Evidence Showing Edward de Vere was the Illegitimate Son of Elizabeth I and Thomas Seymour.
The plays of Shakespeare are full of characters that are illegitimate and full of references and allusions to bastardy and illegitimacy; it is a major theme in the plays. Is there a message relating to the hypothesis that Edward de Vere was the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I (then Princess Elizabeth) and Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, Lord High Admiral?
As discussed at the beginning of this book, in the historical background, the relationship between Thomas Seymour and then Princess Elizabeth was well known at the time. When Seymour was arrested for treason, Elizabeth was interrogated, and the relationship became public knowledge at least in the court of Edward VI. It is well documented that Elizabeth and Seymour played sexually charged games together. At least one author, Paul Streitz, in Oxford, Son of Queen Elizabeth I, has theorized that Elizabeth and Seymour consummated their relationship and had a child together, and that the child was Edward de Vere.
There are at least two significant problems with this theory. First, Princess Elizabeth would have had to have successfully concealed the pregnancy. Second, Princess Elizabeth’s baby would have to have been concealed in someone’s household. Specifically, if the baby grew up to become Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, which is what is claimed in the theory, he would have to have been passed-off as the son of the 16th Earl of Oxford, John de Vere.
As to the first problem—concealing Princess Elizabeth’s pregnancy—Elizabeth could have had an affair with Thomas Seymour starting in the spring of 1547, when the Queen Dowager, Catherine Parr, secretly married Thomas, and Elizabeth began living with them, and ending on January 17, 1549, when Thomas Seymour was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. The period that offered any chance of concealing a pregnancy was from May 1547, through sometime in September to November 1548. A pregnancy and birth during and after the treason investigation of Thomas Seymour is much more problematic. According to contemporary accounts, sometime around May or June 1548, the Queen discovered Elizabeth and Thomas alone, and in each other’s arms, and thereafter Elizabeth left or was sent away from the household to live in the household of Sir Anthony Denny at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Presumably, she would have had to have been pregnant by this time. Once safely at Cheshunt, Elizabeth may have been able to conceal the pregnancy, secretly give birth, and hide the child. During the summer and fall of 1548, Elizabeth was reportedly unwell. This scheme would have required numerous people to conspire to help Elizabeth.
Concerning the second problem—placing Edward de Vere in the household of John de Vere—the main sticking point is that the accepted date of birth of Edward de Vere is April 12, 1550. This is more than a year after the conjectured secret birth of Edward by Elizabeth in late summer or fall of 1548. If the baby Edward de Vere was born at that time, he would have to have been hidden for approximately a year and a half, have his date of birth falsified, and year and half year old baby Edward would have had to have been passed-off as a newborn infant.
Although these problems are difficult to argue away, the messages I have found in the First Folio indicate that Edward de Vere was in fact the son of then Princess Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, Lord High Admiral, or at least that is what the opinion was of whoever put the messages there.
What information about this is in the messages hidden in the First Folio? It is time to examine the messages in the book of riddles that is the First Folio of Shakespeare.
The puzzle or riddle is announced in Act I, scene 2, of The Tempest, page 5 of the Comedies section of First Folio, with a song sung by Ariel, the invisible “ayrie” spirit-helper of Prospero. This scene is set in the immediate aftermath of the storm conjured up by Prospero. All the passengers onboard the ship of the king of Naples have abandoned the king’s ship. Various parties of passengers of the ship have been scattered around the island. Unbeknownst those who abandoned ship, the ship and crew are safe, having survived the storm. King Alonso and his entourage, including Anthonio, Prospero’s usurping brother, have been separated from the king’s son, Ferdinand, in the chaos of the storm at sea. Everyone is safely ashore on Prospero’s island, but Ferdinand has swum ashore alone and believes that his father is dead and that he is marooned on the island by himself. As part of his plan, Prospero has sent Ariel, who is invisible, to harass the castaways. Ariel seeks out Ferdinand to sing a song to him, aggravating Ferdinand’s grief over the supposed drowning of his father:
Enter Ferdinand & Ariel, inuisible playing & singing.
Ariel Song. Come vnto these yellow sands,
and then take hands:
Curtsied when you haue, and kist
the wilde waues whist:
Foote it featly heere, and there, and sweete Sprights beare
the burthen. Burthen dispersedly.
