De Vere anniversary revives Shakespeare debate

Four hundred years ago, a little known aristocrat died who may just have written plays like Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

His name: Edward De Vere, better known by his nom de plume of Shakespeare.

A sacrilegious notion perhaps, but a determined group of history and drama enthusiasts still believes there are too many unanswered questions in the Bard's works for them to have been written by a provincial actor from Stratford. The De Vere society argues that what little is known of William of Stratford, esteemed as Shakespeare the world over, just doesn't match the profile of the author to emerge from the plays. They see De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, as the most likely candidate.

"A lot of people just stop on the word 'genius' with Shakespeare," said society spokesman Kevin Gilvary. "But the author must have been well known, highly regarded and highly placed."

Consider this: How could a provincial actor gain such an intimate knowledge of court life if he was never present there? How could he know so much of classical authors? When did he learn Latin, Italian and French? How could he ignore his books and manuscripts in his will?

How could he know so much of Italy, where many of the plays are set, when he is not known to have been abroad?

And if he was so famous, why was there no public notice of his death in 1616?

Edward De Vere, by contrast, had constant access to the court, was an outstanding scholar and spent time in Italy, his supporters note.

But some academics dismiss such sticking points. Shakespeare specialist Dr William Poole from Downing College Cambridge said: "It takes only the most basic historical spade-work to conclude that each and every one of the standard objections fall flat at the kindergarten stage of reasoning.

"Some people would just like to think that an earl can write plays better than a glovemaker's son," he told Reuters.

Shakespeare knew of court life because he wrote as a London resident and acted before the court, Dr Poole said.

"Shakespeare does not show 'intimate' knowledge of the court, just the kind of clued-up attention we would expect from, say, a keen radio listener today. This is exactly the same with his 'knowledge' of Italy - easy to obtain: read books, talk to people."

Dr Poole also pointed out Shakespeare would have learnt his classics at grammar school and that his will did not mention any arrangements he may have made before.

As for the lack of a death notice, Dr Poole said Shakespeare had been absent from the stage for at least four years.

"When it got around to people publishing his material in the folio of 1623, the compliments flowed," he noted.

None of which convinces the sceptics. The De Vere society believes the story of the humble playwright has more than an element of myth.

"It's very romantic, - a bit of a Cinderella story and we'd all love to believe it," said Mr Gilvary, "but once you start asking questions it's very difficult to stop."