Ralph Shaa (sometimes erroneously[1] called John Shaa;[2] died 1484) was a 15th-century English theologian, the half-brother of the Lord Mayor of London,[3] 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[4] which claimed that Edward IV (as whose chaplain he had served)[5] had already been betrothed to Eleanor Butler[4] at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, and that Edward V was therefore illegitimate and had no claim to the throne.
[6] Shaa is mentioned as "Doctor Shaw" in Shakespeare's play Richard III.
[7]