CBF 26th ggf patriline
Alberic Aubrey II de Vere, son of Aubrey I de Vere (-1088) and Beatrice de Gand, was born circa 30 July 1062 at Hedingham, Essex, England. He served as Justiciar of England and Sheriff of London and Middlesex. About 1102, Baron Vere married Adeliza de Clare (c. 1077 Essex, England - 1163 England), daughter of Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare and Adeliza de Clermont. They had six children. Baron Vere was killed during a riot on 15 May 1141 at London, and was buried at Colne Priory, Earls Colne, Essex, England.

Marriage and Children

Adeliza de Clare (c.1077 - c.1163)

1. Juliana de Vere (1116-) married Hugh Bigod, Earl Norfolk and Suffolk (1099-1176)
2. Rohese de Vere (1109-1166) married Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl Essex (1091-1144)
3. Aubrey III de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford (1120-1194) m. Agnes (Lucy) of Essex (1151-1194)
4. Alice de Vere (1124-1185) married Roger FitzRichard, 1st Lord of Warkworth (1139-1177)
5. Robert de Vere, Lord of Drayton & Aldington Manors
6. Felice de Vere, possibly the unnamed daughter who married Roger de Ramis
7. Geoffrey
8. William de Vere, Bishop of Hereford
9. Gilbert, prior of the Knights Hospitaller in England

Biographical Sketch

Aubrey de Vere II (c. 1080-1141) was also known as "Alberic[us] de Ver". He was the second of that name in post Norman Conquest England, being the eldest surviving son of Alberic or Aubrey de Vere who had followed William the Conqueror to England in or after 1066.

Their lineage is probably Norman, possibly originally from the eponymous town of Ver/Vire in western Normandy, and were [erroneously] said to descend from Charlemagne himself through the Counts of Flanders or Guînes by later antiquarians. In fact, their connection with Guînes, in Flanders, was temporary; Aubrey de Vere III was briefly married to Beatrice, heiress to that county, from 1137 to about 1145.

Aubrey II served as sheriff of many shires and as a Justiciar under kings Henry I and Stephen.[1] King Henry I had declared the estates and office of the first master chamberlain, Robert Malet, to be forfeit, and in 1133 awarded the office of master chamberlain of England to Aubrey. The chronicler William of Malmesbury reports that Aubrey represented King Stephen in 1139, when the king had been summoned to a church council to answer for the seizure of castles held by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury. Aubrey was Sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1140/41. He was killed by a London mob in May 1141, and buried in the family mausoleum, Colne Priory, Essex.

His eldest son Aubrey de Vere III, was later created Earl of Oxford, and their descendants were to hold that title and the office that came to be known as the Lord Great Chamberlain until the extinction of the male line in 1703.[2]

Aubrey II married Adeliza/Alice, daughter of Gilbert Fitz Richard of Clare. Their known children: Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford; Rohese de Vere, Countess of Essex, Robert; Alice "of Essex;" Geoffrey; Juliana, Countess of Norfolk; William de Vere, Bishop of Hereford; Gilbert, prior of the Knights Hospitaller in England; and an unnamed daughter who married Roger de Ramis.

Footnotes 1. Davis, et al.: "Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum". Oxford University Press, 1913-68: v. 2. 2. Cokayne, George: "The Complete Peerage", v. 10. St. Catherine Press, 1910-58.

Legacy

• Founded the priory of Hatfield Broadoak, as a cell of Saint-Melaine de Rennes, one of the most important Breton abbeys.

Alternate Information

• Alt Birth year: 1090, 1062, 1080, 1082
• Alt birth location: Great Addingfton & Drayton, Northamptonshire, England
• Alt Death Date: 15 May 1141, 9 May 1141

References and Further Information

• Watch a fascinating archaeological dig about the de Vere family. Use your browser's "back" button to return here.
• "Plantagenet Ancestry", Turton
• "Ancestral roots of certain American colonists who came to America before 1700", Frederick Lewis Weis, 1992, seventh edition. The earlier editions were called: "Ancestral roots of sixty colonists who came to New England 1623-1650"
• "The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants", Gary Boyd Roberts, 1993
• "Europaische Stammtafeln", Isenburg.
• "Magna Charta Sureties, 1215", F. L. Weis, 4th Ed.
• "Some Early English Pedigrees", Vernon M. Norr

http://www.hedinghamcastle.co.uk/about-us/ Hedingham Castle is now the home of Jason and Demetra Lindsay and their three young children. They live in the Georgian Mansion House next to the keep, which is all that remains of the Norman Castle built 873 years ago, in 1140, by their ancestor Aubrey de Vere II, the first Lord Great Chamberlain of England.

The first Aubrey de Vere, Lord of Ver in Normandy, had come over with the Conqueror – his brother in law – and was granted fourteen lordships by William in England. Hedingham was the greatest. He planted vineyards here, and wild red grapes still grow in the grounds. He founded the priory of Earl’s Colne and became a monk after the death of his wife, who bore five sons.

