de Vere

de Vere, Earls of Oxford

Aubrey I de Vere [a] b abt 1042, of Ver, Normandy, d abt 1112, of Hedingham, Essex, England. He md Beatrice. She was b abt 1054.
Child of Aubrey de Vere and Beatrice was:

Aubrey II de Vere [b], Master Chamberlain, b abt 1088, Hedingham, Essex, England, d 15 May 1141, London, England (slain). He md Adelize/Alice de Clare [c] abt 1106, daughter of Sir Gilbert Fitz Richard, Lord of Clare, Tonbridge, and Cardigan, and Adelize/Alice de Clermont.
Children of Aubrey II de Vere and Alice de Clare were:

Sir Aubrey III de Vere, Earl of Oxford, b abt 1116.
Robert de Vere b abt 1118, Hedingham, Essex, England; md Matilda de Furnell.
Rohese de Vere b abt 1120, Hedingham, Essex, England, d aft 21 Oct 1166, England. She md [1] Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and [2] Sir Payn de Beauchamp, Lord of Bedford, abt 1145, son of Robert de Beauchamp.
Alice de Vere b abt 1124, d aft 1185. She md:
- Juliana de Vere b abt 1125, Norfolk, England, d abt 1200. She md Hugh Bigod, Magna Charta Surety, Earl of Norfolk, abt 1138, son of Roger Bigod and Adelize/Alice de Toeni.
Sir Aubrey III de Vere [d], Earl of Oxford, Master Chamberlain, b abt 1116, Essex, England, d 26 Dec 1194. He md [1] Beatrice de Bourbourg bef 1139, [2] Eufeme de Cauntelo bef 1152, and [3] Agnes of Essex [e] 1162/63, daughter of Sir Henry of Essex, Lord of Rayleigh, and Cecily de Valognes.
Children of Aubrey III de Vere and Agnes of Essex were:
- Aubrey IV de Vere b 1163, prob Essex, England, d 1214; md [1] Isabel de Bolbec, [2] Alice Bigod.
- Sir Robert de Vere b abt 1166.
- Alice de Vere b abt 1168; md Geoffrey de Say.
Sir Robert de Vere [f], Magna Charta Surety, Earl of Oxford, Master Chamberlain, b abt 1166, Hatfield, Essex, England, d bef 25 Oct 1221, England. He md Isabel de Bolebec abt 1200, daughter of Hugh II de Bolebec.
Children of Robert de Vere and Isabel de Bolebec were:
- Sir Hugh de Vere, Earl of Oxford, b abt 1208.
- Eleanor de Vere b abt 1213, of Hatfield, Essex, England. She md Sir Ralph de Gernon abt 1238, son of William de Gernon.
Sir Hugh de Vere [g], Earl of Oxford, Knight, Master Chamberlain, b abt 1208, Hatfield, Essex, England, d bef 23 Dec 1263. He md Hawise de Quincy aft 11 Feb 1221/22, Hedingham, Essex, England, daughter of Sir Saher de Quincy, Magna Carta Surety, Earl of Winchester, and Margaret de Beaumont.
Children of Hugh de Vere and Hawise de Quincy were:
- Isabel de Vere b abt 1225, Hedingham, Essex, England, d 11 Aug 1300. She md Sir John de Courtenay, Lord of Okehampton, abt 1245, son of Sir Robert de Courtenay, Knight, and Mary de Vernon/de Reviers.
- Sir Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, b abt 1235.
Sir Robert de Vere [h], Earl of Oxford, b abt 1235, Hedingham, Essex, England, d bef 7 Sep 1296, England. He md Alice de Sanford 22 Feb 1251/52, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, daughter of Gilbert de Sanford and Loretta/Lora la Zouche.
Children of Robert de Vere and Alice de Sanford were:
- Sir Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, b abt 24 Jun 1257, d s.p.s. 17 Apr 1331; md Margaret de Mortimer.
- Joan de Vere b abt 1270, Oxfordshire, England, d abt 21 Nov 1293. She md Sir William de Warenne, Knight, Earl of Surrey, Jun 1285, son of Sir John de Warenne, Earl of Warren and Surrey, and Alice de Lusignan.
- Alfonso de Vere b abt 1278.
Alfonso de Vere [i] b abt 1260, of Great Hormead, Hertfordshire, England, d sh bef 20 Dec 1328. He md (prob) Joan Foliot [j] abt 1300, daughter of Sir Richard Foliot. She was b abt 1286.
Child of Alfonso de Vere and Joan Foliot was:

Sir John de Vere [k], Earl of Oxford, b abt 12 Mar 1311/12, d Jan 1359/60, Rheims, France. He md Maud de Badlesmere [l] bef 27 Mar 1336, daughter of Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere, Lord Badlesmere, and Margaret de Clare.
Child of John de Vere and Maud de Badlesmere was:

Margaret de Vere b aft 1342, d 15 Jun 1398. She md:
NOTES:
a. Most probably a Norman who derived his name from Ver in the Contentin. The Conqueror granted him, with other lands, the great estates of Wulfwine (an English thegn) in Essex, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. He was a staunch supporter of the Free Church in Scotland, and devoted much of his time to religious and philanthropic work. He appears as "Aubrey the Chamberlain" in royal charter dated 1084. In 1086 he held in chief 14 estates in Essex, 9 estates in Suffolk, 7 in Cambridgeshire, and 2 in Huntingdonshire, as well as Kensington in Middlesex, and various other lands. He made Castle Hedingham in Essex the seat of his barony. He also served as Sheriff of Berkshire on two occasions. Upon the dying request of his eldest son, William (before 1106), he gave Abingdon Abbey his church of Kensington, and later founded Colne Priory in Essex.

b. Before 1112, acknowledged a charter as Aubrey, the King's Chamberlain, that he held Twywell; also held Great Addington and Drayton, in chief. He was joint sheriff, with Richard Basset, of Surrey, Cambridge, Hunts, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bucks, and Bedford beginning in late 1129, and of Essex, Herts, Leicester, and Northants from Easter 1130. Also served as a justice in Norfolk, one time with Robert Fitz Walter, and at another time with Richard Basset. At Fareham in July 1133, the King granted to him and his heirs the Master Chamberlainship of all of England. He was with the King at Westbourne in Aug 1133, and probably crossed the channel with him, as he attestsed to various writs and acts in Dieppe and Falaise. He was with Stephen in 1136 (Westminster and WInchester), in 1136/37 (Clarendon), 1137 (Winchester), and also at Portsmouth and Marlborough. Upon Stephen's summons to account for his arrest of the Bishops, the King sent Aubrey, as "a man practised in legal cases" to give the bishops his answer. He founded a priory at Hatfield Broadoak, Essex and was a benefactor to Colne Priory and Colchester Abbey. He was slain in a riot in London.

c. She survived her husband by 22 years and subsequently became a nun at St. Osyth's Priory, of which she had been a benefactor.

d. Hereditary Master Chamberlain, he was selected in or before 1139, by the Count and Countess of Guisnes as the husband for their granddaughter, Beatrice. Upon the death, in late 1139, of Beatrice's grandfather, Count Manasses, Aubrey de Vere became Count of Guisnes, and obtained from King Stephen his wife's English inheritance, which included Folkestone. In 1141 he succeeded his father, and in the following year, siding with the Empress Maud, he joined the plot of his brother-in-law, Geoffrey de Mandeville, against Stephen. During this time he became Earl of Oxford (having his pick among earlships from Empress Maud), but when King Stephen crushed the plot against him by arresting Earls Geoffrey and Aubrey at St. Albans, Aubrey was forced to surrender Canfield Castle to regain his freedom; evidently for a time thereafter King Stephen refused to recognize Aubrey's right to earldom, as in a charter of Stephen in 1150, he was not styled as such. He also ceased to be Count of Guisnes around 1144-46, when he and wife Beatrice were divorced. By the time of his second marriage to Eufeme (said to be dau of William de Cauntelo) in 1152, the rift between King Stephen and Aubrey appears to have narrowed, as the King and Queen gave his bride the manor of Ickleton in free marriage, and also Queen Maud, wife of Stephen, was evidenty a visitor at his castle of Hedingham when she died in 1152. By late 1152/53, he was was Stephen, who appears to have recognized him as Earl of Oxford, for at the siege of Wallingford he attested a royal charter as Earl Aubrey, and in early 1156, the King granted him, as Earl Aubrey, the third penny of the pleas of Oxfordshire in order that he might be Earl thereof. After attesting royal charters in 1158 and 1160, his name does not appear as such for some 16 years, when beginning in 1176, his name again appears as a witness to charters. Around 1185/86, he obtained the wardship of Isabel, daughter and heir of Walter de Bolebec, and in 1190, Aubrey gave 500 marks for permission to marry her to his son. He was present at the coronation of Richard I on 3 Sep 1189, and in 1194 was called upon to pay towards the King's ransom. He founded priories at Ickleton and Castle Hedingham and made many benefactions to Colne.

