Ten Premises
Ten Premises for a study of Edward de Vere’s life:
1.) Our most compelling glimpse into the living person behind any poet or literary artisan is through his or her own words, filtered through the shrewd observances of contemporaries.
2.) Given the testimony of Gabriel Harvey (1579), William Webbe (1586), George Puttenham (1589), Francis Meres (1598) and Henry Peacham (1622), it is evident that “Edward Earle of Oxford” wrote poetry – including Latin works and drama – worthy of the highest praise.
3.) Since his few surviving poems (mostly lyrics) give only the barest hint of such promise, the earl must have written other works of high caliber – high enough for his contemporaries to rank him with Sidney, Ralegh and Gascoigne (in The Arte of English Poetrie, 1589), or with Chapman, Lyly, Nash and Shakespeare (in Palladis Tamia, 1598).
4.) The poetry and drama that earned these honorable mentions may have perished in manuscript. Alternatively, the earl of Oxford’s works (which certainly included comedies, interludes, and poems in English and Latin, and, speculatively, may include translations, dramatic collaborations, pamphlets, prose romance or jest-books and other entertainments) may have appeared in print anonymously, under a pseudonym, or under the name of another author.
5.) A complete survey of potential attributions of anonymous work, or deliberate misattributions under invented or borrowed names, should begin with possible juvenilia (from 1562 onward), read with an ear for the thematic and stylistic roots of Edward Oxenford’s earliest signed poems and prose.
6.) Edward de Vere’s literary milieu – those writers and scholars with whom he studied, or with whom he could claim kinship or acquaintance, as well as those whom he employed or patronized, befriended, offended or inspired – sometimes to mockery – includes*:
Henry Howard, poet earl of Surrey
Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst
Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke
William Stanley, 6th earl of Derby
* all links lead to Alan Nelson’s documentary biography, Montrous Adversary
7.) A study of the works and/or biographies of these writers would be an excellent introduction to
Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies.
8.) Discovery of what his biographer Alan Nelson calls “the real Oxford” ultimately depends on a non-partisan survey of the documents that make up his biography, combined with a judicious analysis of the alleged literary allusions to the earl, with both strands of inquiry viewed through the broader context of the Elizabethan political and literary world.
9.) At the close of the Tudor era, Shakespeare and his fellow playwrights were well-placed to observe and comment upon the literary Lord Great Chamberlain’s flamboyant life and the ruin of his family’s ancient estate. As the nineties progressed, the earl’s influence waned, his body weakened and his purse shrunk, yet tales of his former liberality to poets and scholars still remained fresh. For those with the wit to camouflage a dramatic parallel, Edward de Vere’s follies and obsessions would have created a perfect storm of tragicomedy, capable of flooding the London stages with eloquent prodigals and vengeful cuckolds through many a dry season. Therefore, topical references to the earl are probable. Yet given the earl’s creed of malice and revenge, we should expect any such reference to be couched in highly obscure, ambiguous or cryptic terms.
10.) Shakespeare had that wit in spades. Ben Jonson too.
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Hi Michael,
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Marie
Terrific, Marie. I am printing it out right now…!
Excellent! Perhaps these “Ten Premises” could also go under the title “Ten Steps Towards Resolving Your Authorship Doubts”.
Can we add Mary Sydney Wroth (Pembroke)? Wrote the first novel by an Englishwoman. (The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania) There are some Oxfordians looking for bio-bits. But what may be known already? She may have been with her namesake (almost) when she said that “we have the man Shake-speare here”. She was a live-in Pembroke after her and the Earl’s spouses had died, the former replacing Susan Vere. Hi, Joe
A worthy addition to the list, Mr. Eldredge! Born in 1587, to Philip Sidney’s younger brother Robert, and Barbara Gamage, Mary Sidney Wroth was on intimate terms with the inner sanctum of those who knew that “the man Shakespeare” was not the author who borrowed Shakspere’s name. Ben Jonson praised her to the skies; William Herbert, one of the “incomparable paire of brethren” of First Folio fame, was her lover and father of two of her children, and Susan Vere, Oxford’s youngest daughter, was her friend. Her openly autobiographical novel may well contain some camouflaged references to the literary scene of her childhood, and what part Ben Jonson and the Herbert brothers played in publishing “Shakespeare’s” plays.
James Shapiro says autobiography just wasn’t done in Shakespeare’s day, yet his Contested Will contains NO MENTION of Mary Sidney Wroth. But she does earn a place in Shapiro and Woodring’s Columbia Anthology of British Poetry. Note that the editors chose to emphasize that Wroth “was admonished not to produce ‘lascivious tales and amorous toys'” – with no word of the topical nature of the toys that caused so much discomfort!
De Vere does have a way of doing that! Will there be time enough to dance a galliard with each of his many strange shadows? Thanks for stopping by, Bill.
Just a fan walking in off the street. Wow. Great. The fair makes the mind whirl.
Your list should also include family connections William Stanley and the Herbert brothers come to mind. Although his music was his primary interest, John Farmer might be another worthy to include. Nice site, Marie.
Thanks, Earl! I’m open to additions, and hadn’t thought of Farmer, the “URL of Derby” or the incomparable brethren. But I think I’d like to keep #6 of the Ten Premises for WRITERS whose works are available for study. Nonetheless, I’ve added Derby, since his literary biography is so fascinating, and his connection to Oxford as son-in-law so very close. I’ll have to give more thought to the composer of English madrigals, John Farmer, viz a viz #7 of the Premises: would a study of his works be an excellent introduction to Shakespeare?
@Soothern Comforte
Yes indeed he does. Thanks for the suggestion.
Does John Soothern merit inclusion in the list?
http://www.sourcetext.com/sourcebook/library/barrell/11soothern.htm
Welcome to the Oxenford blog, and I’m glad to hear that you were at Ashland, and heard my talk on Falstaff & Jack Juggler.
my apologies, my lady, for male presumption….i enjoyed your talk in Ashland, I was the guy with books and high school kids. Lovely site. Bookmarked.