William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby
Encyclopedia
William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby (1561 – 29 September 1642) was an English
nobleman
. Stanley inherited a prominent social position that was both dangerous and unstable, as his mother was heir to Queen Elizabeth I under the Third Succession Act
, a position that fell to his deceased brother's oldest daughter in 1596, shortly after William took the title of Earl. After a period of European travel in his youth, a long legal battle eventually consolidated the Earl's social position. Nevertheless, he was careful to remain circumspect in national politics, devoting himself to administration and cultural projects, including playwriting.
His own literary works are lost or unidentified, but in the 1890s he was put forward as one of the contenders to be the true author of the works of William Shakespeare
, according to some proponents of the Shakespeare Authorship Question
.
and Lady Margaret Clifford
. His mother was heiress presumptive of Elizabeth I of England
from 1578 to her own death in 1596. After his mother died his older brother Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby
became the heir to the throne. Ferdinando died before he could inherit. His maternal grandparents were Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland
and Lady Eleanor Brandon
. Eleanor was the third child of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
and Mary Tudor
. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England
and Elizabeth of York
.
. In 1582 he travelled to the continent to study in university towns in France
, also possibly attending Henry of Navarre
's academy at Nérac
. In 1585 he returned home, but was once more sent to Paris as part of an embassy to Henry III of France
. He then remained in Europe for three years of personal travel before returning home once more. He may have been accompanied on his travels by the young John Donne
.
During his travels he is said to have led an adventurous existence, being involved in duels and love affairs, and travelling in disguise as a friar while in Italy
. He is supposed to have also visited Egypt
, where he fought and killed a tiger, then going on to Turkey
, where it is claimed he narrowly escaped being executed for insulting the prophet Mohammed; he was supposedly released because a Muslim
noblewoman wanted to marry him. According to the story, he turned her down, travelling on to Moscow
and then to Greenland
, from which he returned to Europe in a whaling ship.
These colourful adventures are traceable to a popular ballad entitled Sir William Stanley's Garland, which exaggerates his three years away to "twenty one years travels through most parts of the world". This was recorded in 1800 and its contents published in 1801. There is no extant documentary evidence for these supposed adventures, but the stories were regularly repeated in 19th century biographies of the Earl.
had inherited the Earldom and its estates, but died a few months later in April 1594 leaving three daughters but no male heir. Ferdinando's daughters claimed the rights to their father's estates, while William inherited the title. He also assumed the title Baron Strange
. A further complexity was that Ferdinando's eldest daughter Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven became officially the heir presumptive
to Elizabeth's throne in 1596. A complex legal dispute followed, which dragged on for many years. It led to a ruling that the Isle of Man
, then possessed by the Stanleys, was forfeit to the Queen. However, the Queen ceded her right to it in recognition of the Stanley family's services. In the end Stanley was granted Lathom and Knowsley with all relevant lands and estates in Lancashire
, Cumberland
, Yorkshire
, Cheshire
, and Wales
. A number of other estates were granted to him. Ferdinando's daughters received a number of other properties linked to baronies. The daughters were also granted the Isle of Man, but it was purchased by the new Earl and his title to it was later confirmed by James I
. While retaining the title Lord of Mann
, Derby passed the administration of the Isle to Anne Stanley. He transferred the title to his wife Elizabeth in 1612. Derby's assumption of the barony of Strange was not contested in his lifetime, but after his death it was determined to have been incorrect. A new form of the barony was then created for his son.
, daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
and Anne Cecil
. Elizabeth's maternal grandparents were William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
and his second wife Mildred Cooke. Mildred was the eldest daughter of Anthony Cooke
and his wife Anne Fitzwilliam. It has been suggested that the occasion of their wedding was the inspiration for William Shakespeare
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
, and that the play was first performed at the couple's wedding festivities. In the early years the relationship was stormy, including claims that Elizabeth had had affairs with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
and Walter Ralegh. The relationship settled down as Derby's financial and social position stabilised. The couple had five children:
sympathies, as legal heirs to the throne of England
through Henry VIII
's sister Mary Tudor, Queen of France. There were many rumours surrounding the untimely death of Ferdinando, who had been approached to lead an attempt to overthrow the queen, but remained loyal. Poisoning was widely suspected due to the sudden and violent nature of his illness. Possibly because of the potential for military rebellion in alliance with Irish Catholic
s, the new Earl was expressly forbidden by the queen to take part in the Earl of Essex
's campaign in Ireland
. The Earl limited his involvement with national politics, devoting himself primarily to the management of his estates and his dominant position in local administration in Lancashire and Cheshire. In 1603 he became a member of the Privy Council
.
