John Milnes Baker-The Case for Edward De Vere as the Real William Shakespeare

well the case for edward de vere is the real william shakespeare this is a zoom talk that's hosted by the kent memorial library in kent connecticut and first i'd like to welcome you and thank you all for joining my zoom talk as you probably gather i've been intrigued by the so-called shakespeare authorship question for many years when i first heard about the controversy i was curious to learn what all the fuss was about many shakespearean lovers shakespeare lovers have been aware of challenges to the authorship of the plays and sonnets but never felt inclined to explore the subject should anyone consider delving into what many consider one of the world's greatest historical and literary quandaries my booklet simply shows where to begin this talk is simply an elementary introduction to what's a surprisingly heated and at times even acrimonious debate so let's get started first some terminology the distinction between the two persons in the shakespeare authorship question william shakespeare is a reputed author from stratford-upon-avon and he's also known as the stratf stratford or the stratford man and sometimes simply will william shakespeare the pen name of edward de vere the 17th earl of oxford 1550-1604 also referred to as edward oxford and devere a stratforian is a proponent of will shakespeare of stratford-upon-avon as the undisputed author william shakespeare oxfordian is someone who believes that edward de beer was the author of the works attributed to william shakespeare and incidentally 2020 is the centennial year of the oxford movement it began on march 4th 1920 for the publication of j thomas looney's shakespeare identified in the edward de vere the 17th earl of oxford now the shakespeare authorship question this is an introduction really literally thousands of shakespeare lovers have questioned the conventional wisdom that the man from stratford was the poet playwright william shakespeare i was introduced to the oxfordian alternative 30 years ago when i discovered charlton hogbrins the mysterious william shakespeare the myth and the reality noted historian david mccullough the author of truman 1776 and john adams among others was a two-time winner of the pulitzer prize and national book award as well as a recipient of the presidential medal of freeman freedom mcculloch wrote the forward of ogden's book and he had this to say the strange difficult contradictory man who emerges as the real william shakespeare is not just plausible but fascinating and wholly believable it's hard to imagine anyone reading the book with an open mind ever seeing shakespeare or his works in the same way again then i read other challenges to the shakes the stratford narrative and became convinced that the proponents of edward de vere as the real william shakespeare made a persuasive case in short i became an oxfordian now before i begin my talk i want to emphasize three points one i wrote my challenge to conventional wisdom to demonstrate to my grandchildren that there are often two sides to a story however my project evolved from a children's book to an elementary introduction to the authorship controversy for readers of any age two everything i say in my booklet and this talk has been documented at least to my satisfaction by the oxfordians who have written in favor of de vere three the play goers or readers of the works want to believe the man from stratford wrote the plays that's their prerogative i am by no means a shakespearean scholar but i happen to find this controversy intriguing and have pursued the subject over the years if anyone's curious to learn more my booklet simply shows where to begin the clarion review nailed it when they said of my booklet in their review the book's objective is not to examine every aspect of the deveer theory in detail but to condense that material and present its essentials in service of accomplishing that goal it includes a thorough list of references and additional reading suggestions for those interested in learning more so why do so many people question the authorship of the works of william shakespeare and who are who are some of these doubters well here's a sampling of some henry james once said i am haunted by the conviction that the divine william is the biggest and most successful fraud ever practiced on a patient world walt whitman it is my belief final belief that the shakespearean plays were written by another hand than shakespeare's it had sigmund freud said i no longer believe that william shakespeare the actor from stratford was the author of the works ascribed to him orson welles said if you don't believe shakespeare wrote shakes oxford wrote shakespeare then there are some awfully funny coincidence to spl explain away even five supreme court justices harry blackman john paul stevens lewis powell scalia and sandra day o'connor weighed in on the controversy and all considered the stratforian theory unconvincing and the list could go on john goldsworthy charlie chaplin james joyce or john gilgood washington irving ralph waldo emerson oliver wendell holmes now nathaniel hawthorne william james and many many more now another doubter mark twain never believed the stratfordian myth and likened the notion to the colossal skeleton brontosaur in the museum with its nine bones and six hundred barrels of plaster of paris 1909 in his his shakespeare dead the author of tom sawyer and huckleberry finn said he would ask debaters only one question was shakespeare ever a practicing lawyer and leave everything