The case for Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

Many Oxfordians believe that the true author of Shakespeare's plays was an aristocrat named Edward De Vere. The evidence for this comprehensive, ranging from Edward de Vere's aristocratic knowledge of the upper classes through to his education and the structural similarities between his poetry and Shakespeare's. As regards authorship of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, it has been suggested that Edward wrote these under the pseudonym of Shakespeare, both to avoid breaking a voluntary convention against aristocrats publishing poetry and plays and to escape the consequences of the subject matter he was writing about. George Puttenham's 1589 book, The Arte of English Poesie explains this further.

Below are the major reasons Oxfordians claim Edward De Vere was well qualified to write 37 plays and 154 sonnets.

Edward De Vere and Elizabethan Theatre.

Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford is known to have composed, directed and acted in plays around the same time as Shakespeare. Like Shakespeare he was part of an acting troupe but unlike Shakespeare, Edward managed his acting troupe called "Oxford's Boys". Furthermore, Edward De Vere was a leaseholder of the Blackfriars Theatre, a rival to The Globe.