Harke, harke, bowgh wawgh: the watch-Dogges barke,
bowgh-wawgh.
Ar. Hark, hark, I heare, the straine of strutting Chanticlere
cry cockadidle-dowe.
Fer. Where shold this Musick be? I’th aire, or th’earth?
It sounds no more: and sure it waytes vpon
Some God ‘oth’ Iland, sitting on a banke,
Weeping againe the King my Fathers wracke.
This Musicke crept by me vpon the waters,
Allaying both their fury, and my passion
With it’s sweet ayre: thence I haue follow’d it
(Or it hath drawne me rather) but ‘tis gone.
No, it begins againe.
Ariell Song. Full fadom fiue thy Father lies,
Of his bones are Corrall made:
Those are pearles that were his eies,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a Sea-change
Into something rich, & strange:
Sea-Nimphs hourly ring his knell.
Burthen: ding dong.
Harke now I heare them, ding-dong bell.
Fer. The Ditty do’s remember my drown’d father,
This is no mortall busines, nor no sound
That the earth owes: I heare it now aboue me.
(Emphasis added.)
The puzzle or riddle is to “remember my [dead] father.” The solution to the riddle identifies the real father of Edward de Vere. As we have seen before, a reference to a number in the play is usually a reference to a page number in the First Folio. In this instance, the reference is to “full fadom five,” so the page number reference needs to be calculated, in this case, by multiplying the number five by the number of feet in a fathom. A fathom is equal to six feet, so “full fadom five” is thirty feet (6 x 5 = 30). Therefore, there should be a message on page 30 of the Comedies.
Before we go to page 30, however, there is another clue to explore first.
Directly across from the second part of Ariell’s song in the left-hand column, there are several lines in the right-hand column spoken. In this part of the scene, Ferdinand and Miranda, Prospero’s daughter, have met and have fallen in love at first sight. Ferdinand, believing that his father has drowned and that he has become king, offers to make Miranda his queen. Prospero, knowing that King Alonso, Ferdinand’s father, is still alive, objects to Ferdinand using the “name” (or title of) king:
Pro. Soft sir, one word more.
They are both in eythers pow'rs: But this swift busines
I must vneasie make, least too light winning
Make the prize light. One word more: I charge thee
That thou attend me: Thou do'st heere vsurpe
The name thou ow'st not, and hast put thy selfe
Vpon this Island, as a spy, to win it
From me, the Lord on't.
(Emphasis added.)
The lines “one word more…One word more” is an instruction to go to page 11 of the comedies, which is Act 3, scene 1, of The Tempest.
On page 11, the lines “What is your name? Miranda, O my Father” stand out as being related to the puzzle on page 5 of The Tempest about finding the identity of someone’s father. The relevant lines, with the surrounding lines, are: What is your name? Mir. Miranda, O my Father, I haue broke your hest to say so. Fer. Admir'd Miranda, Indeede the top of Admiration, worth What's deerest to the world The solution to this puzzle begins with the phrase “O my Father.” The letter “O” can be interpreted as “zero (0), or nothing.” The word “cipher” also means zero (0) or nothing. Therefore, the words “O my Father” can also be interpreted as “cipher (or decipher) my Father[’s] [name].” This is the directive that leads to a hidden message that reveals the name Thomas Seymour. In the conventional interpretation of the play, the name Miranda is understood as being derived from Latin mirandus meaning “admirable, wonderful.” Apparently, this derivation of Miranda’s name is based on lines in the play spoken by Ferdinand in which he describes Miranda as a “wonder,” “admired,” and “the top of admiration.” However, evidence in the plays, and evidence in hidden messages presented later, show that this derivation Miranda’s name is a red herring to draw attention away from the correct derivation of her name for the purpose of solving this puzzle. Lines spoken by Miranda suggest that her name is not derived from mirandus (“admirable, wonderful”): …my prime request (Which I do last pronounce) is (O you wonder) If you be Mayd, or no? Mir. No wonder Sir, But certainly a Mayd. Fer. My Language? Heauens: I am the best of them that speake this speech, Were I but where 'tis spoken.