1st Earl of Oxford Aubrey III de Vere

Notes:

AUBREY DE VERE
First Earl of Oxford; Count of Guines; d 1194

... eldest surviving son of the above Aubrey, whom he succeeded in 1141. Having married Beatrice, daughter of Henry, castel Ian of Bourbourg, and heiress of her maternal grandfather, Manasses, count of Guines, Aubrey, on the latter's death (? 1139), became Count of Guines in her right (ib. pp. 189, 397; Stapleton, Archaeologia, xxxi. 216 sq.), and is so styled in a charter of the abbot of St. Edmund's (Cott. Chart. xxi. 6). It was also as count before his father's death that he executed the charter to Hatfield Priory quoted by Morant (Essex, ii. 506). In his 'Historiab Comitum Ardensium' (Pertz, vol. xxiv.), Lambert of Ardres, as the writer has shown (Academy, 28 May 1892), speaks of Aubrey as 'Albericus Aper' in his account of the comte of Guines. He was divorced by the Countess Beatrice, who then married Baldwin of Ardres, the claimant to the comte , about 1145 (Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 189).
Meanwhile he had joined his brother-in-law, Earl Geoffrey, in intriguing with the Empress Maud (ib. p. 178), and, through his influence, obtained from her at Oxford in 1142 a remarkable charter, granting him lands and dignities, including an earldom, either of Cambridge, or, if that was impossible, of Oxford, Berkshire, Wiltshire, or Dorset, which charter her son Henry confirmed (ib. pp. 179-88). The title he adopted was that of Oxford, and in January 1156 Henry II by a fresh charter granted him its 'third penny' as earl (ib. p. 239). In 1166 he made a return of his knights' fees (Lib. Rub. p. 352). He is said to have founded the priories at Hedingham and at Ickleton, Cambridgeshire.

By his second wife, Euphemia Cantelupe, he seems to have had no issue, but by the third, Lucy, daughter of Henry of Essex, he left at his death in 1194 (Rot. Pip. 7 Ric. I) Aubrey, second earl, and Robert, third earl of Oxford [q. v.]

[Pipe Roll of 1130 (Record Comm.); Sarum Charters and Documents, Giraldus Cambrensis, William of Malmesbury, Matt. Paris, Liber Rubeus Scaccarii (all in Rolls Series); Madox's Baronia Anglica; Archaeologia; Morant's History of Essex; Pertz's Monuments; Foss's Judges of England; Dugdale's Monasticon; Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville and Feudal England; Academy, 28 May 1892; Cotton Charters; Pipe Rolls.] J.H.R.

Family/Spouse: Agnes de Essex. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. 2nd Earl of Oxford and Great Chamberlain Aubrey IV de Vere was born about 1163; died in 1214.
2. Ralph de Vere
3. Alice de Vere
4. 3rd Earl of Oxford and Lord Chamberlain of England Robert de Vere died before 25 Oct 1221.
5. Henry de Vere

Notes:

Earl of Oxford; High Chamberlain of England; Lord of Hedingham

AUBREY DE VERE
Chamberlain of England, d 1141

Aubrey de Vere, great chamberlain, was son and successor of Aubrey(Albericus) de Vere 'senior, ' by Beatrice his wife. He is found in 1125 acting as joint-sheriff of London (Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 309); and in 1180 he appears, in conjunction with Richard Basset, as holding the shrievalty of eleven counties 'ut custodes' for the crown (ib. pp. 297-8). But he was then indebted for an enormous sum to the crown for having allowed a prisoner to escape, and for permission to resign the shrievalty of Essex and Hertfordshire (Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. I, p. 53). In September 1131 he was among the magnates attending the council of Northampton (Sarum Charters, 6); and in 1133, on the king leaving England for the last time, Aubrey was given at Fernham the office of great chamberlain for himself and his heirs (Madox, Baronia Anglica, p. 158).He is found at Stephen's court as chamberlain early in 1136 (Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 262-3), and was with him at Clarendon not long afterwards(ib. p. 378). When, in 1139, Stephen was called upon to defend before a council his arrest of the bishops, he selected as his advocate Aubrey, whom William of Malmesbury describes as 'causidicus' and as practiced in(legal) cases (pp. 552-4). He was slain on 9 May 1141 (not, as stated, 1140) in a London riot (Matt. Paris, Chron. Major, ii. 174; Geoffrey Mandeville, p. 81).

