Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (12 April 155024 June 1604), was an English
peer and
courtier of the
Elizabethan era. Oxford was heir to the second oldest earldom in the kingdom, a court favourite for a time, a sought-after patron of the arts, and noted by his contemporaries as a lyric poet and court playwright, but his reckless and volatile temperament precluded him from attaining any courtly or governmental responsibility and contributed to the dissipation of his estate. Since the 1920s he has been the most popular
alternative candidate proposed for the
authorship of Shakespeare's works.