A Comprehensive review of Alan Nelson's Monstrous Adversary 2003
This review is copyright © 2003 by Robert Brazil

Review of Part II - Youth

Chapter 8 - London Wardship

34 - More N-spin. He claims that EO17's amazing procession into London with 140 or perhaps 180 retainers on horseback was a tribute to the dead EO16, and no measure of the men's loyalty to EO17, nor testimony to EO17's charisma. LOL.

34 - N repeats the old line that EO became William Cecil's ward, while I am more impressed with N. Green's more accurate description that EO17 was the Queen's Ward, under the care and guardianship of Cecil. No matter how you spin this, young Oxford was the property of the State. Oxford's wardship was never sold, although the Queen might have done so. He was a valuable chattel until 21. A situation like that would make me rather rebellious.
How 'bout you ?

35 - This is amazing - to show how Oxford and the other noble prisoners were "kept" in check by Burghley - N quotes Lawrence Stone - who compares Burghley's style to that of POLONIUS. And I thought that the Stratfordians (and anti-Oxford Anti-Stratfordians) were dead-set against identifying Burghley with Polonius. Whoops, Dr. Nelson, you slipped up there. You actually make a connection to Shakespeare.

35 - N gives Anne Cecil's birthdate - Dec. 5, 1556. [That's Sagittarius under modern astrology, but Scorpio under the Elizabethan calendar!] No wonder Oxford thought she was sleeping around!

36 - N mentions without commentary that Burghley's gardener was John Gerard. But Gerard was no mere gardener, he was the preeminent Elizabethan botanist and herbalist, whose vast horticultural knowledge (and folkloric knowledge) appears in the Shakespeare plays - sometimes verbatim. (there is a published book: Gerard's Herball) Regarding Gerard, it's a great piece of collateral circumstantial evidence - and we even have Gerard also as the name of Helena's father - the offstage master healer mentioned in All's Well. But unfortunately, as Gerard's Herball was a popular book, anyone could have read it and quoted him, so we lose this as "evidence."

36 - An account of German traveler Paul Hentzner from 1598 describes the Burghley country estate Theobalds as having decorative pyramids and a "touchstone table." No Touchstone tables in Stratford!

37 - Nelson reprints Burghley's orders for Oxford's daily educational regime - which included French, Latin, writing, drawing, and Cosmography. More good training ground for young Shakespeare. Also young EO17 had to study the Bible in English before dinner and in the *original languages* after dinner - and we know that Shakespeare (whoever he was) was practically a Bible expert. We don't actually know if Oxford could read Hebrew - I assume that Latin and Greek are the "original languages."

37 - Now Nelson quotes Oxford's exercise regime that included riding and shooting. Yet in an earlier chapter N claims EO17 did not hunt or do manly sports!

37 - Oxford sat in at Parliament in 1563 - I assume as a nonvoting guest Peer - since he was only 13 and though fully an Earl, not "of age." This is DOCUMENTED. What better education could a teenager have than to sit in Parliament and watch the arguments. Think of all the high level politics in the Shakespeare plays. Did Strat-man pick up all that language in the tavern too?

38 - N reprints a very intelligent letter written by Margery, EO17's mom. Pretty damn smart for a low-bred hooker! BTW, Margery makes frequent reference to Oxford as her son. [[Those that believe EO17 was a changeling boy royal bastard who was plopped into the Oxford household had better reassess their beliefs - especially with the multiple documentation regarding his April 12, 1550 birthday.]]

39 - N mentions Nowell's famous statement that his tutoring work for EO17 would no longer be required. The obvious conclusion is that young Oxford was now more learned than Nowell - but N claims - without proof - that "evidence" indicates Oxford was a bad student, and so Nowell was just exasperated, not trumped. Boo Hiss, again, Doc.

