The de Vere Society Meeting

Transcription

1 The de Vere Society Meeting Amba Hotel, Marble Arch, Oxford Street, London. 23 April 2016 DVS welcomes new Chairman: Alexander Waugh Alexander Waugh has been elected chairman of the De Vere Society for a period of three years. Alexander was inducted into the Society s Order of the Blue Boar in 2015, and was named Oxfordian of the Year in September 2015 by the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship at their annual meeting in Ashland Oregon, USA. He is also Honorary President of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition. Alexander s writings on the Authorship Question are frequent, incisive and humorous: an article in The Spectator Shakespeare was a nom de plume get over it on the 2 November 2013 attracted numerous responses, another article Thy Stratford Moniment in the DVS newsletter, October 2014, offered a startlingly original solution to an age-old problem, while his presentation on Shakespeare and Italy at the Shakespeare Authorship Trust Conference remains strongly etched in the memory. Many contributions of Alexander are available on the DVS website. The de Vere Society Annual General Meeting, 2016 At the Amba Hotel, Marble Arch, Oxford Street, London on 23 April In attendance: The Society s President, the Chairman, and over forty other members. 2. Apologies were received from over ten members. 3. The Minutes of the 2015 AGM were read and accepted by the meeting as a true and accurate record. 4. The Chairman s Report was presented to the meeting. 5. The Hon. Secretary s Report was presented to the meeting. 6. The Hon Treasurer s Report and the Society Accounts were presented to the meeting and accepted. 7. Elections: Alexander Waugh was elected unopposed as Chairman. Kerstin Teglof was elected unopposed as an ordinary member of the committee. Both the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer indicated their intention to step down from their positions within the next year. 8. Next meetings: Amba Hotel, Marble Arch, London on Saturday 3 September The date and venue for the 2017 AGM have yet to be decided.

2 DVS Committee, Hon. President Christopher Dams Members Chairman Alexander Waugh Vice-Chairman (to be co-opted) Hon. Secretary Richard Malim Hon. Treasurer Graham Ambridge Member Kerstin Teglof Member Heward Wilkinson Other Positions Newsletter Editor Lois Berman Website Manager Bryan Ambridge Report on DVS Meeting: Amba Hotel, Marble Arch, London. 23 April 2016 As with all Shakespeare lovers, De Vere Society members chose to celebrate our greatest writer on 23 April However, we did not attend the pageants and performances in Stratford, or the exhibitions and plays in London, but we celebrated our national poet at our meeting at the Amba Hotel, Marble Arch, London. Regarding the auspicious date, 23 April, members were informed that when Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, eleven days were omitted between 3 and 14 September (resulting in riots among the more superstitious of the population; they chuckled when it was pointed out that 23 April new style (i.e. Gregorian calendar) approximately equates to 12 April old style (Julian Calendar), i.e. we were celebrating the 466 th anniversary of the birth of Edward de Vere. All those present joined in offering congratulations to H.M. Queen Elizabeth who was born 90 years ago nearby in Bruton Street Mayfair, although so far there has been no attempt to emulate the SBT in establishing an Elizabeth Birthplace Trust. It was our largest meeting for many years, with about 50 members and ten friends and associates. Michael Walker had travelled from Cologne in Germany while Jan Scheffer and Paul Stamrood had journeyed from Utrecht (evading the attentions of pirates on the way). The Society welcomed many new members to the meeting, including Dr. Amanda Hinds, a leading cytologist at St. Thomas s Hospital London, Tony Herbert a practising solicitor and Michael Black, author of. At the AGM, Alexander Waugh was elected Chairman. Members reaffirmed the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt, which formed the theme of the centrepiece of the meeting: a debate compèred in one of his last actions as DVS Chairman by Kevin Gilvary and debated by two of the most prolific contributors to the Authorship Debate, newly elected DVS chairman Alexander Waugh and Ros Barber. Their main question: what role if any did William Shakspere of Stratford have in the Shakespeare enterprise. Speaking first, Alexander cited numerous references from the Elizabethan period to Minerva, patron of poets, holding or shaking a spear, including: Stephen Gosson, who hated the theatre,