Queen Elizabeth eventually granted him the Order of the Garter
. James I appointed him Lord Chamberlain of Chester. A few years after the death of his wife the elderly Earl being "old and infirm, and desirous of withdrawing himself from the hurry and fatigue of life" assigned his estates to his son James, retaining an annuity
of £1,000. The Earl purchased a house beside the River Dee just outside Chester, where he lived in retirement until his death on 29 September 1642.
's works. Derby's candidacy was first proposed in 1891 by the archivist James H. Greenstreet, who identified a pair of 1599 letters by the Jesuit spy George Fenner in which he reported that Derby was not likely to advance the Catholic cause, as he was "busy penning plays for the common players." Greenstreet argued that the comic scenes in Love's Labour's Lost
were influenced by a pageant of the Nine Worthies only ever performed in Derby's home town of Chester. Greenstreet attempted to develop his ideas in a second paper, but died suddenly in 1892, leaving his arguments incomplete. The theory was revived by the American writer Robert Frazer in The Silent Shakespeare (1915), who concluded that "William Stanley was William Shakespeare".
The idea was then taken up in France and was first advocated in scholarly detail when the Rabelais expert Abel Lefranc
published his 1918 book Sous le masque de William Shakespeare: William Stanley, VIe comte de Derby. Lefranc added to Greenstreet's arguments, suggesting that Derby's (supposed) 1578 experiences in the Court of Navarre are reflected in the more serious portions of Love's Labour's Lost. Lefranc also noted the Stanley family's longstanding connections to the theatre. He believed that Derby may have had an affair with Mary Fitton
, a candidate for the Dark Lady of the sonnets. Lefranc considered Derby to be sympathetic to France and to Catholicism, views he also believed to be present in the plays.
After Lefranc the most important champion of Derby was the physician Arthur Walsh Titherley. In his book Shakespeare's Identity he accuses Shakespeare of abusing his position as Derby's frontman by illicitly selling plays for publication and then blackmail
ing Derby by threatening to reveal his secret. No evidence is offered for these assertions. Titherley also published editions of sonnets and plays as Derby's work.
When not identified as the sole author of the canon, Stanley is often mentioned as a leader or participant in the "group theory" of Shakespearean authorship, according to which several individuals contributed to the works.
While accepting Shakespeare's own authorship of the canon, Leo Daugherty, who wrote an account of Stanley's life for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), has argued in a recent book that Stanley is the Fair Youth of Shakespeare's sonnets
and that Barnfield is the "Rival Poet
".
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
nobleman
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
. Stanley inherited a prominent social position that was both dangerous and unstable, as his mother was heir to Queen Elizabeth I under the Third Succession Act
Third Succession Act
The Third Succession Act of Henry VIII's reign was passed by the Parliament of England in July 1543, and returned both Mary and Elizabeth to the line of the succession behind Prince Edward....
, a position that fell to his deceased brother's oldest daughter in 1596, shortly after William took the title of Earl. After a period of European travel in his youth, a long legal battle eventually consolidated the Earl's social position. Nevertheless, he was careful to remain circumspect in national politics, devoting himself to administration and cultural projects, including playwriting.
His own literary works are lost or unidentified, but in the 1890s he was put forward as one of the contenders to be the true author of the works of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, according to some proponents of the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Shakespeare authorship question
Image:ShakespeareCandidates1.jpg|thumb|alt=Portraits of Shakespeare and four proposed alternative authors.|Oxford, Bacon, Derby, and Marlowe have each been proposed as the true author...
.
Early life
He was a son of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of DerbyHenry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby
Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby KG was a prominent English nobleman who served as Lord High Steward during the trial of Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel....
and Lady Margaret Clifford
Lady Margaret Clifford
Margaret Stanley, Countess of Derby was the only surviving daughter of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland and Lady Eleanor Brandon....
. His mother was heiress presumptive of Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
from 1578 to her own death in 1596. After his mother died his older brother Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby
Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby
Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby was the son of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby and Lady Margaret Clifford. According to the will of Henry VIII, his mother was heiress presumptive of Elizabeth I of England from 1578 to her own death in 1596...
became the heir to the throne. Ferdinando died before he could inherit. His maternal grandparents were Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland
Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland
Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland was a member of the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676. He was married to Lady Eleanor Brandon, a niece of Henry VIII of England.-Family:...
and Lady Eleanor Brandon
Lady Eleanor Brandon
Lady Eleanor Brandon was the third child and second daughter of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Princess Mary Tudor, the Dowager Queen consort of France. She was a younger sister of Lady Frances Brandon and an elder sister of Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln...