[ii] When Ferdinand exclaims, “O you wonder,” Miranda replies, “No wonder, Sir.” Her reply suggests that her name is not derived from mirandus (wonderful). In addition, Ferdinand’s response to this, “My Language?”, suggests that there is some other hidden derivation of the name Miranda from Italian. The Italian words that come close to sounding like “Miranda” are mare andare in (sea go to). Eliminating the letters, “re in,” in mare andare in (sea go to), results in “Mareanda” or “Miranda.” This derivation of the name Miranda is consistent with the title of the play, The Tempest, and the numerous sea-related themes and words contained in it. At this point, the line “Miranda, O my Father” can be transformed into “Sea go to, [nothing] my Father.” The name “Miranda” has been transformed into “Sea go to,” and the “O” in “O my Father” has been exchanged for the word “nothing.” (See the discussion above of the equivalence of the letter “O” to the word “nothing.”) The transformed line provides a new instruction, “go to nothing,” which helps to solve the puzzle. The word “nothing” appears in the right-hand column, directly across from the dialog being examined, in a set of lines spoken by Prospero that begin with the word “So.” The lines in the right-hand column are: Pro. So glad of this as they I cannot be, Who are surpriz'd with all; but my reioycing At nothing can be more: Ile to my booke, For yet ere supper time, must I performe Much businesse appertaining. Exit. Following the instruction “at nothing can be more,” the word “more” can be substituted for the word “nothing” in the puzzle. In the process the “go to” instruction is deleted: What is your name? Mir. [Seamore], my Father, I haue broke your hest to say so. Fer. Admir'd [Seamore], Indeede the top of Admiration… The transformation of Miranda’s name in the puzzle solution is now complete, and the solution so far is: “Seamore [or Seymour], my Father…”. The line “I haue broke your hest to say so” is another clue leading another transformation. The clue leads to text farther down in the left-hand column of the page where a prominent “SO,” appears as an acrostic in the capital letters that begin two of Miranda’s lines. In a sense, Miranda says “so” in her lines because of the presence of the “SO” acrostic. This acrostic “SO” also appears immediately above the word “More,” and in association with lines in which Miranda admits to forgetting her “Fathers precepts,” just as she acknowledges when she “broke [her father’s] [be]hest to say so” (i.e., to not reveal her name to Ferdinand):
Mir. I do not know One of my sexe; no womans face remember, Saue from my glasse, mine owne: Nor haue I seene More that I may call men, then you good friend, And my deere Father: how features are abroad I am skillesse of; but by my modestie (The iewell in my dower) I would not wish Any Companion in the world but you: Nor can imagination forme a shape Besides your selfe, to like of: but I prattle Something too wildely, and my Fathers precepts I therein do forget.
This “SO More” suggests that the word “more” is to be substituted for the word “so” in the line “I haue broke your hest to say so”: What is your name? Mir. [Seamore], my Father, I haue broke your hest to say [more]. Fer. Admir'd [Seamore], Indeede the top of Admiration… The substitution creates the words “say more,” which is a play on the name Seymour and is consistent with the “Seamore” result previously determined. The next step is to transform the words “Admir’d Miranda” and “top of Admiration” into the word “Admiral” and the title, “[Lord] High (i.e., top) Admiral.” There is a clue in the letters “orld” in the word “world” immediately below the word “Admiration,” to insert an “l” into “Admiration” (Admira[l]tion), and to create the word “Lord,” to arrive at the words “top of Admiral[s]” or “Lord High Admiral.” Substituting “Admiral” and “Lord High Admiral” into the solution reveals: What is the name of your father? [Thomas] Seamore [I haue broke your hest to say[more].] Admir[al] Seamore Indeede the [Lord High] Admira[l]ion The result reveals the name Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that because the hidden message identifies Thomas Seymour, the message is about Edward de Vere having been the illegitimate son of Thomas Seymour and then Princess Elizabeth. This result is consistent with the Prince Tudor Part II theory.
At this point, we can return to the clue to examine page 30 of the Comedies (see above). Before we do, I should mention that, as usual, there are other interesting things on page 11, but to keep things fairly straightforward, I will leave those things for another post to avoid going off on a tangent.
Page 30 in the Comedies section is a page from Act III, scene 1, of The Two Gentleman of Verona. The process of solving the riddle on page 30 uses visual clues as much as textual analysis.
