Ignatius Donnelly

Caesar's Column (Dodo Press) Ignatius Donnelly

Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (1831-1901) was a U. S. Congressman, populist, and writer, known primarily today for his theories on the history of Atlantis and Shakespearean authorship. He entered politics and was lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 1860-1863. He was a Republican Congressman from Minnesota in the 38th, 39th, and 40th congresses, (1863-1868) and a state senator from 1874-1878. He was an early supporter of women's suffrage. After leaving the Minnesota State Senate in 1878, Donnelly returned to his law practice and writing. In 1882, he published Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, his best known work, detailing his theories concerning the mythical lost continent of Atlantis. A year later he published Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel, in which he expounded his belief that the Flood, as well as the destruction of Atlantis (and the extinction of the mammoth), had been brought about by the near-collision of the earth with a massive comet. In 1888 he published The Great Cryptogram in which he proposed that Shakespeare's plays had been written by Francis Bacon, an idea that gained a popular following in the 20th century. He published Cæsar's Column in 1890.