Edward De Vere | Was He Really William Shakespeare? | Berganza Hatton Garden

Elizabethan intaglio ring featuring Edward de Vere. An important gold ring set with an oval carnelian intaglio in the Italian style featuring a bearded male in profile, thought to be Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, in the manner of a Roman Emperor, with ornate foliate and scrolled carving to the gallery and trumpeting shoulders, flowing through to a solid D-shape shank. Tested yellow gold, approximately 11.9 grams in weight, circa 1575, accompanied by documentation from the Portable Antiquities Scheme stating that this ring was found whilst metal detecting pasture land in the Halstead area of Essex. It is recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme under reference #ESS-A69E73. This ring showcases the finest level of craftsmanship and is in museum quality condition.

This ring was discovered in Halstead, Essex in 2018, near Hedingham Castle, the ancestral home of the Earls of Oxford. This ring is thought to have been commissioned for and owned by Edward de Vere, due to its unsurpassed quality for the period.

Edward de Vere (1550-1604), became the 17th Earl of Oxford and Lord Great Chamberlain at the age of 12 upon the death of his father. After becoming a ward of Queen Elizabeth I, he was raised in the household of William Cecil (later Lord Burghley), the Queen’s Secretary of State, whose daughter he married in 1571. De Vere spent much time in Europe, in particular the Italian states, where this ring is thought to have been created. Throughout his lifetime, de Vere was embroiled in many plots and scandals, and extravagant spending led to much financial distress. Despite this, he remained a favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. He was known throughout the court for his poetry and was patron of the arts, including writers, musicians and actors.

It has since been suggested that de Vere was using the pseudonym 'Shakespeare' to write plays and poems, as this was a profession that was looked down upon for someone in his position. Some of the evidence for this theory includes many instances in the plays that mirror events and people in his life. This is known as the 'Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship' which is still debated today.

[jonathangfoss]

Looks like the Thumb ring in the left hand of the Ashbourn portrait.

[avlasting]

Following on from another comment, a good next step would be to match this ring to its owner's portrait(s). What a fascinating find...!

[tomgoff]

What a find. Would the "crown" the bust seems to be wearing be an earl's coronet? I can think of two other things: would this be used like the signet Hamlet uses to stamp the "royal" emblem on the document dooming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? And how interesting to find the name Hatton (same name as De Vere's bitter court rival) adorning the firm that gives us this remarkable info.

[elizabethmcgreevy]

Is it possible Shakespeare and De Vere collaborated on the plays, as opposed to one or the other creating them alone?

[BluePhoenix]

Next time you record, get a pop filter and put it infront of your mic. This will allow you to reduce the high frequencies in the audio track reducing unwanted mouth noise. Nice video. Thank you.

[DonWhisner]

Shakspur wrote nothing.
De Vere is everywhere in the works.

[EndoftheTownProductions]

Shakespeare refers to the Gunpowder Plot in Macbeth. He mentions "equivocation" and "equivocator" and this refers to the Catholic Priest Henry Garnet who was associated with the plot. There are also other allusions to the plot in the play. The date of the Gunpowder Plot was November 5, 1605. Therefore, the play Macbeth must have been completed after this date and most likely finished in mid to late 1606. Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, died on June 24, 1604, which obviously makes it impossible for him to have written the play Macbeth which has been attributed to Shakespeare and later published in the 1623 First Folio. It is difficult to write a play after you have died and there is obviously no way for Edward to have known of the Gunpowder Plot and the trial of Henry Garnet before his death.

[Knightannavonkleve]

Ich hab den selben Ring als descendant

[Jeffhowardmeade]

It's a Victorian reproduction of an ancient Roman ring.

[california]

Looks phony-baloney to me...And no, it's not at all a good thing to make any assumptions about it whatsoever