In SHAKESPEARE BY ANOTHER NAME, Mark Anderson relentlessly builds a case, using the Earl of Oxford's biography, that Edward de Vere wrote the Shakespearean plays, sonnets, and epic poems.

Anderson begins with the death of de Vere's father when Edward was only twelve. At this time de Vere became Lord Burghley's ward and went to live with him. There was no better place for a burgeoning author to grow up. De Vere had access to the greatest library in England and such tutors as the translator of Ovid's METAMORPHOSIS, generally considered one of the premier influences on Shakespeare's art. Eventually de Vere would marry Lord Burgley's daughter, Ann Cecil, who would become the model for Ophelia, Desdemona etc. Anderson argues that the marriage between de Vere and Ann Cecil was never consummated prior to his European tour. Ann got pregnant while he was away, and an Iago-like like servant, Rowland Yorke, made matters worse by poisoning de Vere's mind against his wife. Another convincing parallel was the Earl of Leicester's theft of de Vere inheritance, which became the plot for Hamlet.

Later on de Vere would have an affair with Ann Vavasour, a lady in waiting at Queen Elizabeth's court. She got pregnant, twice, and she would become the model for Juliet and Rosaline in ROMEO AND JULIET. You scoff? Vavasour and de Vere were sent (temporarily) to the Tower of London for their amorous shenanigans. Vavasour's uncle, Thomas Knyvet, then challenged de Vere to a duel, in which the Earl was wounded. Payback resulted and Knyvet and Oxford's men had further fracases resulting in the death of two servants.

I would suppose that the Stratford on Avon people could explain away the above pretty easily, but it was the little things that convinced me. One would be Shakespeare's reference to the Bohemian seacoast in THE WINTER'S TALE. Ben Jonson (perhaps jokingly) would later criticize Shakespeare's lack of geographical knowledge since there was no Bohemian coast. Jonson was wrong; De Vere visited the place on his Grand Tour. Another convincing tidbit was de Vere's familiarity with the names Rosenkrantz and Guldenstern. Peregrine Bertie, de Vere's son-in-law, met these two Danish diplomats while on a diplomatic mission for Queen Elizabeth. Then there's the pirate scene in HAMLET in which Hamlet was left naked on a beach. The same thing happened to de Vere while crossing the English Channel upon his return from Europe.

Anderson also writes extensively about two of de Vere's secretaries, Anthony Munday and John Lyly, both of whom eventually became established writers themselves. Why would a supposed wastrel like de Vere need literary secretaries? One of de Vere's secretaries also left what might eventually be the smoking gun in the Shakespeare controversy, an original play written by Edward de Vere. Abraham Fleming's archives eventually fell into the hands of an antiquarian named Francis Peck. Among them was an early draft of what sounds like TWELFTH NIGHT. Peck had plans to publish the play, but for some reason never got around to it. If Fleming's archive could be someday relocated, it could provide definite proof that de Vere was really Shakespeare.

There is also little doubt that Edward de Vere was a playwright. Many of the masques performed at court sound strikingly familiar: THE TROUBLESOME REIGN OF KING JOHN; THE TRUE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR; THE TRUE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III; A HISTORY OF ERRORS; A MOOR'S MASQUE, to name only a few. Anderson argues that these were early drafts of the Shakespearean plays as was "Ur-Hamlet," thought to have been a Shakespearean source.

Then we have Susan de Vere (Cordelia in KING LEAR?), de Vere's youngest daughter. She married the Earl of Montgomery, who with the Earl of Pembroke, his brother, would publish THE FIRST FOLIO. Who else would have access to all the plays?

Anderson includes four Appendices. One examines de Vere's Geneva Bible and its underlinings for references and themes used in the plays. Another examines the 1604 controversy; de Vere died in 1604 and some scholars argue that THE TEMPEST and other plays include references to current events that happened later than 1604. Another appendix traces the provenance of a painting that was supposed to be of Shakespeare. Anderson maintains the man in the painting was really de Vere.

True or not, Mark Anderson's SHAKESPEARE BY ANOTHER NAME is a fascinating, fascinating book.