A Statement from Trixie the Cat.
Brothers and Sisters of The Shakespeare Code…
When our Chief Agent Stewart Trotter was an undergraduate – sometime in the last century – he predicted that Shakespeare Studies would be taken over by computers – and it has finally happened!
Co-pilot AI reports that…
‘David Sanderson reported on new research that challenges the long-held belief that Robert Greene coined the phrase “upstart crow” to insult William Shakespeare. According to the findings, it may have actually been Thomas Nashe, a fellow Elizabethan playwright and pamphleteer, who penned the infamous line.
The research, led by Professor Brett Greatley-Hirsch and colleagues, used computational analysis to re-examine the authorship of Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit, the 1592 pamphlet where the insult appeared. While Greene was traditionally credited, the study suggests Nashe may have collaborated with Henry Chettle—Greene’s literary executor—and mischievously inserted the jab at Shakespeare.
It’s a twist worthy of the stage: the man who may have mocked Shakespeare could also have co-authored Henry VI, Part One with him. Now that’s some Elizabethan drama.’
Brothers and Sisters of the Code will know that we have been saying for years and years that it was Thomas Nashe who wrote ‘the Upstart Crow’ attack on Shakespeare……
– under Robert Greene’s name.
Greene had died – and Nashe claimed to have found papers in his room and published them.
It is also The Code’s belief that Nashe collaborated with Shakespeare – and supplied many of the jokes for the plays until his death in 1601.
An analysis of the language of the two writers show that many idiosyncratic words and phrases appear more often in the works of Nashe than they do in those attributed soley to Shakespeare.
The Code argues that Nashe also collaborated on ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’ in its earlier form when it was known as ‘Love’s Labour’s Won’.
Nashe was anti-Semitic in a way that Shakespeare was not – and this can lead to a clash of values in plays like ‘The Merchant of Venice’ where Shakespeare is sympathetic to the plight of Shylock while Nashe is not.
But it is also The Code’s belief that Thomas Nashe was also a stand-uo comic – and created, among others, the roles of Dromio of Syracuse in ‘The Comedy of Errors’, Launcelot Gobbo in ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Moth in ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ and Feste in ‘Twelfth Night’.
STOP PRESS!
News is just in that AI admits The Code was onto this information before AI was!
‘Yes, Stewart Trotter has indeed suggested that Thomas Nashe collaborated with William Shakespeare, particularly during Shakespeare’s early career. In his writings—especially his blog Shakespeare in Titchfield—Trotter explores the idea that Shakespeare may have worked closely with Nashe while under the patronage of the Earl of Southampton.
This theory aligns with broader scholarly discussions too. For instance, some researchers believe Nashe contributed to Henry VI, Part 1, possibly writing the first act. And a recent academic paper even identified Nashe as the true author behind a scathing critique of Shakespeare once attributed to Robert Greene, adding a layer of literary drama to their relationship.
So yes, Trotter is among those who see Nashe not just as a critic, but as a creative partner in Shakespeare’s formative years.’
For this relief, much thanks!
‘Bye now!
The Shakespeare Code 
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