Bishop Odo and de Vere
According to Thomas Wright, Alberic de Vere was
married to a half-sister of William the Conqueror.
Bishop Odo of Bayeux is well known as William's half-brother. If this is the case then Beatrix de Vere would be
Bishop Odo's niece.
There is much confusion regarding the origins of the de Vere family,
however, if true, it may explain why the de Vere's were assigned land. My current theory that it was
through Bishop Odo as he was pretty much in charge between 1066 and 1086. Odo and William FitzOsbern
were presumably "caretakers" when William I was back in Normandy fighting with the other Norman Barons,
including his son Robert Curthose and the Franks.
Thomas Wright bases his derivation of the de Vere name from "Camden's Britannia.
in Oxfordshire"
who actually attributes it to Henry I.
Camden,
The title of Earl of Oxford has long flourished in the family of Vere, who derive their pedigree from the
Earls of Guisnes, and their name from the town of Vere in Zealand.
They owe the beginning of their greatness in England to K. Henry the First, who advanced Alberic de Vere
for his great prudence and integrity to
several places of honour and profit; as to be Chamberlain of England, and Portreeve of the City of London:
and to his son Henry Duke of Normandy (son of the daughter of King Henry, and right heir to England and
Normandy, this was the title he used before his establishment in this kingdom) to divert him from
King Stephen, who had usurped the crown, and to oblige him to his own party, he granted and restored
the office of Chamberlain which he had lost in those civil wars, and offered him the choice of these four
earldoms, Dorset, Wilts, Berks, and Oxon.
And after this, Maud the Empress, and her son Henry, then in
possession of the throne, by their several charters created him Earl of Oxford. Of his posterity, not
to mention every particular person, the most eminent were these that follow:
Robert de Vere, who being highly in favour with King Richard the Second, was by him advanced to the
new and unheard of honours of Marquess of Dublin, and Duke of Ireland, of which he left
(as one well observes) nothing but some gaudy titles to be inscribed upon his tomb, and matter of
discourse and censure to the world. For soon after, through the envy of the other courtiers,
he was degraded, and miserably ended his life in banishment. John de Vere, a man of great ability
and experience in the arts of war, and as eminent for his constant fidelity to the Lancastrian party,
fought often in the field against K. Edward the Fourth, for some time defended St. Michael's Mount,
and was the chief assistant to King Henry the Seventh in obtaining the crown. Another John in the reign
of Henry the Eighth, in all parts of his life so temperate, devout, and honest, that he was distinguished
by the name of John the Good. He was great grandfather to the present Earl Henry, the eighteenth
Earl of this family, and grandfather to the two noble brothers Francis and Horatio Vere,
who by their admirable courage and military conduct, and their many brave and fortunate exploits
in the Low Countries,
have added no small lustre to their ancient and honourable family.
Domesday
As the Domeday Survey was completed in 1086, in a stock-take of what William I possessed to provision
a possible invasion from Denmark, the names appearing in the record were male. It was not common, or not
at all, that a woman could be the "Tenant in Chief" or a Lord, and the land that Bishop Odo could have
given to Beatrice de Vere would have been recorded as "The Land of Aubrey de Vere".
There is no record of a de Vere accompaning William at the Battle of Hastings but there was for a
de Beauchamp. Geofrey de Mandeville married Rohse de Vere, Aubrey's
daughter, and they were given Thunderlow
as a dowry. Geofrey died in 1144 and then married Payne de Beauchamp
of Bedford.
Top
In any case, there is much that is not known at the end of the 11th Century and the "wranglings" of
the Normans in England.