The statement that he was 'chief justiciar of England, ' for which Foss could find no authority (Judges of England, pp. 89, 188-9), rests on the assertion to that effect by his son William in a tract 'De miraculis S. Osythae' (Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 390).

There has been much confusion as to Aubrey's marriage and children. By his wife Alice, daughter of Gilbert (Fitz Richard) de Clare -- who survived him twenty-two years, retiring as a widow to St. Osyth's Priory-- he left, besides Aubrey, his successor (see below), three sons: (2)Geoffrey, who in 1142 was promised by the empress the fief of Geoffrey Talbot, and who, afterwards marrying the widow of William Fitz Alan, held a Gloucestershire fief in her right, besides a Shropshire one in 1166(Lib. Rub. pp. 274, 298); (3) Robert, who in 1142 was promised by the empress a 'barony' of equal value (Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 182), and who held a small Northamptonshire fief in 1166 (Lib. Rub. p. 335; Feudal England, p. 220); (4) William, who in 1142 was promised the reversion to the chancellorship (Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 182), and who was identical with the writer of the above tract, a canon of St. Osyth's (ib. p. 389). Of Aubrey's daughters, Rohese married, first, Geoffrey, first earl of Essex [q.v.], secondly, Payne de Beauchamp of Bedford; and Alice, first, Robert of Essex, secondly, Roger Fitz Richard of Warkworth (ib. p.392).

Aubrey married Alice FitzGilbert de Clare about 1108 in Suffolk, England. Alice (daughter of Earl Hertford Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare and Adeliza (Alice) de Clermont, daughter of Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare and Adeliza (Alice) de Clermont) was born on 1 Jan 1091 in Tonbridge, Kent, England; died in 1163 in Tendring, Essex, England; was buried in St Osyth, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alberic married Countess of Ghisnes Beatrice (Beatrix). Beatrice (daughter of Count of Ghisnes Henry and Sibylla Alberic) was born about 1040 in Bourboucy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Heir in England; granted Cardigan in Wales.

Lord of Tunbridge, founded Priory of Clare, Lord of Cardigan

Gilbert de Tonebruge, who resided at Tonebruge and inherited all his father's lands in England, joined in the rebellion of Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, but observing the king (William Rufus) upon the point of falling into an ambuscade, he relented, sought pardon, and saved his royal master. We find him subsequently, however, again in rebellion in the same reign and fortifying and losing his castle at Tunbridge. Hem. In 1113, Adeliza, dau. of the Earl of Cleremont, and had issue, Richard, his successor, Gilbert, Walter, Hervey, and Baldwin. Gilbert de Tonebruge, who was a munificent benefactor to the church, was s. by his eldest son, Richard de Clare. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p. 119, Clare, Lords of Clare, Earls of Hertford, Earls of Gloucester]

Gilbert m. Adeliza, dau, of the Earl of Claremont, and was father of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, and Gilbert de Clare, created Earl of Pembroke. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 230, Giffard, Earls of Buckingham]

Gilbert married Adeliza (Alice) de Clermont about 1086. Adeliza (daughter of Count of Clermont Hugh de Clermont and Margaret de Roucy) was born about 1072 in Clermont, Beauvais, Oise, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

There seems to be a serious error in line 246b-24 of Ancestral Roots, which has this Adeliza marrying Robert de Condet d. 1141, after her marriage to Gilbert FitzRichard. This does not agree with any other lines, which have Robert de Condet's wife as Adeliza dau. of Ranulph le Meschin, Earl of Chester. The error in generation 24 is shown in the next generation of this line (246b-25) which has Adeliza dau. of Ranulph marrying first Richard FitzGilbert and then Robert de Condet. I believe this (generation 25) is correct.

Henry married Sibylla Alberic. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 1030, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England

Notes:

also Sheriff of Devon

Richard married Rohese Giffard. Rohese (daughter of Count of Longueville Walter Giffard and Ermentrude (Ermengarde) Fleitel) was born about 1035 in Longueville, Normandy, France; died after 1133. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count Clermont-Beauvais

Hugh married Margaret de Roucy. Margaret (daughter of Count of Montdidier and Ronci Hildouin III de Montdidier and Alix (Adelaide) de Roucy) was born about 1035 in Montdidier, Somme, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]