NOTHING TRUER THAN TRUTH

The years from 1920 to 1939 could be called “The Era of English Oxfordian Giants.” Prior to Looney’s book, the only Shakespeare authorship research was accomplished by Baconians and a few agnostic authorship researchers like Sir George Greenwood, who knew that the Man from Stratford wasn’t Shakespeare but didn’t know who was. Shortly after Looney’s book was published in 1920 a remarkable group of English Oxfordian investigative scholars burst forth on the authorship scene. It was as if they had been waiting on the starting blocks for a logical authorship candidate to be discovered -- and they immediately sprinted into the authorship fray when Edward de Vere emerged from anonymous obscurity. He fulfilled all necessary authorship criteria -- the missing link was discovered, and Looney’s quiet, compelling logic was difficult to resist. No authorship research was being conducted by Stratfordians because it was neither then, nor now, considered a legitimate field for academic inquiry -- after all, one doesn’t waste time doing research on known, unimpeachable facts. With Edward de Vere being a virtual unknown to historians, the field was wide open to amateur sleuths who launched their investigations with more enthusiasm than experience, but it turned out to be an extraordinary group with great talent and wisdom. Their discoveries in “virgin” historical archives were so prolific that these early Oxfordians primarily wrote books rather than papers, and they soon became the first Oxfordian Giants-- a remarkable cadre of first-rate researchers and writers, e.g. Percy Allen, Bernard M. Ward, Bernard R. Ward (B. M.’s son), Canon Gerald Rendall, and H. H. Holland.