else out though the term stratfordian hadn't been coined in 1990 that's whom twain meant when he wrote those thugs have built their entire superstition upon inferences not upon known and established facts and the thug is aware that loudness convinces 60 persons where reasoning convinces but one well how did i learn about the uh authorship controversy i clipped this letter written to the editor of the new york times in 1989 over 30 years ago don't worry i'm not going to read the whole letter just the key quote key quote says the works of j thomas looney and charlton ogburn alone provide thoughtful people with sufficient data and analysis to cause the most resistant truth seeker to adopt the earl's cause my curiosity was peaked and i and i bought charlton augments the mysterious william shakespeare the myth and the reality i found the case so persuasive that i followed algrin's book with compelling works by other oxfordian writers so why did i decide to write this book in 2018 two of my younger grandchildren gave me a children's biography who was frank lloyd wright it was part of a wonderful series of educational books for young readers published by penguin random house these short biographies are generally informative introductory sketches of notable historic figures who was george washington alexander hamilton martin luther king jr amelia earhart harriet tubman and the list goes on as an architect and a long time admirer of right i was impressed by the succinct synopsis of right's work and life knowing i like shakespeare they also gave me who was william shakespeare i found this book appallingly irresponsible the writer of this who was bio shamelessly embellished the conventional narrative of the board of stratford-on-haven the book that depends on the usual must-haves may haves we may assume no doubts an innumerable probably this and probably that here's in just one short paragraph shown here on the slide it was at this time that will began to write at first he probably added lines to other people's plays he may have reworked old plays to make them seem new will had a naughty sense of humor he may have thought up jokes to make the audience laugh i counted over 50 purported statements of fact that have no basis whatsoever in any historical record here's some examples right from the book learning latin was very important will began studying it when he was seven as will grew older he and the other boys were not allowed to speak english at school only latin they were spanked if they spoke english will learned latin grammar he knew famous speeches in latin by heart he could write in latin will performed in plays and had debates with other boys he became good at it he probably liked to be in front of a crowd at new place will wrote the tempest it was the last play he wrote alone and is the only one where he didn't borrow the plot he came up with the story all by himself well child abuse can take many forms this who was bio was an egregious example of intellectual indoctrination and should be considered detrimental to the education of 8 to 12 year olds on its website penguin random house invites unsolicited proposals so i wrote a letter suggesting they consider who was edward de vere i said my letter i do take exception to your who was william shakespeare however it does provide an opportunity to provide you your young readers with a valuable lesson there are often two sides to a story i listed a number of the distinguished outers and the five supreme court justices who were also skeptics no response a month later i tried again still no response so i decided to write a case for edward de vere as a real william shakespeare and at least tell my children the other side of the story who was william shakespeare 1564-1616 will shakespeare was the son of john shakespeare of stratford-upon-avon it was a rural martin market town a three or four days journey northwest of london the family name was shaxpeer not shake spear in the stratford register of christenings marriages and burials the family name was entered 30 times it was variously spelled shaq spear shag spear shax payer shaq's beer and so on will's daughter susanna was christened in 1583 and in that single instance the name was spelled with the e in the middle that is shake spear however she was married 20 years later as susannah shakespeare spelling was arbitrary and names were usually spelled fanatically so it should be evident that the first syllable was pronounced shacks will's father john was consistently known either as shax be payer or more frequently shax pier it's interesting to note that the plays were invariably spelled either shakespeare or half the time shake hyphen spear in the late 16th century the hyphen customarily indicated that the name was a pseudonym in his shakespeare who was he the oxford challenge to the board of avon richard whalen wrote the distinction between the two names is either ignored or rejected in conventional shakespearean biography the biographers modernize or normalize the stratfor man's name to shakespeare weyland also noted that most biographers make no mention of the distinction and use the shakespeare spelling throughout the so-called modernizing or normalizing of the spelling ignores the distinction between the two persons under discussion but this wasn't always the case weyland informs us that in the late 19th century establishment writers often use the stratforian spelling for the poetrometer's name usually spelling it shak spear e-r-e or simply shacks-p-e-r only in the 20th century coincidental with the strong candidacy of