General Notes

The following is excerpted from a post to SGM, 15 Sep 2000, by Chris Phillips:

From: Chris Phillips (cgp100@@cgp100.dabsol.co.uk)
Subject: Re: Constable connections (Alice de Vere)
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
Date: 2000-09-15 02:48:25 PST

The Complete Peerage, in a pedigree (vol.7, p.677) just shows this couple "John, Constable of Chester, d.1190" (and says that it was John's son Roger who took the name of Lacy).

I have some more notes about Alice's identity, from various authors early this century (when it seems to have been a matter of controversy). Possibly there has been some more recent work that I'm not aware of!

Most of the information comes from an article by G.H.White [Geneal. Mag. vii 469 (1935-37)]. From the evidence of the Rotulus de Dominabus (pp.29,76) and the Pipe Rolls for 10 Richard I (p.118) and 1 John (p.207), John's wife is identified as Alice de Vere, the daughter of Alice of Essex. Although Dugdale mis-identified her, Alice of Essex was the daughter of Aubrey de Vere (d.1141; the father of the first Earl of Oxford) and his wife Alice (the daughter of Gilbert FitzRichard of Clare and Tonbridge). Note that John's wife Alice is a rare example of a woman using her mother's maiden name as her surname.

According to White, Alice of Essex [Alice, daughter of Aubrey de Vere] had three husbands:
(i) William de Sackville, Lord of Braxted, but he was claimed as husband by Aubreye, daughter of Geoffrey Tregoz, who alleged a pre-contract; although he and Alice fought the case, their marriage was dissolved [citing Round, Arch. J. lxiv 225; Hall, Court Life under the Plantagenets, pp.98-112].
(ii) Robert of Essex.
(iii) Roger Fitz Richard, Lord of Warkworth, a minor Baron, whom she also outlived
[citing Round, Essex Arch. Soc. Trans. NS iii 245-47].

Opinions differ as to which of these husbands was the father of Alice "de Vere" the wife of John the constable:

Round [Essex Arch. Soc. Trans. NS iii 248] believed that her father was RogerFitz Richard;

Farrer [Honors and Knights' Fees ii 201-2], followed by Wagner [Geneal. Mag. vii 471 (1935-37)], affiliated her to Robert de Essex.

White supports Round, for two reasons:

(i) In 1185 she held in dower Clavering, which belonged to the Honor of Rayleigh, and so came from the Honor of Essex. On her death it escheated to the Crown, the Honor of Rayleigh having been forfeited by Henry de Essex in 1163. Subsequently it was granted by the king to Robert FitzRoger (her son by Roger Fitz Richard) [citing Essex Arch Soc Trans NS iii 247], which makes it unlikely there was issue living of her marriage to Robert of Essex.

(ii) Round [ibid] suggests that the elder Alice continued to style herself 'de Essex' because Robert de Essex was more important than Roger Fitz Richard, and because the latter had no surname. Likewise, White suggests, the younger Alice may have called herself 'de Vere' because her father had no surname and was of little importance compared with the de Veres.