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Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

17th Earl of Oxford, age 25 (1575).
Portrait in Paris, by unknown.
See full size.
From Wikipedia and Tudor Place.

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford,
wit and poet at court of Elizabeth I,
born 12 Apr 1550.
See wikipedia.
He succ as Earl when his father died in 1562.
He was made a ward of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (whose dau he went on to marry).
He mar 1stly, 19 Dec 1571 [her age 15, him age 21] to Anne Cecil [born 5th Dec 1556, descendant of King John].
It was an unhappy marriage, including a separation of 5 years.
He had a famous quarrel with Sir Philip Sidney on a tennis court, late 1579.

Anne dies, 1588:
She died 5 June 1588, age 31 yrs, at Greenwich Palace (now gone), near London.
She was bur in Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey.
Her mother died 1589 and was buried with Anne.

17th Earl mar 2ndly, 1591, to Elizabeth Trentham and had issue.
He had an estate, Bilton Hall, in Warwickshire.
He had a country home at King's Place, Hackney, near London.

17th Earl dies, 1604:
He died 24 June 1604, age 54 yrs, at King's Place, Hackney.
He was bur 6 July 1604, St. Augustine's church, Mare St, Hackney.
St. Augustine's church was later demolished. The 17th Earl's grave is gone. A tower of the church survives. See street view.
See resources.
17th Earl had issue by 1st wife:

1. Elizabeth de Vere, born 1575.

2. Bridget de Vere, born 1584.

   
   

3. Susan de Vere,
   or Susannah,
   written "Susanna" in the Latin on the Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey,
   born 26 May 1587.
   Her mother died when she was age 1.
   She mar 27 Dec 1604 [her age 17] to Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and had issue.
   Spectacular wedding at Whitehall. Her father had just died. James I gave her away.
   Some records say they mar 4 Jan 1605 [new style year].

Birth of Susan de Vere in 1587, on Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey.

Death of Anne Cecil in 1588 at Greenwich, on Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey.

Effigy of Anne Cecil (in background).
Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey.
Effigy of her mother Mildred Cooke in foreground.
Photo 2012. See full size and wider shot.

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17th Earl of Oxford

Apparently 17th Earl of Oxford, think 1588.
Apparently by Nicholas Hilliard.
See full size. From Tudor Place.

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

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King's Place (Brooke House), Hackney, London

The 17th Earl of Oxford lived at King's Place, Clapton, to the N side of Hackney, near London (now part of London).
He died there in 1604.
After 1621 this became known as Brooke House.
It was demolished in 1955.
The site is now BSix Brooke House Sixth Form College.
The site is where Brooke Rd and Kenninghall Rd meet Clapton Rd. See map and street view.

Brooke House ("Private Lunatic Asylum") on OS map. Surveyed: 1863. Published: 1873.

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The fart story

Hilarious story in [Aubrey's "Brief Lives"].
"This 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'"

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Sources yet to be consulted

• 17th Earl in [Aubrey's "Brief Lives"]
  • See p.270 of vol.2 of 1898 edn.
  • See p.305 and p.306 in 1950 edn.

• The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, B.M. Ward, London, 1928, repub 1979.
• Letters and poems of Edward, Earl of Oxford, ed. Katherine Chiljan, 1998.

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• Dangerous Talk (2010) by David Cressy tells the amusing story of two Dutchmen who were gaoled at Colchester in 1577 for speaking "lewd words of the Earl of Oxford". They were released when they said they were sorry, "that they mistook him for the Earl of Westmorland".

• Earls of Oxford (extinct 1702)

• "Oxfordian" theory (The idea that Oxford wrote Shakespeare's works)