Shakespeare-Oxford Society

Welcome to the Shakespeare Oxford Society, the second oldest continuously operating organization (the Bacon Society dates back to 1886) involved in the two-centuries old Shakespeare authorship debate. The purpose of the Society is to document and establish Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604), as the universally recognized author of the works of William Shakespeare. The quarterly Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter, annual journal The Oxfordian, and online magazine The Ever Reader carry articles, conference papers and news imparting a wide range of corroborating information and commentary. We hope that even if you have never heard much about the authorship issue before, or, more likely, have heard only negative comments from academe, you will stay a few moments and look into what is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest mystery stories. While our Society is certainly committed to the proposition that Edward de Vere is the true Shakespeare, there is still much that remains to be learned about the whole secretive world of Elizabethan society, its literature and its politics, about how and why the Shakespeare authorship ruse came into being, and, even more importantly, about what resolving the Shakespeare authorship mystery could mean for us today, living as many of us are in an Anglo-American world that was created in large part during the Elizabethan era. As Charles Burford (Society President, 1995-1997) has said in his talks on the authorship, “If you get Shakespeare wrong, you get the whole Elizabethan era wrong.” The Oxfordian theory that a court insider and lifelong confidante of Queen Elizabeth is the true Shakespeare transforms one’s understanding of the works of Shakespeare, which in turn does transform one’s understanding of the history of this critical period in world history.

Al Austin, the writer/producer of the much-watched The Shakespeare Mystery segment of PBS’s Frontline, aptly summed up the Shakespeare authorship problem in an article that accompanied the original broadcast in 1989: “Those who believe de Vere was Shakespeare must accept an improbable hoax, a conspiracy of silence involving, among others, Queen Elizabeth herself. Those who side with the Stratford man must believe in miracles.” [quote updated 5/14/99]. In short, there is a mystery here. And given the great significance and impact that Shakespeare has had in his own time and in ours, it is a mystery well worth exploring. It can only enhance one’s appreciation of Shakespeare, literature, politics and history.

More recently, in 2003, professor Alan Nelson of the University of California at Berkeley published a new biography of the Earl of Oxford, entitled Monstrous Adversary. To put in perspective the strengths and weaknesses of the first documentary biography of Oxford since 1928, the Shakespeare-Oxford newsletter issued in-depth reviews by two prominent scholars. One is by Joseph Sobran, author of Alias Shakespeare; the second by Peter Moore, who has published on Shakespeare and the history of the Tudor period in English Studies and The English Historical Review. These reviews are available at the following links:

• A Flawed Life of Oxford, By Joseph Sobran
• Demonography 101: Alan Nelson’s Monstrous Adversary, By Peter R. Moore

For those who have only heard a little about this issue and are curious to learn more, go first to our Beginner’s Guide to the Shakespeare Authorship Problem which provides an outline-style approach to the centuries-old history of this debate, including a number of the pro and con arguments, publications and key events that have marked its history. Or, you may go directly to one of the two sections in the Guide of most interest to newcomers to this issue:

The Honor Roll of Skeptics includes names and quotations from a variety of major figures in Western culture from the past 150 years who have pronounced themselves as either very skeptical of the Stratford attribution of the authorship and/or as supporters of the Oxfordian theory that Edward de Vere was the man behind the “Shake-speare” name. In Spring 1997 Shakespeareans Sir Derek Jacobi (Claudius in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet) and Mark Rylance (Artistic Director at the Globe Theatre in London) have added their names to the ever-growing list.

The History of Doubt section presents a timeline covering more than 250 years during which many doubts about the Stratford story have been expressed and alternative theories published.

If you already know a little something about the authorship debate, but have some questions, take a look at our Shakespeare Authorship FAQ. To delve deeper into some of the issues surrounding the authorship, visit our online magazine The Ever Reader. Ten issues of The Ever Reader are available online, for free, bringing readers a total of 66 different articles on Shakespeare, the 17th Earl of Oxford, other significant personages from the Elizabethan and Jacobean era, and various insights into the whole authorship debate.

If you are interested in talking about Shakespeare or the Shakespeare authorship, you might wish to check out the Usenet newsgroup humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare, even though the quality of the postings there has deteriorated in recent years through endless ad hominem attacks on any authorship posters. There is a Newsgroup FAQ maintained by Wolfgang Preiss on his web site.