WilliamRay

You went out on a limb, saying that Robert Cecil being deposed by Essex and Southampton (Edward de Vere's son by Elizabeth) never happened. That is exactly what did happen and what the Essex Rebellion (Feb.1601) was all about. Cecil had spies in the Essex conspiracy, got word and went to take custody of Essex and coterie, Essex got loose to talk to the Queen, and Cecil had them all arrested for treason against her. They were out to get rid of him, not her. Winner take all. Essex beheaded, Southampton saved, why, because de Vere said he wouldn't publish the Shakespeare works, so embarrassing to hunch-back Robert in exchange for Southampton's life. The works were published anyway, a generation later, but under the pretext that the money-lender Shakspere wrote them. Shakspere equals Shakespeare ever since. And you believed the ruse and condemned the truth. I wish it were a better movie. As it is, it is merely a courageous attempt at breaking the mythology about Stratford Will, who could not even write his name. The reason the ruse stuck at the time: the works were separated from their high nobleman author, so England would respect the Stuart dynasty and not spread rumors that there was Elizabeth's heir alive. They poisoned him in 1626 along with his son. All the Tudor blood was gone then. The plays were attributed to the decoy. Great bunch of guys, like Bush and Cheney, but smarter.