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Full Description
Presenting striking new evidence, this book shows that "William Shakespeare" was the pen name of William Stanley, son of the Earl of Derby. Born in 1561, he was educated at Oxford, travelled for three years abroad, and studied law in London, mixing with poets and playwrights. In 1592 Spenser recorded that Stanley had written several plays. In 1594 he unexpectedly inherited the earldom--hence the pen name. He became a Knight of the Garter in 1601, eligible to help bear the canopy over King James at his coronation, likely prompting Sonnet 125's "Wer't ought to me I bore the canopy?"--he is the only authorship candidate ever in a position to "bear the canopy" (which was only ever borne over royalty).
Love's Labour's Lost parodies an obscure poem by Stanley's tutor, which few others would have read. Hamlet's situation closely mirrors Stanley's in 1602. His name is concealed in the list of actors' names in the First Folio. His writing habits match Shakespeare's as deduced from the early printed plays. He was a patron of players who performed several times at court, and financed the troupe known as Paul's Boys. No other member of the upper class was so thoroughly immersed in the theatrical world.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Introduction
Part I: Fundamentals
1. Basic Knowledge
2. Shakespeare's Impossible Doublet
3. Shakspere a Stand-In
4. Shakspere Eliminated
5. Who Bore the Canopy?
6. Spenser's Two Gentle Poets
7. Nashe's Gentle Poet
8. Plays: Expanded or Contracted?
9. The Lancashire Connection
10. William Stanley's Early Years
11. Retrospective 1
12. Interlude: Word Games, Acrostics and Ciphers
Part II: The Sonnets
13. The Sonnets Considered
14. The Fair Youth Royal?
15. The Fair Youth's Lineage
16. The Queen's Children?
17. The Queen's Child
18. Southampton the Fair Youth
19. The Cipher Solutions Assessed
20. Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton
21. Henry Wriothesley: Early Years and Last Days
22. Retrospective 2
Part III: Discoveries
23. The Hidden Name
24. William Stanley, Sixth Earl of Derby
25. The Poet and the Fair Youth
26. The Rival Poet
27. Plays Linked with Stanley
28. Pointers to Stanley
29. Derby's Letters
Conclusion
Appendix A: Oxford Eliminated
Appendix B: Portrait of William Stanley (Portrait of Shakespeare?). Nashe's Epistle to "Strange News"
Appendix C: The Odds That Chance Produced "Henry Wr-ioth-esley"
Appendix D: More Letters by Derby
Appendix E: Postscript: Henry Heir?
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
