John de Vere 7th Earl of Oxford 1312-1360

Calendar Inquitisitions Port Mortem Volume 8 Edward III 185. 185. [his brother-in-law] Giles De Badelesmere [deceased], Knight.

Writ to Henry Darcy, mayor of the city of London, and king's escheator there, 16 July [1338], 12 Edward III.

London.

Inq. Friday before St. Bartholomew, 12 Edward III.

Alegate. A tenement, 17 shops, and a garden adjacent, within Alegate, worth when let 9l.; out of which there are paid yearly to the lords of that fee for quit rent, 56s. 4d., and for repairs, 40s.

Lymstret lane. A tenement and a garden, worth 40s., out of which are paid yearly for repair of houses and walls and for enclosing of the said tenement and garden, 20s.

All held of the king in chief, as the whole of the city of London is.

[his sister-in-law] Margery [aged 30] the wife of Sir William de Ros [aged 53], Maud [aged 30] the wife of the earl of Oxford [aged 26], Elizabeth [aged 25] the wife of the earl of Northampton [aged 28], and Margery [aged 23] (sic) the wife of Sir John Tipetoft [aged 24], are his sisters and co-heirs, and of full age.

John Tiptoft 2nd Baron Tibetot.

Continues.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. In the year of our Lord 1343, the 18th year of King Edward of England, the king sent military aid¹ to John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany. His wife and children were in the king's custody, signalling the strength of their alliance. A notable English force was dispatched to assist Montfort, including: Earl of Northampton, Earl of Oxford, Hugh Despenser, Richard Talbot, knight, William Kyllesby, cleric, Each was placed in command of significant numbers of troops and archers.

Anno Domini MCCCXLIIIJ, regis Anglie XVIIJ, in auxilium domini Johannis de Monte forte, ducis Britannie, cuius uxor et filii in custodia regis manserunt, fuerunt missi comes Norhamptonie et comes Oxonie, dominus Hugo Despenser, dominus Ricardus Talebot, milites, et dominus Willelmus Kyllesby, clericus, singulis prefectis magnis copiis armatorum et sagittariorum.

Note 1. Stow Annales 374.

It is somewhat remarkable that this is the only event that Baker notices in the campaign in Brittany of 1342. But it is quite evident that he has received special knowledge regarding the battle from someone who had been present. Murimuth also obtained detailed information of the earl of Northampton's movements from the latter's despatches, and appears to have written an account of them and to have inserted it in his chronicle (Adam Murimuth Continuation.

Northampton was appointed the king's lieutenant and captain in Brittany on the 20th July 1342 (Rymer's Fœdera 2.1205). According to Adam Murimuth Continuation.

He relieved Brest; marched on Morlaix, which he unsuccessfully assaulted; and fought and defeated Charles of Blois on the 30th September. Morice, History de Bretagne (1750), 1.260.

The English, who were under supreme command of Robert of Artois, adopted Bruce's tactics at Bannockburn in digging concealed trenches on their front, into which the French fell and suffered great slaughter. Charles of Blois, however, was not so badly beaten but that he could afterwards blockade the English, who only escaped with difficulty.

Of Northampton's companions here named: John de Vere, who succeeded his uncle as earl of Oxford in April 1331, was born in 1313, served in the French wars, being one of the chief commanders both at Crecy and at Poitiers, and died on the 24th January 1360; Hugh Despenser, son of the younger Despenser who was executed in 1326, was summoned to parliament in 1338, and died in 1349; Richard Talbot was also a baron by writ in 1331, and died in 1356; William Kildesby, the king's clerk and keeper of the privy seal, was archbishop elect of York in 1340, but was set aside in favour of William de la Zouch.