The Literary Battle Over the First Published Works of William Shakespeare — David W. Richardson

This presentation explores literary and historical evidence that connects the first published
works of William Shakespeare with a battle over the literary and political legacy of Philip Sidney (including the right to publish his works), a battle waged between Mary Sidney and her circle and a group of writers associated with Oxford and Southampton during the years 1591 to 1594. Through Thomas Nashe this conflict became entangled with the Harvey-Nashe pamphlet war, which becomes a key source of evidence about the emergence of the author Shakespeare.

The Labeo satires of Hall and Marston refer to this conflict and Shakespeare's early works in ways
that provide additional information about the authorship question. Some parts of this story are well known to Oxfordians, indeed, play important roles in Oxfordian theory. Other parts appear to have escaped attention because they do not obviously involve either Oxford or Shakespeare, but are more related to Mary Sidney and her circle. David believes bringing these ideas together can clarify a number of issues critical to the authorship question though it may not resolve it in favor of any specific candidate. As a Sidney scholar who has broadly engaged with Oxfordian research he is uniquely positioned to offer some insights on some of these issues.

Professionally, David W. Richardson is a game theory economist and econometrician who provides data analytics and marketing strategy to large and midsized companies. He has a PhD in Management Science and has taught those subjects to graduate business students for many years.
Although he believes Mary Sidney was the primary author of the works he appreciates the works of
the Oxfordian community and participates in a number of active Oxfordian groups online.

Learn more at https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org