First, it is useful to compare the lines from Ariel’s song, and Ferdinand’s reaction to it, on page 5 of The Tempest, with the lines from page 30 of The Two Gentleman of Verona. The comparison reveals many similar words and concepts in the two pages of script:
Ariel’s song in the script from The Tempest seems to be pointing out the script at the top and bottom, especially at the top, of the right-hand column on page 30 of The Two Gentleman of Verona. The relevant lines at the top of the right-hand column of the page are:
(Which vn-reuerst stands in effectuall force)
A Sea of melting pearle, which some call teares;
Those at her fathers churlish feete she tenderd,
With them vpon her knees, her humble selfe,
Wringing her hands, whose whitenes so became them,
As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
But neither bended knees, pure hands held vp,
Sad sighes, deepe grones, nor siluer-shedding teares
Could penetrate her vncompassionate Sire;
But Valentine, if he be tane, must die.
Besides, her intercession chaf’d him so,
When she for thy repeale was suppliant,
That to close prison he commanded her,
With many bitter threats of biding there.
The relevant lines at the bottom of the right-hand column of the page are:
Speed. How now Signior Launce? what newes with your Mastership?
La. With my Mastership? why, it is at Sea:
Sp. Well, your old vice still: mistake the word: what newes then in your paper?
La. The black’st newes that euer thou heard’st.
Sp. Why man? how blacke?
La. Why, as blacke as Inke.
Sp. Let me read them?
La. Fie on thee Iolt-head, thou canst not read.
Sp. Thou lyest: I can.
La. I will try thee: tell me this: who begot thee?
Notice that the very last line at the bottom of the column is: “I will try thee: tell me this: who begot thee?” This is confirmation that following the clue to go to page 30 was correct. We are on the right track and have found a puzzle that will reveal the identity of the parents of the author, Edward de Vere. In a sense, Launce’s lines present a test for Speed to find the solution to the question “who begot [Edward de Vere].” Fortunately, there are numerous clues on page 30 of The Two Gentleman of Verona that are instructions for finding hidden overlay messages.
At this point, I will add a few comments before explaining the solution. First, a warning to the reader—some the text revealed by the overlays can be quite bawdy; after all, this is the “backward” voice that “utters foule speeches,” so some foul language is to be expected. We are all adults here (I hope). I have decided to avoid discussing the bawdy messages, because I felt it would be a cheap appeal with titillating messages. But, if you look hard, there might be some racy messages.
Before I proceed, I should make some observation about overlay instructions. First, the overlay instructions, or clues, often contain several clues, and the overlay can be moved to satisfy the clue that one is working with. In the overlay of page 30 shown above, the overlay can be moved to align letters to form “bell” in association with “ring” or “wringing.” Also, the less than ideal solution resulting in the mistake word “what,” discussed below, is another example. The best solution is the one where several clues are satisfied in the position of the overlay, so that the overlay “fits” the clues correctly. Second, I use Photoshop to make the overlays because it is easy to manipulate two identical images of the page at the same time. Obviously, Photoshop did not exist in 1623, so arriving at a solution would have probably involved the use of paper, pen, and ink. It is more difficult to find solutions, but it is not impossible to do so.
The first clue to the overlays messages on page 30 of The Two Gentleman of Verona is in the last few lines of the right-hand column of script at the bottom of the page:
Speed. How now Signior Launce? what newes with your Mastership?
La. With my Mastership? why, it is at Sea:
(Emphasis added.)
The lines of script at the top of the right-hand column on page 30 of The Two Gentleman of Verona also contain the words “at Sea,” but they are a little difficult to spot:
(Which vn-reuerst stands in effectuall force)
A Sea of melting pearle, which some call teares;
Those at her fathers churlish feete she tenderd,…
The word “AT” appears as an acrostic formed from the first letters of the second and third lines, and the word “at” appears in the third line of script, just below and to the right of the word “Sea.”
Therefore, the instruction for the overlay is to move the words “Mastership” or the words “my Mastership” in the lines of script at the bottom of the column to the words “at Sea” in the lines of the script at the top of the column. A message that results from an overlay of text is shown below.
Note also that a several instances of the word “No” in the lower left-hand column now overlay the area of the letters “GAIT.” Thus, the overlay creates the “No. GAIT” or the “North-gate” where Speed is supposed to meet Proteaus and Valentine. This is another indication we have taken the correct action to solve the riddle.