3 wrote in Playes confuted in five Actions (1582): Tertullian teacheth us that every part of the preparation of playes was dedicated to some heathen god or goddess; the penning to Minerva. And Abraham Fraunce who wrote in The Third part of the Countesse of Pembrokes Yuychurch (1592): Pallas was so called because shee slew Pallas a Gyant: or, of shaking her speare. Furthermore, there were also many a references to William or Willie as a generic name for a poet. Hence the collocation of William + Shake speare was natural when Oxford first published under a pseudonym in Alexander strongly felt that it was merely coincidence that among the Chamberlain s Men was a fellow named William Shakspere. Dissenting, Ros Barber saw the role of go-between, a middle-man and a fixer, someone who was fined for trading in malt in 1597, who acted as a go-between in the dowry negotiations between Bellott and Mountjoy, and who traded in plays. With regard to Stratford-Shakspere s acting, both Alexander and Ros pointed out that there was virtually no evidence to support any special thespian tendencies. He had no reputation such as Burbage or Will Kempe. There is a mention of William Shakspere ye player among the papers of the College of Arms, but only in a manuscript copy dating to c In the 1616 Workes of Beniamin Ionson, six plays are presented with their own list of actors. Shakespeare is mentioned in two of these lists: Every Man In His Humour acted, in the yeere 1598, and Seianus acted, in the yeere Four other play-lists do not include Shakespeare s name, but are otherwise consistent in naming Richard Burbage and John Heminges, often with William Sly (until his death in 1608) and Henry Condell. The absence of Stratford-Shakspere s name indicates he was not an important actor. The meeting also enjoyed two presentations: Dr Jolly spoke on the different characterisations of Juliet in the anonymous quarto of 1597 and the longer version in the 1599 version, which she argued was evidence of authorial revision. Richard Malim then spoke on the links between Twelfth Night and the Venetian city of Ragusa, now known as Dubrovnik, arguing that Oxford visited the city in 1575 and acquired detailed knowledge of the city and its rulers, which emerges in the play. The meeting was also entertained by a very lively presentation concerning the phrase one thousand pounds occurs no fewer than seventeen times in the canon, and that one thousand is even more commonly associated with other currencies. Most likely the author of the plays, Oxford, was constantly using characters in the plays to remind the Queen (and perhaps Burghley) of the promised annuity of a thousand pounds which did not materialise until We were then treated to a live performance of sections Shakespeare in Court. To bring matters to a close, the Society s President, Christopher Dams, inducted the retiring chairman Kevin Gilvary into the Order of the Blue Boar. Champagne was then served. Overall, it was a most lively, enjoyable and appropriate way to celebrate our National Poet. KG Order of the Blue Boar The Blue Boar was the symbol of the Earls of Oxford. After the Earl of Richmond won the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, with the supporte of the Earl of Oxford, White Boar Inns across the country painted their boars blue, to show support for the new king Henry VII and the Earl of Oxford. Today the DVS uses the symbol to recognise special contributions to the Society and to the Authorship Question.