39 - N uses Oxford's shopping list - which includes rapiers, daggers, and clothing - as proof that EO17 was "consumed with a sense of his own importance." LOL.
* So being well dressed and properly armed is an act of "self-involvement" in an era of total violence and TOTAL VANITY ?
* And what the heck is wrong with someone who IS important acting that way? Geeeeeez!

39 - N then says that EO17's wild expenditures on clothes were somewhat offset by income on rents, such as a document showing Arthur Golding collected a rent on EO's behalf. Golding was an employee of the Court of Wards. So Burghley was his boss, and Oxford, his nephew, was his uber-boss in waiting. Arthur Golding-translator of Ovid's Metamorphoses, beloved of Shakespeare.

40 - this income issue continues - N mentions that documents indicate Edward was receiving rents from far-flung estates in "Herefordshire, Devon and Cornwall."

Nelson is WRONG about Herefordshire, which borders Wales … Oxford's estates were in Hertfordshire.

40-41 - Oxford's sister, that SHREW named KATE, sued to have his estates taken away (because daddy was really only half-married to THAT WHORE Margery when EO17 was born). A defense was launched and won by Arthur Golding (Margery's brother), the man credited with the first translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses into English, Shakespeare's OTHER Bible.

If, in this era, Oxford was such a prodigy that he had outshone his teachers, and sat in Parliament, we can also assume that he knew all the details of the sister Kate lawsuit and was quite involved with uncle Arthur's petitions. So much for the old Strat canard that Oxford barely even knew Arthur Golding.

We can see Arthur's personal interest in the case. If sister Kate had actually won her lawsuit, it would be bad for Arthur's own sister Margery, bad for his employer Burghley, and thus bad for himself, ... bad all around. Dr. Nelson sounds disappointed in his book that Kate didn't win. His personal dislike for Oxford I find extraordinary.

Chapter 9 - Early Teens

41 - A useful fact. Margery's second marriage - to Charles Tyrell - took place at an indeterminate date but before Oct. 11, 1563, when her letter to Burghley indicates that they were living as man and wife.

So Earl John EO16 is buried August 31, 1562, and within 13 months Margery is re-hitched. That's not exactly lightning, but fast enough to fit the Hamlet scenario that keep's reasserting itself. And perhaps the marriage was preceded by a longer cohabitation.

42 - useless but wonderful fact - Burghley had a cousin named Disney.

42 - useful fact - in January 1564 Edward EO17 was living at Maidenhead Bridge.

Hotspur. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto, if that the devil and mischance look big upon the maidenhead of our affairs.

Wor. But yet I would your father had been here.
                                                          First Henry 4 - act 4 sc. 1
I know it's not "fair," or proof, or evidence to find parallel-to-life passages in Shakespeare, but with Oxford it's so fun and easy!

42 - N says Oxford was recuperating from an illness at Maidenhead bridge, which is not far from modern-day Maidenhead, due west on that big M-something highway. N says Oxford was there with Rutland - Roger Manners, and they were thereafter best pals for the next 3 years. Rutland just happens to be the Shakespeare of choice among Russian anti-Stratfordians. I've met, entertained, and received long letters from several Russkie Rutlanders. (personally, nyet to all that.)

42 - August 1564 - We have Oxford, Burghley, Rutland and the Queen all documented at Cambridge, St. Johns college, Cecil's alma mater. Three plays were performed at King's College Chapel -
- Aulularia by Plautus
- A tragedy named Dido
- Ezechias by N. Udall

Again, a memorable early influence on the man "we" (many of us) feel is Shakespeare. Put it another way - if the Orthodoxy had evidence that William Shaksper attended such a festival - with Plautus and Dido, they would say, "this was the seminal event that formed his mind, etc." But when we say the same thing for Oxford - the reaction is, "yeah, whatever ...."