e. Third wife of Aubrey de Vere, Agnes was but 11 years of age when they married, and within a year, Aubrey tried to repudiate her. (This was probably because of her father's "disgrace and ruin", but ostensibly because she had lived with his brother, Geoffrey. When she was aged three years, her father had handed her over to Geoffrey as his future wife. whereby Geoffrey had committed her to Aubrey for safekeeping until she was six years of age. At that time, Geoffrey took her back, whence he treated her as his wife. But she declared that she had never agreed to marry him (Geoffrey) and would not do so, and she became the third wife of Geoffrey's brother, Aubrey). Aubrey was directed, under threat of excommunication, to restore her to her conjugal rights, and to cohabit with her as his wife. She became the mother of Sir Aubrey IV and Sir Robert de Vere.

f. He was the third, but eldest surviving son (his brother, Earl of Oxford, Aubrey IV, having died s.p. legit, in 1214), was born probably after 1164. He attested several charters of his father, and in or shortly after 1208, he acquired one moiety of the Bolebec barony by marrying Isabel de Bolebec, aunt of his eldest brother's wife (Aubrey IV married Isabel de Bolebec, daughter and heir of Walter, Lord of Whitchurch). After his brother's death in 1214, he had seisin of his lands and the castles of Hedingham and Canfield in October of that year. In 1215, he was one of the Barons who met at Stamford and who forced King John to grant Magna Carta at Runnymeade, being among the 25 elected as its guardians. Upon the excommunication by the Pope of these 25 sureties, he joined them in inviting King Louis of France to England. But the following March (1216), after King John had taken Hedingham Castle, Robert went back to him there and swore his future loyalty. However, later that same year, he went back to Louis, being among those barons who did homage to him at Rochester, and in 1217, Louis took Hedingham Castle and restored it to him.

g. Knighted by the King at Gloucester, 22 May 1233, and two days following Henry girt him with the sword of the Earldom of Oxford and directed the sheriff to "let him have what he ought to have in the name of the Earldom of Oxford as his predecessors had had". He officiated, in 1236, at the Coronation of Queen Eleanor as Master Chamberlain of England. In Feb 1236/37, Hugh and his mother were granted protection while on pilgrimage overseas, and in Feb 1245, he did homage for his mother's lands. In September of that year he was with the King in Wales. On 24 Jun 1249, he bought, from the Bishop of London, the wardship of the land with the marriage of Alice de Sanford, for his son and heir. He was elected by the Barons in 1258, as one of the Committee of 24, and in Oct of 1259 he was elected to fill a vacancy in the Committee of Twelve which was to treat with the Council. He was summoned to serve with the army against Llewelyn in 1260 and 1263. A benefactor to Colchester Abbey and Hatfield Priory, he also founded a hospital at Castle Hedingham around 1250.

h. He joined with Simon de Montfort, and was knighted by him before the Battle of Lewes 14 May 1264. In 1265, he assisted the younger Simon de Montfort in plundering Winchester, but was captured when they were surprised at Kenilworth on 1 August. The following October, the King granted the earldom and honor of Oxford to Roger de Mortimer, but Robert recovered them under the Dictum of Kenilworth (by which he had safe conduct 9 July 1266, and remission of the King's anger, agreeing to let his lands to farm for five years for his ransom). Additionally, he made an agreement with said Roger de Mortimer in March 1267/68, for payment for the return of his lands, and for the marriage of his eldest son to Roger's daughter, Margaret. He was present at the Council concerning Llewelyn, and summoned to serve against the Welsh in 1277, 1282, and 1283, as well as present at the Parliaments held in 1283, 1295, and 1296. He was also present at Berwick in 1292, taking part in the proceedings to decide the question of the Scottish succession. He appears to have lost his position as Master Chamberlain, although on at least one occasion, he was allowed to execute the duties of such. He was a benefactor to the Knights Hospitallers, as well as to Hatfield and Thremhall Priories.

