John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, Lord Great Chamberlain KG PC (c. 1482 – 21 March 1540)[1] was an English peer and courtier.
John de Vere | |
---|---|
15th Earl of Oxford | |
Born | c. 1482 Castle Hedingham, Essex |
Died | 21 March 1540 Wakes Colne, Essex |
Noble family | de Vere |
Spouse(s) | Christian Foderingey Elizabeth Trussell |
Issue | John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford Aubrey Vere Robert Vere Geoffrey Vere Elizabeth Vere Frances Vere Anne Vere |
Father | John de Vere |
Mother | Alice Kilrington |
Early life
editJohn de Vere, born about 1482, was the son of John de Vere and Alice Kilrington (alias Colbroke), and the great-grandson of Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford,[2] succeeding his second cousin, John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, in the earldom.[3] De Vere had two stepbrothers, William Courtenay and Walter Courtenay, and a stepsister, Katherine Courtenay, by his mother's second marriage, before 1491, to Sir Walter Courtenay (d. 7 November 1506), a younger son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, Devon, by Elizabeth Hungerford.[4]
Career
editDe Vere was an Esquire of the Body at the funeral of Henry VII in 1509,[5] and was knighted by Henry VIII 25 September 1513 at Tournai, following the Battle of the Spurs.[6] He attended Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and at his meeting with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, at Dover in 1522.[7]
On 19 December 1526, Oxford was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain for life and was made a Knight of the Garter on 21 October 1527. He signed the Lords' petition against Cardinal Wolsey on 1 December 1529,[8] and was appointed to the Privy Council before 22 March 1531.[7]
In 1531 it was reported from Venice that Oxford was 'a man of valour and authority ... and it is his custom always to cavalcade with two hundred horse'.[8]
Oxford bore the crown at Queen Anne Boleyn's coronation in April 1533, but later served on the commission which tried the Queen on 15 May 1536.[7] On 15 October 1537 he attended the christening of the future King Edward VI, and on 12 November following was present at the funeral of Queen Jane Seymour.[7]
On 2 and 3 December 1538 Oxford served on the panel of peers at the treason trials of the Marquess of Exeter, and Lord Montagu.[7]
Oxford and his son, John, were in the King's retinue at the reception of Anne of Cleves at Blackheath.[7]
De Vere was reputedly the first Protestant earl of Oxford. He patronised a company of players for which he commissioned John Bale to write plays from 1534 to 1536.[9] As Lord Great Chamberlain and a favourite of Henry VIII, about 1537 he directed Bale to write anti-Catholic propaganda plays for Richard Morison's campaign against the Pope.[10]
Oxford died on 21 March 1540 at his manor of Colne, Essex and was buried on 12 April at Castle Hedingham.[11]
Marriages and issue
editOxford's first wife was Christian Foderingey (b. circa 1481, d. before 4 November 1498),[1] daughter of Thomas Foderingey (circa 1446–1491) of Brockley, Suffolk,[12] by Elizabeth Doreward (c. 1473–1491), daughter of William Doreward of Doreward’s Hall in Bocking, Essex.[12] The couple had no children.
Oxford's second wife was Elizabeth Trussell, daughter of Edward Trussell (c. 1478 – 16 June 1499) of Kibblestone (Cublesdon), Staffordshire, and Margaret Donne, the daughter of Sir John Donne of Kidwelly(d. 1503) by Elizabeth Hastings (d. 1508).[13][14] They had four sons and three daughters.[15]
- Elizabeth de Vere (b. c. 1512) married Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Chiche (d. 28 June 1558), and had children.[16]
- John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford (1516 – 3 August 1562) married first Dorothy Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, and married second Margery Golding. He had issue with both wives.
- Frances de Vere (c. 1517 – 30 Jun 1577) married first Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, with whom she had a son, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk; she married second Thomas Stainings.[1]
- Aubrey de Vere married Margaret Spring, the daughter of Sir John Spring; their grandson, Robert de Vere, became 19th Earl of Oxford.[17] Their daughter, Anne de Vere (d.1617), married first Christopher Shernborne (d. 7 July 1575) with whom she had a son, Francis Shernborne, Esquire. Anne married second John Stubbs, whose right hand was cut off on 3 November 1579 for his authorship of The Discovery of a Gaping Gulf which criticized Queen Elizabeth's proposed marriage to Francois, Duke of Alençon.[18][19]
- Robert de Vere (b. circa 1520 – 28 April 1598) was lord of the manor of Wricklemarsh and buried at Charlton, St Lukes, Kent.[20]
- Anne de Vere, (b. circa 1522, d. c. 14 February 1572) married first Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield (d. 31 July 1549) of Butterwick, Lincolnshire; she married second John Brock of Colchester, Essex.[21]
- Geoffrey de Vere (b. circa 1523) married Elizabeth Hardkyn, daughter of Sir John Hardkyn.
Notes
edit- ^ a b c Richardson II 2011, p. 327.
- ^ Cokayne 1945, p. 245; Richardson II 2011, p. 327.
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- ^ Richardson II 2011, pp. 30, 327.
- ^ Cokayne 1945, p. 245.
- ^ Cokayne 1945, pp. 245–6.
- ^ a b c d e f Cokayne 1945, p. 246.
- ^ a b Hughes 2004.
- ^ Lancashire, Ian. Dramatic Texts and Records of Britain: A Chronological Topography to 1558 (Toronto, 1984) p. 407.
- ^ Lancashire 1984 pp. xxviii, 64.
- ^ Cokayne 1945, p. 247.
- ^ a b Cokayne 1945, p. 247; Richardson II 2011, p. 327.
- ^ Cokayne 1945, p. 247; Richardson II 2011, pp. 327, 370.
- ^ Nelson, Alan H. (2003). Monstrous adversary : the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-78138-772-6. OCLC 276174269.
- ^ Biography of "John De VERE (15th E. Oxford)" on tudorplace.com
- ^ Cokayne 1916, p. 78.
- ^ Anderson 1993, p. 141; Betterton & Dymond 1989, p. 51.
- ^ Berry 1968, p. xxiv.
- ^ Smethdon Hundred: Shernbourn', An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 10 (1809), pp. 350–361 Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ Henry Vane, 'Historical Memoir on Charlton', Gentleman's Magazine (May 1865), p. 584.
- ^ Richardson IV 2011, pp. 18–19.
References
edit- Anderson, Verily (1993). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England. Lavenham, Suffolk: Terence Dalton Limited. p. 141.
- Berry, Lloyd E., ed. (1968). John Stubbs's Gaping Gulf with Letters and Other Relevant Documents. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. p. xxiv.
- Betterton, Alec; Dymond, David (1989). Lavenham; Industrial Town. Lavenham, Suffolk: Terence Dalton Limited. p. 51.
- Cokayne, George Edward (1916). The Complete Peerage, edited by Vicary Gibbs. Vol. IV. London: St. Catherine Press.
- Cokayne, George Edward (1945). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. Vol. X. London: St. Catherine Press.
- Hughes, Jonathan (2004). "Vere, John de, sixteenth earl of Oxford (1516–1562)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28216. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Nelson, Alan H. (2003). Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-0853236788.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966386.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1460992708.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)