Who were the EARLS OF OXFORD?
AUBREY DEVERE THE 20TH EARL OF OXFORD
I found out through my own research that Aubrey Devere is my 20th Grandfather,
We are related to the people who bought us the Magna Carta, Perhaps Shakespeare as it has been known, This family has been hidden from history.
Now we can learn more about this fantastic family and their love for the Arts, Politics and Battle
Robert Devere 3rd Earl of Oxford
The MAGNA CARTA 1215
Magna Charta Surety, 1215
Hereditary Master (Lord) Chamberlain of England
3rd Earl of Oxford.
In the 12th Century, Melusine's descendant, Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford, and legal pretender to the Earldom of Huntingdon, was appointed as King Richard's steward of the forest lands of Fitzooth. As Lord of the Greenwood, and titular Herne of the Wild Hunt, he was a popular people's champion , and, as a result, he was outlawed for taking up arms against King John. It was he who, subsequently styled Robin Fitzooth, became the prototype for the popular tales of Robin Hood.
(http://www.freewebs.com/weirfamilyorigins/)
The principal residence of the de VERES was Castle Headingham. The keep still stands sentry guard over the River Colne in the North of Essex, probably erected by Aubrey de Vere, who died in 1194. The Headingham keep ranks with that of Rochester as the finest of the square keeps in England.
Oxford Castle was the seat of the Earls de Vere. It now consists of little more than a Norman tower which stands inside the walls of a county jail. It was here that King Stephen laid siege to Matilda in 1141. She escaped by a rope ladder fashioned from bed sheets during the night and, fleeing, found refuge at Wallingford.
Oxford Castle is thought to be the oldest in all England. The Norman structure was built in 1071 by Robert d'Oilly. From what is left of it we can conclude that it was originally a pre-Norman motte and bailey fort. After the 1071 rebuilding, alterations were made by Henry II, between 1165 and 1173. He added the houses inside the shell keep, and also the well. He presumably built the diagonal keep on the motte, the foundations of which were discovered in the 18th Century.
ROBERT de VERE, the Surety, and Crusader, born after 1164, became heir to his brother, Aubrey de Vere, who died without issue before September of 1214, and who was reputed to be one of the "evil councillors" of King John. Although he was hereditary lord great Chamberlain of the kingdom, Robert pursued a different course in politics from that of his brother, and became one of the principal Barons in arms against King John, a party to that covenant which resigned the custody of the City and Tower of London to the Barons, and one of those excommunicated by the Pope. In the beginning of the reign of King Henry III, after he had made his peace with that young monarch following the Battle of Lincoln, Robert was received into his favor, and was appointed one of the judges in the Court of King's Bench, but he died only a few months afterward, 25~ October 1221, and was buried in the Priory of Hatfield, Broad Oak, in Essex. His wife was Isabel, who died 3 February 1248, daughter of Hugh, second Baron de Bolebec in Northumberland.
Robert participated in the ill fated Fifth Crusade with King John, probably as a penance/ peacemaking effort with the church who had excommunicated him during the Magna Carta struggles. It appears he was on Crusade in the company of his illegitimate son Roger at the Battle of Damietta, Egypt in 1221, the year they both died. Sources say he died in Italy of wounds sustained in this battle, on his way home. The crossed feet on his effigy represent he was on crusade in his lifetime. For more on this battle: http://the-orb.net/textbooks/crusade/fifthcru.html
Robert was born in 1170 in Hatfield, Essex, England.1 Robert's father was Earl of Oxford Aubrey de Vere III and his mother was Lucy de Abrincis. His paternal grandparents were Earl of Oxford, Justiciar of England Aubrey de Vere II and Adeliza (Alice) de Clare; his maternal grandparents were Henry de Abrincis and Cecily of Rayleigh. He had three brothers and two sisters, named Aubrey, Henry, William, Adeliza and Sarah. He had a half-sister named Alice. He died before October 25th, 1221 in Colne, Essex, England.2 Above are the arms of Sir Robert de Vere, circa 1164-1221; Magna Carta Surety Baron 1215, 3rd Earl of Oxford, hereditary Master Chamberlain of England; Chief Justice Itinerant in Herefordshire. His blazon is: Arms: quarterly gules and Or in the first quarter a mullet argent.
Sir Robert de Vere died in Italy returning from a crusade. His body was brought home and buried in the Benedictine priory founded by his grandfather, Hatfield Priory at Broadoak, Essex. The arms of Sir Robert de Vere are carved into the shield with his effigy on his tomb, created within fifty years of his death by order of his son Robert. The tomb effigy is currently in the parish church, where it was moved from the priory circa 1546, after the dissolution of monasteries ordered by King Henry VIII. Sources:
1 http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jdp-fam&id=I8706
2 http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=jdp-fam&id=I24361&style=TABLE
3 http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jdp-fam&id=I8698
Surety to the Magna Carta
3rd Earl of Oxford
Master Lord Chamberlain of England
Robert de Vere (died 1221) was the second surviving son of Aubrey de Vere III, first earl of Oxford, and Agnes of Essex. Almost nothing of his life is known until he married in 1207 the widow Isabel de Bolebec, the aunt and co-heiress of his deceased sister-in-law. The couple had one child, a son, Hugh, later 4th earl of Oxford. When Robert's brother Aubrey de Vere IV, 2nd earl of Oxford died in Oct. 1214, Robert succeeded to his brother's title, estates, castles, and hereditary office of master chamberlain of England (later Lord Great Chamberlain). He swiftly joined the disaffected barons in opposition to King John; many among the rebels were his kinsmen. He was elected one of the twenty-five barons who were to ensure the king's adherence to the terms of Magna Carta, and as such was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III in 1215.
King John besieged and took Castle Hedingham, Essex, from Robert in March 1216 and gave his lands to a loyal baron. While this prompted Robert to swear loyalty to the king soon thereafter, he nonetheless did homage to Prince Louis when the French prince arrived in Rochester later that year. He remained in the rebel camp until Oct. 1217, when he did homage to the boy-king Henry III, but he was not fully restored in his offices and lands until Feb. 1218.
At this time, aristocratic marriages were routinely contracted after negotiations over dowry and dower. In most cases, dower lands were assigned from the estates held by the groom at the time of the marriage. If specific dower lands were not named, on the death of the husband the widow was entitled to one-third of his estate. When Robert's brother Earl Aubrey married a second time, he did not name a dower for his wife Alice, for Robert determined the division of his estate by having lots drawn. For each manor his sister-in-law drew, he drew two. This is the sole known case of assigning dower lands in this manner.
Robert served as a king's justice in 1220-21, and died in Oct. 1221. He was buried at Hatfield Regis Priory, where his son Earl Hugh or grandson Earl Robert later had an effigy erected. Earl Robert is depicted in chain mail, cross-legged, pulling his sword from its scabbard and holding a shield with the arms of the Veres.