the earl of oxford is the true author that most of the establishment writers booked using the shakespeare spelling for the author whose byline was spelled shakespeare now the term gent gentlemen or gent indicated that a man was a landowner who could live entirely on rental income it was the lowest rank of the land of gentry but indicated that someone had achieved a considerable level of social standing and was a respected member of society i'm sure that wasn't the case in every instance but this was an important indication of how far the glover son had risen in the world will acquired a dubious coat of arms for his father in 1596 for a reputed 30 pounds entitling the son to style himself gentlemen and why do i say dubious well sometime in 1570s john shakespeare apparently applied for a coat of arms the application was denied in 1596 will shakespeare was successful in getting a coat of arms for his father this was in spite of the herald's judgment that the application was without merit the proposed arms was noted no no comma without right the comma was critical but the garter principal king of arms william dethick seemingly approved the application reputedly for a bribe of thirty pounds as charlton ogren wrote in his mysterious william shakespeare dethick was already in bad odor for his greed and in 1602 was accused by your carol ralph brooke of having made grants to base persons among them shakespeare was named detrick was later dismissed from his post note that the comma was dropped from the null comma without right and john shakespeare's motto became the rather enigmatic no song dua not without right but then will was entitled to style himself gentlemen or gent has appeared on the burial register alex mcneil the editor of the shakespeare oxford fellowships newsletter wrote that was a big deal then johnson lampooned shakspear in his play every man out of his humor by having his boonish clown sogliardo that is shakespeare rag i can write myself a gentleman now it cost me 30 pounds the character pontivar var lo volo scoffed at the idea and equipped but the motto might just as well be not without mustard now for some background stratford was a small rural town close to 100 miles northwest of london about 2 000 people lived there and few could even write their own names only a small percentage of the population of the entire country were literally reputedly 10 or 15 percent at the most even many town fathers signed their names with an x as was the case with john shakespeare john shakespeare 1531-1601 had been relatively prosperous as a glover and sometime wool merchant and was even high bala equivalent of mayor in 1568 and high alderman in 1571 but in the 1570s when will was young his father came on hard times and was shunned mostly because of his many unpaid deaths young will supposedly attended the local grammar school where he supposedly studied latin and classical literature there's no proof that this was the case and judging from the only examples of his penmanship six signatures he must not have learned to write in 1582 when he was 18 will married anne hathaway eight years as senior and they soon had three children he supposedly left for london sometime before 1592 leaving his family behind will shakespeare supposedly had a career as an actor theater manager money lender and of course supposedly was the most renowned writer in all of english literature he was indeed a 10 shareholder of the globe theater in 1599 but it was actually little to support the conventional narrative that he was an actor of any consequence in 1597 he bought new place the second largest house in stratford he supposedly left london for good and returned to his hometown about 1610. he supposedly retired from writing plays about 1612 and but continued to sue people for paltry sums will shakespeare died a wealthy man in new place in 1616 and then his exhaustive will left most of his estate to his daughter susanna but his second best bed to his widow and that's about it the rest is supposition there's absolutely nothing to connect will shakespeare's name the plays in his lifetime and no mention of a single book or manuscript in his detailed will evidently no one in stratford ever referred to will shakespeare as william shakespeare until long after his death when the shakespeare narrative had become established will shakespeare never claim that he had written a place nor did any of his family in fact no one ever thought of him as a writer of any sort or even anyone is special his name appears in various accounts with tax delinquency in london real estate deals lawsuits over peddling amounts and in 1598 he was listed for hoarding 80 bushels of grain and malt in a time of famine unquote but there's not a single indisputable reference to will shakespeare as the author in his lifetime the shakespeare certainly but never to shakespeare some further thoughts first susanna married a physician dr john hall he was a graduate of cambridge and for many years kept a record in latin no less of significant events and people he considered worthwhile noting and he never saw any reason to mention his father-in-law the supposedly famous playwright also it's telling that will shakespeare's two daughters were illiterate and then consider how many educated women shakespeare depicted in his plays and finally stratfordians have never been able to explain why their candidate could not even write his own name so how did will shakespeare acquire his wealth will shakespeare that is the price that glover's son paid for new place was far more than he could possibly have