Several other authors later supported Derby's candidacy, sometimes as part of a group of writers. While accepting Shakespeare's own authorship of the canon, Leo Daugherty, who wrote an account of Derby's life for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, has argued in a recent book that Stanley is the Fair Youth of Shakespeare's sonnets and that Richard Barnfield is the "Rival Poet". Stanley was Barnfield's patron and the subject of his homoerotic sonnet cycle The Affectionate Shepherd, which implied a romantic relationship between the pair. Family On 26 January 1595, he married Elizabeth de Vere, daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and Anne Cecil. Elizabeth's maternal grandparents were William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, and his second wife Mildred Cooke. Mildred was the eldest daughter of Anthony Cooke and his wife Anne Fitzwilliam. It has been suggested that the occasion of their wedding was the inspiration for William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and that the play was first performed at the couple's wedding festivities. In the early years the relationship was stormy, including claims that Elizabeth had had affairs with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Walter Ralegh. The relationship settled down as Derby's financial and social position stabilised. The couple had five children: James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (31 January 1607 – 15 October 1651). Robert Stanley (d. 1632). Anne Stanley, Countess of Ancram (d. 1657). Married first Sir Henry Portman and secondly Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Ancram. Elizabeth Stanley. Died young. Elizabeth Stanley. Named after deceased older sister. Died young. References External links A biographical article on him Stanley's patronage of theater and/or music: Patrons and Performances Web Site |- |- 1561 births 1642 deaths Lord-Lieutenants of Cheshire Lord-Lieutenants of Lancashire William 16th-century English nobility 17th-century English nobility Knights of the Garter 6 Monarchs of the Isle of Man