Robert de Vere (died 1221) was the second surviving son of Aubrey de Vere III, first earl of Oxford, and Agnes of Essex. Almost nothing of his life is known until he married in 1207 the widow Isabel de Bolebec, the aunt and co-heiress of his deceased sister-in-law. The couple had one child, a son, Hugh, later 4th earl of Oxford. When Robert's brother Aubrey de Vere IV, 2nd earl of Oxford died in Oct. 1214, Robert succeeded to his brother's title, estates, castles, and hereditary office of master chamberlain of England (later Lord Great Chamberlain). He swiftly joined the disaffected barons in opposition to King John; many among the rebels were his kinsmen. He was elected one of the twenty-five barons who were to ensure the king's adherence to the terms of Magna Carta, and as such was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III in 1215. King John besieged and took Castle Hedingham, Essex, from Robert in March 1216 and gave his lands to a loyal baron. While this prompted Robert to swear loyalty to the king soon thereafter, he nonetheless did homage to Prince Louis when the French prince arrived in Rochester later that year. He remained in the rebel camp until Oct. 1217, when he did homage to the boy-king Henry III, but he was not fully restored in his offices and lands until Feb. 1218. At this time, aristocratic marriages were routinely contracted after negotiations over dowry and dower. In most cases, dower lands were assigned from the estates held by the groom at the time of the marriage. If specific dower lands were not named, on the death of the husband the widow was entitled to one-third of his estate. When Robert's brother Earl Aubrey married a second time, he did not name a dower for his wife Alice, for Robert determined the division of his estate by having lots drawn. For each manor his sister-in-law drew, he drew two. This is the sole known case of assigning dower lands in this manner. Robert served as a king's justice in 1220-21, and died in Oct. 1221. He was buried at Hatfield Regis Priory, where his son Earl Hugh or grandson Earl Robert later had an effigy erected. Earl Robert is depicted in chain mail, cross-legged, pulling his sword from its scabbard and holding a shield with the arms of the Veres.
Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert de Vere (d. 1221) was the second surviving son of Aubrey de Vere III, first earl of Oxford, and Agnes of Essex. Almost nothing of his life is known until he married in 1207 the widow Isabel de Bolebec, the aunt and co-heiress of his deceased sister-in-law. The couple had one child, a son, Hugh, later 4th earl of Oxford. When Robert's brother Aubrey de Vere IV, 2nd earl of Oxford died in Oct. 1214, Robert succeeded to the title and hereditary office of master chamberlain of England (later Lord Great Chamberlain). He swiftly joined the disaffected barons in opposition to King John. Many among the rebels were his kinsmen. He was elected one of the twenty-five barons who were to ensure the king's adherence to the terms of Magna Carta, and as such was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III in 1215.
King John besieged and took Castle Hedingham, Essex, from Robert in March 1216 and gave his lands to a loyal baron. While this prompted Robert to swear loyalty to the king soon thereafter, he nonetheless did homage to Prince Louis when the French prince arrived in Rochester later that year. He remained in the rebel camp until Oct. 1217, when he did homage to the boy-king Henry III, but he was not fully restored in his offices and lands until Feb. 1218.[1]
Robert served as a king's justice in 1220-21, and died in Oct. 1221. He was buried at Hatfield Regis Priory, where his son Earl Hugh later had an effigy erected of his father.[2]
MY DESCENT THROUGH MY MOTHER TO THE DEVERES
- Sir Robert Vere (died 1461), of Haccombe, was an English soldier and diplomat that was appointed as Seneschal of Gascony. de Vere
4th cousin 16x removed - Alice Fitzwalter Alice de Vere (Sergeaux) Also Known As: "Alice Sergeaux", "Alice Sargent" Birthdate: September 01, 1384 Birthplace: Colquite, St
Mother of Sir Robert Vere (died 1461), of Haccombe, was an English soldier and diplomat that was appointed as Seneschal of Gascony. de Vere - Philippa FitzAlan, heiress of Chipping Norton Also Known As: "Phillippa Fitzalan of Arundel" Birthdate: circa 1352 Birthplace: C
Mother of Alice Fitzwalter Alice de Vere (Sergeaux) Also Known As: "Alice Sergeaux", "Alice Sargent" Birthdate: September 01, 1384 Birthplace: Colquite, St - Sir Edmund FitzAlan Also Known As: "D'Arundel", "Edmund", "Sir Edmund Fitz-Alan" Birthdate: circa 1327 Birthplace: Arundel, Suss
Father of Philippa FitzAlan, heiress of Chipping Norton Also Known As: "Phillippa Fitzalan of Arundel" Birthdate: circa 1352 Birthplace: C - Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel Also Known As: "Isabella", "le Despencer" Birthdate: 1312 Birthplace: Stoke, Gloucester 1312-1356
Mother of Sir Edmund FitzAlan Also Known As: "D'Arundel", "Edmund", "Sir Edmund Fitz-Alan" Birthdate: circa 1327 Birthplace: Arundel, Suss - Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser Also Known As: "the Younger", "the younger Despenser", "Hugh Despencer", "Hugh Spencer" Bi 1286-1326
Father of Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel Also Known As: "Isabella", "le Despencer" Birthdate: 1312 Birthplace: Stoke, Gloucester - Edward le Despenser (died 1342) was a son of Hugh le Despenser the Younger by his wife Eleanor de Clare. Despenser 1308-1349
Son of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser Also Known As: "the Younger", "the younger Despenser", "Hugh Despencer", "Hugh Spencer" Bi - Edward Despenser 1336-1375
Son of Edward le Despenser (died 1342) was a son of Hugh le Despenser the Younger by his wife Eleanor de Clare. Despenser - Margaret de Despenser 1365-1415
Daughter of Edward Despenser - Phillipa De ferrers Lady 1397-
Daughter of Margaret de Despenser - Sir Thomas Green (IV), Lord of Greens Norton, Greene 1550-
Son of Phillipa De ferrers Lady - Sir thomas Greene 1461-
Son of Sir Thomas Green (IV), Lord of Greens Norton, Greene - Anne Greene Baroness Harrowden 1490-1523
Daughter of Sir thomas Greene - Anne Maud De Vaux Lady, Baroness Strange Hunstanton 1513-1569
Daughter of Anne Greene Baroness Harrowden - Peter Wellington Vicar 1563-1631
Son of Anne Maud De Vaux Lady, Baroness Strange Hunstanton - Richard Wellington 1617-1706
Son of Peter Wellington Vicar - Peter WELLINGTON 1659-1746
Son of Richard Wellington - John Wellington 1699-1778
Son of Peter WELLINGTON - John Wellington 1722-1812
Son of John Wellington - Elizabeth key to the royal door the thr wrights WELLINGTON 1759-1843
Daughter of John Wellington - James Wright 1799-1851
Son of Elizabeth key to the royal door the thr wrights WELLINGTON - Robert Wright 1827-1886
Son of James Wright - Walter Henry Wright 1856-1908
Son of Robert Wright - Walter Wright 1896-1974
Son of Walter Henry Wright - Alan John Wright 1933-2015
Son of Walter Wright - susan j Wright - royal line through elenor de clare and despenser- elenor and elizbeth share the same dad gilbert de clare and joan plan 1953-2006
Daughter of Alan John Wright - Abbe The True Royal Rose of Great Britain Brooks-weir
You are the daughter of susan j Wright - royal line through elenor de clare and despenser- elenor and elizbeth share the same dad gilbert de clare and joan plantagnet.