4 Chairman s Report for 2015 Kevin Gilvary It is with a slight sense of unfinished business that I step down after spending over fifteen years continuously on the DVS committee. When I attended my first meeting of the Society at Shakespeare s Globe in January 1998, members agreed that it was vitally important that the Shakespeare Authorship Question should become acceptable in public discourse for open and rational debate. So far this has not happened, despite the many and varied expressions of doubt by a variety of Shakespeare lovers. There are many reasons to doubt the traditional attribution to Stratford-Shakspere. The following are my favourites: (1) William Shakspere never claimed to be an author or to have written anything in his life. In his will, he was only concerned for the disposal of his material possessions. (2) Nobody from Stratford ever considered him an author until long after his death. (3) He was not mourned by anyone in London on his death in 1616 (unlike Francis Beaumont). (4) He was not mentioned among the many writers referenced by his apparent friend-turned-rival, Ben Jonson in the 130 epigrams which were published in the 1616 folio of his works. And so it goes on. For each of the myriad reasons to doubt the traditional attribution, a counter argument might be advanced. However, the accumulation of so much doubt ought to have led to the acceptance of the Shakespeare Authorship Question both in public and in academia. Despite the failure to attain this goal by 2016, the last twelve months have been good for the Society. We have forged closer links with many other Societies interested in the SAQ. We have been in discussion with John Shahan, President of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition, both in England and in the USA. We awarded him the Order of the Blue Boar in Various members including DVS vice-chairman Eddi Jolly, Heward Wilkinson, Julia Cleave as well as Ros Barber, attended the excellent conference organised by the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship at Ashland Oregon in September We were welcomed warmly and greatly respected for our contributions. Alexander Waugh was there named Oxfordian of the Year by the SOF President, Tom Regnier. The Shakespeare Authorship Trust has regularly invited prominent members of the DVS to make presentations at the annual conference at Shakespeare s Globe, ranging from Much Ado about Italy in 2013 to Shakespeare and the French Connection in Last November, two DVS members, Gerit Quealey and Ramon Jimenez, gave highly acclaimed papers at the Conference on Shakespeare and the History Plays. Most of these presentations can be view on the SAT website: The Society thrives due to the dedication of its two essential officers, the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer, Richard Malim and Graham Ambridge. Time and again I have seen their good sense and hard work as they mange the unseen work of the Society. We owe them a great deal of thanks. Similarly, Eddi Jolly with the technical assistance of Colin Jolly and Malcolm Blackmoor, has been instrumental for all the wonderful meetings, which we enjoy.

5 Over the years, the Society has greatly expanded its publicity. The newsletter has been issued quarterly for many years now, and in its more compact A5 size it continues to present a range of news and articles on related topics. Please keep contributing to the new editor, Lois Berman, via the website address: newsletter@deveresociety.co.uk. In addition, the Society runs a thorough website, which was set up and run for many years by Jeremy Crick and it is currently maintained by Bryan Ambridge. There has recently been a revamp of the website this WordPress version is very slick. Visits to the DVS web-site are up nearly 30% compared to three months ago. Well done to Gerit Quealey and Kerstin Teglof who put it together. Further thanks to Gerit for setting up a Facebook page and a Twitter account which are now attracting more and more followers. more than half are people not known to us, which just means there are a lot more people out there interested in Oxford. The DVS FB page is a good place to answer general questions and show how knowledgeable we are. It also provides a forum to discuss private research and strategy. DVS members continue to impress me with the depth and range of their scholarship and interests. Chief among these was the reaction to Mark Griffith s announcement in an edition of Country Life (May 2015) in which he stated that a portrait in Gerald s Herbal (1597) depicted Shakespeare. Alexander Waugh quickly demonstrated that the portrait was more likely to be Oxfordas-Shakespeare. There have been excellent books published by Geoffrey Eyre The Case for Edward de Vere and Simon Fry s detective novel The Shakespeare File. Within the newsletter, we have seen splendid contributions from many researchers: Jan Scheffer on Oxford and the Dutch Pirates, the late Michael le Gassick on Oxford as likely author of various anonymous plays including The Wisdom of Dr. Dodypoll, and Jan Cole on many aspects of Oxford s life. Please do continue your wonderful research. Grants are available, such as the one given to Michael Delahoyde and Coleen Moriarty of the Washington State University who are exploring archives in Italy. It is with such original research that we might find the holy grail of some clinching evidence that Oxford write the plays. My lasting memory of my tenure is this: What a privilege to have been your chairman for these last three years!. I have great confidence that Alexander and the new committee will advance the aims of the Society and I look forward to future developments with eager anticipation. KG Honorary Secretary s Report for Richard Malim Looking back at the report in the Newsletter of my Report for 2014 the editor prefaced it by writing: The DVS is delighted to learn that the Hon. Secretary has indicated his willingness to continue in post for another year. Developments, none: situation, unchanged. Surprise: total! So this is my thirteenth report. The Committee has met three times in the year. Throughout I have received excellent support from my fellow-members and the membership generally. My profound thanks go out to our web professional Bryan Ambridge, as well as those like

