17th Earl of Oxford

Sources yet to be consulted:
- The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, B.M. Ward, London, 1928, repub 1979.
- Letters and poems of Edward, Earl of Oxford, ed. Katherine Chiljan, 1998.

17th Earl of Oxford, age 25 (1575). See full size.
Portrait in Paris, by unknown. Duke of Portland Collection at Welbeck Abbey.
This scan is from Tudor Place.
Unsure what copyright status is. Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg display copies of it. Also here.
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Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (see here and here),
wit and poet at court of Elizabeth I,
born 12th Apr 1550, at family seat of Castle Hedingham, Colne, N of Halstead, Essex,
succ 1562, made a ward of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, whose dau he went on to marry,
educ Cambridge and Oxford,
mar 1stly, 19th Dec 1571, to Anne Cecil [born 5th Dec 1556, her age 15, him age 21] and had issue:

Susan de Vere, born 26th May 1587,
mar 27th Dec 1604 [her age 17, spectacular wedding at Whitehall, her father had just died, James I gave her away]
to Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and had issue.

see his poetry and his letters,
unhappy marriage, including a separation of 5 years, see his bisexual sexual exploits in Italy, 1575-6,
famous quarrel with Sir Philip Sidney over the rights to a tennis court, late 1579,
Anne died 5th June 1588, age 31 yrs, bur Westminster Abbey, see inscription on tomb,

mar 2ndly, 1591, and had issue,
had an estate, Bilton Hall, on the Avon River,
country home at Kings Place (since demolished, was at junction of Brooke Rd and (Upper) Clapton Rd, see map) in Hackney village, nr London (now part of London, apparently near the village of Stratford),
died 24th June 1604, age 54 yrs, at Kings Place,
bur 6th July, St. Augustine's church (since demolished, grave now gone, was on Mare St nr Hackney Central station, see map) in Hackney.
See resources and articles and biography.

17th Earl of Oxford.
By Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. Possession of The Duke of St. Albans.
This scan from Oxford Authorship Site .

"The Earl of Oxford, making of his low obeisance to Queen Elizabeth happened to let a Fart, at which he was so abashed and ashamed that he went to travel, seven years. On his return the Queen welcomed him home and said, 'My Lord, I had forgot the Fart'"
- "Brief Lives" by John Aubrey, late 17th Century.

"Oxfordian" theory (and search):
- Those who deny Shakespeare's authorship often suggest the 17th Earl of Oxford as the author instead.
- Much of Shakespeare's work is then seen as political satire by an insider to the Court, Hamlet, for example, is then seen as autobiographical, with de Vere as Hamlet, his wife Anne Cecil as Ophelia, and his father-in-law William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley as Polonius.
- Note that most professional historians and academics reject this theory. See criticisms.
The Herbert family have connections to both Shakespeare and to the 17th Earl of Oxford
The Earls of Oxford became extinct 1702. See IRELAND in [Debrett's Peerage, 1790].

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