Earl of Oxford

“ He was originally an executive officer of the King's household, appointed to look after the royal residence. In 1133 the office was granted by Henry I. to Aubrey de Vere, father of the first Earl of Oxford, and to his heirs. Henry VIII. gave the post on several occasions for life to different favourites, not necessarily of the De Vere family, but since the time of Elizabeth the Lord Great Chamberlainship has been held without exception by descendants of the Earl of Oxford. ”

“ The Earl of Oxford, one of the first peers of the realm, is, you know, a very handsome man; he is of the Order of the Garter, which greatly adds to an air naturally noble. In short, from his outward appearance you would suppose he was really possessed of some sense; but as soon as ever you hear him speak, you are perfectly convinced of the contrary. This passionate lover presented her with a promise of marriage, in due form, signed with his own hand ”

“ Yet it could only have been on behalf of Richmond that the Earl of Oxford sought unsuccessfully to invade the kingdom in 1473. He landed first at St. Osyth in Essex, 28 May, but made a speedy retreat on hearing that the Earl of Essex was coming to meet him. ”

“ His determination to end the system was well shown by the fact that he heavily fined even the earl of Oxford, the companion of his exile, the victor of Bosworth, and the most notoriously loyal peer in the realm, for an ostentatious violation of the statute. Where Oxford was punished, no less favoured person could hope to escape. By the end of the reign the little hosts of badged adherents which had formed the nucleus for the armies of the Wars of the Roses had ceased to exist. ”

“ Earl of Cambridge by the Empress {194} Maud (after March 2) 1141; ... cr. Earl of Oxford (in exchange) 1155." [599] But in Cole's (unpublished) transcript of the Colne Cartulary (fols. 34, 37) , we have a charter of this Aubrey, "Pro animâ patris mei Alberici de Vere," which must have passed between 1141 and 1147, for it is attested by Robert, Bishop of London, appointed 1141, and Hugh, Abbot of Colchester, who died in 1147. In this charter his style is "Albericus Comes Oxeneford." Here, then, we have evidence that, in this reign, he was already Earl "of Oxford," not Earl of Cambridge. ”

“ The house of peers decided that the dignity of Earl of Oxford was clearly to be adjudged to Robert de Vere; as for the baronies of Bulbeck, Sanford, and Badlesmere, descending to heirs female, they stated them to be in the king's disposal, by reason that John the fourteenth earl had left three sisters his heirs, and the honour could not be divided; but as to the office of Lord Great Chamberlain, it was referred to the judges then attending the parliament, to consider thereof, and make report upon these two points: 1. whether that Robert earl of Oxford, who made the entail thereof temp. Rich. ”

“ His talent of speaking in publick, for which he was so very much celebrated, I know nothing of, except from the informations of others; but understanding men of both parties have assured me, that, in this point, in their memory and judgment, he was never equalled.
The earl of Oxford, is a person of as much virtue, as can possibly consist with the love of power: and his love of power, is no greater, than what is common to men of his superiour capacities; neither did any man ever appear to value it less after he had obtained it, or exert it with more moderation. ”

“ He married Lady Jane Elizabeth Ilarley, the eldest daughter of his friend and patron the Earl of Oxford, on 17 Aug. 1836, and by her had an only daughter, Jane Frances, who married Alexander, Count Teleki, and died on 3 May 1870. In default of male issue the barony became extinct on Lord Langdale's death, His wife survived him, and upon the death of her brother Alfred, the sixth and last earl of Oxford, resumed her maiden name as the heiress of the Oxford family. ”

“ Henry returned an unfavourable answer, intending the dignity for his half-brother, John Beaufort, and the attainder of the Duke of Ireland was revived (Wylie, i. 75) . Oxford is said to have given shelter to the unfortunate Huntingdon after the abortive rising of January 1400 (ib. i. 102) . He died on 23 April in that year.
Oxford married, about 1380, Alice, daughter of John, seventh lord Fitzwalter, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Richard, succeeded him as eleventh Earl of Oxford, was one of the commanders at Agincourt (Wavrin, ii. 188) , and died on 15 Feb. ”