Aubrey I built a Castle on the site of what had been the home of a Saxon named Ulwine, of whom, such is the price of defeat, little now is known. His son Aubrey II started to build in stone, and the keep which you can see today is all that remains, next to the family home. His son, Aubrey III, was created an Earl by the Empress Matilda and chose the title of Oxford, a title which continued for many generations until finally becoming extinct with the death of the twentieth Earl, also an Aubrey, in 1702.

‘The de Veres, Earls of Oxford, were the longest and most illustrious line of nobles that England has ever seen’. Lord Macauley.

Illustrious, and fierce. The ‘fighting Veres’ served their Kings, if they believed in them, in every major military engagement from the Crusades to the Battle of the Boyne. The second Earl fought with Richard the Lionheart and was with him on the First Crusade to the Holy Land in 1098. During the Battle of Antioch, with night falling, the enemy looked to be saved by the encroaching darkness when a brilliant five pointed star appeared on the standard being carried by de Vere. The battlefield was illuminated and the victory won, and the de Veres carried the star as their emblem ever since. The Star The star, today blazoned as a mullet of five points argent (but in early times could have six points), was probably added as a difference, perhaps when someone more senior in the family crossed from the Cotentin, or from Greater Flanders, to join the English court. But in legend there is a different story. Aubrey I, believed to have been on the first Crusade, was in battle on a dark night. Then ~

"God willing the safety of the Christians showed a white star ....... on the Christian host, which to every man's sight did light and arrest upon the standard of Aubrey de Vere, there shining excessively."

It was subsequently claimed that an angel leaned down and threw the star onto de Vere's standard.

If that angel had foreseen the future, the throw might have been hesitant and sorrowful. The de Vere family adopted the star as a badge in addition to a charge in the first quarter of their arms, and thus it appeared on their standards and was worn by their armies. It was worn also by the army of the Earl of Oxford at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, when, as he rode to join his ally, Warwick the Kingmaker, it was mistaken in the morning mists for the badge of their enemy, Edward IV, the white rose-en-soleil, the shining rose. The Earl of Warwick charged, the Earl of Oxford fled, the Kingmaker was killed, the battle was lost, Henry VI was murdered, and the House of Lancaster, so fervently supported by the de Vere family, was destroyed.

Sheriff and Justiciar for both King Henry I and King Stephen. Master Chamberlain for King Henry I.

Son of Aubrey de Vere I, husband of Alice, daughter of Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare. They had at least nine children:

• Aubrey III, Earl of Oxford
• Rohese, Countess of Essex, wife of Geoffrey de Mandeville
• William de Vere, Bishop of Hereford
• Robert
• Alice of Essex
• Geoffrey
• Juliana, Countess of Norfolk
• Giulbert, Prior of the Knights Hospitaller
• Unk daughter, wife of Roger de Ramis

In 1133, King Stephen proclaimed the estates and offices of master chamberlain, Robert Malet to be forfeited, and awarded them to Aubrey. The de Veres would hold that office until the extinction of their males heirs in 1703. It is thought Aubrey's preference for the King's brother, the Duke of Normandy, led to their falling out.

The stone keep at Hedingham Essex was apparently started by Aubrey, and completed by his son, the 1st Earl of Oxford. Aubrey II also founded a cell of the abbey of St Melanie in Rennes, Brittany at Hatfield Broadoak in Hatfield Regis, Essex.

Aubrey was killed by a London mob during a riot, and buried in the family mausoleum, Colne Priory, Essex.

Family links:

Parents:

 Aubrey de Vere (1040 - 1112)

 Beatrix Gand Vere (1030 - ____)

Spouse:

 Adeliza Clare de Vere (1091 - 1163)*

Children:

 William de Vere (____ - 1198)*

 Juliana Devere Bigod (1108 - 1199)*

 Aubrey de Vere (1110 - 1194)*

 Rohese De Vere De Beauchamp (1110 - 1167)*

Siblings:

 William De Vere (____ - 1112)**

 Geoffrey de Vere (____ - 1103)*

 Aubrey de Vere (1080 - 1141)

Aubrey II was responsible for building the great castle-keep at Hedingham. The Archbishop of Canterbury, William de Corbeuil, was his architect. The castle, which is the best preserved Norman keep in Europe, is faced with Ashlar stone, which was transported all the way from the quarries of Barnack in Northamptonshire. This was a complex operation, of great expense to Aubrey, but it guaranteed that the castle could withstand all kinds of weather and considerable bombardment, as well as making it handsome and impressive to look at. Very few Norman Castles were faced with stone as at Hedingham; normally, only the doors and windows were faced with cut stone. Aubrey II participated in the First Crusade in 1098. Legend has it that while Aubrey was fighting in the gruesome battle for Antioch against the troops of the Sultan of Persia's, the sky was darkening with the close of day, and there was confusion on the battlefield. Just when the Saracens were taking advantage of the darkness, a brilliant five-pointed star appeared [either in the sky, or on the flag being carried by de Vere's men]. The battlefield was said to have been illuminated, and a great victory was won over the Sultan's troops. This apocryphal story is probably told in attempt to explain the unique heraldic symbol of the Vere line - the five pointed mullet star.

see http://www.robertsewell.ca/pdf/011DeVere.pdf