earned from playwriting and being a shareholder in a theater company he later was able to buy some tithes in stratford for another large sum he also owned five houses at the time of his death there's no question that will shakespeare was very wealthy for an unlettered man with his background and isn't it curious that there's nothing in the official records to explain the sudden financial success in the 1590s on our website politicworm.com prominent oxfordian stephanie hopkins-hughes has suggested that richard field the printer of william shakespeare's venus and adonis quote may have suggested a little coin from oxford to field and field to will and the deal was done true who knows but it's as plausible an explanation as any i have heard today the long poem venus on adonis was published in 1593 and was the first time the name william shakespeare appeared in print curiously the name did not appear on the cover only on the dedication page where he honored henry rosely the third earl of southampton no one connected the author william shakespeare with a man from stratfor well if not will shakespeare then who was the author well numerous alternative candidates have been proposed over many generations but since 1920 when an english school teacher named j thomas looney published shakespeare identified in edward de vere the 17th and love oxford since then there has been only one serious contender with a convincing claim to the authorship that person was edward de vere 17th girl of oxford 1550-1604 so ten years after mark twain died mooney's landmark book was published and the oxford movement began still stratfordians support their candidate with exasperation with anyone who questions their assertions the shakespeare birthplace trust of stratford-upon-avon has an enormous stake in the stratfordian cause and disdain any challenge to their mission some orthodox academics have even questioned the sanity of doubters others have even asked and this is true how can you seriously consider the theory of someone with such a funny name i'm not kidding but novelist john goldsworthy called this book the best detective story he had ever read now when did the attribution to will shakespeare occur the notion that will shakespeare 1564-1616 abstracted upon haven was the author of the place was not imagined until seven years after the stratford man died there were two phrases and two separate verses when the first polio was published in 1623 that ambiguously imply a connection between will shakespeare and the works of william shakespeare ben johnson's phrase the sweet swan of avon and leonard diggs by stratford monument when the first folio of 36 plays was published in 1623 18 had never been published before these appeared seven years after the stratford man died here's an image of the author that appears in the opening page of the canon in his introductory verses to the publication ben johnson praised the sweet swan of dave and stating that thou art a monument without a tomb but johnson never mentioned will shakespeare by name or will shakespeare by name and he was cagey and certainly ambiguous and hinting that the avon was associated with the altar of the plays however the earl actually owned bilton hall a manor on the avon only a few miles upstream from stratford also the london borough of stratford abuts the borough of hackney where devere lived at king's place during the last decade of his life the london borough of stratford would have been far better known than the remote warwickshire stratford a three or four day journey from london now then you can see that on the map a little bit there it's not way up there a map of leonard diggs in a separate poem referred to thy stratford monument addressing shakespeare's immortality diggs wrote thy works by which i'll live thy tomb and thy name when the stone is rent and time dissolves the stratford monument here we alive should view these still well stratfordiums claim that these two phrases combine to prove the connection of the avon and stratford to will shakespe shakespeare and hence confirm him as the author i repeat this was the first time anyone suggested a connection between will shakespeare and the plays of william shakespeare so let's view the monument the bust in trinity church in 1634 sir thomas doug dale 1605 to 1686 a um a noted historian and author of antiquities of warwickshire made the first sketch ever of the stratford monument the bust in trinity church in stratford-on-haven the subject's hands are what appears to be a wool sack not at the four corners but no quill pen and no paper there's nothing to suggest the subject was a writer winston sloth's holler's 1656 engraving was based on duckdale's original sketch and was a standard image of shakespeare for over a century there was nothing in this image to suggest that the subject was a writer but nicholas rowe used it in his 1709 edition of shakespeare's works george virtue's frontis piece for alexander pope's 1723-1725 edition of shakespeare notice his shakespeare and a no woman's rough there was certainly nothing noble about the stratford man virtue's second engraving omitted the rough but added the quill and paper and the soft pad is still there this was the very first time the subject of the bust was depicted as a writer it was well over 100 years after the stratford man died the antiquarian joseph greene arrived in stratford in 1737 he discovered shakespeare's will in 1747 and found it quote so absolutely void of the least particle of that spirit that animated our great poet unquote but in spite of his impression of shakespeare