Notes |
- Aubrey II, eldest son of Albericus, succeeded his father on his death. 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 married Alice FitzRichard of Clare [a.k.a. Adeliza Tonebruge], daughter of Gilbert FitzRichard feudal lord of Clare) and grand-daughter of Hugh de Clermont, Count of Clermont and his wife Marguerita. Alice became a nun at St. Osyth's Priory after the death of her husband. He and his wife had the following children:
1. Alberic, or Aubrey de Vere, 2. _______ de Vere, canon of St. Osyth's in Essex, 3. Robert de Vere, Lord of Twiwell, co. Northampton, 4. Geoffrey de Vere, 5. William de Vere, Chancellor of England, 6. Adeliza Vere, married Henry de Essex, 7. Juliana Vere, married Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, 8. Rohesia Vere, married (1) Geoffrey Mandeville, Earl of Oxford, and (2) Payne Beauchamp, of Bedford.
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 skilled troops of the Sultan of Persia's, the sky was darkening with the close of day, and there was confusion on the battlefield. At just the moment 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. Alternately the single silver star on the Vere arms may represent the Star seen by the Magi, as described in the Gospels. The symbol is just as likely to derive from the spur, as the star, but in any case it is likely a remembrance of Aubrey II's involvement in the crusade to take back the Holy Land.In 1125 Aubrey was made joint Sheriff of London. Together with Richard Basset, the two men held the shrievalty of eleven counties 'ut custodes' for the crown. In 1130 he became indebted to the crown for a large sum after a prisoner (for whom he was responsible) escaped. He also paid a fine for permission to resign the shrievalty of Essex and Hertfordshire. Aubrey II was in high favor with King Henry I, and by that monarch (on the occasion of his leaving England) was constituted, in 1133 at Fernham, as Great High Chamberlain of England - to hold the same in fee to himself and his heirs. He replaced Robert Malet, Lord of Eye in Suffolk, who had been banished and disinherited from that office.The title given was meant to be hereditary and all subsequent holders of this office were his descendents. However, throughout the later middle ages, there were various periods when the de Vere family fell out of favor with the Crown, and didn't properly regain the LGC title until after Richard III's defeat at Bosworth Field.He attended King Stephen as chamberlain at Westminster and also at Winchester in 1136. When King Stephen in 1139 was called upon to defend his arrest of the bishops before a council, he selected as his advocate Aubrey, whom William of Malmesbury describes as 'causidicus' and as practiced in (legal) cases. While serving as joint sheriff of Surrey, Cambridge, Essex, and other counties, Alberic was slain during a popular uprising or riot in London on May 15, 1141. He was buried in Colne Priory. Aubrey II left four sons, Aubrey III, Robert, Geoffrey and William, and was succeeded by his eldest, Aubrey de Vere III.
By Robert Brazil
|