Quite true. So what was the nobleman's reason for doing so?
Plays, at the time, weren't even considered art. In fact, Shakespeare himself was apparently embarassed by his plays, while he was quite proud of his sonnets.
So De Vere endangered his social and political status to produce writings that weren't even considered fine art. These types of distinctions don't really exist anymore, but the closest might be a famous statesman secretly writing soap operas or sit-coms.
Why would he do this? What would be his motivation?
“Why would he do this? What would be his motivation?”
Some folks are just born with unusual callings. Today I suppose we would call it, in this particular case, “talent.” And they just have to pursue whatever it is.
I take it de Veres had money. He traveled a lot and most of all he liked to write. Certainly he had a great imagination and had to apply pen to paper.
Some callings/motivations are rather unusual. I once worked with a woman who had always wanted to be an undertaker (yeck). I don’t know if she ever achieved her goal. She was raising a family at the time. Why would any one want to become an undertaker? To use your words, what was her motivation?
The undertaker at Gorgas Hospital (Canal Zone) had always wanted to be an undertaker. He used to dress up dolls a corps. Talk about a weird motivation.