tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10644518.post8802666390097194015..comments2024-03-29T03:46:43.322-04:00Comments on Virtual Grub Street: Historical inaccuracies in the film Anonymous: #1.Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10644518.post-41918349990219957442023-01-04T19:34:07.560-05:002023-01-04T19:34:07.560-05:00I agree entirely with this. I don't see any e...I agree entirely with this. I don't see any evidence that William Cecil used his office as Master of Queen's Wards to marry his daughters or granddaughters to any of the wards in his charge. <br /><br />That's not to say he didn't use his power and influence with the Queen to pressure (I don't think blackmail is an apt description) Oxford. He used the incident of de Vere's affair with Anne Vavasour to force Oxford to recant his claim that his wife had been unfaithful. <br /><br />I'm not convinced that Anne de Vere wasn't actually unfaithful -- five years seems a long time for Oxford not to be able to ascertain that their firstborn daughter, Elizabeth, was legitimate, and who would know better than Oxford whether or not he'd had intercourse with his spouse in the appropriate timeframe. I don't think Oxford was stupid, and it would require him to be very stupid indeed to shun his wife for five years if he was merely ignorant that pregnancy would last about nine months. <br /><br />Cecil had the power to convince the Queen to let Oxford out of the tower, despite his folly of having impregnated one of the Queen's "maids." He may have simply told his son-in-law to drop his attacks on Anne, and get back to his primary marital responsibility as an Earl-- to father an heir. His having fathered a child out of wedlock may have meant that Edward and Anne had both had illicit relations, but Edward needed to move on. <br /><br />As it turned out, Anne died after bearing two more daughters. Edward's responsibility continued to be to father an heir, and with his second marriage he was successful. P. Buchanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14517183300800976637noreply@blogger.com