from his will greene was responsible for repairing and re-beautifying the effigy in 1749 it had become another iconic image of the bard that we see today mark twain wrote in 1909 is shakespeare dead the bust there in the stratford church the precious bust the priceless bust with the dandy mustache and the putty face on semen of care that face that has looked passionately down upon the pilgrim for 150 years and will still look down upon the odd pilgrim for 300 more with a deep deep deep subtle subtle subtle expression of a bladder but when did will william shakespeare become britain's iconic hero in the introduction to mark anderson's book shakespeare by another name the life of edward de vere earl of oxford the man who was shakespeare mark anderson wrote in 1767 the theatrical empresario david garrick launched the shakespeare industry in stratford-upon-avon with a three-day jubilee that transformed the backwater warwickshire town into the literary tourist mecca that stratford has remained to this day anderson also added that during the same year garrett's friend the physician herbert lawrence wrote the life and adventures of common sense accusing shakespeare of stealing other people's works the golden age of elizabeth henry petrum was one of the most astute literary observers of the era and he listed the most remarkable wordsmiths and refined wits of england's golden age in his 1622 the complete gentleman seven names appear and he says writers whose likes are hardly to be hoped for in any succeeding age edward the earl of oxford lord buchhurst henry lord paget philip sivney edward dyer edmund spencer and samuel daniel but no william shakespeare peacham never corrected this omission in any of his subsequent editions the book which appeared in 1627 1634 and 1661 the implication is clear henry peachem knew that the earl of oxford and william shakespeare were one of the same so here's edward de vere now note the um the handwriting the penmanship in the lower right hand corner who was edward de vere edward de vere was an elizabethan aristocrat as the 17th earl of oxford and the lord great chamberlain at the time he was the highest ranking nobleman in the realm earls ranked below dukes and marcos's but in de vere's day there were no dukes or marquises the de beers had been prominent throughout british history since the days of william the conqueror the beers were present at the signing magna carta and the epic battles of cressi poitiers anchor bosworth and numerous historic events edward's father john de vere the 16th earl loved theatrical productions and was the patron of acting troop the lord chamberlain's men edward was born at headington castle in essex it was the seat of the de beer family for over 500 years pennington castle is in the village of castle heading them indeed it's a bit confusing i finally got it straightened out edward's early years young edward's tutor saw to it that he was grounded in the basic responsibilities of someone of his rank his principal tutor from the time he was four or five years old was sir thomas smith 1513-1577 sir thomas smith was a scholar parliamentary parliamentarian and diplomat a greek orator of 20 sir thomas held the religious chair of civil law at cambridge university he was also provost of eden college and a member of the privy council young edward spent much of his formative years in sir thomas's charge from the age of four or five until his father died in 1562 in addition to latin greek italian and french the rigorous curriculum included the study of writing and drawing art ancient history music cosmology dancing horticulture astronomy and even medicine harvey's circulation of the blood was known to smith and de vere long before the thesis was ever published smith's library included many books even stratforians acknowledged were referenced in shakespeare's plays a ward of the crown when edward was 12 years old his father died his mother remarried soon after and by ancient feudal law the minor child of a deceased nobleman became a ward of the crown the young girl entered the household with sir william cecil queen elizabeth's trusted advisor and the most powerful man in the land sir william's impressive residence in london was called cecil house and was located on the stram here's a sketch of burley house his country estate in lancashire cecil had enormous wealth and a stately mansion with an unrivaled library the same academic curriculum of study that began with sir thomas smith continued under cecil's authority there's no question that this rigorous classical education provided shakespeare with the necessary knowledge demonstrated in the canon stratfordians have never been able to explain their candidates comprehensive knowledge of classical literature as well as italian and french writers whose works have never been translated into english they were all in cecil's collection remember that the only libraries in england were in the great houses and were not available to the public certainly not to the likes of an obscure commoner like will shakespeare in december 15 71 when edwards was 21 years old he married cecil's 15 year old daughter anne in early 1571 the queen had raised cecil's social status to baron burley so his daughter could marry into the nobility it was not a happy marriage one of social and political ambition arranged by sir william cecil at 21 edward was no longer cecil's ward but now his son-in-law and still financially subject to burley's authority edward is not enthusiastic about married life so in 1575 he decided to visit italy and see for himself