6 Colin Jolly and Malcolm Blackmoor for their technical expertise at our meetings. We geared ourselves up for the challenges of the Stratford celebrations which culminate today (23 rd April) so far as we could. For publications we helped Alexander Waugh and his co-editors in the book Contested Year the counterblast published in America to James Shapiro s book 1606 William Shakespeare: The Year of Lear: this provoked a torrent of criticism on the Amazon crit. page which showed we had hit home appropriately. Our attitude was supported by a number of academic reviews. For our part, Marie Tibi and I went to the Cheltenham Arts Festival and distributed 300 leaflets (actually far too few) at James Shapiro s own lecture (a boring and inaccurate account of the equivocation controversy). Afterwards I collected up ten and redistributed them. I have a copy to see how we tackled the matter: general anti-strat survey one side: particular to Shapiro on the other. I do not know much we actually achieved or whether this approach will be supported by the new Committee. There was some suggestion that we should reprint old and valuable anti- Stratfordian works. I would rather spend money on propaganda and making a nuisance of ourselves than running the risk of spending our resources on preaching to and fortifying the converted. It would be nice to do both but perhaps not possible. I also blitzed the delegates to a Shakespearean Summer School in Venice and had interesting correspondence with two or three Israeli professors strangely the locals did not react. Research on my paper on Dubrovnik brought me into contact with Croatian academics and the tourist organisation: it may be that one way of irritating the local academic establishments into considering the defects in the orthodox construct is by infecting local tourist boards in Italy, France and Croatia. Our membership has suffered severe losses of our own academics and researchers: John Rollett was the long service member who produced the most compelling decoding of the Sonnets introduction; Marion Peel, a similarly long service member will be remembered for her comprehensive revelation on the Shakspere family finances and Michael Le Gassick, a newish member who was beginning to revolutionise the study of Shakespeare s juvenilia. Reports of our Meetings are detailed in the issues of the Newsletter, skilfully and wonderfully produced for the last three years by its editor our Chairman, Kevin Gilvary. Suffice it to say we are grateful for the contributions both of papers to our Meetings and to the Newsletter itself. The Society remains and perseveres as a beacon of scholarship and common sense over the Shakespeare Authorship Question. I revert to last year s editorial prologue which reported my willingness to continue to serve and to mentor anyone who might be interested in taking over. Richard Malim, Hon Secretary, 23 April 2016, secretary@deveresociety.co.uk

7 The de Vere Society Welcomes everyone who appreciates the works of Shakespeare and is interested in the Authorship Question. Is dedicated as a society to the proposition that the works of Shakespeare were written by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (but members have always held varying positions). Has demonstrated that the case for William Shakspere of Stratford as the author of the Shakespeare canon is very weak: The Man who was Never Shakespeare by A. J. Pointon and Shakespeare Beyond Doubt? by John Shahan and Alexander Waugh (eds). Has shown that the traditional chronology for the works of Shakespeare is based on conjecture in Dating Shakespeare s Plays (ed. Kevin Gilvary). Has explored the role of Edward de Vere, seventeenth earl of Oxford, not only as the author of the Shakespeare oeuvre but also as the leader of the movement to establish drama in early modern England, in The Earl of Oxford and the Making of Shakespeare by Richard Malim. Membership We are looking for members with an active interest in the Shakespeare Authorship Question. Why not try Membership for a year? Registered charity No Members receive the de Vere Society Newsletter three / four times p. a Categories of membership include: Annual membership 30; Life membership 300; Student 10 (maximum 2 years). Please send your name and contact details. You might have special areas of interest or be able to help the Society in any of the following activities: Original research; publishing; publicity; organizing meetings and/or social events; educational; accounting and fundraising; membership & recruitment. Members need to confirm that the Society may hold personal details for membership records. Hon Secretary, Richard Malim Esq, The Courtyard, 45 Royal York Crescent, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4JS, UK. secretary@deveresociety.co.uk