Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, 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 volatile temperament precluded him from attaining any courtly or governmental responsibility and contributed to the dissipation of his estate.
17th-century portrait based on lost 1575 original, National Portrait Gallery, London
The surviving keep of Hedingham Castle, the de Vere family seat since the Norman Conquest
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the Queen's Secretary of State and de Vere's father-in-law, c. 1571.
Coat of Arms of Edward de Vere from George Baker's The composition or making of the moste excellent and pretious oil called oleum magistrale (1574)
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572. In his description in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, A.F. Pollard wrote, "From 1558 for forty years the biography of Cecil is almost indistinguishable from that of Elizabeth and from the history of England."
Portrait attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
Coat of arms of William Cecil as found in John Gerard's The herball or Generall historie of plantes (1597)
Portrait of William Cecil, c. after 1570
Engraving of Queen Elizabeth I, William Cecil and Sir Francis Walsingham, by William Faithorne, 1655
