Research by a Shakespeare scholar from the University of Chichester claimed to have found evidence supporting a suggestion made in the 1930s that she was a madam called "Lucy Negro" or "Black Luce", who ran a brothel in Clerkenwell, north-east London, The Independent reported.
Dr Duncan Salkeld said that he has unearthed documentary records that lead him to conclude that she is "the foremost candidate for the dubious role of the Dark Lady".
Many of the sonnets 127 to 152 are addressed to an unidentified woman