MY DESCENT TO THE DEVERES THROUGH MY FATHER
- Robert de Vere, 5th Earl of Oxford (c. 1220 – 1296) was the son and heir of Hugh de Vere, 4th Earl of Oxford, and chamberlain to
24th great-grandfather - Joan de Vere, who married Sir William de Warenne
Daughter of Robert de Vere, 5th Earl of Oxford (c. 1220 – 1296) was the son and heir of Hugh de Vere, 4th Earl of Oxford, and chamberlain to - Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel (15 June 1287 – 23 May 1338)
Daughter of Joan de Vere, who married Sir William de Warenne - joan fitzalan
Daughter of Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel (15 June 1287 – 23 May 1338) - Mary de Bohun
Daughter of joan fitzalan - Henry V of England 1386-1422
Son of Mary de Bohun - Henry VII of England 7th
Son of Henry V of England - MARGARET TUDOR QUEEN 1489 1489-1541
Daughter of Henry VII of England 7th - Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (7 October 1515 Stewart 1515-1578
Daughter of MARGARET TUDOR QUEEN 1489 - KINGS OF SCOTLAND james the first of scotland AND VI OF ENGLAND Stewart MERGE 1566-1625
Son of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (7 October 1515 Stewart - King James II of Scotland Stewart 1430-1437
Son of KINGS OF SCOTLAND james the first of scotland AND VI OF ENGLAND Stewart MERGE - PRINCESS MARY 1453-1488
Daughter of King James II of Scotland Stewart - Elizabeth Hamilton 1544-1569
Daughter of PRINCESS MARY - Janet Muir 1574-1685
Daughter of Elizabeth Hamilton - Archibald Glen 1600-1641
Son of Janet Muir - John GLENN 1625-1710
Son of Archibald Glen - Thomas GLENN 1652-1714
Son of John GLENN - John Glenn 1678-1720
Son of Thomas GLENN - Thomas Glenn 1706-1780
Son of John Glenn - Thomas Glen 1748-1787
Son of Thomas Glenn - Thomas Ainsley Glen 1772-1864
Son of Thomas Glen - Jane Glen 1820-1861
Daughter of Thomas Ainsley Glen - Andrew Mcdonald 1852-1899
Son of Jane Glen - Annie mcdonald 1882-1960
Daughter of Andrew Mcdonald - James Weir 1910-1976
Son of Annie mcdonald - Nicholas Logan Weir- royal line through many but sister elixzabther de clare married robert the bruce..mum and dad are cousins 1957-2013
Son of James Weir - Abbe The True Royal Rose of Great Britain Brooks-weir
You are the daughter of Nicholas Logan Weir- royal line through many but sister elixzabther de clare married robert the bruce..mum and dad are cousins
EDWARD DEVERE 17TH EARL OF OXFORD
A Very Short life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford BY KEVIN GILVARY
On 12 April 1550 at Castle Hedingham in the county of Essex, his family’s ancestral home. His father, John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford, was hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain and attended the coronations of both Mary and Elizabeth Tudor. His mother was Margaret Golding, sister of the famous translator, scholar and poet Arthur Golding. Edward de Vere was eleven when, in 1561, Queen Elizabeth visited Castle Hedingham for four days of masques, feasting and entertainments. When his father died in 1562, Edward left Hedingham to become, like Bertram in All’s Well that Ends Well, a ward of the Crown under the guardianship of William Cecil, the Queen’s private secretary (later Baron Burghley, Lord Treasurer). His mother soon remarried and seems to have passed out of the boy’s life. His sister Mary went to live with her stepfather and the siblings were not reunited for some years.
According to a curriculum in William Cecil’s hand, Edward de Vere’s daily studies included dancing, French, Latin, writing and drawing, cosmography, penmanship, riding, shooting, exercise and prayer.
He showed a prodigious talent for scholarship from his early years, and we may ascribe his lifelong love of learning to the influence of two of his early tutors. The first was Sir Thomas Smith, one of England’s most respected Greek and legal scholars and the former Cambridge tutor of Sir William Cecil. It was, no doubt, through Cecil’s influence that Edward de Vere spent some time living in the household of Smith in his early years, during which time he spent about five months at Smith’s alma mater, Queens’ College, Cambridge. Smith was a scholar of widely varied interests – this was reflected in his 400-volume library, some of which is still extant at Cambridge. Another tutor was Laurence Nowell, who was not only an accomplished cartographer but was also England’s premier scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature – it was Nowell who possessed the only known copy of Beowulf.
In 1570 he served in a military campaign in Scotland under the Earl of Sussex and by 1571 was reported as a leading luminary of the Court and, for a time, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth. In December 1571 he married Anne Cecil, aged fifteen, daughter of his guardian. This was a dynastic marriage where all the advantage accrued to Cecil who, ennobled as Baron Burghley, had reduced the social gap between himself and the young Earl.
An important influence on Edward de Vere’s early studies was his maternal uncle Arthur Golding, an officer in the Court of Wards under Cecil, who is credited with the translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, published in 1567, a book widely recognised as having a major influence on ‘Shakespeare’. Following on from his matriculation at Cambridge in November 1558, de Vere was awarded an honorary MA by Cambridge during a Royal progress in August 1564, and another degree by Oxford University during a Royal progress in 1566. Edward de Vere then attended Gray’s Inn to study law. One notable feature of the Elizabethan Inns of Court was a tradition of mounting dramatic productions and of hosting the various touring companies of players.
While Oxford was away on a Grand Tour of Europe, he heard that his daughter Elizabeth Vere had been born in July 1575. On his return in early 1576, he appeared to have been convinced that Elizabeth was not his child; consequently he became estranged from Anne for five years, and exiled himself from Court, taking up residence in the Savoy and concerning himself with literary and musical patronage. In 1573, Cardanus Comfort was translated from Latin by Thomas Bedingfield and published at Oxford’s command with a letter and poem by him. In 1576 an anthology, A Paradise of Daintie Devices, including several poems by Oxford, was published. These are juvenile works but already show affinities, in both style and thought, with those of the mature Shakespeare.
Oxford’s Grand Tour took him to Paris, Strasbourg, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Palermo and, on his way back through France, Rousillon – the setting for Love’s Labour’s Lost. In 1575-6 Oxford borrowed money and sold many of his estates in order to travel round Italy, returning to England fluent in Italian and well acquainted with the northern Italian cities. In England he was satirised by Gabriel Harvey as a foppish Italianate poet earl. On his way back his ship was attacked by pirates in the English Channel (cf. Hamlet). Fourteen of ‘Shakespeare’s’ plays have Italian settings, in which he put his detailed knowledge of the country, beyond pure book knowledge, to good use.
The Earle of Oxenforde to the Reader.
“So hee that takes the payne to penne the booke
Reapes not the giftes, of goodlye golden Muse
But those gayne that, who on the worke that looke
And from the soure, the sweete by skill doth chuse.
For hee that beates the bushe the byrde not gets,
But who sittes still, and holdeth fast the nets.”
Final verse from the poem The labouring man by Edward de Vere
Source: Cardanus Comforte (1573)
In May 1577 Oxford invested in Frobisher’s voyage in the ship Edward Bonaventure. Despite its name, the ship’s voyage across the Atlantic in search of the North-West Passage lost money; consequently he was forced to sell three more estates (cf. Hamlet’s words ‘I am but mad north-north-west’ II. i.). In 1578 he invested in Frobisher’s second expedition, which also lost money, forcing further sales.
He was mentioned by Gabriel Harvey in an address to Queen Elizabeth in July 1578 as a prolific private poet and one ‘whose countenance shakes spears’. In the same year John Lyly, Oxford’s secretary, published Euphues. The Anatomy of Wit, followed in 1579 by Euphues and his England, dedicated to Oxford. These two books launched the fashion for ‘Euphuism’, a style characterized by high-flown language, satirized in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
In March 1581 Oxford’s mistress, Anne Vavasour, who was one of Queen Elizabeth’s Ladies of the Bedchamber, gave birth to a son. The lovers and their son were sent to the Tower by an infuriated Queen but swiftly released (cf. Measure for Measure). After his release, Oxford was wounded in a street-fight provoked by Thomas Knyvet, a kinsman of Anne Vavasour; affrays continued in the streets of London between the rival gangs of supporters for over a year (cf. Romeo and Juliet).
