Robert de Vere 1st Duke Ireland 1362-1392

Westminster Chronicle. On the first day of December, the king granted the lordship of Ireland, to be held from him, to the earl of Oxford [aged 23], who at once did homage to the king for it. He appointed him to be called Marquis of Dublin¹, for a marquis is greater than an earl and less than a duke. Therefore the king made him sit above the earls in parliament.

Primo die Decembris rex contulit dominium Hiberniæ de eo tenendum comiti Oxoniæ, qui pro illa confestim fecit regi homagium et statuit eum appellari Marchionem Dubliniæ ; marchio enim est major comite et minor duce. Unde rex in parliamento supra comites fecit eum sedere. Item quinto die Decembris, reconciliatus est major Londoniæ duci Lancastriæ et cum eo ea nocte cœnavit. Fruit etiam ibi rex et regina.

Note 1. Robert de Vere, 1362-1392, Earl of Oxford, a close personal friend of King Richard II. He was the first person the be created a Marquis. He was created Duke of Ireland in 1386. Walsingham, St Albans Chronicle: The Chronica Maiora: "In this Parliament a new dignity was created, unfamiliar to the English, namely, the earl of Oxford, Lord Robert de Vere, was called and made Marquis of Dublin in Ireland. The other earls took this ill, because they saw that, by the king’s gift, he had received a rank higher than their own, and especially because he did not seem to be superior to the others either in wisdom or in arms." and later, Walsingham, Historia Anglicana writes in 1386: "Where the lord king, lest he should seem to have done too little, made Lord Robert de Vere, formerly earl of Oxford, but recently, in the last Parliament, created marquis of Dublin, duke of Ireland, intending afterwards to make the duke a king, if fortune favoured him. So greatly was he attached to him, so greatly did he honour and love him, not without the stain, as is said, of obscene intimacy. The other nobles and barons murmured against this and bore it indignantly, that there should be a desire for so great a promotion in a man so mediocre, whom neither the loftiness of his birth nor the gifts of other virtues commended above the rest."

Westminster Chronicle. Also, in this summer the king appointed the duke of Ireland [aged 25] as justiciar of Chester, and granted him the castle of Flint [Map]¹ in Wales. He also gave him certain lands to the value of one thousand marks a year from the lordship of Lord Audley. He also granted him John, son and heir of Charles of Blois, who had once fought against the duke of Brittany for that duchy, which he claimed for himself, and who fell in the open field near Auray. Two of his sons, among others, had been captured and sent into England, and kept there for a long time, lest they should ever rise against the aforesaid duke, harassing him over the said duchy. One of them had now been removed from the midst, but this one, at the request of the duke of Ireland, was released from chains for the payment to him of twenty thousand pounds, and sent to the French. The aforesaid duke of Brittany had offered greater and more ample sums for him, but did not obtain what he sought. For this Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland, had taken as wife the daughter of Lord Enguerrand de Coucy and Lady Isabella, daughter of King Edward. Having come to hate her, he sent John Ripon, clerk, to the Roman Curia to procure a divorce from the marriage between them. Ripon laboured there so greatly for this that, through false witnesses hired for that purpose, he obtained a sentence of divorce. This deed greatly displeased the dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, the uncles of the aforesaid woman. When she had at last been repudiated in this way, the said Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland, wickedly joined to himself in marriage a certain Bohemian woman from the chamber of the lady queen, called Launcecrona, while the queen always protested against it, to his own scandal and everlasting disgrace. The mother of the said Robert de Vere, however, loved this noble woman, thus repudiated, so much that she held her dearer than if she had been her own daughter, and truly strove with all the strength of her mind to please her, so that she did not spare even to curse her own son because of his repudiation of her. The king also granted the aforesaid Robert de Vere many other things, some of which had belonged to the Crown from ancient times, as will plainly appear in what follows.

