Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Procedures
- Introduction
- Part I Roots 1548–1562
- Part II Youth 1562–1571
- Part III Emancipation 1571–1574
- Part IV Exploration 1574–1576
- Part V Alienation 1576–1579
- Part VI Intrigue 1579–1580
- 37 Oxford vs. Sidney
- 38 Oxford vs. Leicester
- 39 Table, Gallery, Garden
- 40 Atheist
- 41 Sodomite
- 42 Prophet
- 43 A Passing Singular Odd Man
- 44 Oxford's Folly
- 45 Literary Patronage (1)
- 46 Oxford's Players (1)
- Part VII Sedition 1580–1581
- Part VIII Release 1581–1585
- Part IX Reiteration 1586–1591
- Part X Renewal 1592–1595
- Part XI Re-engagement 1595–1599
- Part XII Decline 1600–1604
- Part XIII Aftermath 1604–1613
- Notes
- Appendix: Oxford's Letters and Libel Documents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Liverpool English texts and Studies
40 - Atheist
from Part VI - Intrigue 1579–1580
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Procedures
- Introduction
- Part I Roots 1548–1562
- Part II Youth 1562–1571
- Part III Emancipation 1571–1574
- Part IV Exploration 1574–1576
- Part V Alienation 1576–1579
- Part VI Intrigue 1579–1580
- 37 Oxford vs. Sidney
- 38 Oxford vs. Leicester
- 39 Table, Gallery, Garden
- 40 Atheist
- 41 Sodomite
- 42 Prophet
- 43 A Passing Singular Odd Man
- 44 Oxford's Folly
- 45 Literary Patronage (1)
- 46 Oxford's Players (1)
- Part VII Sedition 1580–1581
- Part VIII Release 1581–1585
- Part IX Reiteration 1586–1591
- Part X Renewal 1592–1595
- Part XI Re-engagement 1595–1599
- Part XII Decline 1600–1604
- Part XIII Aftermath 1604–1613
- Notes
- Appendix: Oxford's Letters and Libel Documents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Liverpool English texts and Studies
Summary
Oxford's erstwhile friends accused him of atheism, Henry Howard, for one, distilling his thoughts into five propositions (LIB-3.6.1; also 3.1/1):
The Trinity a fable / Iosephe a wittollde [=wittol, knowing cuckold] / Nothinge so defensible by scripture as bawdry / Scriptures for pollicye / The Turke only wise who made his owne Alchoran
To this list Francis Southwell adds two more (LIB-3.6.1/1):
what a blessing Salamon hadd for his 3C [=300] cuncubinnes / the Bible only to be to hold men in obedience, and mans devis[e]
Charles Arundel presents a list of his own (LIB-4.2/1):
the glorious Trinitie was an old wives tale and voyde of reason / that he [=Oxford] cold make a better and more orderlie scripture in [six] dayes warninge / that Christ was a simple man / that Iosephe was bothe a cuckckold and a wittold / that nothinge was so defensible by the scripture as bawderie / that he cold never beleve in suche a God as delte well with those that deserveid evell and evell with those that deserved well / that he wuld prove by scripture that after this life we shuld be as yf we had never ben and that the rest was deviseid but to make vs afrayd – like babes and childerne – of owr shadowes.
In yet another list Arundel reports of Oxford (LIB-4.3/5, also 4.4/3):
his most horrible and detestable blasphemy in deniall of the devinitie of Christ, owre Saviour / terminge the Trinitie as a fable / that Iosephe was a wittold, and the Blessid Virgin a [w]hore
Arundel adds that Oxford said these things in Richmond, ‘in the presence of a number as my Lord Winsor, Mr Russell, and Rawlie’.
Such atheism is not so much a principled belief as mere sacrilege – dragging in the mud the most cherished beliefs of the Christian faith. First comes a rejection of the Trinity, whose very incomprehensibility is a test of faith. Next Oxford attacks the historical foundation of Christianity, asserting that Jesus was a mere mortal, his purported miraculous birth a fable, since Joseph was a cuckold and Mary ‘made a fault’.
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- Information
- Monstrous AdversaryThe Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, pp. 209 - 212Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2003