. Eleanor was the third child of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
and Mary Tudor
Mary Tudor (queen consort of France)
Mary Tudor was the younger sister of King Henry VIII of England and queen consort of France through her marriage to Louis XII. The latter was more than 30 years her senior. Following his death, which occurred less than two months after her coronation as his third wife, she married Charles Brandon,...
. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
and Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York was Queen consort of England as spouse of King Henry VII from 1486 until 1503, and mother of King Henry VIII of England....
.
Travels
Stanley attended St John's College, OxfordSt John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
. In 1582 he travelled to the continent to study in university towns in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, also possibly attending Henry of Navarre
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
's academy at Nérac
Nérac
Nérac is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France.-External links:*...
. In 1585 he returned home, but was once more sent to Paris as part of an embassy to Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
. He then remained in Europe for three years of personal travel before returning home once more. He may have been accompanied on his travels by the young John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
.
During his travels he is said to have led an adventurous existence, being involved in duels and love affairs, and travelling in disguise as a friar while in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He is supposed to have also visited Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where he fought and killed a tiger, then going on to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, where it is claimed he narrowly escaped being executed for insulting the prophet Mohammed; he was supposedly released because a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
noblewoman wanted to marry him. According to the story, he turned her down, travelling on to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and then to Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, from which he returned to Europe in a whaling ship.
These colourful adventures are traceable to a popular ballad entitled Sir William Stanley's Garland, which exaggerates his three years away to "twenty one years travels through most parts of the world". This was recorded in 1800 and its contents published in 1801. There is no extant documentary evidence for these supposed adventures, but the stories were regularly repeated in 19th century biographies of the Earl.
Inheritance dispute
After the death of his father in 1593, his elder brother Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of DerbyFerdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby
Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby was the son of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby and Lady Margaret Clifford. According to the will of Henry VIII, his mother was heiress presumptive of Elizabeth I of England from 1578 to her own death in 1596...
had inherited the Earldom and its estates, but died a few months later in April 1594 leaving three daughters but no male heir. Ferdinando's daughters claimed the rights to their father's estates, while William inherited the title. He also assumed the title Baron Strange
Baron Strange
Baron Strange is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. Two creations, one in 1295 and another in 1325, had only one holder each, upon the death of whom they became extinct. Two of the creations are still extant, however...
. A further complexity was that Ferdinando's eldest daughter Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven became officially the heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...
to Elizabeth's throne in 1596. A complex legal dispute followed, which dragged on for many years. It led to a ruling that the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, then possessed by the Stanleys, was forfeit to the Queen. However, the Queen ceded her right to it in recognition of the Stanley family's services. In the end Stanley was granted Lathom and Knowsley with all relevant lands and estates in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. A number of other estates were granted to him. Ferdinando's daughters received a number of other properties linked to baronies. The daughters were also granted the Isle of Man, but it was purchased by the new Earl and his title to it was later confirmed by James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. While retaining the title Lord of Mann
Lord of Mann
The title Lord of Mann is used on the Isle of Man to refer to Queen Elizabeth II, who is the island's Lord Proprietor and head of state.-Relationship with the Crown:The title is not correctly used on its own...
, Derby passed the administration of the Isle to Anne Stanley. He transferred the title to his wife Elizabeth in 1612. Derby's assumption of the barony of Strange was not contested in his lifetime, but after his death it was determined to have been incorrect. A new form of the barony was then created for his son.
Marriage and children
On 26 January 1595 he married Elizabeth de VereElizabeth de Vere, Countess of Derby
Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Derby, Lord of Mann was an English noblewoman and the eldest daughter of Elizabethan courtier, poet, and playwright Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford....
, daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....
and Anne Cecil
Anne Cecil
Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford was the daughter of statesman William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and the translator Mildred Cooke. In 1571, she became the first wife of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford...
. Elizabeth's maternal grandparents were William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
and his second wife Mildred Cooke. Mildred was the eldest daughter of Anthony Cooke
Anthony Cooke
Sir Anthony Cooke was an eminent English humanist, scholar and tutor to Edward VI, England's first ruler to be raised as a Protestant.-Background:...
and his wife Anne Fitzwilliam. It has been suggested that the occasion of their wedding was the inspiration for William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, and that the play was first performed at the couple's wedding festivities. In the early years the relationship was stormy, including claims that Elizabeth had had affairs with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
and Walter Ralegh. The relationship settled down as Derby's financial and social position stabilised. The couple had five children:
- James Stanley, 7th Earl of DerbyJames Stanley, 7th Earl of DerbyJames Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby KG was a supporter of the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.Born at Knowsley, he is sometimes styled the Great Earl of Derby, eldest son of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby and Lady Elizabeth de Vere. During his father's life he was known as Lord Strange...
(31 January 1607 – 15 October 1651). - Robert Stanley (d. 1632).