In December 1581, after five years of acrimonious separation, he was reunited with his long-suffering and devoted wife, and finally accepted Elizabeth Vere as his child. Their only son died one day after his birth. Three more daughters followed, of whom Susan and Bridget survived.
In 1584, Robert Greene’s Gwydonius; the Card of Fancy was dedicated to Oxford. In 1586, when he was thirty-six, he served on the tribunal which condemned Mary, Queen of Scots to execution. In the same year, the Queen awarded Oxford an unconditional pension of £1,000 a year for life (about £500,000 at today’s value). The motive for this uncharacteristic generosity on the part of the Queen remains a mystery – no accounting was required of Oxford. Her successor, King James I, continued to pay the pension. In reply to Sir Robert Cecil’s request that Lord Sheffield’s pension be increased, the King refused, saying, ‘Great Oxford got no more …’ Why Great Oxford? His greatness does not seem to have resided in war or any of the known offices of State. Perhaps a clue can be found in a letter to Burghley, written in 1594, in which Edward de Vere seeks his favour in a matter involving what he describes as ‘in mine office’ and that this office is beholden to the Queen.
In 1589, George Puttenham published The Arte of English Poesie and this contains the most telling recognition of Edward de Vere’s literary standing amongst his contemporaries: ‘And in her Majesties time that now is are sprong up an other crew of Courtly makers Noble men and Gentlemen of her Majesties owne servantes, who have written excellently well as it would appeare if their doings could be found out and made publicke with the rest, of which number is first that noble Gentleman Edward Earle of Oxford.’
“And arte made tongue-tied by authoritie”
Sonnet 66
In 1588 his wife Anne died and in extant letters written at this time, it is reported that Burghley was so incapacitated by grief over the death of his favourite daughter that he is incapable of conducting any Privy Council business. Three years later, in 1591, Oxford married another of the Queen’s Maids of Honour, Elizabeth Trentham, with whom, the books of nobility aver, he became the father of a male heir; Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford. Although there is evidence of his continued involvement in Court affairs, from the date of this marriage Oxford’s life at his new home at King’s Place in Hackney is perhaps the most obscure of his entire life.
In 1594, his financed ship the Edward Bonaventure was wrecked in Bermuda (cf. The Tempest). In January 1595, his daughter Elizabeth Vere married William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby, another literary earl who maintained his own company of players – many scholars believe that A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written for these festivities which were attended by the whole royal Court.
On 7 September 1598, Francis Meres’ Palladis Tamia was registered for publication, placing Oxford at the top of a list of brilliant playwrights as ‘best for comedy’. This is a vital document in Shakespearean history because it includes the first mention of ‘Shakespeare’ as a playwright, attributing twelve plays to him. Until then Shakespeare’s reputation had rested on the two narrative poems only.
Oxford suffered all his life from financial difficulties, many of which can be traced to the fact that Queen Elizabeth handed out the bulk of his estate to her favourite courtier the Earl of Leicester during Oxford’s minority as a royal ward (estates which Oxford found almost impossible to reclaim), and the ruinous debt she placed upon him over his marriage to Anne Cecil. It is, however, notable that his new brother-in-law, the wealthy Staffordshire landowner and Knight of the Shire Francis Trentham, eased the problem by buying de Vere estates and holding them in trust for his descendants.
On the Queen’s death in 1603 Oxford wrote eloquently to Sir Robert Cecil, son and heir of Lord Burghley, of his ‘great grief’. He wrote, ‘In this common shipwreck, mine is above all the rest, who least regarded, though often comforted, she hath left to try my fortune among the alterations of time and chance’.
Oxford died in Hackney in 1604, cause unknown. Parish records state that he was buried in Hackney Church on 6 July, but a family history by his first cousin Percival Golding, states ‘Edward de Veer … a man in mind and body absolutely accomplished with honorable endowments … lieth buried at Westminster’. No record of such a burial can now be traced in Westminster Abbey, where there is a Vere family tomb.
The Aftermath of Oxford’s life and death
In 1622 Henry Peacham published, in The Compleat Gentleman, a list of poets who made Elizabeth’s reign a ‘golden age’. Unaccountably, he omitted Shakespeare but placed the Earl of Oxford in first place in his list – perhaps he knew them to be the same person. This is unlike Meres who included them both – maybe one reason was because he didn’t know Oxford and Shakespeare were the same person.
During the winter season 1604-05, six of Shakespeare’s plays were presented at Court by command of King James I. This has an air of commemoration. In 1609 Shake-speares Sonnets were published in a pirated edition. The famous dedication describes the author as ‘our ever-living’, a phrase invariably used only of the dead.
REGARDS TO THE INFORMATION PRESENTED TO US BY THE DEVERE SOCIETY, LINK ON THE SHAKESPEARE/DEVERE PICTURE
Verey interesting facts..... so there was a fight to over throw the queen for the throne...... Edward de Vere 17th Earl Of Oxford Knights Templar, defendant of the Truth became acquaint with the mathematics & astrology of John Dee, with aspiring seriousness, mastery and keen interest in occultism, studying magic & conjuring. Edward de Vere funded Martin Frobisher's expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage and fortune. In 1577 Ed Vere asked the Crown for the grant of Castle Rising which had been forfeited to the Crown due to his cousin Norfolk's attainder in 1572. Upon granting, Edward Vere sold it with two other manors, sank over �3,000 & more into these northwest expeditions including the 'Sea Venture'. Vinland Viking Gold This Oxford & Frobisher mix attracted lots of smaller investors, including even the Queen and The London collective, Joint stock company also known as 'The London Company'. Stories & rumours abounded, tails of mountains of Vinland Viking Gold made money flow like a river.
