Lord Ferdinando Stanley was the fifth earl of Derby, a leading claimant to the throne. Considered a man who had everything, he was also the patron of the compan

William Herbert, Third Earl of Pembroke, 1580-1630, was the 'uomo universale' of the Early Stuart Age. A prominent courtier in the reigns of Elizabeth I, James

The historical record for William Shakespeare being bare, The Death of Shakespeare imagines how the 17th Earl of Oxford wrote the plays, with occasional help fr

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

This volume explores the history and practice of historicism and its present usefulness for literary criticism, its limitations and its future.