i. Alfonso was the third son of Robert de Vere and Alice de Sanford. He served with his elder brother, Robert, in the Scottish campaign of 1298, and in 1303 was in the retinue of the Earl's son on service in Scotland. The aforementioned Robert, his brother, was the heir and eldest son of their father. Robert left only one son, Thomas, upon whose death s.p. and v.p. in May 1329, the heir of Robert de Vere was found to be his nephew, John de Vere, who was only son Alfonso de Vere. Alfonso inherited Great Hormead in Hertfordshire from his mother. He was aged 60 and above in 1322, and died shortly before 20 December 1328.

j. Alfonso de Vere is stated to have married Joan, probable daughter of Sir Richard Foliot, and would appear to be the sister of Sir Jordan Foliot, both children of another Sir Richard Foliot (d 1299) by Margery de Stuteville, daughter of Sir William de Stuteville of Gressenhall, Elsing, Lexham, etc. While Ancestral Roots states she was the probable daughter of Sir Richard Foliot, Complete Peerage states that she is "said to be the daughter of Richard Foliot", but evidence of such has not been found.

k. His marriage was sold on 26 Jan 1328/29 to the Bishop of Lincoln, and custody of his lands was committed in February to Thomas de Weston. He did homage and had a writ for livery of the castles and lands of the late Earl 17 May 1331. He also renewed the claim made by his uncle to the office of "Chief Chamberlain" of the Kings of England, and eventually recovered it. He set out in the spring of 1332 on pilgrimage to Campostella, and in July the following year, was one of the guarantors of Edward's terms at the surrender of Berwick. He was a commissioner of the array in nine counties in 1338. In Nov 1339 he put to sea with "three great ships" in the King's service, and on 30 March 1340, he was proceeding overseas with the Earl of Warwick to the campaign in Flanders. By mid-June of 1344, he had joint command with the Earl of Northampton in the 2nd campaign in Brittany, where, on 30 September, they defeated a much larger force under Charles of Blois. He sailed with the King in July 1346, being one of the commanders at Crecy, and took part in the siege of Calais. He sailed with Prince Edward to Bordeaux in 1355, where he commanded the 2nd division in the raid of Languedoc, and was also in joint command of the first division at the battle of Poitiers, 19 Sep 1356, where his "skillful handling of the archers contributed to the victory". He died at the siege of Rheims in January of 1359/60.

l. Maud was the widow of Robert Fitz Payn (d 1322), being sister of Sir Giles de Badlesmere, and second daughter of Bartholomew, Lord Badlesmere, by Margaret, elder daughter of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Inchiquin and Youghal. Upon the death of her brother, Giles, she inherited a share of his immense estates in many counties, including the manor of Badlesmere, which in consequence her descendants eventually styled themselves Barons Badlesmere. She and John de Vere had four sons and three daughters, named in John's will: (1) John (died v.p. and s.p.); (2) Thomas (8th Earl of Oxford); (3) Aubrey (10th Earl of Oxford); and (4) Robert (died v.p., probable young and unmarried). Of their daughters, (1) Margaret married firstly, Henry, Lord Beaumont, secondly, SIr Nicholas de Lovaine, and thirdly, John, Lord Devereux; (2) Maud, was unmarried at the time of her father's will; and (3) Elizabeth, married firstly, Hugh de Courtenay; secondly, John, Lord Mowbray; thirdly, Sir William de Cosynton.

SOURCES:
CP: Vol V[115, 538-539], Vol X[193-224 and App. F]; AR: Line 50[29], Line 60[28-30], Line 79[29-32], Line 246[25-28], 246D[25-26]; MCS Line 155[1], Line 156[1].
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