However, upon expedition return Frobisher was dogboggled & buffooned with stories that the Golden Cargo of 1100 tons of Golden Ore was totally worthless {yeah, sure it was}. 300 expert Cornish miners just can't all be wrong or could they? The crown was said to help out by taking over the [golden] cargo claiming to be only good for repairing roads in Kent. Oxford being away returned to inspect his Golden Cargo but only found he was totally cornered, lost all of his investment by this event and thus coining the term 'Fools Gold'. Yes Well! That's doing business with pirates, event today. In short one of the stories is: It was though that area around Canada could have been a source of Viking Gold akin to or exceed the Spanish bootie stolen from the Aztecs. The Earl of Oxford with his many cousins sort to over throw the Queen E I with the more legitimate royal bloodlines. The Queen won the issue and the Earls of Oxford histories were so long in Royal bloodlines and far too connected to knock off. So she plotted with Cecil to rid the family by stealing everything they had and again her plots and scams were too good to beat. On the expeditions they did find this Viking Gold but to be told its not gold, yea sure it was! it looks more like the Queen tripled crossed everyone ended up with the lot. However, rumours still abound today that she may have only got a part of the bootie and the balance is still there at Oak Island today. Free Treasure Newsletter Frobisher Voyages - 1578 Gold Fever Gold Fever had struck England and the Queen, so it was believed, had a source of gold equal to the Spanish. Queen Elizabeth I allowed the commission of yet another voyage of Martin Frobisher. With most if not all of the funding came from The Earl of Oxford, Frobisher set sail in 1578 with 15 ships, 300 Cornish miners and enough Oak lumber to build a colony. It was the largest Arctic expedition in history. Shortly after setting sail, one of the ships deserted and returned to England. Later, reaching Greenland, the ship carrying the lumber sank, thus ending any hope of settlement. And yes there's more, Frobisher and others continued on and mined 1,100 tons of ore then returned to England with the Gold bootie. Fools & Gold. So it is reported the 1,100 tons of ore, turned out to be worthless, causing many investors to go bankrupt thus Frobisher's reputation was ruined. Interestingly, the Earl of Oxford Edward de Vere was overseas when this Arctic Gold was brought back, upon the Earls return he was told the ore was Iron Pyrite Sulphide but like many unreported accounts in history the Earl was also told that 'the ore was when it arrived was quickly whisked away by the Crown to an unknown place before being used to repair roads in the county of Kent'. This event gave rise for the Earl of Oxford Edward de Vere to use the term we use today as 'Fools Gold'. {Sure sounds like a con going on here}. Shortly after all this, Frobisher returned to piracy and along with Francis Drake, Frobisher is said to have begun raiding Spanish ships and settlements in the Caribbean. 'Pirates' - you wouldn't believe it! Soon after that he returned to England with 60,000 pounds of pure gold [960000 ounces @1250 US$1,200,000,000] when much of the [most] share went to the Queen. Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean 25 Most Feared Pirates Well, Frobisher regaining some modicum of favour with the Elizabeth Queen of thieves and pirates, yet none of it went to the Earl of Oxford, thus making it the greatest GOLD BULLION heist in history.... Viking Gold Edward de Vere: Crossed the Queen and the Earl lost out big time, over the timeline rumours suggest that over 20-30,000 pounds (weight) of gold went missing and the family thought the Queen pinched it all. Interestingly the 17th Earl and his numerous Vere Sons and Cousins all together funded these expeditions with dual purposes to seek out profit and find a northwest passage - trade route. Interestingly the Earl may have been on one of these trips as he went missing for 7 years [unconfirmed]. The connections between missing Gold, what happened to the Oxford family, issues surrounding Nova Scotia, pirating and lost treasures, accounts of Oxfords missing of 2 million pounds or 32000000oz of Gold are all now emerging out of the shadows of history. Now at this point it is interesting to note that the Oak Timber used in the Money Pit has been C-14 carbon dated around 1575.Video 17th Earl was around in the 15-1600s and his Vere cousins who appear to have been more famous than him at the time, they all looked at North America with high interest, that interest continues today with many surviving family lines going back to Nova Scotia and having a look around ever since, wishfully hoping to find lost Crown heisted Gold bootie. Who done it, where is it? Will be ever know? You know if this is all true and correct we must also ask to where did the Sun Kings of France get their rather sudden wealth from? Did they find or steal or dig up the hidden booty. MYSTERY 'INFINITY COIN' WITH TEMPLAR FREE MASON SYMBOLS PUZZLES EXPERTS Vatican coin may be an important historical and significance find. Bronze - Gold - Silver Infinity Coins found Curse broken? King Edward IV (1461-1470). The price of gold rose from the 1430s onward, and this meant that gold coins were worth more in Europe than in England, which resulted in a gold shortage in England as coins were exported for profit. Only a small quantity of Nobles were minted during Edward IV's Heavy Coinage period (1461-1464), at London. Finally, in 1464 in an attempt to stop the coins drifting over to the continent, the value of all gold Nobles was raised from six shillings and eight pence, (6/8) = 80 pence to eight shillings and four pence, (8/4) = 100 pence and a new coin, the "Rose Noble, or Ryal" worth ten shillings and weighing 120 grains (7.8 grams) was introduced -- however it was unpopular and was discontinued after 1470. In contrast, a new coin worth six shillings and eight pence (the same as the original Noble), the Angel was introduced in 1464 and soon became a popular and important coin. On the Oak Island parchment could this be a 'V' in Vere? Oak Island Episode 1 This is a story yet to be told so where's the Gold? The Money Pit Of Oak Island Martin Frobisher (b. 1535 - d. 1594) (fool) Sir Martin Frobisher was an English privateer (a pirate licensed to plunder), navigator, explorer, and naval officer. After years of sailing to north-western Africa, and looting French ships in the English Channel, Frobisher sailed to North America to search for a Northwest Passage. This was believed to be a sea route across northern Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, making the trip to Asia easier. In 1576, Frobisher began a series of three trips to what is now Canada, and found some ore on Baffin Island that he thought was gold . He claimed Baffin Island for England. He also discovered Resolution Island and Frobisher Bay. On his third trip, in 1578, Frobisher sailed 15 ships up the Hudson Strait, and set up a temporary mining settlement near Frobisher Bay and formed a mining company called the Cathay Company. The mining venture was a failure. [Missing Gold]. Frobisher's stone house was discovered in 1862 by the American explorer Charles Francis Hall. Frobisher is said to have held the first Canadian Thanksgiving feast in what is now known as Newfoundland. Frobisher was one of the first people to explore this area of Canada, although he failed to find either a Northwest Passage. In 1585, Frobisher was a vice admiral on Sir Francis Drake's expedition to the West Indies. Frobisher died on November 22, 1594, from wounds he received fighting the Spanish. http://www.houseofvere.com/
EDWARD DEVERE 17TH EARL OF OXFORD AND THE DEVERE SOCIETY.
Frances Devere
Frances Devere, Countess of Surrey
The marriage between Frances de Vere, the daughter of the Earl of Oxford, and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, son of the Duke of Norfolk, was destined to be ill-fated. The two families had a long and complicated history. And Henry Howard was to be the last person executed in the reign of King Henry VIII.
Frances was born c. 1516, the second daughter and third child of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford and his second wife Elizabeth Trussell. We know nothing of her childhood but it can be assumed she received an education commensurate with her rank. Based on Hans Holbein the Younger’s portrait of Frances, she was an attractive young lady. Her father had solid landed interests and had much influence at court, holding the hereditary title of Lord Great Chamberlain of England.
The Howard and de Vere families were intertwined with mixed results. They had fought on different sides during the Wars of the Roses, with the de Vere family supporting the Lancastrians and the Howards backing the Yorkists. The 13th Earl of Oxford had killed the Earl of Surrey’s great-grandfather at the Battle of Bosworth. The Earl of Oxford was an advocate of the New Religion whereas the Duke of Norfolk was the premier Catholic nobleman of England.
The Duke of Norfolk’s half-sister Anne had married the 14th Earl of Oxford who had proceeded to treat her very shabbily. When the 15th Earl of Oxford inherited his title, he stopped paying Anne’s jointure and sent a mob to rampage through her lands. They ended up killing many of her deer, a valuable commodity at the time as the deer provided food. Anne was expelled from her lands and ended her days in isolation at Tendring Hall.
In 1524, Thomas Howard became the Duke of Norfolk upon the death of his father. His son Henry was known by the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey. Henry was born about the same time as Frances and lived with his family at Kenninghall and was highly educated. In 1526, the Duke purchased the wardship of Elizabeth, daughter of John, second lord of Marney with the intention of marrying her to Henry. But in 1529, Anne Boleyn, who was related to the Howards and had considerable influence over King Henry VIII, was promoting a marriage between the Princess Mary and her cousin Henry. The Duke was enthusiastic about the match as it would give him greater political influence and put his family closer to the throne of England.
Anne Boleyn may have considered the match as a way to neutralize the threat Mary posed to her and any children she would have by the king. But she soon changed her mind when she realized her crafty uncle the Duke would use the match to support Mary’s claim to the throne and support Catherine of Aragon in the frustrating divorce proceedings. By October 1530, Anne Boleyn had changed her mind and she persuaded the reluctant Duke to arrange for Henry to marry Frances de Vere.
The contract for their betrothal was signed on February 13, 1532. Frances was endowed with a settlement of four thousand marks, two hundred of which were payable upon the marriage and the rest to be paid in installments. Frances would keep this money in the event of her husband’s death. The Duke also promised to give the couple lands that would produce a yearly rent of £300. Frances and Henry may have had some slight contact with each other before they were married as their families frequently crossed paths.
