{{Short description|English theologian (d. 1484)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Ralph Shaa''' (sometimes erroneously<ref name=Goy-Blanquet>[https://books.google.com/books?id=K_8hd8MEthIC&dq=%22ralph+shaa%22+shaw+shakespeare&pg=PA220 Shakespeare's Early History Plays: From Chronicle to Stage], by Dominique Goy-Blanquet, published 2003 by Oxford University Press</ref> called '''John Shaa''';<ref name=ThomasMore>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7AlqW5mSEkgC&dq=%22ralph+shaa%22+augustinian&pg=PA59 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)</ref> died 1484) was a 15th-century English theologian, the half-brother of the Lord Mayor of London,<ref name=Saccio>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ygKxt1dP71AC&dq=%22ralph+shaa%22&pg=PA174 Shakespeare's English Kings: History, Chronicle, and Drama], p. 174, by Peter Saccio, published 2000 by Oxford University Press</ref> 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 22 June 1483<ref name=Wagner>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ubXnWRMt6uoC&dq=shaw+%22richard+iii%22&pg=PA249 "Shaw's Sermon"], in ''Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses'', by John A. Wagner; published 2001 by ABC-CLIO</ref> which claimed that Edward IV (as whose chaplain he had served)<ref name=Burrows>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xSoTDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22ralph+shaa%22&pg=PT11 Infamous Cheshire], by Bob Burrows, published 2006 by History Press</ref> had already been betrothed to Eleanor Butler<ref name=Wagner/> at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, and that Edward V was therefore illegitimate and had no claim to the throne.<ref name=CooteThornton>[http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Journal_Samples/HISR0950-3471~73~182/111.PDF 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)</ref>
Shaa is mentioned as "Doctor Shaw" in Shakespeare's play ''Richard III''.<ref name=Cliffs>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FZbZBvt2ytQC&dq=%22richard+iii%22+%22doctor+shaw%22+shakespeare&pg=PA28 CliffsNotes on Shakespeare's Richard III], by James K. Lowers, published 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaa, Ralph}} Category:1484 deaths Category:Clergy from Lancashire Category:People of the Wars of the Roses Category:English theologians Category:Year of birth unknown