📚Review: “The Corisco Conspiracy” offers an intriguing twist on a historical event that has long captured the imagination of scholars and readers alike—the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605. In this book, the plot’s story is retold through the eyes of none other than the Bard of Avon himself, William Shakespeare.
The narrative is delivered with a clarity and directness that can only be attributed to Shakespeare’s own eloquent prose, and in it, the reader is confronted with a bold proposition—that the Shakespeares of Stratford-upon-Avon were, in fact, crypto-Catholics. In this daring account, William Shakespeare, the son of John and Mary Shakespeare, unearths not only the existence of this secret Catholic identity but also lays bare the underground world of Catholicism in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.
At the heart of this book is a revelation of great historical significance—the first meeting of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. Contrary to established historical records, Shakespeare places this clandestine gathering in Corisco, an island in Equatorial Guinea, in November 1585, a full two decades before the notorious events that took place in Staffordshire.
What sets this account apart is not only the daringly altered historical timeline but also the rich tapestry of connections that Shakespeare unravels. The Bard’s association with Africa is a central theme. Shakespeare’s fellow “Jesuit messengers” are portrayed as Afro-Europeans, and a Portuguese-African princess is presented as the real author of many of his renowned plays, each containing concealed messages for Roman Catholic audiences.
Shakespeare’s personal life, as the narrative tells it, takes unexpected turns. His second wife is a Muslim from the Kingdom of Malabo, leading him to embrace Mohammedanism. This daring book challenges the accepted narrative of the Bard’s life, revealing intriguing and unexpected connections that add layers of complexity to the story of Shakespeare’s time.
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