Whether the rumour of Oxford's death was related to the illness mentioned in his letters earlier in the year is unknown.

The Oxfordian case is based on purported similarities between Oxford's biography and events in Shakespeare's narrative works ; parallels of language, idiom, and thought between Oxford's letters and the Shakespearean canon ; and marked passages in Oxford's Bible that appear in some form in Shakespeare's plays.

Cecil seems to have done little to further Oxford's interests in the suit.

Arundel and Howard cleared themselves of Oxford's accusations, although Howard remained under house arrest into August, while Arundel was not freed until October or November.

Oxfordian scholars respond that the concept of " equivocation " was the subject of a 1583 tract by Queen Elizabeth's chief councillor ( and Oxford's father-in-law ) Lord Burghley, as well as of the 1584 Doctrine of Equivocation by the Spanish prelate Martín de Azpilcueta, which was disseminated across Europe and into England in the 1590s.

Combe was a better business man than most Delegates, but still no innovator: he failed to grasp the huge commercial potential of India paper, which grew into one of Oxford's most profitable trade secrets in later years.

Oxford's poor form continued into the 1999 – 2000 season, and with the team in the relegation zone, Shotton resigned in late October.

By 1972, McGinn was admitted into Oxford University's Bachelor of Letters postgraduate programme, in hopes of eventually gaining entrance into Oxford's postgraduate Bachelor of Philosophy programme.

The University of Oxford's classics course — also known as " Greats " — is divided into two parts, lasting five terms and seven terms respectively, the whole lasting four years in total, which is one year more than most arts degrees at Oxford and other English universities.

In 2006 the moat site was the subject of an English Heritage sponsored research project by the University of Oxford's Geography Department into techniques of Soft Wall Capping for preservation purposes.

Notwithstanding the above, significant changes have occurred at both Oxford and Cambridge over the last century, including Cambridge's diversification away from intense mathematical study and Oxford's renewed emphasis on ground-breaking scientific research, such as its influential work in the development of penicillin.

Sobran also believes " scholars have largely ignored one of the chief themes of the Sonnets: the poet's sense of disgrace .... here can be no doubt that the poet is referring to something real that he expects his friends to know about ; in fact, he makes clear that a wide public knows about it ... Once again the poet's situation matches Oxford's ....

Between 1591 and 1592 Oxford disposed of the last of his large estates ; Castle Hedingham, the seat of his earldom, went to Lord Burghley, it was held in trust for Oxford's three daughters by his first marriage.

In May 1573, in a letter to Lord Burghley, two of Oxford's former employees accused three of Oxford's friends of attacking them on " the highway from Gravesend to Rochester.

In retaliation, Fell leased the university's bible printing to three rogue Stationers, Moses Pitt, Peter Parker, and Thomas Guy, whose sharp commercial instincts proved vital to fomenting Oxford's bible trade.

John de Vere also maintained a company of players known as " Oxford's Men ", which was discontinued by the 17th Earl two years after his father's death.

These immediately became fashionable in England ; for many years the scent was known as the " Earl of Oxford's perfume ".

However, unlike the cited examples, a number of Oxford's poems did appear in printed miscellanies in his lifetime, and the first poem published under Oxford's name was printed in 1572, 17 years before Puttenham's book was published.

The city's growth in recent years can be attributed mainly to the presence of Interstate 20 and Oxford's central location between Atlanta and Birmingham.

Two years later, the Earl of Oxford's Case came before Ellesmere, who issued a judgment that directly contradicted English law based on the " Law of God ".

His posthumous reputation was initially higher in France than in Britain, but has begun a new rise in recent years with the republication of various novels ( including Capuchin Classics ' The Voyage with an Introduction by Oxford's Valentine Cunningham in 2009 ), his poetry ( edited by Peter Holland for Scarthin Books in 2008 ) and the forthcoming re-edition of his plays, planned by Oberon Books for 2012.