The wedding ceremony took place on May 23, 1532 and was attended by various nobility. The couple was separated after the wedding as they were considered too young to consummate the marriage. Frances’ name appears in the list of maids of honour for the king’s daughter the Lady Mary. Sometime in 1535, the Duke of Norfolk separated from his wife Elizabeth Stafford and set up his mistress Bess Holland with a household in Kenninghall. It was about this time Frances moved in and started conjugal relations with Henry.
Frances would have five children with Henry Howard, two sons and three daughters. The first child Jane was born between the spring of 1536 and the summer of 1537. The second child was a son Thomas who was born on March 10, 1538. Katherine was born in 1539, Henry in February 1540 and Margaret at the beginning of 1543 or after her father’s death, depending on what source you read. Surrey guaranteed his children were given a fine humanist education as they were tutored at Kenninghall by the Dutch humanist Hadrianus Junius.
In January of 1536, Queen Catherine of Aragon died. Frances served as one of the chief mourners at the funeral at Peterborough Cathedral. When her husband’s great and good friend, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, died in July of 1536, Surrey was very depressed. Surrey, who was a brilliant poet and respectable soldier, gained a reputation for riotous conduct. He was quarrelsome and hot-headed and was detained more than once for some minor crimes and infractions.
The Duke of Norfolk and Surrey were instrumental in suppressing the Pilgrimage of Grace in late 1536 and early 1537. After this, Surrey moved Frances and the children out of Kenninghall and into the old manor house of Fersfield and later to Shottisham Hall. Finally, he moved everyone to the family mansion in Norwich. While in Norwich, Surrey decided to begin building his own home on some land he obtained from his father.
Construction began on the house which was to be called Mount Surrey when Surrey asked to go to France and join the siege of Boulogne. Between 1544 and 1546, Surrey served the King Henry VIII of and on in France. In July 1545, Mount Surrey was nearly completed when he was offered a position in another English campaign in France. He was the captain-general of the English city of Boulogne where he had eight thousand men and did his best to maintain control against repeated attacks by the French. But eventually, his control and authority failed while his personal debts mounted. He was spending his own money conducting the campaign and knew it was unlikely he would be recompensed. The campaign was overwhelming and he missed his wife and children. He wrote asking the king’s council for permission to bring his family overseas but the council refused his request.
Because of the unsuccessful fight in France, Surrey was shunned by the king. By this time Henry VIII was very ill and there was a great deal of political maneuvering going on. Surrey resented the Seymour brothers whom he considered “new men” and not worthy of positions in the new king’s government when Henry died. He began to act alarmingly and treacherously, putting himself and his father at risk. Indeed they were both arrested and put in the Tower.
In the early morning of December 14, 1547, Kenninghall was raided by the king’s men looking for evidence of Surrey’s treason. The men found the Duke’s mistress Bess Holland, and his daughter Mary and a pregnant Frances alone in the home. Because of Frances’ condition, it was decided to send her and the children away. It is unknown where Frances went. Her children were taken from her and put in the care of relatives. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey was found guilty at trial and executed on January 19, 1547. He was buried in the church of All Hallows Barking-by-the-Tower. Frances’ children were assigned to the Earl’s sister Mary Howard and she continued their education while they were in her care.
Frances lived a quiet life after Surrey’s death and she was remarried by 1553. Her new husband was a country squire named Thomas Steyning. They lived together in East Anglia and she attended court for the obligatory funerals and christenings. She had two children with Steyning, one of whom was a son named Henry. Frances died in June of 1577 and was buried in the Howard family church of St. Michael’s in Framlingham. In 1614, Frances and Surrey’s son Henry had his father’s remains transferred from the church of All Hallows and buried alongside Frances.
Further reading: “Henry VIII’s Last Victim: The Life and Times of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey” by Jessie Childs, entry on Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography written by Susan Brigden, “The House of Howard, Volume 1 and 2” by Gerald Brenan and Edward Phillips Stratham
The De Veres – Lords of the Manor of Kensington
- By The Underground Map in Kensington
- June 13, 2015
‘Here come de Veres of the times of old…’ Edward Walford ‘Old London’
The first recorded mention of Kensington in ‘The Doomesday Book’ is: ‘Albericus de Ver holds of the Bishop of Coutances Chenesitun.’
After the Norman Conquest, the manor of Chenesitun passed from Edwin the Thegn of Edward the Confessor to Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, and was held for him by the Norman lord Aubrey de Vere.
In 1086 the settlement at the junction of Kensington High Street and Church Street consisted of around 200 people. The first description of the Notting Hill area in ‘The Doomesday Book’ is ‘woods for 200 pigs.’
As part of the Middlesex forest, according to William Fitzstephen the area in the 12th century consisted of ‘densely wooded thickets, the coverts of game, red and fallow dear, boars and wild bulls.’
The de Veres were described by Thomas Macaulay as ‘the longest and most illustrious line of nobles that England has seen.’ The Victorian local historian WJ Loftie added ‘the popular idea that Vere is almost a synonym for nobility’ and called their genealogy ‘a mystery, a tangled web of so far unsolved problems.’
There were de Vere knights in shining armour on the crusades and at all the major battles and historical events of the middle ages; the War of the Barons, the first parliament, Magna Charta, the Wars of France, Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt, the Wars of the Roses, etc. There are theories that two of them were Robin Hood and another was Shakespeare.
In Laurence Gardner’s ‘Realm of the Ring Lords’ they become the mystical elf kings of Kensington, or ‘the shining ones’, descended from the 8th century Rainfroi/Raymond de Verrieres en Forez, Languedoc, the first Comte d’Anjou; and through his wife Princess Melusine, their mystical line goes back through the second century priest-king Ver of Caledonia to Irish kings, Scythians, pharaohs and the Lords of the Ring.
Peter Ackroyd seems to back this up noting in his ‘London Biography’ how the ‘self-locking’ inscription on a sewer manhole cover had worn away to reveal ‘elf king’.
In reality the name is probably derived from a small town on the river Ver near Coutances in Normandy; but could also come from Veer in Holland. It was almost always spelt Veer, in Latin de Veer, sometimes de Ver, very rarely de Vere and never in English (but I’m going to stick with de Vere as that’s how the name is known today).
Aubrey de Vere
The first Aubrey de Vere probably came over from Normandy in 1066 and is said to have married the half-sister of William the Conqueror. He held other land in Essex (which became the de Vere seat), Middlesex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon and Suffolk.
In the reign of William Rufus, the first or second Aubrey obtained the freehold property rights to the manor of Kensington. The second Aubrey was made Lord Great Chamberlain of England by Henry I, possibly with the barony of Kensington (then spelt Chensnetuna) attached to the hereditary post.
The manor is defined by 2 streams, the Westbourne to the east and Counter’s Creek to the west (which now run underground), Harrow Road to the north and Fulham Road to the south. Over the next few centuries, the feudal manor was sub-divided into 4 mini-manors; the Abbot’s, Earl’s Court, West Town, and Notting Barns.
The de Veres were the lords of the manor of Kensington for nearly half a millennium, so they probably held manorial court at Earl’s Court, where there was a house in the middle ages, and traces of a medieval building have been found in Holland Park, but by all accounts neither was occupied by de Veres.
The street and building names; De Vere Gardens, Mews, Cottages, House, Hotel; Aubrey House, Villas, Road, Walk, Square; are allusions to their noble mythology rather than local activity. De Vere Gardens in Ilford, Essex, has a better historical claim to the name. There’s also Vere Street off Oxford Street.
