Before Shakespeare starting acting there was a period in his life that historians are unsure as to what he was doing. What is the most accepted theory as to how he spent his "hidden years"?

angryllama

There are three main theories to his disappearance. He may have been imprisoned for poaching deer, working as a country school teacher or minding horses of theatre patrons in London. Mar 28 07, 1:43 PM

Flem-ish

Some years ago there was a French professor who tried to prove that Shakespeare may have enrolled at the Jesuit university of Douai but changed his intentions to become a Catholic priest after he had seen what happened to Edmund Campion. I found no reference to that theory on the Internet. Only a much vaguer suggestion. http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0014.html Shakespeare Scholars Say the Bard was ... Catholic? Mar 28 07, 2:10 PM

Arpeggionist

He could have studied under a Catholic establishment and switched Churches upon seeing the financial benefits involved. George F. Handel did. It makes sense, given that Shakespeare's linguistic references are so heavily Latinate, with very few references to Germanic or Gaelic sources even in plays set in Scotland and Denmark. Mar 28 07, 3:11 PM

Baloo55th

To be quite honest, you wouldn't find many references to Gaelic sources in Scotland itself. Gaelic was only the language of the barbarian north of the country and not a literary language at all. Scots was the language of the court and people of the part of Scotland that mattered - the Lowlands. (I have Highland ancestry, by the way...) Also, Latin was the language of education and any educated person would have a knowledge of it. German would only be spoken by traders, and Danish probably not at all outside a very small circle. Shakespeare's sources were not in the native languages of the countries in which his stories were set - he pinched most of his tales from people like Holinshed. As to what he was doing - he could have been a touring theatrical actor. It is reckoned that he played at Rufford (Old) Hall, and that would have been before he became a big London name. Mar 28 07, 4:10 PM

star_gazer

There is also a theory that he visited Italy. I doubt it, but here is a site: http://www.shakespearesitaly.com/philosop.html Mar 28 07, 5:55 PM

lanfranco

I'm sorry, star_gazer, but there is NO "most accepted" theory on this subject. If there were, many scholars and Bard aficionados would be put out of business. We're still awaiting some genuine documentation, which, I rather hope (just for the fun of it), will never appear. Until then, all theories are mere speculation, and there will continue to be many of them. Mar 28 07, 6:32 PM

star_gazer

Of all these "speculations" then, which one has the most Bard scholars supporting it. I've been told its the school teacher theory. Mar 28 07, 7:13 PM