History of the Case

When It Started

The first time someone suggested that Bacon was Shakespeare was when to contemporaries were conversing, via the mail system, one wrote of the poet Shakespeare under the name Labeo. This shows the motto Mediocria firma, which was the heraldic motto of Sir Francis Bacon.

In 1626, the year he died, several contemporaries including a Bishop, two Chaplains, scholars, and court officials wrote eulogies to him. Many contained lines on how he, a concealed poet, redefined the human language through comedy, and tragedy. In 1641 Ben Johnson praised Bacon in the exact same way he praised Shakespeare.

Over two hundred years later Delia Bacon, and William Smith wrote a book surmising that Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spenser wrote the plays in a group. Later in 1885 The Francis Bacon Society was formed, and now, since 1980, The Francis Bacon Authorship Trust.