The second Aubrey was killed in a London riot during the Anarchy of King Stephen’s reign. Whereupon his son, the third Aubrey, the Grim, Aper or the Boar, the crusader Count of Guisnes, champion of the Empress-Queen Matilda, became the next lord of the manor of Kensington and Great Chamberlain of England.
According to tradition, the third Aubrey, ‘who for the greatness of his stature and sterne look was named Albry the Grymme’, saw the star of Bethlehem that led the crusaders to victory at Antioch in 1098 and appeared on the de Vere shield henceforth (but it must have been the second Aubrey).
Earl’s Court possibly acquired its name from the de Veres after Henry II made Aubrey the Grim Earl of Oxford (an honorary title, he didn’t get any land in Oxfordshire). But the area could also be named after the later Earls of Holland and Warwick.
In 1194 Aubrey the Grim was succeeded by his son, another Aubrey, who was with Richard the Lionheart in Normandy and was made Sheriff of Essex and Hertford. After the demise of the 4th Aubrey in the reign of King John, his brother Robert became the next Earl of Oxford and one of the baron guardians of Magna Carta in 1215. The following year the de Vere castle Hedingham in Essex was besieged and duly taken by John.
Robert de Vere, the third Earl of Oxford, has become a Robin Hood suspect as an opponent of King John and a wood lord claimant to the earldom of Huntingdon. In a variation of this theory Robin Hood was Robert Fitzooth, the grandson of Lady Roisia de Vere, who is said to have founded the weird Templars’ cave in Royston, Hertfordshire.
Robert/Robin’s son Hugh, the 4th Earl, was licensed to crusade in 1237. The 5th Earl, Hugh’s son Robert, was with Simon de Montfort’s first parliament in the War of the Barons against Henry III. Following de Montfort’s defeat at the battle of Evesham in 1265, the second Robert de Vere was taken prisoner and forfeited the Chamberlain office.
His son Robert, ‘the good Earl’ who fought against William Wallace with Edward I, got it back again. This Robert was succeeded in 1331 by his nephew John, the even more illustrious 7th Earl of Oxford who was at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers with the Black Prince.
In 1371, upon the demise of his son Thomas the 8th Earl, the manor of Kensington passed to his 9 year old son Robert. This 4th Robert de Vere, the 9th Earl of Oxford, grew up to be the most hated of Richard II’s favourites and the nearest a de Vere got to being a king.
After helping to suppress the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, he was made the first English Marquis (of Dublin) and then Duke of Ireland, but duly fell foul of the King’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. He ended up forfeiting all his lands and titles, exiled in France and was killed by a boar whilst hunting. According to Laurence Gardner’s Realm of the Ring Lords theory, his royal favourite-turned-outlaw status makes him another Robin Hood suspect.
A new grant of the earldom of Oxford was given to his uncle, another Aubrey, in 1393. Kensington went to Robert’s wife Phillipa, the Duchess of Ireland, and on her demise passed to Henry IV. At the beginning of the 15th century, Aubrey the 10th Earl was succeeded by his son Richard, who was at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 with Henry V.
In 1420 Kensington was restored to his son John, a leading Lancastrian supporter of Henry VI in the Wars of the Roses. However, John the 12th Earl lost the manor again when the Yorkist Edward IV prevailed in 1461, along with his head and that of his son Aubrey the following year.
By then the northern sub-manor was called Notting Barns, spelt ‘Knottynges-bernes’. In the area’s first notorious landlord scandal, another Duke of Gloucester (the future Richard III), in Tudor propaganda at least, evicted the de Vere women ‘by compulsion, cohercion, and emprisonment’ due to ‘his inordinate covetyze and ungodly dispocion.’
John the 13th Earl of Oxford (another son of the 12th Earl) appeared at the 1471 battle of Barnet with Richard Neville, the king-maker Earl of Warwick, but some confusion over his banner’s livery or devices caused the Lancastrian army right wing to attack his forces, largely contributing to their defeat.
At the end of the Wars of the Roses in 1485, the de Veres were back on the winning side and Kensington was returned to John the 13th Earl, along with the rest of their lands and titles, by Henry VII for service rendered on Bosworth Field. Yet he was the one who lost complete control of the feudal de Vere manor of Kensington; in the process making Notting Barns a manor in its own right.
Having survived the Plantagenets, in 1488 the unlucky 13th Earl managed to offend Henry VII by ‘putting his retainers in livery to receive the king at Castle Hedingham.’ This amounted, in the king’s eyes, to having his own private army. Loftie notes: ‘the debts and charges which had to be paid out of the estates were enormous. Kensington, that is the manor of Earl’s Court, was settled as dowry for the two countesses, and we now find Notting Barns, or Knotting Barnes, a wholly separate entity.’
With John de Vere’s Bosworth comrade-in-arms Sir Reginald Bray acting as the first Notting Hill estate agent, ‘the manor of Notingbarons’ passed to the King’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, the Countess of Richmond. By then there was a manor farmhouse by the site of the St Mark’s Road roundabout. Through the middle ages spellings of Notting Barns went from Knottynges-bernes, through Notingbarons, Notingbarns, Nottingbarons, Nuttingbarnes and Nuttyng-barnes to Nutting bars.
In 1513 John the 13th Earl was succeeded by his nephew, another John, who was the last nominal de Vere lord of the manor of Kensington. On his demise in 1526, his cousin, another John became the 15th Earl of Oxford and Loftie has: ‘the manor of Kensington was settled by Act of Parliament, first on the two countesses who still survived, and then on the three sisters and co-heiresses of John, the 14th Earl’; Dorothy, Elizabeth and Ursula.
In the mid-16th century the manor passed to John Neville, the son of Dorothy and John Neville, Lord Latimer, and Sir Robert Wingfield, the son of Elizabeth and Sir Anthony Wingfield. In 1577 the second John Neville was succeeded by his daughter Lucy Neville and her husband Sir William Cornwallis, who had the other moiety of the manor conveyed to them by Robert Wingfield.
Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford
Meanwhile, John the 15th Earl of Oxford was succeeded by his son, another John as the 16th Earl in the reign of Henry VIII (who briefly owned Notting Barns). His son, Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl, has become the most renowned Earl of Oxford of them all due to the popular theory that he was Shakespeare – expounded in the film ‘Anonymous’ (starring Rhys Ifans as the 17th Earl).
A student of John Dee, writer/poet ‘friend of the muses’, he was one of the peers who tried Mary Queen of Scots and a commander in the fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. However, he dissipated the other de Vere estates. The Shakespeare Earl was buried in Hackney Church in 1605 and succeeded as the 18th Earl by his son Henry.
In 1609 the Kensington Parish Registers recorded the burial of Thomas, son of Thomas Vere. The following year Anne Cornwallis, the heiress daughter of Sir William Cornwallis and Lucy Neville, who married Archibald Campbell, the 7th Earl of Argyll, sold the Kensington manor to Sir Walter Cope (who built Holland House).
Henry, the 18th Earl of Oxford, the last de Vere Great Chamberlain, died childless at the siege of Breda in Holland in 1625 and was succeeded by his cousin Robert, a descendant of the 11th Earl. The son of the 17th Earl’s sister and Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby of Eresby, another Robert, became the Great Chamberlain and Earl of Lindsey.
After Robert de Vere the 19th Earl of Oxford fell at the siege of Maastricht in 1632, his son Aubrey became the 20th de Vere Earl of Oxford. The 6th and last Aubrey was a ward of Charles I and commanded a regiment of infantry in 1648.