“ Oxford was high steward for the trial of the Earl of Warwick in November 1499. Towards the end of the reign infirmities and private business kept him from court, but he spent some days with the king at Stratford and Greenwich in July 1508 (Bernard André, p. 125) . His last appearance in a public capacity was as a commissioner of array in Essex in January 1513. He died on 10 March following, and was buried in the priory at Earls Colne. He had made his will on 10 April 1509 (Testamenta Vetusta, ed. Nicolas, p. 526) . Oxford was twice married. ”

“ Stow gives us a good picture of a great nobleman’s retinue in the good old time, before the nobility took to hotel-keeping:—“The late Earl of Oxford, father to him that now liveth, has been noted within these forty years, to have ridden into this city and so to his house by London Stone, with eighty gentlemen, in a livery of Reading tawny, and chains of gold about their necks, before him, and one hundred tall yeomen in the like livery to follow him, without chains, but all having his cognisance of the blue boar embroidered on their left shoulder.” ”

“ And thou shalt have cause to say so, if thou canst bring back with thee from Aix the deed of resignation of which thy father hath spoken.—Good-night—good-night!"
He left the apartment.
"You have just seen," said the Earl of Oxford to his son, "a sketch of this extraordinary prince, by his own pencil. It is easy to excite his ambition or thirst of power, but well-nigh impossible to limit him to the just measures by which it is most likely to be gratified. He is ever like the young archer, startled from his mark by some swallow crossing his eye, even careless as he 159 draws the string. ”

“ To the honour of the Earl of Oxford, this unlucky piece of awkwardness at table, in giving “uncourtly answers,” did not interrupt his regard for the poor oriental student; for several years afterwards the correspondence of Ockley was still acceptable to the Earl.
If the letters of the widows and children of many of our eminent authors were collected, they would demonstrate the great fact, that the man who is a husband or a father ought not to be an author. They might weary with a monotonous cry, and usually would be dated from the gaol or the garret. ”

“ The friends of the Earl of Rutland, keeping him informed of the news while he was fulfilling in Paris those heavy duties of observation which Cecil mapped out for him, announce that "There is no man of life and agility in every respect in Court, but the Earl of Oxford." ”

“ Probably few politicians have owed quite so large a debt of gratitude to their enemies as that incurred by the Earl of Oxford. His ministry at home had been marked by weaknesses which went perilously near the edge of public calamity. The Peace which was its characteristic achievement abroad had brought with it many real blessings, but they were won at the cost of a large sacrifice of national pride, if not also by some sacrifice of national honour. ”

“ He therefore created his uncles, the Earls of Cambridge and Buckingham, Dukes of York and Gloucester, with a new grant of lands of the annual value of £1,000 each. Henry Bolingbroke, the son of Lancaster, and Edward Plantagenet, the son of the Duke of York, he made Earls of Derby and Rutland. But then he proceeded to heap similar honours and emoluments on his favourites. Robert de Vere, a handsome young man, of good family, but of dissolute manners, he created Earl of Oxford, with the title of Duke of Ireland—a title before unknown in England ”

“ At Norwich (1580–1) the payment was made to ‘the Earle of Oxenfordes lads’, and at Bristol (Sept. 1581) there were nine boys and a man. These were probably [101] boys of the Earl’s domestic chapel, travelling either with the Duttons or as a separate company.
The Duttons joined the Queen’s company, John on its first establishment in 1583. It is in the following winter, however, that an Oxford’s company first appears at Court. Here the Earl’s ‘servauntes’ performed on 1 January and 3 March 1584. Their payee was John Lyly, who had probably been for some years in the Earl’s service. ”

“ About the time when Oxford was surrendered to the Parliament, he followed the Queen to Paris, where he became secretary to the Lord Jermyn, afterwards Earl of St. Albans, and was employed in such correspondence as the royal cause required, and particularly in ciphering and deciphering the letters that passed between the king and queen; an employment of the highest confidence and honour. ”