the artistic theatrical and literary center of what came to be known as the italian renaissance as a high-ranking aristocrat he was welcomed into the inner circles of the social intellectual and artistic community this sojourn was a seminal experience de beers life as ten of shakespeare's plays are based in italy richard paul rose the shakespeare guide to italy demonstrates shakespeare's intimate knowledge of italy and how that knowledge is reflected in the ten italian plays roe simply refers to shakespeare and avoids the question of who he was rowe noted that the villa fosgari malcontente was the prototype for porter porsche's villa in the merchant of venice the villa vascari was designed by andrea palladio 1508-1580 shakespeare's that is devere's places porsche's villa belmont on the bank of a waterway the brenta canal exactly five miles from the panic that's pusina that's where the canal boats transfer to the venice lagoon and then another five miles across the lagoon to the ducal palace in venice note that five plus five equals ten times two equals twenty thus conforming precisely to porsche's statement that we must measure 20 miles today titian 1498 to 1676 was the premier painter of the venetian school he created several versions of venus and adoles the one on the left in new york's metropolitan museum of art and the one on the right in madrid's prado both depict adonis bare-headed the getty museum in california has another also without a hat the one in titian's own venice studio in 1575 was the only version showing adonis with a hat a bonnet de vere evidently visited the petition studio in 1575 and saw that particular painting of the venus and adonis william shakespeare's 1593 poem venus and adonis describes adonis wearing a bonnet that hides an angry brow in his shakespeare by another name mark anderson notes that quote all classical sources depict the couple's affair as mutually passionate titian's venus nearly falls over herself to restrain adonis from leaving and shakespeare boldly revises the obitian myth in the same way that titian does unquote this is just what orson welles had in mind in in 1954 when he said if you don't believe oxford wrote shakespeare then there are awfully some awfully funny coincidences to explain away well home again here's a map of central london showing the proximity of some of the places mentioned in the text note that the theaters south of the thames were not built until later the rose 1587 swann 15th and the globe not until 1599. when de vere returned home in 1576 he had lost some favor with the queen and the court no longer held the same attraction that it once did his literary efforts took a prominent place in his life james burbridge opened the first public theater the theater in 1576 for the first time dramatic productions were available to the paying public indeed there had been revels entertaining skits and performances for the inner circles of the court the universities that went oxford and cambridge the great houses and the ends of court but now there was an outlet for the playwrights to share their innovative ideas on the public stage the veer established a household in london which was known as fisher's folly he gathered around him a group of talented writers called the university wits this has led some academics to conclude that the works were not the creation of just one person shakespeare but was somehow a collaborative effort by a team of skillful writers there may be some truth to this but there's no question that the plays were created by the incredibly gifted author of the works in 1586 queen elizabeth awarded edward an annual grant of a thousand pounds that was a huge sum in those days there were no conditions attached to the annuity the queen was known to be extremely parsimonious and rarely gave cash grants of any kind waltzingham the spymaster was the only other person to receive a thousand pounds but he had to fund his extensive spy network from that graph what likely exclamation explanation is that queen elizabeth enabled diver out of shakespeare to write the history plays which reinforced the queen's legitimacy as the two demonic and engendered to chauvinistic pride among her subjects the english people remember that philip ii spanish armada's short aborted attempt to conquer protestant england and return to the church of rome well de beers later life de vere sold fisher's folly in 1588 two other things happened that year the greatly feared spanish armada failed in its attempt to conquer england and edward's wife ann cecil revere died at the age of 31. their three daughters elizabeth bridget and susan were then raised by their grandfather lord burley in 1591 edward married elizabeth trentham a maid of honor to the queen and they soon settled in king's place in hackney with over 250 acres of land remember that hackney abuts the london borough of stratford don't forget that elizabeth and edward have a son henry who became edward's heir the 18th earl of oxford the name william shakespeare first appeared in print in 1593 with the publication of the poem venus and adamus and another the rape of lucrece the following year as many of as a dozen of the shakespeare plays have been published with no author's name these plays were performed in the public theaters during the late 1580s and 90s without attribution it wasn't until de beers father-in-law lord burleigh died that the first shakespeare play appeared with the name shakespeare noted as the author loves laborers lost newly corrected and augmented by w shakespeare who james the sixth of scotland and james