Here are the relevant lines typed out for clarity (the name “Thomas” is highlighted in red):
Speed. How now Signior Launce? what newes with
(Which vn-reuerst stands in effectuall force)
your Mastership?
A Sea of melting pearle, which some call teares;
La. With my Mastership? why, it is at Sea:
Those at her fathers churlish feete she tenderd,
Here are the same lines typed out againg for clarity (the name “Seamour” or “Seymour” is highlighted in red):
Speed. How now Signior Launce? what newes with
(Which vn-reuerst stands in effectuall force)
your Mastership?
A Sea of melting pearle, which some call teares;
La. With my Mastership? why, it is at Sea:
Those at her fathers churlish feete she tenderd,
The answer to the question, “Who begot thee?” is THOMAS SEYMOUR.
This is not the only way to line up the lines. Image 38 shows the alignment of the words “your Mastership,” from the end of the line, “How now Signior Launce? what newes with your Mastership?” The letters align to form the word “Seamour,” but this may not be the only alignment the encipherer intended. There may be another to find. The encipherer may have left us a clue that a different alignment is also available. This clue could be: “Well, your old vice still: mistake the word: what….” As can be seen, the word “what”—the mistake word—can be form from some of the letters of “Mastership” and the word “When,” which that appears just above “Mastership.”
Let’s try to align the words “my Mastership” with the words “at Sea” to see if we can reach the same result. The alignment of “my Mastership” with the words “at Sea” is shown below.
Here are the relevant lines of this result typed out for clarity (the name “Thomas” is highlighted in red, but other nearby letters can also be used too):
Speed. How now Signior Launce? what newes with
(Which vn-reuerst stands in effectuall force)
your Mastership?
A Sea of melting pearle, which some call teares;
La. With my Mastership? why, it is at Sea:
Those at her fathers churlish feete she tenderd,
Sp. Well, your old vice still: mistake the word: what
With them vpon her knees, her humble selfe,
newes then in your paper?
Wringing her hands, whose whitenes so became them,
La. The black'st newes that euer thou heard'st.
As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
Sp. Why man? how blacke?
But neither bended knees, pure hands held vp,
La. Why, as blacke as Inke.
Here are the relevant lines of this result typed out for clarity (the name “Seymour” or “Seamour” is highlighted in red, but other nearby letters can also be used too):
Speed. How now Signior Launce? what newes with
(Which vn-reuerst stands in effectuall force)
your Mastership?
A Sea of melting pearle, which some call teares;
La. With my Mastership? why, it is at Sea:
Those at her fathers churlish feete she tenderd,
Sp. Well, your old vice still: mistake the word: what
With them vpon her knees, her humble selfe,
newes then in your paper?
Wringing her hands, whose whitenes so became them,
La. The black'st newes that euer thou heard'st.
As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
Sp. Why man? how blacke?
But neither bended knees, pure hands held vp,
La. Why, as blacke as Inke.
The solutions also also show a “de Vere” result (in blue).
The final result is:
Your father is
THOMAS SEYMOUR,
[Mastership of the Sea] [i.e., Lord High Admiral].
Further down the following lines can be read in the overlay message, using a little interpretive license:
[What] newes then in your paper?
[I] Waxed pale for woe, the blackst newes that de Vere heard’st.
But neither bended knees, pure hand held up, nor silver-shedding teares
[could change the fact of your illegitimate birth].
Why man? how blacke?
Why as blacke as Inke.
The news is there in the “black and white” of the printed words. The “black” news delivered to de Vere was the fact that he was illegitimate, a bastard, and the fact that his father, Thomas Seymour, was a traitor, executed by beheading. As will be seen, the messages name Queen Elizabeth I was Edward de Vere’s mother; therefore, it was clear to de Vere that there was no possibility of him ever receiving any recognition as her son. Her recognition of him would destroy Elizabeth’s personal and political reputation; his recognition would threaten to destabilize the political order of the nation. Edward de Vere’s true parentage had to remain a state secret.
The cleverness, and perhaps a bit of dark humor, is shown in the text as well. As Thomas Seymour was Lord High Admiral, the text plays on that fact with the association of the Sea-related imagery with King Alonso’s supposed death at Sea. The author is associating the Lord High Admiral’s death with a death at sea.
