Book excerpt: For years, a popular debate has been raging about whether Shakespeare was really the author of the many plays and poems published under his name. Doubters argue that Shakespeare could not have accomplished such a great feat, pointing instead to other well-known figures. Richard Ramsbotham offers a completely different perspective by reexamining the available evidence and by introducing unexplored aspects of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual-scientific research. The author discusses Shakespeare's life as an actor, mysteries of the debate such as the enigmatic Psalm 46, and the persistent question of Francis Bacon's connection with Shakespeare. Recently, a movement has been gaining ground that sees Bacon himself as the covert writer of the great works attributed to Shakespeare. Not content with this radical claim, that movement also wishes to place Bacon on the primary pedestal of British civilization, as a kind of patron saint of the modern scientific age. The author provides substantial confirmation of a definite connection between Shakespeare and Bacon, but one that radically challenges the conclusions of the Baconian movement. The author also opens remarkable new perspectives on King James I and his connections not only with Shakespeare and Bacon but also with Jakob Böhme, Rudolf II, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and the original Globe Theatre. Published 400 years after the Hampton Court Conference of 1604, Who Wrote Bacon? offers a timely contribution to these themes, and shows how they remain critically important to our understanding of the twenty-first century. Includes eight pages of B/W plates.