The Master of the Ceremonies

Can you keep a secret?For nearly four hundred years the world has believed that the actor William Shakespeare was the greatest writer that has ever lived. The world was wrong.Thinker, Traitor, Soldier, Spy.In this startling biography of the Master of the Ceremonies we discover for the first time the traces left by the hand of 'Shakespeare'- a recusant Catholic at the heart of Elizabeth I's court, working as her translator and receiver of foreign ambassadors. Follow Lewes Lewkenor from the halls of Cambridge to the Inns of Court and on to the war in the Low Countries, where he serves as a soldier in the catholic forces of the Duke of Parma; making him a traitor... or a spy. This traitor turned lapdog provides us with unique connections to the plays of 'Shakespeare'- Lewes Lewkenor translated the great work on Venice from which the settings of The Merchant of Venice and Othello were drawn. The life and career of Lewes Lewkenor reaches into places that no other candidate can occupy.King James I created the position of Master of the Ceremonies for Lewes Lewkenor, residing at the highest echelon of Stuart society, he was charged with entertaining foreign ambassadors and visiting dignitaries, placing him front-row at the recorded debut performances of many of 'Shakespeare's' plays.Finally we have found the courtier-author that the world and the works deserve.In this startling biography of the life of the Master of the Ceremonies we discover for the first time the traces left by the hand of 'Shakespeare'. The greatest story never told.Until now.