# Is there any evidence that Ben Jonson co-authored any of Shakespeare's plays?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-that-ben-jonson-co-authored-any-of-shakespeares-plays/693481>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 18, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-that-ben-jonson-co-authored-any-of-shakespeares-plays/693481 "2014-07-18T20:33:01Z")\
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**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-that-ben-jonson-co-authored-any-of-shakespeares-plays/693481/1 "2014-07-18T20:33:01Z")

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Is there any evidence that Ben Jonson co-authored any of Shakespeare’s plays? I know that Shakespeare acted in Jonson’s “Every Man In His Humor” but did Jonson every collaborate with Shakespeare on any of the latter’s plays?

I look forward to your feedback.  
davidmic

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**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-that-ben-jonson-co-authored-any-of-shakespeares-plays/693481/2 "2014-07-18T20:45:51Z")

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No. There is conjecture that Jonson helped edit the First Folio. There is also a very recent claim that Shakespeare rewrote Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy. Its been known for a long time that Jonson rewrote the Spanish Tragedy, but Jonson’s version and “Shakespeares version” are believed to be different Plays altogether.

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**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-that-ben-jonson-co-authored-any-of-shakespeares-plays/693481/3 "2014-07-19T03:28:29Z")

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Thanks Fuzzy wuzzy. That answers my question perfectly.  
davidmic

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-that-ben-jonson-co-authored-any-of-shakespeares-plays/693481/4 "2014-07-19T04:14:21Z")

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Moved to Cafe Society.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator