Jump to ContentJump to Main Navigation
Monstrous Adversary – The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford - Liverpool Scholarship Online
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content.

Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

Alan H. Nelson

Abstract

The Elizabethan Court poet Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, has, since 1920, lived a notorious second, wholly illegitimate life as the putative author of the poems and plays of William Shakespeare. The work reconstructs Oxford's life, assesses his poetic works, and demonstrates the absurdity of attributing Shakespeare's works to him. This book seeks to measure the real Oxford against the myth. Presenting many documents written by Oxford himself, this book provides a unique insight into Elizabethan society and manners through the eyes of a man whose life was privately scandalous and richly ... More

Keywords: Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, William Shakespeare, Elizabethan society, Elizabethan manners, scandal, poetic works

Bibliographic Information

Print publication date: 2003 Print ISBN-13: 9780853236788
Published to Liverpool Scholarship Online: June 2013 DOI:10.5949/UPO9781846313592

Authors

Affiliations are at time of print publication.

Alan H. Nelson, author

Show Summary Details

subscribe or login to access all content.

Contents

View:

Front Matter

Title Pages

Frontispiece

Epigraph

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Editorial Procedures

Introduction

Part I Roots 1548–1562

1 Oxford's Essex

2 Progenitors

3 Doubtful Marriage

4 Infancy and Childhood

5 The Education of Lord Bolbec

6 Long Live the Queen

7 The Earl is Dead

Part II Youth 1562–1571

8 London Wardship

9 Early Teens

10 First Blood

11 Restless Youth

12 Best Friends

13 Necromancer

14 Oxford's Letters

Part III Emancipation 1571–1574

15 Majority and Marriage

16 Country Muses

17 Country Matters

18 Murder

19 Mayhem

20 Wanderlust

21 Desperadoes

22 Flight

Part IV Exploration 1574–1576

23 Preparation for Travel

24 To Italy

25 Journey Home

26 Inglese Italianato

27 A Stranger to his Wife

28 Orazio Coquo

29 Oxford's Poetry (1)

Part V Alienation 1576–1579

30 The Lure of Rome

31 Murder by Hire

32 Put Away your Feeble Pen

33 In the Chiefest of his Royalty

34 The Lure of Gold

35 Superlative in the Prince's Favour

36 Alienations

Part VI Intrigue 1579–1580

37 Oxford vs. Sidney

38 Oxford vs. Leicester

39 Table, Gallery, Garden

40 Atheist

41 Sodomite

42 Prophet

43 A Passing Singular Odd Man

44 Oxford's Folly

45 Literary Patronage (1)1

46 Oxford's Players (1)

Part VII Sedition 1580–1581

47 Denunciations

48 Tables Turned

49 Knight of the Tree of the Sun

50 Anne Vavasor

51 Prisoners

Part VIII Release 1581–1585

52 Starting Over

53 Quarrels and Killings

54 Oxford's Literary Circle

55 To Give the Earl Warning

56 I Am that I Am

57 Use not thy Birth for an Excuse

Part IX Reiteration 1586–1591

58 Maintenance for his Nobility

59 No Enemy can Envy this Match

60 Another Grissel for her Patience

61 Rid of my Lord Oxford

62 City House, Country House

63 I Have not Had my Health

64 Weary of an Unsettled Life

Part X Renewal 1592–1595

65 Mistress Elizabeth Trentham

66 Oxford's Grammar School

67 A New Lord Bolbec

68 A Husband for Lady Elizabeth

69 Some Say my Lord of Oxford is Dead

Part XI Re-engagement 1595–1599

70 The Lure of Tin

71 Oxford not to be Touched

72 I Have not an Able Body

73 The Death of Father Burghley

74 A Husband for Lady Bridget

75 Literary Patronage (II)

76 Oxford's Poetry (II)

77 Oxford's Players (II)

Part XII Decline 1600–1604

78 Deep Abyss and Bottom of Despair

79 The Weakness of my Lame Hand

80 Nothing more Precious than Gold

81 Missing Person

82 This Common Shipwrack

83 But a Grave

Part XIII Aftermath 1604–1613

84 A Husband for Lady Susan

85 The Dowager and the Heir

End Matter

Appendix Manuscript References for LL and LIB Documents

Bibliography

Index