42-43 - N lists all the men who received degrees, including Oxford, on Thursday, August 10, 1564. EO17 is listed 4th, it appears outranked by 1. Duke of Norfolk, 2. Earl of Sussex, 3.Earl of Warwick

43 - N specifically describes these as "unearned" degrees, not considering for a moment that some of the group of seventeen men might have *coincidentally* earned and deserved them. Alan here is in top Fox-News "fair and balanced" spin. I quote:

"The University distributed these unearned degrees even as the town distributed marchpane and sugar loaves."

43 - N switches gears to Golding's *Histories of Trogus Pompeius, dedicated to EO17. N admits that Golding pays tribute to 14-yr-old Oxford's personal fluency in Ancient history and modern politics. No further comment about this from N.

Here I must present the relevant section from C.W. Barrell's famous but neglected essay, which I found on Mark Alexander's sourcetext.com site. Thank you, Mark for hosting this and everything else on your website!

<><><> by C.W. Barrell, 1940 <><><> The first of these is an English version of Justin's previously un-translated Abridgment of the Histories of Trogus Pompeius, "a worke conteyning briefly great plenty of most delectable Historyes, and notable examples, worthy not only to be Read, but also to bee embraced and followed by all men." Lord Oxford was only fourteen years of age and about to receive a degree from St. John's College, Cambridge, when his uncle offered the fruit of his labors in the field of ancient history to him in these words: … there was not any who, either of duty might more justly claim the same, or for whose estate it seemed more requisite and necessary, or of whom I thought it should be more favourably accepted, than of your honour. For ... it is not unknown to others, and I have had experience thereof myself, how earnest a desire your honour hath naturally graffed in you to read, peruse, and communicate with others as well the histories of ancient times, and things done long ago, as also of the present estate of things in our days, and that not without a certain pregnancy of wit and ripeness of understanding. The which do not only rejoice the hearts of all such as bear faithful affection to the honourable house of your ancestors, but also stir up great hope and expectation of such wisdom and experience in you in times to come, as is meet and beseeming for so noble a race. Then, after urging young Oxford to emulate the examples of Epaminondas of Thebes and Arymba of Epirus who were not only great soldiers but scholars and peace-makers as well, he concludes: Let these and other examples encourage your tender years ... to proceed in learning and virtue . . . whereof, as your great forwardness giveth assured hope and expectation, so I most heartily beseech Almighty God to further, augment, establish and confirm the same in your Lordship with the abundance of his grace. Your Lordship's humble servant, Arthur Golding A Discovery of Real Import The "delectable Historyes, and notable examples" thus brought to Edward de Vere's attention so persuasively during his formative years must have vividly appealed to the precocious boy. It is a significant "coincidence," now noted for the first time, that the writer of the Shakespearean plays must also have been vividly impressed by the succinct tales from Trogus Pompeius for he alludes many times to striking incidents and unusual personalities of the ancient world that appear in this early translation by Arthur Golding. Lack of space prevents mention of more than two or three such parallels here: In the first chapter of the Historyes we find the story of Cyrus, ruler of the Persian Empire, and his defeat and death by the unusual strategy of the Scythian queen Tomyris. Turning to Shakespeare 1 Henry Sixth, (II, 3), we discover the Countess of Auvergne planning the capture and murder of the English hero Talbot with comments such as these: The plot is laid; if all things fall out right, I shall be as famous by this exploit As Scythian Tomyris by Cyrus' death. The connection here is unmistakable for Trogus Pompeius seems to be the one historian of the period who refers to Tomyris as a Scythian queen. Herodotus, and others speak of her as Queen of the Massagetae. Again, in this book dedicated to Lord Oxford by Arthur Golding we read of Semiramis the mythical queen of Assyria and her criminal exploits, with her own son Ninyas. Shakespeare's allegorical melodrama of Titus Andronicus compares the blood-thirsty Tamora, Queen of the Goths (here evidently representing the Spain of Philip II) with: This goddess, this Semiramis, this nymph, This siren, that will charm Rome's Saturnine. And in the introduction to The Taming of the Shrew, the lord who plays the practical joke on Sly, the drunken tinker, promises him    …a couch    Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed    On purpose trimmed up for Semiramis. The account of Alexander the Great in Trogus Pompeius is particularly well handled-a model of clear and concise reporting. Two dramatic incidents in this miniature biography of the classic superman seem to have fixed themselves in the memory of Shakespeare. The first relates to Alexander's murdering of his confidential friend Cleitus during a drinking bout. This is alluded to by the irrepressible and muddle-tongued Fluellen in Henry V, (IV.7) as follows: Alexander,-Got knows, and you know,-in his rages and his furies, and his wraths, and his cholers, and his moods, and his displeasures, and his indignations, and also being a little intoxicates in his prains, did, in his ales and his angers, look you, kill his pest friend, Cleitus. The other Alexandrian anecdote has to do with the great conqueror's final act. It is reported in the ancient chronicle in this wise: When his friends saw him dying, they asked him "whom he would appoint as the successor to his throne?" He replied, "The most worthy." Such was his nobleness of spirit, that though he left a son named Hercules, a brother called Aridaeus, and his wife Roxane with child, yet forgetting his relations, he named only "the most worthy" as his successor; as though it were unlawful for any but a brave man to succeed a brave man ... Shakespeare's King Leontes in The Winter's Tale, having put away his wife and daughter in a jealous rage, (just as Lord Oxford himself did in 1576, by the way) finds himself likely to face the future without an heir. The old noblewoman Paulina offers him this cold but familiar comfort (Act V.1.): Care not for issue: The crown will find an heir: great Alexander Left his to th' worthiest; so his successor Was like to be the best. Altogether, there are ten or more clear-cut allusions in the plays to memorable characterizations and passages that appear in Arthur Golding translation of Trogus Pompeius. In addition, Shakespeare seems to have drawn heavily upon the book in naming many of his dramatic personages. Fully a dozen of the heroes of antiquity that Golding re-vitalized for the delectation of his brilliant nephew reappear in name if not in exact characterization in the Shakespearean comedies and tragedies-exclusive of the Roman plays, modeled directly upon Plutarch.   http://www.sourcetext.com/sourcebook/library/barrell/02golding1.htm

