ESSEX - EDWARD DE VERE (17th EARL OF OXFORD) Indenture signed ("Edward Oxenford") in ink at foot, making an agreement between Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, Great Chamberlain of England with the copyholders of the manor of Prayors, Hedingham Sible in the county of Essex, those named including William Parmenter, Henry Emsden, John Burke, Daniel Wells, Henry Weigt, Richard Brytten, Peter Cobbald, Richard Wesling, Robert Mortlocke, Robert Spillman, etc., on 4 sheets of vellum, floriated initial letter, contemporary docket ("Agreement between Lord Oxford & his Tenants"), seal encased in linen on vellum hanging tie, sheets held together with cords, dust-staining and marks, some rubbing, creased at folds, small pin holes along margins, folio (c.620 x 740mm.), Westminster, 10 February 1584/5 'EDWARD OXENFORD': SCARCE SIGNATURE OF EDWARD DE VERE ON AN EXTENSIVE DOCUMENT RELATING TO HIS ESSEX ESTATE. Documents signed by De Vere are a rare occurrence at auction. Only two other documents signed by Oxford are recorded as having come up in the last few decades – a document of 1579 granting an annuity sold in these rooms as part of the Enys collection, 28 September 2004, and a deed of 1592 sold twice at Sotheby's (13 December 2001, lot 232 and 17 December 1963, lot 457). The Earl of Oxford is remembered as a prominent Elizabethan courtier, poet and patron, and as a pathologically extravagant and volatile character, in and out of favour with Queen Elizabeth I, and unable to settle into any long-lasting responsibility. His feckless lifestyle even earned him a spell in the Tower of London when his mistress Anne Vavasour gave birth to his illegitimate son, and, despite enjoying the revenues from his estate and the office of Lord Great Chamberlain, not to mention an annuity from the Queen, he was permanently in debt. Our document relates to the extensive De Vere estates centred on Hedingham Castle, Essex, of which the manor of Prayors was part, and Castle Hedingham was the last of his estates to be disposed of between 1591 and 1592. A similar document, relating to the manor of Grays, and dated a few days before ours, is held at The National Archives (SP 12/176/42, FF.134-8). Since 1920 he has been credited in some quarters with the authorship of the works of Shakespeare, a belief championed by the de Vere Society in Britain and the Shakespeare Oxford Society in America. Provenance: Private collection, U.K.