General Notes

Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, so created 1142 by the Empress Matilda and recognised as such by Stephen I (c1152-53); Master Chamberlain of England, as which inherited from father; married 1st c1139 (divorced by 1146) Beatrice, gdau of Manasses, Count of Guisnes, Northern France, whom Aubrey inherited in that fief late 1139 on doing homage to his overlord Thierry, Count of Flanders (though he was obliged to surrender it on his divorce); married 2nd by 1152 Eufeme (dspm (certainly and dsp probably 1153 or 1154), dau of William de Cauntelo; married 3rd 1162 or 1163 Agnes, dau of Henry de Essex, feudal Lord of Rayleigh and Haughley.  [Burke's Peerage]

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Oxford, Earldom of: This title, held originally by the de Veres from 1142 to 1702/3, was not the earliest post-Conquest earldom creation.  But by Charles I's reign it had been held in unbroken male succession for so long, and the Wars of the Roses together with the Tudor's use of attainder to cut down overmighty subjects had so depleted the other great medieval families, that Chief Justic Crew could in 1626 deliver his famous rhetorical question with some cogency.  ["This great honour, this high and noble dignity hath continued ever since in the remarkable surname of de Vere, by so many ages, descents and generations, as no other kingdom can produce such a peer in one and the self same name and title.  I find in all this length of time, but two attainders of this noble family, and those in stormy and tempestuous times, when the government was unsettled, and the kingdom in competition.  I have laboured to make a covenant with myself, that affection may not press upon judgement, for I suppose there is not many that hath any apprehension of gentry or nobleness, but his affection stands to the continuance of so noble a name and house, and would take hold of a twig or a twine thread to uphold it.  And yet, time hath its revolutions; there must be a period and an end to all things temporal--finis rerum--and end of names and dignities and whatever is terrene, and why not de Vere? For where is Bohun?  Where is Mowbray?  Where is Mortimer? Nay, which is more and most of all, where is Plantagent?  They are entombed in the urns and sepulchres of mortality!  And yet let the name and dignity of de Vere stand so long as it pleaseth God."]

Aubrey de Vere's choice of Oxford as the name of his title in 1142 was somewhat arbitrary, however.  The Empress Maud had conferred on him an Earldom of Cambridgeshire, together with the third penny of certain revenues from the count for the upkeep of the dignity, which at that time was a necessary concomitant of earldoms.  But if Cambridgeshire were in the hands of the King of Scots [David I], which ultimately proved to be the case, and the Empress could not effect and exchange, Aubrey was to take his pick of title from the Earldoms of Berkshire, Dorsetshire or Wiltshire, besides Oxford (or Oxfordshire--there was little distinction between a county name and county town name at this period where earldoms were concerned).  Aubrey only seems to have chosen Oxford(shire) because it was the least remote from his own principal land holdings in Essex--which is to say, not close at all, particularly given 12th century communications.  [Burke's Peerage, Earldom of Oxford, p. 2178]