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- BIOGRAPHY: John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford; successfully claimed hereditary post of Master Chamberlain of England; campaigned against Scots and French, notably at victories of Crecy 1340 and Poitiers 1356; married by 27 March 1336 Maud, widow of Robert FitzPayn and daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Lord (Baron) Badlesmere, and died 23/24 Jan 1359/60 at Siege of Rheims. [Burke's Peerage]
Acceded in 1331
BIOGRAPHY: The 7th Earl played an important part in the early stages of the Hundred Years War, being a joint commander of the 1st division at both Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356). At the latter it was his adroit management of the archers that helped secure victory.
[Burke's Peerage, Earldom of Oxford, p. 2178]
EO7 - John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford (1313 - 1360)John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford and 8th Great Chamberlain, born in 1313, became one of the most famous "Fighting Earls of Oxford," renowned for bravery, gallantry, and chivalry as one of Edward III's greatest generals, serving in Scotland, France, Flanders, Brittany and Gascony.John was the son and heir of Sir Alfonso de Vere (d. 1328) [younger brother of Robert de Vere, EO6] by his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Foliot. John succeeded his uncle, who left no issue, in April 1331. John EO7 actively participated in the wars of King Edward III's, fighting in the Scottish campaigns of 1333 and 1335, in support of Edward Baliol. When war broke out with France in 1339, EO7 accompanied King Edward III to Flanders, and, in 1342 joined the first Breton campaign of William de Bohun, earl of Northampton. EO7 had, in his war party, 40 men-at-arms, one banneret, nine knights, 29 esquires, and 30 mounted archers, with an allowance of 56 sacks of wool as wages. On one occasion, when EO7 was returning from fighting on the continent, his ship was driven off course and wrecked on the shores of Connaught where some 'barbarous people' robbed the party of all of their possessions. [A similar encounter with pirates happened 200+ years later to the 17th Earl of Oxford upon his return from Italy and France in 1576). John de Vere, EO7, was a commander at the battles of Crecy, where he fought with a contingent of 160 men, including three bannerets and 27 knights. In October 1355, EO7 returned to France, joining the Black Prince in his famous raid into the Languedoc. EO7 shared the command of the first division at Poitiers with the Earl of Warwick, where he organized a crucial maneuver that saved the English archers from being downtrodden by the enemy's cavalry.
"Yet all courage had been thrown away to no purpose, had it not been seconded by the extraordinary Gallantry of the English Archers, under the earl of Oxford, who behaved themselves that day with wonderful Constancy, Alacrity and Resolution "
John de Vere, EO7, was killed during the siege of Rheims on January 24, 1360, during the British invasion of Burgundy. His corpse was brought back to England and interred in the family crypts at Colne Priory.John's will, dated November 1, 1359, contained bequests to Colne church and to the chapel (called the New Abbey) at Hedingham. EO7 also left instructions to his executors to pay out 400 marks sterling that had been accumulated by his ancestors in aid of the Holy Land.John EO7 had married, in 1336, Maud Badlesmere [b. 1310, widow of Robert Fitzpayne], second sister and coheir of Giles, lord Badlesmere (d. 1338) of Badlesmere in Kent. The couple had had four sons and one daughter, Margaret or Maud. The sons were Thomas (1337-1371), the 8th Earl of Oxford, Aubrey, who became 10th EO in 1393, and John and Robert, who predeceased their father. By EO7's marriage, the title of Lord Badlesmere was added to the honorific employed by all later Earls of Oxford. His son Thomas succeeded him.
By Robert Brazil
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