The Parliamentarian general Lord Fairfax (who made Holland House the New Model Army HQ) was married to a daughter of Horace Baron Vere of Tilbury (another general, descended from the 15th Earl).
On the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II made the last Aubrey de Vere a Knight of the Garter and Lord Lieutenant of Essex. The portrait of his wife Diana Kirke is described as the most brazen of the restoration painter Peter Lely’s works.
The direct de Vere line made it into the 18th century but terminated with the death in 1703 of the last Aubrey, the 20th and last de Vere Earl of Oxford, aged 76. The last Aubrey’s only son Charles died young. However, an echo of the original Aubrey the Grim descended from the last Aubrey. His only surviving daughter Diana de Vere married Charles Beauclerk, the illegitimate son of Charles II and Nell Gwynn, who became the first Duke of St Albans.
At the end of the 20th century the heir of the 15th Duke of St Albans, the Earl of Burford, Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, was the bearded lord who jumped on the woolsack as hereditary peers lost their right to sit in the House of Lords. Samantha Cameron is also of the de Vere Beauclerk line.
In the reign of George III, a Tower Hill china dealer is said to have proved his direct de Vere descent, but on the death of his only son he gave up his claim. In the late 18th century ‘Environs of London’, Daniel Lysons mentions ‘the seat of James Vere Esquire between the Gore and Knightsbridge.’
At the battle of Waterloo in 1815 the de Veres were represented by Sir Charles Vere Broke. In the late 19th century Henry James lived at 34 De Vere Gardens.
Loftie writes of Sir Vere Hunt, who changed his name to de Vere in 1832 and must be an ancestor of the Notting Hill designer Eddie de Vere Hunt: ‘On account of a very remote descent from the daughter of the original stock, and his very oddly sounding name may have misled the Poet Laureate into taking what is in reality the least aristocratic form for that of the incarnation of family pride, Lady Clara Vere de Vere.
‘If the historical critic objects that such a name is impossible, the poetical critic will reply that the Vere before the de Vere is like an adjective before a substantive, and is calculated to intensify the meaning as it reduplicates the sound. To which the historian might rejoin that the ‘de’ itself is an anomaly which grew up in the 18th century from a mistaken interpretation of the Latin ‘de’ as used in the old charters, added to a French idea that the ‘de’ before a name implied nobility.
‘Some Norman and old English families may have used it throughout the middle ages, but the Veres were not among them, as is attested by the wording of the acts of parliament and some of the charters just referred to, and the fact that it was not prefixed to the names of such worthies as Sir Francis Vere, whose monument in Westminster Abbey is deservedly admired, or Lord Vere of Tilbury, to say nothing of the Christian name of the baronet above mentioned.’
Aubrey House on Campden Hill was built in 1698, originally as the Wells House and became known as Aubrey House in the late 18th century during the residency of the writer Lady Mary Coke. In 1873 the house was bought by William Cleverly Alexander, whose daughter Cecily was the model for Whistler’s ‘Harmony in Grey and Green’.
The house remained in the Alexander family until 1972 and was sold for £20 million in 1997. In the ‘Inside Notting Hill’ guide book Miranda Davies notes: ‘It is not known who lives there now and, hidden behind high walls, it retains an air of mystery.’
In 2003 Aubrey Square, the first new garden square to be built in Kensington in a hundred years, described as ‘London’s most exclusive estate’, appeared on Campden Hill on the site of the old reservoir.
In GK Chesterton’s ‘The Napoleon of Notting Hill’ novel from 1904, largely set on Campden Hill, the randomly selected joker king Auberon is presumed to be the godson of the King of the Fairies.
Oberon, the King of the Fairies in ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ by Shakespeare/Edward de Vere the 17th Earl of Oxford is synonymous with Alberich the dwarf lord in ‘The Nibelungenlie’, the overlord, high/light/shining/elf king, equivalent of Alberic, Albrey, Aubrey and Arthur.
As the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis was called Operation Overlord, the wartime Notting Hill book ‘Few Eggs and No Oranges’ was written by Vere Hodgson. In the 50s 1-6 Vere House on Westbourne Gardens was part of Peter Rachman’s slum empire.
The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea coat of arms granted in 1965 features a blue boar supporting the shield taken from the de Vere coat of arms. In the 60s the hotel group Greenalls renamed themselves the De Vere Group.
In the 1980s TV series ‘To the Manor Born’ Peter Bowles is Richard de Vere, ‘a nouveau riche millionaire supermarket owner originally from Czechoslovakia’, and Penelope Keith, as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, duly marries him to become Audrey de Vere.
Then there’s the ‘Little Britain’ character Denise or Mavis ‘Bubbles’ de Vere played by Matt Lucas, the financial news radio presenter Dominic de Vere, one of the kidnappers in the 2007 TV series ‘Kidnapped’ was James de Vere, and Matthew Vaughn, the Notting Hill-based producer of ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’, is the son of George de Vere Drummond.
In another genealogical theory, Princes William and Harry are said to have de Vere ancestry through Princess Diana via the Shakespeare Earl of Oxford. In ‘Realm of the Ring Lords’ Laurence Gardner traces the mystical line down to Prince Nicholas de Vere, the grand master of the holy grail/vampire Royal Dragon Court.
In 1995 the art dealer Cassian de Vere Cole staged an exhibition on Elgin Crescent of works by the artist William Orpen, who painted ‘The Vere Foster Family’ group portrait. In 2010 the Doyle De Vere gallery on Ledbury Road hosted an Andy Warhol photo exhibition.
Back at the de Vere castle Hedingham in 1996 the fashion eccentrics Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow (who both committed suicide) were photographed ‘burning down the house.’ After the demise of the 18th Earl of Oxford, Hedingham passed to the Trentham family but de Vere descendants have since got it back again. Today the castle stages a Robin Hood drama group production.
2000 Bernard de Vere claimed to have been attacked by Lee Weaver of Beauclerc Road at Sloane Square. 2001 Melanie de Vere died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.
2003 The De Vere Group, owners of the Brighton Grand Hotel and the Belfry Ryder Cup golf venue, promoted themselves with the slogan ‘It’s here with De Vere.’ The independent financial advisers Chase de Vere were fined £165,000 by the Financial Services Authority for a ‘misleading precipice and high income bond promotion.’
2004 Julian de Vere Whiteway-Wilkinson was jailed for leading an ex public schoolboy gang supplying cocaine to the music business, and the Australian rugby player Michael de Vere signed to Huddersfield.
2005 Residents of De Vere Gardens were unsuccessful in their bid to stop the exclusive Baglioni Hotel Bar getting a late-license. 2007 Flats on De Vere Gardens were going for £10 million. 2009 The Aubrey restaurant opened at the Kensington Hotel on Queen’s Gate, near De Vere Gardens.
Tom Vague
The Marriage uniting The Deveres and The Howards
Arundel Castle from my visit back in 2018.... A very random visit... Last minute decision with the aid if a few white feathers and clarevoyant messages.. Id driven passed before and thought how beautiful without the knowledge of the Devere connection, Francis Devere married Henry Howard which i found out whilst being quizzed by a curator to why i was there.. When i told her about the genealogy and historical research between myself and father... Her eyes lit up and said... "oh your more connected than you think, Go into the library, there is a portrait of one of your ancestors", She directed me through these huge double doors with swords and shields on... Towards a tiny little old lady... She was adorable with so much information.... She added with a kind of wink.....
"you do know that we hold the last original copies of. William Shakespeare"
How curious of a thing to say.
