Ralph Shaa

Ralph Shaa (died 1484), (sometimes erroneously[1] called John Shaa),[2] was a 15th-century English theologian, the half-brother of the Lord Mayor of London,[3] Edmund Shaa. Shaa (pronounced and sometimes spelled "Shaw") played a minor but pivotal role in the Wars of the Roses by preaching a sermon on June 22, 1483[4] which claimed that Edward IV (as whose chaplain he had served)[5] had already been betrothed to Eleanor Butler[4] at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, and that Edward V was therefore illegitimate and had no claim to the throne.[6]

Shaa is mentioned as "Doctor Shaw" in Shakespeare's play Richard III.[7]

References

1. Shakespeare's Early History Plays: From Chronicle to Stage, by Dominique Goy-Blanquet, published 2003 by Oxford University Press
2. The History of King Richard III and Selections from the English and Latin Poems, by Thomas More; 1976 edition by Yale University Press; edited by Richard S. Sylvester; note footnote 3: "John Shaa, brother to the mayor", "i.e., Ralph Shaa" (italics in original)
3. Shakespeare's English Kings: History, Chronicle, and Drama, p. 174, by Peter Saccio, published 2000 by Oxford University Press
4. "Shaw's Sermon", in Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses, by John A. Wagner; published 2001 by ABC-CLIO
5. Infamous Cheshire, by Bob Burrows, published 2006 by History Press
6. Richard, Son of Richard: Richard III and Political Prophecy, by Lesley Coote and Tim Thornton; in Historical Research Volume 73, Issue 182, Pages 321-330 (October 2000)
7. CliffsNotes on Shakespeare's Richard III, by James K. Lowers, published 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt