Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Procedures
- Introduction
- Part I Roots 1548–1562
- Part II Youth 1562–1571
- Part III Emancipation 1571–1574
- Part IV Exploration 1574–1576
- Part V Alienation 1576–1579
- 30 The Lure of Rome
- 31 Murder by Hire
- 32 Put Away your Feeble Pen
- 33 In the Chiefest of his Royalty
- 34 The Lure of Gold
- 35 Superlative in the Prince's Favour
- 36 Alienations
- Part VI Intrigue 1579–1580
- Part VII Sedition 1580–1581
- Part VIII Release 1581–1585
- Part IX Reiteration 1586–1591
- Part X Renewal 1592–1595
- Part XI Re-engagement 1595–1599
- Part XII Decline 1600–1604
- Part XIII Aftermath 1604–1613
- Notes
- Appendix: Oxford's Letters and Libel Documents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Liverpool English texts and Studies
35 - Superlative in the Prince's Favour
from Part V - Alienation 1576–1579
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Procedures
- Introduction
- Part I Roots 1548–1562
- Part II Youth 1562–1571
- Part III Emancipation 1571–1574
- Part IV Exploration 1574–1576
- Part V Alienation 1576–1579
- 30 The Lure of Rome
- 31 Murder by Hire
- 32 Put Away your Feeble Pen
- 33 In the Chiefest of his Royalty
- 34 The Lure of Gold
- 35 Superlative in the Prince's Favour
- 36 Alienations
- Part VI Intrigue 1579–1580
- Part VII Sedition 1580–1581
- Part VIII Release 1581–1585
- Part IX Reiteration 1586–1591
- Part X Renewal 1592–1595
- Part XI Re-engagement 1595–1599
- Part XII Decline 1600–1604
- Part XIII Aftermath 1604–1613
- Notes
- Appendix: Oxford's Letters and Libel Documents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Liverpool English texts and Studies
Summary
Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, describes Oxford in early 1579 as ‘Superlative in the Princes favour’, where by ‘the Prince’ Greville means ‘the Queen’. But rather than conform his character to his auspicious public image, Oxford pursued a course that led by March 1581 to nearly total self-destruction.
Henry Howard paints a detailed, heart-rending picture of an attack by Oxford and his ‘cutters’ on the London residence of the 63-year-old William Somerset, Earl of Worcester, after his return from Paris on 27 February (LIB-3.1/4):
Who euer delte more frendlie with him [=Oxford] then my Lord of Worcester? And yet nowe since his laste comminge ouer, without offence or any quarrell in the world, he rushed into the said Lordes howse in Warwick Lane, and all his cutters with him, hauinge their swordes drawen, and theare had murdered my lord and all his people if the doores had not bene spedily shutte vppe against [them]; and my lord constraynid as if he had bene in a forte in tyme of warre to parley out of his owne windowes.
Charles Arundel similarly reports that Oxford ‘brake into my Lord of Wosters howse with an intent to murther him and all his men, as he often times protested afterward’ (LIB-4.2/4.11).
In March seditious talk was reported between Gregory Clover of Colchester and Thomas Wixsted of Dedham, saltpetreman. Clover spoke first:
My Lord of Warwick and my Lord of Leicester [=Ambrose and Robert Dudley] are traitors and come of a traitor's blood, and if they had right they had lost their heads so well as others for making away of King Edward.
Wixsted replied:
he would go to the Lord of Oxford's town [=Castle Hedingham?] in spite of the Lord of Oxford, who was not worthy to wipe my Lord of Warwick's shoes, and the Earl of Oxford was confederate with the Duke of Norfolk and was well worthy to lose his head as he, meaning the duke.
According to Emmison, ‘The saltpetreman's taunt doubtless refers to the claim by the de Veres, Earls of Oxford, of Hedingham Castle, for exemption of their manors from searches for saltpetre, essential to the making of gunpowder. Wixsted was evidently in the service of the Earl of Warwick, Master of the Ordnance, which explains the insulting comparison of the two earls.’
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Monstrous AdversaryThe Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, pp. 189 - 190Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2003