After a few years Oxford's speedway team were named Oxford Cheetahs, a name they still bear today.

Under Oxfordshire County Council it became a " first school " in 1974, taking children from 5 to 9 years old, but following a re-organisation of Oxford's schools in 2002, it was extended to become Wolvercote Primary School with an attached nursery school, taking children from 4 to 11 years.

Cecil later wrote that he attempted to have the jury find for Oxford's acting in self-defence.

In February 1577, it was rumoured that Oxford's sister Mary would marry Lord Gerald Fitzgerald ( 1559 – 1580 ), but by 2 July, she was linked with Peregrine Bertie, later Lord Willoughby d ' Eresby.

There was another fray between Knyvet's and Oxford's men on 18 June, and a third 6 days later, where it was reported that Knyvet had " slain a man of the Earl of Oxford's in fight ".

On 25 July Oxford was among those who officiated at the King's coronation, a month later James confirmed Oxford's annuity of £ 1, 000.

Although this document and the parish registers confirm Oxford's burial there, his cousin Percival Golding later claimed that his body was interred at Westminster.

Oxfordians also claim that the fact that a number of the later plays ( such as Henry VIII, Macbeth, Timon of Athens and Pericles ) have been described as incomplete or collaborative is explained by these plays being either drafted earlier than conventionally believed, or simply revised / completed by others after Oxford's death.

Henry was elected to Parliament in 1558, probably because of Oxford's influence, and from the later 1550s Arthur worked on a translation of Pompeius Trogus that he planned to dedicate to Oxford.

Defeated in the 1860 competition for the Boden Professorship of Sanksrit, he later became Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology ( 1868 – 1875 ), and from 1858 was a Fellow at All Souls College.

Lord Oxford's two older sisters both predeceased him ; the younger of these was Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith, later Lady Hylton ( 1910 – 1996 ), who was married to William Jolliffe, 4th Baron Hylton.

Accordingly the request was granted, but the Elector himself, who had not been consulted by his mother, rejected the proposal and recalled his agent Schutz, whose impolitic handling of the affair had caused the Hanoverian interest to suffer and had made Oxford's dismissal more likely than ever.

At the coroner's inquest the next day, the jury, which included Oxford's servant and Cecil's protégé, the future historian Raphael Holinshed, found that Brincknell was drunk when he ran onto Oxford's blade.

Cecil was displeased with the arrangement, given his daughter's age compared to Oxford's, and had entertained the idea of her marrying the Earl of Rutland instead.

This amount was equal to Oxford's livery fees, and was probably intended to be used as such, but the money vanished without a trace.

On Oxford's return across the Channel in April, his ship was hijacked by pirates from Flushing, who took his possessions, stripped him to his shirt, and might have murdered him had not one of them recognized him.

Oxford's own opposition to the match was so vehement that for some time Mary's prospective husband feared for his life.

Whether it was Sidney next challenged Oxford to a duel or the other way around, Oxford did not take it further, and the Queen personally took Sidney to task for not recognizing the difference between his status and Oxford's.

The Spanish ambassador, Mendoza, was also of the view that Leicester was behind Oxford's informing on his fellow Catholics in an attempt to prevent the French marriage.

His page's speech at the tournament, describing Oxford's appearance as the Knight of the Tree of the Sun, was published in 1592 in a pamphlet entitled Plato, Axiochus.

On 14 April 1589 Oxford was among the peers who found Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, the eldest son and heir of Oxford's cousin, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, guilty of treason.

Oxford's triumph was short-lived.

Another of Oxford's men was slain that month, and in March Burghley wrote to Sir Christopher Hatton about the death of one of Knyvet's men, thanking Hatton for his efforts " to bring some good end to these troublesome matters betwixt my Lord and Oxford and Mr Thomas Knyvet ".

On 6 April 1584, Oxford's daughter, Bridget, was born, and two works were dedicated to him, Robert Greene's Gwydonius ; The Card of Fancy, and John Southern's Pandora.