“ Oxford survived to fight for Henry VII. The Archbishop of York, the only remaining brother of Warwick, having very foolishly, in presence of the king's servants, displayed his wealth since the battle of Barnet, was plundered of all his plate and jewels, stripped of his bishopric, and shut up in prison, partly in England, and partly at Guisnes, till within a few years of his death. The Earl of Pembroke, and his nephew, the Earl of Richmond, escaped into Brittany, where Edward sent to demand their being given up to him. ”

“ Both these bosses were communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine (May, 1840) , by John Adey Repton; but the editor of that serial contended that the boar is the insignia of Vere, Earl of Oxford, and that the tradition regarding Richard must therefore be rejected, forgetful of the fact that after the attainder of the Earl for high treason, his vast possessions in Essex and other counties were given to the Duke of Gloucester, so that the Black Boy Inn may, after all, have served as a hunting-lodge of the Plantagenet. ”

“ So, one evening at the fireside, while the Earl and my father were having their game of draughts, she said:
"'Well, Ben, I hope you will get on at Oxford, and correct all your deficiencies, and come out a perfect scholar.'
"'My dear madam,' said the Earl, 'if any place can make him a scholar Oxford is that place. It has got all the means; it has the most money, the best teachers, and the greatest reputation.'
"My mother, however, although she knew it not, was cruelly deceived. To men who were in love with learning, Oxford gave every facility for maturing their scholarship. ”

“ King Henry the Second, when he came to the throne in the year 1155, though he preferred Becket for chancellor, fulfilled the agreement made for an earldom with Aubrey de Vere. The earldom given him was that of Oxford, of which he was confirmed Earl by a grant of the third penny of the pleas of the county. [9]
It is remarkable, however, that the Earls of Oxford never possessed lands in Oxfordshire. Essex was always their principal county; and Aubrey, the second Earl, was sheriff of the counties of Essex and Hertford from the tenth to the fifteenth years of king John. ”

“ In January 1489 he was released, and was restored to his earldom, though the calculating king kept the greater part of his forfeited lands, and gave back only those which he held in right of his wife, and those which had been granted to the Earl of Oxford (ib. ii. 420) . In May he was sent to put down a rising in Yorkshire, caused by the pressure of taxation. ”

“ The next piece of evidence occurs in the “Remembrancia,” in 1602, when they were permitted to play at the “Boar’s Head,” in Eastcheap; this is the last record of their appearance.
One of their plays, called “The Weakest goeth to the Wall,” has survived; it was acted by Lord Oxenford’s boys, and published in 1600. Meres, in his important review of the poets and dramatists of Elizabethan times, mentions the Earl of Oxford as good in comedy.
Several other companies occasionally acted in London, but little is known of their history. ”

“ And because the great men knew not as yet how to hold fast their Proteus, which was a hard and difficult matter to do, the parliament was put off to Barnabas-day, to be held without fail at Oxford. In the mean time, the chief men of England, namely, the earls of Gloucester, Leicester, and Hereford, the earl marshal, and other eminent men, out of a provident precaution for themselves, associated; and because they were vehemently afraid of the treachery of the foreigners, and much suspected the little plots of the King, they came armed with a good retinue to Oxford. ”

“ The earl smiled, and confessed that his fortune was too narrow for such magnificence. “They are most of them,” subjoined he, “my retainers, who are come to do me service at this time, when they know I am honored with your majesty’s presence.” The king started a little, and said, “By my faith, my lord, I thank you for your good cheer, but I must not allow my laws to be broken in my sight. My attorney must speak with you.” Oxford is said to have paid no less than fifteen thousand marks, as a composition for his offence. ”

“ Was the first prince that ever wore a band,"
or, indeed, person of any sort. The date of the same thing in France is mentioned in Vellay, but I forget it now.
C. B.
Bishops and their Precedence (Vol. ii., p. 9.) .—It may interest your correspondent E. to refer to a passage in Baker's Chronicle, sub anno 1461, p. 204., which would tend to show that the precedency of the spiritual barons was at that period disputed. That writer says:—
"John Earl of Oxford, with his son Aubrey de Vere, &c., was convicted of treason and beheaded. ”