General Notes

REFN: 3546AN
Burke's Peerage indicates that Ralph was son of Aubrey by his 3rd wife
Agnes of Essex, although it gives very little information on Ralph other
than his n ame, BP does identifiy him as 2nd son by the 3rd wife, older
than Robert, who became the 3rd Earl of Oxford, but younger than Aubrey
2nd Earl of Oxford (e ldest son by the 3rd wife, dsp. legit by Oct 1214).
BP indicates that Ralph d ied before his brother (dvf.) and that was the
reason that he didn't inherit the title of Earl of Oxford. However,
according to my pedigree, Ralph had leg itimate issue and his son would
therefore have inherited the title. I believe that Ralph was actually the
eldest son by the 1st wife, and the reasons for Ralph not getting the
title were: 1. The 1st wife was divorced, "bastardizing " Ralph. 2. Ralph
had political differences with his father, and was "disinhe rited". An
earlier birth by the 1st wife would make more sense according to e vents
which occured in Scotland (ie. Ralph was taken prisoner & witnessed a
charter in 1174. He could not have been old enough if he was son of a
1162/6 3 marriage). Ralph could easily have been the eldest son,
bastardized by his parents divorce in 1146, at odds with his father, and
therefore seeking his f ortune along with David I in Scotland.
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copied from Clan Weir website,
w ww.electricscotland.com/webclans/stoz/weir2.html:
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The name Weir, like man y lowland Scottish names, is of Norman origin from
one or several of the plac es named Vere around the Calvados region of
France. The word was introduced i nto Normandy by the Norsemen from their
own word "ver" meaning a station. It appears that Ralph or Radulphus de
Ver is the first of the name recorded in S cotland. He was taken prisoner
along with Richard the Lion in 1174; he later witnessed a charter by King
William I sometime between 1174 and 1184. During the same period he
gifted a bovate of land in Sprouston, Roxburgh to the Abbe y of Kelso; his
brother, Robert De Ver, was a witness to this charter. The We irs of
Blackwood, Lanarkshire, claim their descent from this Ralph De Ver,
although this cannot be proven as their name does not appear on record
until 1400 when they acquired their lands.
Thanks to James Pringle Weavers for the f ollowing information
WEIR: This name, now fairly common throughout Lowland Sco tland, is
usually derived from 'Vere', a name said to be of Norse origin, and to
have come from France about the time of the Norman invasion of England in
1066. Many Normans who came with the Conqueror later re-settled in
Scotlan d from the reign of David I (1124-53), and what is believed to be
the first i nstance of the name here identifies a Ralph De Vere, captured
at Alnwick with William the Lion in 1174. Ralph has been promoted as the
ancestor of the Wei rs (Veres) of Blackwood in Lanarkshire, even though
this family do not appear on record until 1400, when they first obtained
possession of these lands
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Ray Isabell sent the e-mail concerning the above quote from James Pringle
Weavers:
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The quote from James Pringle Weaver is nearly verbatim from one of those
old books influenced by detractors of the Weir-De Veres. The charter of
Blackwood is dated 1400, but that was only a confirmati on of the lease
from the abbey. The Veres were vassals of Kelso Abbey (to whi ch Blackwood
belonged) more than 100 years earlier, since Walter De Vere. The re is no
record of anyone else owning Blackwood besides Kelso Abbey and the
Veres/Weirs since the 1100s.
The Weir of