[Bayard]

Basically the whole family was educated. And his sister, Joan Shakespeare Hart, was a closet Catholic who wrote secretly about it.

[Red Badger]

Which would explain why it was hidden in the attic.

Nothing to lose your head over......................

[Verginius Rufus]

Some people have long thought that William Shakespeare was a "closet Catholic" as well.

The drunken porter in Macbeth appears to take a swipe at Jesuits, but that would not count against William Shakespeare being a Catholic. Long before Pope Francis, many Catholics looked askance at Jesuits.

[TalBlack]

“ Joan Shakespeare Hart, was a closet Catholic who wrote secretly about it.“

If I recall, blabbing around your Catholicism in that time and place could get you in very large trouble.