Item rex in ista æstate præfecit ducem Hyberniæ in justiciarium Cestriæ contulitque sibi castrum de Flynt in Wallia. Dedit etiam sibi quasdam terras ad valorem mille marcarum per annum de dominio domini de Audeleye ; contulitque sibi Johannem filium et heredem Caroli de Bloys, qui olim contra ducem Britanniæ est congressus pro illius ducatu, quem sibi vindicavit, occubuit in plano campo juxta Orreye, cujus filii duo inter cæteros erant capti et in Angliam missi ac inibi longo tempore custoditi ne aliquando contra ducem prædictum insurgerent illum infestando pro ducatu prædicto. Altero quidem nunce sublato de medio iste vero jam ad petitionem ducis Hiberniæ pro viginti millia librarum sibi solvendis est a vinculis relaxatus et ad Francos transmissus. Majora tamen et ampliora pro ipso obtulit dux Britanniæ prædictus sed non obtinuit quod petebat. Duxerat namque iste Robertus de Veer, dux Hiberniæ, filiam domini Ingelrami de Coucy et dominæ Isabellæ filiæ regis Edwardi in uxorem quam habens exosam misit Johannem Ripon clerieum ad curiam Romanam ad divortiandum matrimonium inter eos, qui ad hoc in tantum laboravit ibidem quod per falsos testes ea de causa conductos sententiam divortii prolatam recepit. Quod quidem factum multum displicuit ducibus Lancastriæ, Everwyk et Gloucestriæ avunculis mulieris prædictæ. Qua tandem sie repudiata dictus Robertus de Veer, dux Hyberniæ, quamdam mulierem Boemicam de camera dominæ reginæ Lancecronam vocatam, regina semper reclamante, sibi in conjugem nefarie copulavit in sui ipsius scandalum et opprobrium sempiternum. Mater vero dicti Roberti de Veer in tantum dilexit istam nobilem mulierem sic repudiatam quod cariorem eam habuit quam si fuisset filia propria, cui revera tota animi virtute studuit perplacere, sic quod proprio filio propter ejus repudium maledicere non pepercit. Contulit quoque rex prædicto Roberto de Veer plura alia quorum quædam ab antiquo pertinuerunt ad coronam prout in sequentibus manifeste liquebit.

Note 1. Flint Castle, on the Welsh side of the estuary of the River Dee, at a traditional crossing point. Building work began in 1277 and ended in 1284.

Westminster Chronicle. Also, on the twenty-eighth day of October, the king sent the archbishop of York [aged 46] and Michael de la Pole [aged 57], earl of Suffolk, to the mayor and citizens of London, to ask them whether they were of one mind among themselves in the city of London, and whether they wished to stand with the king, if need required it, or not. To these things answer was made to them that they were unanimous, and that they wished to obey their king in all things, as his royal majesty demands and requires, and to hold with him, setting aside all others whatsoever. Having received this answer, they returned to the king with joy. The king, gladdened by this answer, entered the city of London on the tenth day of November. The mayor and the other citizens of the said city honourably came out to meet him, dressed in one livery, namely white and red, and rode in procession before him through the middle of the city as far as the Mews at Charing. There the king took off his shoes, and the archbishop of York, Robert de Vere [aged 25], duke of Ireland, and Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, with him, likewise barefoot, proceeded to the church of Saint Peter at Westminster. The abbot and convent of the said monastery also came solemnly to meet him in copes as far as the royal gate, and led him from that place into the church over carpets laid out for him. When he had performed his devotions according to custom, he returned to his palace.

Item xxviii die Octobris misit rex archiepiscopum Eboracensem et Michaelum de la Pole comitem Suffolkiæ ad majorem et cives Londoniarum ad inquirendum ab eis, an essent inter se unanimes in civitate Londoniarum, et an ipsi vellent stare cum rege, si opus exposceret, aut non. Ad ista fuit eis responsum, quod illi forent unanimes et suo regi vellent obedire in omnibus prout sua regia majestas exigit et requirit ac secum tenere aliis postpositis quibuseunque. Accepto vero responso ad regem cum gaudio redierunt. Rex autem super hujusmodi responso exhilaratus x die Novembris civitatem Londoniarum intravit contra quem major et cæteri cives dictæ civitatis in una secta alba scilicet et rubea honorifice exierunt et ante eum per medium civitatis usque Le Muwes apud Charryngg processionaliter equitarunt. Ubi rex discalciavit se et ‘archiepiscopus Eboracensis, Robertus de Veer Dux Hiberniæ et Michael de la Pole, comes Suffolkiæ, cum eo pariter nudipedes ad ecclesiam sancti Petri Westmonasterii processerunt contra quem etiam abbas et conventus dicti monasterii in capis usque portam regiam ei obviam modo solemni venerunt et illum super tapetis ab illo loco stratis usque in ecclesiam deduxerunt. Factisque suis devotionibus ex more ad suum palatium remeavit.

Westminster Chronicle. Also, on the 17th day of October, papal bulls were fixed to the doors of the church of St Paul, declaring how the divorce made in the Roman court by Master John Ripon, clerk, between Robert de Vere [aged 27], Duke of Ireland, and the [his former wife] daughter [aged 22] [Philippa] of [his former father-in-law] Lord Enguerrand de Coucy [aged 49], and [his former mother-in-law] Isabel, the king’s kinswoman, was invalid and null. Also, on the 2nd day of November, Boniface IX was elected pope. At that time the lord king carried out that very severe inquiry against the usurpers of his crown, called trailbaston, in Essex, Kent, and elsewhere; as a result, very many were indicted and some were committed to bonds. For those men of the king’s bench went to various counties, always inquiring, as they said, for the profit and advantage of the lord king. Yet in some counties they brought in no profit, because the men of those counties refused to burden their neighbours. The ministers of the aforesaid bench, for that reason, called them unfaithful to the lord king; but when the coming of the Duke of Lancaster was heard of, they immediately ceased from such unusual proceedings.

