The Monument

The Monument presents a new discovery about the form and content of "Shake-Speares Sonnets" of 1609. The book offers a new edition of the 154 verses to demonstrate that Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford constructed a "monument" to preserve "the living record" of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton as the rightful successor by blood to Queen Elizabeth I of England. In the exact center of the elegant monument is a 100-sonnet diary from the Essex Rebellion of 1601 to the Queen's death and funeral in 1603, when the Tudor dynasty ended. This breakthrough edition shows why Oxford was forced to sacrifice his own identity to save the life of Southampton, his unacknowledged royal son, and secure the promise of his release from the Tower of London with a royal pardon. Here is the "smoking gun" of the Shakespeare authorship mystery, preserved in the Sonnets of Shakespeare.