John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford

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John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford (* 1312 - 23 or 24 January 1360 ) was an English magnate and military.

Origin and heritage

John de Vere was the only son of Alfonso de Vere († 1328) and his wife Jane Foliot . His father was a younger brother of Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford , and after the latter died childless in 1331, John inherited the estates of the de Vere family , the title of Earl of Oxford and the inheritance of the Chamberlain of England . Although the de Vere family was an old and respected family of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy, compared to other magnates they only owned relatively modest estates. In 1336 Oxford married Maud, the widow of Robert FitzPayn and second daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere and his wife Margaret . After the childless death of her brother Giles de Badlesmere in 1338 she became co-heir to the estates of the Badlesmere family. His wife's inheritance allowed Oxford to expand its property, but since his wife had to share the inheritance with her three sisters, her inheritance was not particularly extensive.

Life

Oxford spent most of his life in the military in the service of King Edward III. in the war against France and against Scotland . From his relatively small property he could only muster a small retinue for this. As a military, Oxford worked closely with William de Bohun , who was almost the same age and with whom he was related by marriage. After they had participated in several campaigns together and also worked closely together in England, they both died within nine months.

Oxford's military career began in the war against Scotland in the 1330s. In 1333 he took part in the siege of Berwick . On the king's winter campaign from 1334 to 1335 to Roxburgh , he took part with 28 men-at-arms and 12 mounted archers. Due to his limited resources, he took part in the king's summer campaign to Perth in 1335 in the wake of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey . When the king feared a French invasion in 1339, Oxford was entrusted with the defense of the Essex coast . In November 1339 Oxford fitted out ships on the orders of the king and served in March 1340 under the Earl of Warwick in Flanders . In February 1342 he took part in a tournament in Dunstable , where he, in contrast to the Earls of Gloucester , Arundel and Warenne, who were no longer participating in tournaments because of their age , in addition to Derby , Warwick, Northampton , Pembroke and Suffolk as one of the young Earls of the king who had created the titles of Earls of Derby, Northampton, Pembroke and Suffolk only a few years earlier.

In August 1342 Oxford undertook its first major campaign in France, where he fought in the War of the Breton Succession together with his brother-in-law Northampton, who served as the king's deputy . They horrified the besieged Brest and on September 30th, after a hard fight, they routed Charles of Blois's troops at the Battle of Morlaix . The next year Oxford and Northampton went on a campaign to Scotland, where they appalled the beleaguered Lochmaben Castle . Allegedly, their ships were drifted back from Scotland to the coast of Connacht in western Ireland, where some of their ships were looted by the local population. In January 1346 Oxford was back in Quimperlé in Brittany, where he and Northampton presumably wintered.

Presumably they moved in the summer of 1346 from Brittany through hostile France to Normandy , where they joined the army of Edward III. connected. The chronicler Froissart reports that Oxford fought alongside the Black Prince on August 26th at the Battle of Crécy . He is said to have been one of the commanders whom the Black Prince sent during the battle to his father, the King, with a request for reinforcements. Although the troops of the Black Prince were hard pressed, the king is said to have refused to support his son with the famous words "If he should become king, he must cope alone". After the English victory, Oxford took part in the siege of Calais . In 1348 he fell seriously ill and did not take part in any further campaigns until 1355. In that year he took part under the Black Prince in his Chevauchée through the Languedoc , and in early 1356 he raided the region around Rocamadour in the Quercy . In the fall of 1356, Oxford moved north with the Black Prince's army, where they were captured by the French army. At the Battle of Poitiers on September 19, Oxford was in command of the vanguard together with the Earl of Warwick. During the battle, Oxford managed to fire at the attacking French cavalry from the flank with its archers. As a result, the French suffered high losses, which saved the archers set up in the English center from being overridden. After the battle he retired to Bordeaux . When the peace negotiations with France that had begun after the British victory stalled, Oxford was called to a council meeting in London on October 10th. He then accompanied the king on his campaign against Reims . He probably died during an advance into Burgundy. His body was brought back to England, where he was buried in the Earls Colne Priory family convent in Essex. His grave monument was still preserved in 1653, but it was destroyed by the 18th century at the latest.

Despite many years of military service and participation in two of the most significant battles in the war against France, Oxford is not praised by any contemporary chronicler for its bravery. King Edward III. rewarded him little compared to other military personnel, for example he was not accepted into the Order of the Garter. No major construction work has been passed down from Oxford either at its headquarters at Hedingham Castle or at the Earls Colne Priory family convent. In his will, Oxford bequeathed only the small sum of 100 marks to the monastery .

Family and offspring

His widow Maud died in 1366. With her he had four sons and two daughters:

  • John († 1350) ⚭ Elizabeth Courtenay
  • Thomas (1336 / 1338–1371)
  • Robert († before 1360)
  • Aubrey (1338 / 1340-1400)
  • Margaret († 1398)
  1. ⚭ Henry de Beaumont, 3rd Baron Beaumont († 1369)
  2. ⚭ Sir Nicholas Loveyn (Lovain) († around 1375)
  3. ⚭ John Devereux, 1st Baron Devereux († 1393)
  • Matilda († after 1360)

His heir became his eldest surviving son, Thomas . After the childless death of his son Robert , John's son Aubrey finally inherited the title of Earl of Oxford.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 128.
  2. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 199.
predecessor Office successor
Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford
1331-1360 		Thomas de Vere
personal data
SURNAME De Vere, John, 7th Earl of Oxford
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oxford, John de Vere, 7th Earl of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English magnate and military
DATE OF BIRTH 1312
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1360 or January 24, 1360