The line “bowgh wawgh: the watch-Dogges barke, bowgh-wawgh,” in Ariel’s song on page 5 of The Tempest is also a clever allusion to the event that precipitated Thomas Seymour’s arrest and downfall—his botched breaking and entering and kidnapping attempt at the king’s apartments at Hampton Court Palace, when he entered the privy garden and roused one of the king’s pet spaniels (the text of the play identifies it as an English Water Spaniel, a now extinct breed), which started barking. For whatever reason—anger, frustration, fear of being caught, panic, or a combination of all four—he shot the poor dog and killed it. If the king’s guards were not already alerted by the barking of the dog, the sound of shot must have awakened everyone in the palace. The bold attempt to capture the king failed and led to Seymour’s arrest the next day, and his conviction and execution for treason. I will not explore it now, but there seems to be clue on page 30 of The Two Gentlemen of Verona to examine page 149 of the Comedies, which leads to more lines about spaniels and dogs. The clue is at the bottom of the left-hand column in an exchange of Proteus and Valentine at the lines “From hence…Oh, I…” The “Oh, I” can be transformed into a number (O = 14 and I = 9, or page 149). Page 149 is a page from A Midsummer Nights Dream. On this page, the character Helena pursues Demetrius and tells him, among other things, to “use me but as your Spaniel.” This seems to add more evidence and seems to indicate that Princess Elizabeth was infatuated with Thomas Seymour and sought his attentions.
Ariel’s song also includes a reference to a crowing chanticleer (a rooster):
Ar. Hark, hark, I heare, the straine of strutting Chanticlere cry cockadidle-dowe. The Chanticleer and the Fox is a fable from the middle ages:
Early examples of the story are pithily fabular but towards the middle of the 12th century it appears as an extended episode of the Reynard cycle under the title "How Renart captured Chanticleer the cock" (Si comme Renart prist Chanticler le Coq). The work of which it was part was immensely popular and spread widely in translation. The basic situation concerns the cock Chanticleer, who lives with his three wives in an enclosure on a rich man's farm. He is forewarned in a dream of his capture by a predator but is inclined to disregard it, against the persuasion of his favourite, Pinte, who has already caught sight of Renart lurking in the cabbage patch. Eventually the two creatures meet and Renart overcomes the cock's initial fear by describing the great admiration he had for the singing of Chanticleer's father. If the son is to equal his father, he explains, he must shut his eyes as he stretches his neck to crow. But when Chanticleer obliges, the fox seizes him and makes a run for the woods with the farm workers and a mastiff in pursuit. Chanticleer now advises the fox to turn round and defy them, but when he opens his mouth to do so Chanticleer flies up to safety in a tree. Both then blame themselves for the gullibility their pride has led them into. The Chanticleer and the Fox, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanticleer_and_the_Fox (Footnote omitted.) The Chanticleer in the story seems to be very much like an allegory of the final days of Thomas Seymour. The Chanticleer had several hens and Seymour had a wife and apparently a mistress in Princess Elizabeth. Both the Chanticleer and Seymour were victims of their own gullibility and pride. We have found hidden messages that Thomas Seymour was Edward de Vere’s actual father. However, that does not necessarily mean that Queen Elizabeth I was de Vere’s mother. Are there messages that name Elizabeth as Thomas Seymour’s lover, and the mother of Edward de Vere? Yes, there are. The instruction for the overlay is in the script of a little comic monologue (spoken as an aside) of Signior Launce:
Launce. I am but a foole, looke you, and yet I haue
the wit to thinke my Master is a kinde of a knaue: but
that's all one, if he be but one knaue: He liues not now
that knowes me to be in loue, yet I am in loue, but a
Teeme of horse shall not plucke that from me: nor who
'tis I loue: and yet 'tis a woman; but what woman, I
will not tell my selfe: and yet 'tis a Milke-maid: yet 'tis
not a maid: for shee hath had Gossips: yet 'tis a maid,
for she is her Masters maid, and serues for wages. Shee
hath more qualities then a Water-Spaniell, which is
much in a bare Christian: Heere is the Cate-log of her
Condition. Inprimis. Shee can fetch and carry: why
a horse can doe no more; nay, a horse cannot fetch, but
onely carry, therefore is shee better then a Iade. Item.
She can milke, looke you, a sweet vertue in a maid with
cleane hands.
(Underlining added.)
