Mystery around Shakespeare's wife 'solved' as new evidence emerges in 400-year-old letter

However, research by Professor Matthew Steggle of the University of Bristol suggests the couple may have actually lived together in London for extended periods.

The professor has described his findings as a "game-changer in terms of thinking about the Shakespeares' marriage."

The letter, addressed to "Good Mrs Shakspaire", discusses a previously unknown address on Trinity Lane, now called Little Trinity Lane, in the City of London.

The document refers to the couple who "dwelt in trinitie lane", suggesting Anne Hathaway spent significant time with her husband in the capital.

Scholars could not find evidence of any other couple with the Shakespeare surname in this moderately well-off area.

"Previous scholars have thought, if it was about Anne, then it must be from Stratford," Steggle told Newsweek.

The letter reveals the Shakespeares were holding money in trust for John Butts, a fatherless boy, until he came of age.

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It asked Mrs Shakespeare to pay the debts herself, indicating she had financial authority in the household.

"The letter writer thinks that 'Mrs Shakspaire' has independent access to money. They hope that Mrs Shakspaire might 'paye your husbands debte'," explained Steggle.

This suggests Anne was "an active participant in her husband's life" rather than a distant figure.

The fragment was uncovered in 1978 and preserved, likely by accident, in the binding of a book found in Hereford Cathedral's library.

Although discovered decades ago, it remained largely unexplored because "no one could identify the names or places involved," according to Steggle.

The book was published in 1608 by Richard Field, Shakespeare's neighbour in Stratford-upon-Avon and his first printer.

Steggle told The Guardian it would be a "strange coincidence" if this paper was in Field's book if unrelated to the Shakespeares.

Steggle's research challenges the long-held assumption that Shakespeare's marriage was unhappy.

"We used to think of Anne Hathaway as illiterate, and likely stuck in the countryside all her life—like in Shakespeare in Love—but scholars have started to question that," he told Newsweek.

For over 200 years, the prevailing view has been that Anne never visited London.

"For Shakespeare biographers who favour the narrative of the 'disastrous marriage'... the Hereford document should be a horrible, difficult problem," Steggle writes.

There is also writing on the back of the letter, which Steggle believes may belong to Anne Hathaway herself.

"If the material on the back is (as it may well be) a fragment of a reply from Mrs. Shakspaire, then these would be the first recorded words ever to have come from Shakespeare's wife," he said.

If authentic, these words would be "the nearest thing to her voice ever known".

The full research was published in the journal Shakespeare on April 23, the playwright's birthday.