43-44 - Margery's letter to Burghley asking that he make extra sure to keep Edward away from all of the money and property while he is still young. lest he ruin his inheritance before coming of age. This does not appear to be spin. I take it as given that the kid was extravagant and scared the bejeezus out of the adults - but if Edward rightly or wrongly perceived that it was his MOM, [over and above his keepers and the Queen, and the Law], that was preventing or delaying his rightful due, then we have further elements of the Hamlet-Gertrude complex falling into place.

- Margery offers to take over responsibilities of managing Oxford's "portion," a sum of 1,000 marks that was left to him, but he could not collect until he came of age. She did not get control of the money. N says, "Oxford cannot have appreciated this interference by his mother."

- November 1565 Oxford attends his first tournament as a spectator at the wedding of the Earl of Warwick at Westminster Palace

- Feb 1566 - Queen E. through the court of Wards demands that Robert Christmas (the on-the-ground administrator of Oxford's vast Essex estates) pay out additional sums in addition to rents. One of the Queen's accountants at the Court of Wards discovered an error in Oxford's wardship agreement, an oversight which ignored the 66 pounds annually due to the crown as part of the knight-service "fee" associated with Oxford's estates. The money did not get paid. This is just about the beginning, apparently, of an eventual mountain of unpaid debt to the crown, that would later keep Oxford perpetually bankrupt. Why weren't the estates managed better? Was anyone siphoning money off the top? Stay tuned.