The statement by Launce that “a Teeme of horse shall not plucke that [the name of his love] from me” is nearly identical to the confession made by Thomas Parry, cofferer to Princess Elizabeth, in the Thomas Seymour treason investigation. In his confession, Parry stated that Kate Ashley, Elizabeth’s governess, told him that Catherine Parr had caught Elizabeth in Seymour’s arms. (Elizabeth left the queen’s household soon afterward.) Ashley asked him to swear that he would never disclose to anyone what she had said. Parry replied, “I had rather be pulled by horses than I would, or such like words.” When Ashley also insisted that he swear to keep secret her communications with Seymour (concerning a possible marriage of Seymour and Elizabeth following the queen’s death), Parry replied, “I had rather be pulled by horses, or such like words, than I would tell to any.” The phrase “wild horses couldn’t drag it from me” is a common phrase even today. However, because Launce’s lines match the words used by Parry in his confession concerning Elizabeth being discovered in Thomas Seymour’s arms, and also appear in the context of hidden messages naming Seymour as Edward de Vere’s real father, in themselves suggest that Elizabeth is the name of Seymour’s lover and, therefore, that Elizabeth was Edward de Vere’s mother. Based on the way instructions for text alignment messages work, the name of Thomas Seymour’s lover is probably hidden in Launce’s lines. The clue is in the lines in which Launce says that team of horses is needed to drag the name of his love out of him. Therefore, a figurative team of horses is needed to drag the name of Thomas Seymour’s love out of Launce’s lines. Also, the words “plucke that from me” in the lines is a clue. As it so happens, there is a figurative team of horses nearby in the script; the horses are in the lines: “a horse can doe no more; nay, a horse cannot fetch, but onely carry, therefore is shee better then a Jade.” Based on the clues in the instructions, there are several text alignment possibilities. The one solution that best fits the clue, “a Teeme of horse shall not plucke that from me,” aligns the line “a horse can doe no more; nay, a horse cannot fetch, but” over the line “a Teeme of horse shall not plucke that from me” in such a way that a figurative team of horses is created at the words “Teame of horses,” with the words “a horse” falling above the words “from me.” This alignment creates the metaphorical team of horses, with the additional word “horse” over the words “from me” to figurative pluck a name from the word “me.” This also allows the word “Iade” (jade) to fall above the word woman, which alludes to one definition of the word jade — a disreputable woman.[ii]
The text alignment is:
for she is her Masters maid, and serues for wages. Shee
Launce. I am but a foole, looke you, and yet I haue
hath more qualities then a Water-Spaniell, which is
the wit to thinke my Master is a kinde of a knaue: but
much in a bare Christian: Heere is the Cate-log of her
that's all one, if he be but one knaue: He liues not now
Condition. Inprimis. Shee can fetch and carry: why
that knowes me to be in loue, yet I am in loue, but a
a horse can doe no more; nay, a horse cannot fetch, but
Teeme of horse shall not plucke that from me: nor who
onely carry, therefore is shee better then a Iade. Item.
'tis I loue: and yet 'tis a woman; but what woman, I
She can milke, looke you, a sweet vertue in a maid with
will not tell my selfe: and yet 'tis a Milke-maid: yet 'tis
cleane hands.
(Clue alignments in purple, Elizabeth Tudor alignments in green, and other alignments in red.)
The name revealed in the green letters is:
Elisabeth Tudor
(Queen Elizabeth)
There is a virtual catalog of results. Imprimis: “[A] bare C (Sea) Master” lying next to a bare “Elisabeth,” “Sea Master’s maid,” “love no more, Seymour,” “nor is shee better than a Jade,” “the knave Kate,” “Here is de Vere,” etc.
The name of Edward de Vere’s mother indicated in the hidden message is Elizabeth, as in, Elizabeth Tudor, Queen Elizabeth I. The hidden messages indicate that Edward de Vere was the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I and Thomas Seymour and are evidence in support of a portion of the theory known as Prince Tudor Part II. Edward de Vere’s “black mark” on his reputation was his illegitimate status, something he could never openly discuss.
[i] Mumby 48. https://archive.org/details/girlhoodofqueene00mumb/page/48/mode/2up. [ii] In this context, the word “jade” refers to a worn-out, broken-down, worthless, or vicious horse, or a disreputable or ill-tempered woman. “Jade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jade. Accessed 10 Jun. 2020.