The name of the Jesuit Robert Southwell has now and then been linked with Shakespeare's, but vaguely and tentatively. The name of Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton, has been perennially been linked with Shakespeare's, sometimes not vaguely and tentatively enough. This book offers reasons for believing in a relationship among the three men, who were "kinsmen" as their contemporaries understood the term. --From publisher's description.