- August 1566 - Degrees at Oxford University in a similar scenario to Cambridge, as above. Plays performed: Marcus Germinus, Palamon and Arcyte by R. Edwardes, and Progne by James Calfhill. Much has been said about the Palamon and Arcyte connection. (but not by N ... and yes, of course I understand, that wasn't his job here, and N isn't a literature guy anyway ....) Oxford this time gets top billing (of the 12 men named by N.) The listing is interesting: "The Earl of Oxford, Edward Vere" Just a reminder that people were aware of all of his names, and that they were used on official documents ... (if not how to spell de Vere) Fascinating fact: ranked number #8 on the list is "Sir William Cecil, Secretary of State" That's right, we've been calling him Burghley all along so far (and so has N.) though Cecil was still 7 or 8 years away from becoming Lord Burghley. He hadn't even begun to think about inventing ancestors yet (I know, cheap shot)

45 - N gives a portion of a poem to Oxford by George Coryat circa 1566 that was only printed decades later in his son Thomas' famous book Coryat's Crudities 1611, a famous travelogue. Thomas Coryat traveled through India, and was perhaps the first Englishman to write about India first hand.(I think that "Crudities" actually meant to them, mixed appetizers, just like today ... but can anyone verify that?) George Coryat, in Latin, praises Oxford as one with the muses.

N gives just two lines. So I went to the Cornell Library and dug out Coryat's Crudities and was able to obtain the full text of the poem - offered complete - here for the first time anywhere (on the net).

What follows is the text of the poem by George Coryat, published posthumously by his son in 1611, but dated as late 1560's (circa 1566).

Ad illustrissimum Comitem Oxoniensem

Clare Comes, generis summum dcoramen aviti,
Insuper Angliaci magna Columna soli.
Da veniam tenui modulanti carmina plectro,
Quod nequit optatis verba referre sonis.
Te tua noblilitas commendat & inclyta virtus,
Fortiaque eximii corporis acta tui.
Nil opis externae quaeris, nec carmin (quamvis
Carmen amet quisquis carmine digna gerit)
Huc tamen adveniens cum Principe nobilis hospes
Carminibus nobis excipiendus eris.
Tum quia Musarum tanto capiaris amore,
Auribus his modulis occinit una tuis.
Tu velut hesterna cepisti carmina nocte,
Hac quoque sic capias carmina nostra die.

Tuo Honori deditissimus,
Georgius Coryatus

{TRANSLATION TO BE PUBLISHED SOON}

<><><><><>

N cites G. Harvey's reminiscence of meeting EO17 in Cambridge in the late 1560s as an indication that Oxford must have returned to the city at some time. No problem there.
46 - Oxford at Parliament again which ran from Sep 30 1566 to Jan 2 1567, one of four minor Earls in attendance. Ah, but the record only shows the boys listed on opening day. Still, a nice day out for a 16 year old, showing off with the big boys.

46 - a poem by Cecil to Young Anne aged 10 - rather cute verse. Both William and Robert Cecil were mad for poetry, plays and literature. The Cecils at this stage were contributing positively to many aspect of Shakespeare's education.

- Feb 1, 1567 Edward admitted to Gray's Inn. Once again N adds the spin that this was a "courtesy" admission and Oxford probably did not attend. But even Nelson equivocates here: "As with numerous other noblemen, Oxford's may have been a mere courtesy admission." May have been - that means there are legitimate reasons to believe the contrary. N states that Oxford bought no legal books preferring the classics, and can't of learned much law, because later on he hired lawyers. I'm not going to even touch this law school "problem". This has been debated fully by Mark and others. Oxford clearly learned a lot of the law, but desiring no career in law, saved himself a lot of bother with the rest. But he knew cases like Hales vs. Petit and a mountain of Capital L Law, especially Roman and Venetian law.
Oxford's motive was understanding the complicated legalities of his real estate holdings. Documents of his dealings in some of these tricky matters contain evidence of both his learning and his abiding interest. Oxford's letter that deals with the property of Aveley proves that he understood writs of elegit and other complicated legal instruments and precedents through which he might lose the property.

47 - N ends the chapter by restating that everything Oxford ever got was unearned. Yeah, whatever, Dr. N.

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