet stated: “If Shakespeare was a female of colour, this would draw attention to issues of peace and justice in society.
“What if women had a pivotal role and a civilising impact in history, but they have been silenced, belittled and erased from the dominant narrative?”
The author describes Shakespeare as a ‘semi-illiterate moneylender’
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The historian added: “What would a paradigm shift reveal about ourselves? Such a reflection challenges us to reconsider our understanding of society.”
The volume’s conclusion asserts: “In the case of Emilia Bassano, the problem is not only historiographical misogyny, but also historiographical racism.
“Emilia Bassano was a Moor. She was a Jew.
“Modern historians failed to give credit to these identities for their role and contribution in Western history.”
The scholarly consensus holds that Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564 to a glove-maker, attended grammar school locally, and married Anne Hathaway at eighteen.
By 1592, he had established himself within London’s theatrical scene, dying in 1616, whilst Bassano survived until 1645.
