9/ [Open to Rebuttal: Evidence of pseudonym/allonym or mistake/deception by Heminges & Condell would refute]

8/ [Narrowing Logic: Only William Shakespeare of Stratford fits both "Shakespeare" + "fellow"]
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[Best Explanation: William Shakespeare of Stratford authored the works]
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7/ [Contemporaneous Records Identify William Shakespeare of Stratford as Fellow]
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6/ Prima Facie Attribution Flowchart: Shakespeare of Stratford
[First Folio Names "Shakespeare" as Author]
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[Heminges & Condell call him their "fellow"]
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5/ Therefore, by cross-referencing the Folio’s testimony with contemporaneous records, the “Shakespeare” named as author is narrowed to a specific, historically identifiable individual: William Shakespeare of Stratford.

4/ Court records, Augustine Phillips’ will, and Shakespeare’s own will identify him as a fellow of Heminges, Condell, and Burbage.

3/ Independent documentary evidence establishes that William Shakespeare of Stratford was a sharer (“fellow”) in the King’s Men, the company to which Heminges and Condell also belonged.

2/ The compilers of the First Folio (Heminges and Condell) further describe this “Shakespeare” as their “friend and fellow.”

In early 17th-century usage, “fellow” in this context meant a business partner or colleague in the same company.

2/ Hackett's description:

"The fallacy of the negative proof is an attempt to sustain a factual proposition merely by negative evidence. It occurs whenever a historian declares that "there is no evidence that X is the case," and then proceeds to affirm or assume that not-X is the case."

2/ . . . than that he hired a "glover's son" who they all imagine was illiterate (because no school records survive from Shakespeare's time or for centuries afterwards from the Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar school.)

There's no evidence that Oxford personally wrote even one play.

You have no evidence that Shakespeare was a "front." And for Marlowe, having a front would be a huge mistake. His works could be published anonymously without involving anyone else.

Our correspondent, newsmite, wondered if we had looked up the reference. We did and sent it off to a contact at Yale, who expressed surprise at the attribution to Marlowe.

Looks like the sad little Marlovian got mad and blocked 🚫 this thread. No surprise. He kept missing the point. Maybe he suddenly realized he was wrong.

Of course it's evidence. It's the statement of first-person witnesses. You don't have a clue, do you?

No, that's not what I'm saying. That's what you're saying, but you're not able to provide any evidence to support your claims.

I've explained this. Heminges and Condell identify the author as Shakespeare, their friend and fellow. William Shakespeare of Stratford was their fellow, meaning a sharer in the theatrical company; he even named H&C as HIS fellows in his will. Nobody has provided evidence to refute this.