APPENDIX U.
THE FAMILIES OF MANDEVILLE AND DE VERE.
(See p. [178].)
The confusion on the pedigree and relationship of these two families is due, in the first place, to the fact that, for several generations, the successive heads of the family of De Vere were all named Aubrey ("Albericus"); and in the second, to a chronicle of Walden Abbey, which proves as inaccurate as to the marriage of its founder as it is on the date of his creation.[1121] Dugdale, accepting all its statements without the slightest hesitation, has combined in a single passage no less than three errors, together with the means for their detection.[1122] Among these is the statement that Geoffrey's wife was a daughter of Aubrey de Vere, "Earl of Oxford."[1123] Accordingly, she so figures in Dugdale's tabular pedigree, and the same error has now reappeared in Mr. Doyle's Official Baronage.[1124] Oddly enough, in his account of the De Veres, a few pages before, Dugdale makes Geoffrey's wife daughter not of the Earl of Oxford, but of his grandfather Aubrey,[1125] and so enters her in the tabular pedigree.[1126] And yet she was, in truth, daughter neither of the earl nor of his grandfather, but of his father, the chamberlain.[1127] To establish this will now be my task.
Between the Aubrey de Vere of Domesday and the Aubrey de Vere "senior" of the Cartulary of Abingdon Abbey, about twenty years are interposed. Their identity, therefore, is not actually proved, though the presumption, of course, is in its favour. But from the time of the latter Aubrey all is clear. The descent that we obtain from the Abingdon Cartulary is as follows:—
Aubrey = Beatrice,
de Vere, |
"senior." |
|
+----------------+-----------+-+----------+-----------+
| | | | |
Geoffrey Aubrey de Roger de Robert de William
(or Godfrey), Vere, Vere. Vere. de Vere,
ob. v. p. at "junior" died soon
Abingdon. (afterwards after his
"camerarius father.
Regis"),
d. 1141.
Our next source of information is the Cartulary of Colne Priory,[1128] in combination with an invaluable tract, De miraculis S. Osythæ, composed by William de Vere, a brother of the first earl, and a canon of St. Osyth's Priory, Essex. Dugdale was acquainted with both documents, but lost the full force of the latter by failing to identify its author. He gives us as sons to Aubrey the chamberlain, and brothers to Aubrey the first earl, (a) William de Vere, (b) —— de Vere, canon of St. Osyth's. The identity of the two is proved, first, by a charter of Aubrey the chamberlain, in which he speaks of his "reverend" son William;[1129] secondly, by a charter of Aubrey the earl, witnessed by his brother William, "presbyter;"[1130] thirdly, by the charter from the Empress to the earl, in which she provides for all his brothers, the chancellorship, a clerical post, being promised to William.[1131] We may further assert of this tract that it must have been written after 1163, for the canon tells us that his mother has spent her twenty-two years of widowhood at St. Osyth, and her husband had been killed in 1141.[1132] In it he refers to his father the chamberlain,[1133] as "justitiarius totius Angliæ." To this we may trace Dugdale's assertion that he held that high office, a statement which exercised the mind of Foss, who complains that "it is difficult to tell on what authority" he is introduced among its holders both by Dugdale and Spelman.[1134] He further speaks of his mother as "Adeliza," daughter of Gilbert de Clare, and exults in the fact that she has spent her widowhood, not in the family priory at Colne, but in that of his own St. Osyth. He refers also to his sister "Adeliza de Essexâ filia Alberici de Vere et Adelizæ." Now, we have abundant evidence that "Adeliza de Essex" was sister to the Countess Rohese, wife of Geoffrey de Mandeville, and was aunt to their sons, Earls of Essex.[1135] Accordingly, we find the Countess Rohese giving a rent-charge to Colne Priory for the souls of her father, Aubrey de Vere, and her husband, Earl Geoffrey, and we also find her son, Earl William, confirming the charter "avi mei Alberici de Vere."[1136] It is quite clear that the Countess Rohese, wife of Geoffrey de Mandeville, first Earl of Essex, was sister of Alice "de Essex," and daughter of Aubrey de Vere the chamberlain, by his wife Alice, daughter of Gilbert de Clare.
But who was Alice "de Essex"? We must turn, for an answer to this question, to the Chronicle of Walden Abbey. There we shall find that she married twice, and left issue by both husbands. Her first husband was Robert de Essex[1137]; her second was Roger fitz Richard, of Clavering, Essex, and Warkworth, Northumberland, ancestor of the Claverings. Now, "Robert de Essex" was a well-known man, being son and heir of Swegen de Essex, Sheriff of Essex under William the Conqueror, and grandson of Robert "fitz Wimarc," a favourite of the Confessor, under whom he, too, was Sheriff of Essex. The descent is proved, in a conclusive manner, by the description of the second Robert among the benefactors to Lewes Priory, in one place as Robert fitz Suein, and in another as Robert de Essex.[1138] Robert had founded Prittlewell Priory as a cell to Lewes, "Alberico de Ver et Roberto fratre ejus" attesting the foundation charter.[1139] Robert's son and heir was the well-known Henry de Essex.[1140] So far all is clear. But, unfortunately, it is certain that Robert de Essex left a widow, Gunnor—a Bigod by birth—who was mother of his son Henry. Therefore "Alice of Essex" cannot have been his widow. Consequently she must have been the widow of another Robert de Essex, possibly a younger son of his, who held Clavering from his elder brother Henry. In any case, by her second husband, Roger fitz Richard, Alice was mother of Robert fitz Roger (of Clavering).
We are now in a position to construct an authentic tabular pedigree, showing the relationship that existed between the families of Mandeville and De Vere.