the first of england in 1603 queen elizabeth died in james vi of scotland 1567 1625 became james the first of england james stewart was the great grandson of margaret tudor henry the eighth sister so elizabeth tudor and james stewart were first cousins twice removed now just a little genealogy here's a genealogical chart you can see the relationship well after edward's death shakespeare's sonnets were not published until 1609. the author was noted in the dedication page as ever living not hyphenated ever hyphen living a term generally understood to refer only to people who had died and who of course was shakespeare was very much alive in 1609 18 plays were written by william shakespeare did not appear in print until long after 1604 the year edward died many stratfordians believe that they had to have been written shortly before the year of publication and therefore de vere could not have been the author as we noted the first folio of 36 plays was published in 1623 seven years after the stratford man died and 19 years after devere died these plays constituted exactly half of the complete works surely the same argument that applies to oxford should hold true for the stratford man the plays must have been written shortly before publication well the 10 italian plays revealed extensive knowledge of the geography customs art and literature of that country which was the cradle of the renaissance these plays were of course a critical part of the english renaissance which evolved during the stuart dynasty from 1603 to 1714. the first folio was dedicated to the incomparable pair of brethren william herbert and his younger brothers philip berger it's worth noting that william herbert the third earl of pembroke had once been engaged to oxford's middle daughter bridget and philip herbert the first girl of montgomery was married to de vere's younger youngest daughter susan devere some scholars speculate that susan had preserved the manuscripts of her father's 18 plays that were published for the first time in the first folio but no one knows for certain now for some final thoughts for many years the stratforian claim held sway but thanks to looney's book shakespeare identified an ever increasing number of people in the last 100 years have come to doubt the conventional notion that the stratford man was the actual poet playwright and have can been convinced that edward de vere was the real william shakespeare there's been a growing doubtaboutwill.org movement on the internet where the shakespeare authorship coalitions declaration of reasonable doubt to date there have been close to 4 500 signatories including 752 academics consequently more and more people from a wide range of disciplines embrace the compelling evidence presented by the oxfordians and are convinced that edward de beer the 17th earl of oxford was the real william shakespeare some thoughts to ponder why does it matter who who wrote the plays many play goers and anyone who reads the works asks this question it may not matter to them however others will appreciate gaining insight into the culture politics and personalities of the characters portrayed the revere referred to them as their quarterly reptilia knowing who the writer was who created them gives credibility to the author's penetrating insight in the insider's view of elizabeth's court and adds to the richness and depth of the dramas are the characters in the plays fictitious creations where quote any similarity to anyone alive or dead is strictly coincidental or are many of the characters based on real human beings some powerful members of the court were skewered by de vere who could write salacious commentary about authority while hiding behind a pseudonym and why didn't the first polio name oxford as the author though this is incomprehensible in our day it was a fact that elizabeth and jacobian era no peer of the realm could admit to participating in any activity that lonely people did to earn a living the public theater was considered particularly disreputable the upper classes and the authorities burley and his ilk viewed the new mayor of the theater not just as frivolous and dangerous but even evil and understandable the creative poet artists and particularly dramatists hid behind pen names the world was comparable today's underworld of the mob drug lords pimps prostitutes and human traffickers i ask would biographers of today's prominent elite emphasize their subjects participation in the squalid world of jeremy epstein think orgy island and lolita express and all that those expressions imply oxford had been an iconoclast in life and it would have been no benefit to name him as the real author even 19 years after his death it would have only been an unnecessary distraction now for a brief commercial i repeat what i said in my opening remarks the clarion review stated the book's objective is not to examine every aspect of the deveer theory in detail but to condense the that material and present its essentials it includes a thorough list of references and additional reading suggestions for those interested in learning more my book is available from amazon for 10.99 but i always believe in supporting our very special independent bookstore in kent the house of books i want to thank you for attending my talk i hope i have piqued your curiosity and introduced you to a wonderful literary mystery thank you very much you

Channel: Kent Memorial Library

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Id: bd5O3fF0DJU

Length: 53min 44sec (3224 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 27 2020