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OK, then if you don't think that Sir Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare, then like many others, you may agree that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was the real writer of the Bard's works. After all, this aristocrat (1550-1604) lived at the right time (more or less), was a well-travelled and well-educated gentleman and was known to have written literary pieces for the Elizabethan court.
He was born in Essex and educated at Cambridge and by the time he was 27 he'd been admitted to Gray's Inn to study law. He was also such a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I that when he asked for permission to serve in the army in Flanders, she refused. However he did see action in 1570 when, under the Earl of Sussex he fought in a campaign against the Scottish Catholic nobles.
When he sneaked abroad to Flanders in 1574 without the queen's permission, he was brought home ignominiously by her agents. In the following year he was given leave of absence from the court and travelled to France and Italy where he visited Venice, Padua, Florence and Sicily. He was so impressed by what he saw in Italy that he readily adapted many Italian ways and fashions. Is it a surprise then to read that Italy features in about one third of Shakespeare's plays?
Next time I will continue with his biography and show how the Oxfordians - those who claim that the Earl of Oxford wrote the Bard's plays - were also supported by several important people. One of these was Sigmund Freud.
For comments, please write to: dlwhy08@gmail.com
In my last blog I promised to tell you how in an article in the Chicage Tribune, 1916, we could read that Sir Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare. Unfortunately, when it came for me to read the text, I was unable to as it was too small and indecipherable.
Therefore we will just have to rely on the noisy headline: Aha! Sherlock is outdone! The Great Shakespeare Mystery is no longer a mystery. It has been solved right here in Chicago, and the spirit of Lord Bacon says,"I am content with my 1916 glory."
However, in my final blog on this topic, I wish to show you how Durning-Lawrence, the author of Bacon is Shakespeare used the illustration below from Cryptomenytices et Cryptographie by Gustavi Selenito (Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg 1579-1666) to prove his point.
From "Who Wrote Shakespeare?" by John Michell
If you look carefully at the panel at the bottom, according to Durning-Lawrence, the seated man is Bacon, while the standing man next to him, raising the hat is Shakespeare happily claiming the glory of writing Bacon's plays.
In the left hand panel, the old and shaking Shakespeare look-alike holding a spear is receiving a book (of WS plays?) from Bacon, while in the right-hand panel you can see a Baconian hatted horseman galloping away to herald the fame of Shake-spur.
Finally, at the top of the page, the many lighted beacons really stand for Sir Francis Bacon. According to Durning-Lawrence, the word 'Bacon' was pronounced'beacon' in the 16th century.
So did Bacon write Shakespeare? I'll leave you to decide (and send me your comments to wsdavidyoung@gmail.com). If you are still undecided, wait for my next blog when we'll see if the real writer of WS was Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford.
