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

by Nelson, Alan H.

• ISBN13: 9780853236788
• ISBN10: 085323678X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Summary

The Elizabethan Court poet Edward de Vere 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. The first documentary biography of Oxford for over seventy years, Monstrous Adversary seeks to measure the real Oxford against the myth. Impeccably researched and presenting many documents written by Oxford himself, Nelson's book provides a unique insight into Elizabethan society and manners through the eyes of a man whose life was privately scandalous and richly documented.

Author Biography

Alan H. Nelson is professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
List of Abbreviations	xiii
Acknowledgements	xvii
Editorial Procedures	xix
Introduction	1	(6)
Part I Roots 1548-1562
1 Oxford's Essex	7	(2)
2 Progenitors	9	(5)
3 Doubtful Marriage	14	(5)
4 Infancy and Childhood	19	(4)
5 The Education of Lord Bolbec	23	(3)
6 Long Live the Queen	26	(3)
7 The Earl is Dead	29	(5)
Part II Youth 1562-1571
8 London Wardship	34	(7)
9 Early Teens	41	(6)
10 First Blood	47	(2)
11 Restless Youth	49	(5)
12 Best Friends	54	(4)
13 Necromancer	58	(4)
14 Oxford's Letters	62	(6)
Part III Emancipation 1571-1574
15 Majority and Marriage	68	(9)
16 Country Muses	77	(2)
17 Country Matters	79	(10)
18 Murder	89	(3)
19 Mayhem	92	(7)
20 Wanderlust	99	(6)
21 Desperadoes	105	(3)
22 Flight	108	(9)
Part IV Exploration 1574-1576
23 Preparation for Travel	117	(4)
24 To Italy	121	(11)
25 Journey Home	132	(5)
26 Inglese Italianato	137	(4)
27 A Stranger to his Wife	141	(14)
28 Orazio Coquo	155	(2)
29 Oxford's Poetry (I)	157	(7)
Part V Alienation 1576-1579
30 The Lure of Rome	164	(10)
31 Murder by Hire	174	(4)
32 Put Away your Feeble Pen	178	(4)
33 In the Chiefest of his Royalty	182	(4)
34 The Lure of Gold	186	(3)
35 Superlative in the Prince's Favour	189	(2)
36 Alienations	191	(4)
Part VI Intrigue 1579-1580
37 Oxford vs. Sidney	195	(5)
38 Oxford vs. Leicester	200	(3)
39 Table, Gallery, Garden	203	(6)
40 Atheist	209	(4)
41 Sodomite	213	(5)
42 Prophet	218	(7)
43 A Passing Singular Odd Man	225	(4)
44 Oxford's Folly	229	(7)
45 Literary Patronage (I)	236	(3)
46 Oxford's Players (I)	239	(10)
Part VII Sedition 1580-1581
47 Denunciations	249	(9)
48 Tables Turned	258	(3)
49 Knight of the Tree of the Sun	261	(5)
50 Anne Vavasor	266	(7)
51 Prisoners	273	(3)
Part VIII Release 1581-1585
52 Starting Over	276	(4)
53 Quarrels and Killings	280	(7)
54 Oxford's Literary Circle	287	(2)
55 To Give the Earl Warning	289	(3)
56 I Am that I Am	292	(3)
57 Use not thy Birth for an Excuse	295	(5)
Part IX Reiteration 1586-1591
58 Maintenance for his Nobility	300	(3)
59 No Enemy can Envy this Match	303	(5)
60 Another Grissel for her Patience	308	(3)
61 Rid of my Lord Oxford	311	(8)
62 City House, Country House	319	(3)
63 I Have not Had my Health	322	(6)
64 Weary of an Unsettled Life	328	(8)
Part X Renewal 1592-1595
65 Mistress Elizabeth Trentham	336	(3)
66 Oxford's Grammar School	339	(4)
67 A New Lord Bolbec	343	(2)
68 A Husband for Lady Elizabeth	345	(4)
69 Some Say my Lord of Oxford is Dead	349	(6)
Part XI Re-engagement 1595-1599
70 The Lure of Tin	355	(3)
71 Oxford not to be Touched	358	(3)
72 I Have not an Able Body	361	(9)
73 The Death of Father Burghley	370	(4)
74 A Husband for Lady Bridget	374	(6)
75 Literary Patronage (II)	380	(4)
76 Oxford's Poetry (II)	384	(7)
77 Oxford's Players (II)	391	(3)
Part XII Decline 1600-1604
78 Deep Abyss and Bottom of Despair	394	(2)
79 The Weakness of my Lame Hand	396	(8)
80 Nothing more Precious than Gold	404	(5)
81 Missing Person	409	(9)
82 This Common Shipwrack	418	(6)
83 But a Grave	424	(3)
Part XIII Aftermath 1604-1613
84 A Husband for Lady Susan	427	(4)
85 The Dowager and the Heir	431	(12)
Notes	443	(44)
Appendix: Oxford's Letters and Libel Documents	487	(5)
Bibliography	492	(13)
Index	505