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A king fit for a Shakespeare play

As technology opens up new possibilities in historical research, it’s an exciting time. But let’s also take a moment to remember the more eccentric Shakespeare authorship theorists — whose takeaway from this might be that the Earl of Oxford wrote Edward III.

The poet Thomas Gray summed up the highs and lows of Edward’s reign thus: “Amazement in his van, with Flight combin’d,/And Sorrow’s faded form, and Solitude behind.”

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2 min read Oct 22, 2026 06:16 AM IST First published on: Oct 22, 2026 at 06:16 AM IST

The 2001 film A Knight’s Tale is set in the (13)70s, so naturally its soundtrack is full of classic rock and funk hits from the (19)70s. But for all its anachronisms, it gets some things right about the reign of Edward III of England — for instance, the Black Prince competing in disguise in a tournament, something his father, the king, is known to have done.…