Earl of Oxford was one of the older titles in the English peerage, and was held for several centuries by the de Vere family from 1141. It finally became dormant in 1703 with the death of the 20th Earl. Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, is perhaps the most famous of the line, because of his emergence as the most popular candidate (besides Shakspeare of Stratford) as the actual author of the works of William Shakespeare (see Shakespearean authorship). Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Earl Of Oxford. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Oxford
