Sir George Buc (1560-1622) was an English scholar. Antiquarian, poet and writer who from 1603 to his death served in the office of Master of Revels (the office responsible for the licensing of plays for performance), first as assistant to Edmnund Tilney until 1610 when he took full possession of the office.

 Why is he important to the Shakespeare authorship question?  Well, we know that he was familiar with Edward De Vere, describing the Earl of Oxford as ‘a magnificent and a very learned and religious man’. However, we also know that at some point in his life, Buc must have asked William Shakespeare if he remembered who the author of a play called George A Greene was. And we also know that Shakespeare must have replied that he couldn’t remember who the writer was but that he was a minister and that he had also acted in the play himself. We know this because we have a copy of the play published in 1599 which has been annotated by Sir George Buc himself with the words “Written by….a minister, who acted the pinner’s part in it himself. [Witnessed by] W Shakespeare”

So we know that, after 1599, William Shakespeare was considered knowledgeable enough about the world of theatre to be consulted by someone from the office of the Master of Revels. This is not definitive proof, but it is certainly evidence that Shakespeare was certainly not the illiterate grain merchant claimed by Oxfordians.

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