- Anne Stanley, Countess of Ancram (d. 1657). Married first Sir Henry Portman and secondly Robert Carr, 1st Earl of AncramRobert Carr, 1st Earl of AncramRobert Kerr , 1st Earl of Ancram , was a Scottish nobleman and writer.-Biography:He descended from a third son of Sir Andrew Kerr of Ferniehurst, and entered public life as laird of Ancrum in Roxburghshire...
. - Elizabeth Stanley. Died young.
- Elizabeth Stanley. Named after deceased older sister. Died young.
Career
The Stanley family were suspected of pro-CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
sympathies, as legal heirs to the throne of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
through Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
's sister Mary Tudor, Queen of France. There were many rumours surrounding the untimely death of Ferdinando, who had been approached to lead an attempt to overthrow the queen, but remained loyal. Poisoning was widely suspected due to the sudden and violent nature of his illness. Possibly because of the potential for military rebellion in alliance with Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
s, the new Earl was expressly forbidden by the queen to take part in the Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
's campaign in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. The Earl limited his involvement with national politics, devoting himself primarily to the management of his estates and his dominant position in local administration in Lancashire and Cheshire. In 1603 he became a member of the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
.
Queen Elizabeth eventually granted him the Order of the Garter
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
. James I appointed him Lord Chamberlain of Chester. A few years after the death of his wife the elderly Earl being "old and infirm, and desirous of withdrawing himself from the hurry and fatigue of life" assigned his estates to his son James, retaining an annuity
Life annuity
A life annuity is a financial contract in the form of an insurance product according to which a seller — typically a financial institution such as a life insurance company — makes a series of future payments to a buyer in exchange for the immediate payment of a lump sum or a series...
of £1,000. The Earl purchased a house beside the River Dee just outside Chester, where he lived in retirement until his death on 29 September 1642.
Shakespearean authorship question
Derby is one of several individuals who have been claimed by proponents of the Shakespearean authorship question to be the true author of William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's works. Derby's candidacy was first proposed in 1891 by the archivist James H. Greenstreet, who identified a pair of 1599 letters by the Jesuit spy George Fenner in which he reported that Derby was not likely to advance the Catholic cause, as he was "busy penning plays for the common players." Greenstreet argued that the comic scenes in Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...
were influenced by a pageant of the Nine Worthies only ever performed in Derby's home town of Chester. Greenstreet attempted to develop his ideas in a second paper, but died suddenly in 1892, leaving his arguments incomplete. The theory was revived by the American writer Robert Frazer in The Silent Shakespeare (1915), who concluded that "William Stanley was William Shakespeare".
The idea was then taken up in France and was first advocated in scholarly detail when the Rabelais expert Abel Lefranc
Abel Lefranc
Maurice Jules Abel Lefranc , was a historian of French literature, expert on Rabelais, and the principal advocate of the Derbyite theory of Shakespeare authorship.-Early life:Lefranc was born in Élincourt-Sainte-Marguerite...
published his 1918 book Sous le masque de William Shakespeare: William Stanley, VIe comte de Derby. Lefranc added to Greenstreet's arguments, suggesting that Derby's (supposed) 1578 experiences in the Court of Navarre are reflected in the more serious portions of Love's Labour's Lost. Lefranc also noted the Stanley family's longstanding connections to the theatre. He believed that Derby may have had an affair with Mary Fitton
Mary Fitton
Mary Fitton was the daughter of Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth, Cheshire and Alice Halcroft, and is considered by some to be the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets. Her elder sister, Anne, married John Newdigate in 1587, at the age of fourteen...
, a candidate for the Dark Lady of the sonnets. Lefranc considered Derby to be sympathetic to France and to Catholicism, views he also believed to be present in the plays.
After Lefranc the most important champion of Derby was the physician Arthur Walsh Titherley. In his book Shakespeare's Identity he accuses Shakespeare of abusing his position as Derby's frontman by illicitly selling plays for publication and then blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
ing Derby by threatening to reveal his secret. No evidence is offered for these assertions. Titherley also published editions of sonnets and plays as Derby's work.
When not identified as the sole author of the canon, Stanley is often mentioned as a leader or participant in the "group theory" of Shakespearean authorship, according to which several individuals contributed to the works.
While accepting Shakespeare's own authorship of the canon, Leo Daugherty, who wrote an account of Stanley's life for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), has argued in a recent book that Stanley is the Fair Youth of Shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets are 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.: Never before imprinted. Sonnets 138 and 144...
and that Barnfield is the "Rival Poet
Rival Poet
The Rival Poet is one of several 'characters,' either fictional or real persons, featured in William Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnets most commonly identified as the Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth group in sonnets 78-86...
".