Item xvii Octobris in valvis ecclesiæ sancti Pauli bullæ papales erant affixæ declarantes quomodo illud divortium factum in curia Romana per dominum Johannem Ripon clericum inter Robertum de Veer ducem Hiberniæ et fillam domini Ingelramy domini de Coucy et Ysabell amitæ dominæ regis fuit invalidum et nullum. Secundo quoque die Novembris Bonifacius ix. electus est in papam. Quo in tempore dominus rex exsecutus est ilam gravissmam inquisitionem contra usurpatores coronæ suæ vocatam traillebastoun in Estsex, Cantia et alibi; unde quam plures fuerant indictati et quidam vinculis mancipati Nam isti de banco domini regis ad diversos comitatus perrexerunt semper inquirendo pro utilitate et commodo domini regis ut dixerunt. Attamen in quibusdam comitatibus nihil commodi attulerunt quia homines illorum comitatuum noluerunt eorum vicinos gravare. Ministri vero de banco prædicto ea de causa vocarunt eos infideles domino regi, sed audito adventu domini ducis Lancastriæ ab hujusmodi insolitis continuo quieverunt.

Westminster Chronicle. Around these days, Sir John Paule died overseas, a knight indeed vigorous and worthy, young and handsome, who had conducted himself splendidly in the land of the barbarians. Sir Robert de Vere [aged 30], formerly Duke of Ireland and Earl of Oxford, also died in Brabant at Louvain¹. Since he had no heir begotten from his own body, that earldom passed to his uncle, Sir Aubrey de Vere. At the end of the month of November a great quantity of snow fell, and again around the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle there was a great storm both at sea and on land, so horrible that it struck fear into people.

Circa hos dies obiit dominus Johannes Paule in partibus transmarinis miles utique strenuus et valens juvenis et formosus qui egregie se habuit in terra barbarorum. Obiit etiam in Brabantia apud Lovayn dominus Robertus de Veer quondam dux Hyberniæ et comes Oxoniæ, et quia non habuit heredem de corpore suo progenitum transivit comitatus ille ad patruum suum dominum Alberieum de Veer. In fine mensis Novembris cecidit magna copia nivis et itidem circa festum sancti Thomæ Apostoli fuit magna tempestas tam in mari quam in terra tamque horribilis quod hominibus incussit timorem.

Note 1. Robert de Vere died on 22nd November 1392 as a consequence of injuries sustained during a boar hunt. Annals of Kings Richard II and Henry IV describes how three years later King Richard II had his remains returned to England and honourably buried: "In this year, in the month of September, the King of England had brought from Louvain the body of his former beloved, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a man who would indeed have been fortunate if he had resolved to keep within his proper bounds, but who through over-great advancement was overcome by misfortune. At the Priory of Colne in Essex, the King caused solemn obsequies to be performed, attending there in person and magnifying the funeral office in whatever ways he could. He had the cypress-wood coffin, in which the body lay embalmed with balsam, opened; he looked upon the face and touched the fingers, which, as is said, were enriched with precious gold rings that were to be buried with the body. And he publicly showed to the dead man the affection which he had formerly bestowed upon him while alive. There were present there, with the King and the mother of the deceased, the Archbishop and several other bishops, together with abbots and priors and other religious men. But few nobles attended, because the hatred which they had conceived against him had not yet been digested."

Annals of Kings Richard II and Henry IV. In this year, in the month of September, the King of England [aged 28] had brought from Louvain the body of his former beloved, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a man who would indeed have been fortunate if he had resolved to keep within his proper bounds, but who through over-great advancement was overcome by misfortune. At the Priory of Colne in Essex [Map], the King caused solemn obsequies to be performed, attending there in person and magnifying the funeral office in whatever ways he could. He had the cypress-wood coffin, in which the body lay embalmed with balsam, opened; he looked upon the face and touched the fingers, which, as is said, were enriched with precious gold rings that were to be buried with the body. And he publicly showed to the dead man the affection which he had formerly bestowed upon him while alive.

There were present there, with the King and the mother [aged 50] of the deceased, the Archbishop and several other bishops, together with abbots and priors and other religious men. But few nobles attended, because the hatred which they had conceived against him had not yet been digested.

Hoc anno, mense Septembrio, Rex Angliæ, apportato corpore de Lovania quondam dilecti sui Roberti de Veer, Oxoniensis Comitis, (felicis quidem si se inter se continuisse statuisset, sed propter excellentiam infelicitate subactus,) fecit apud Prioratum de Colne in Estsexia solemnes exequias, exhibens ibidem suam præsentiam, et modis quibus potuit magnificans officium funerale; curavitque thecam cypressinam, in qua corpus, balsamo delibutum, jacuit, aperire, faciem considerare, digitos contrectare; qui, ut fertur, ditati fuerunt annulis aureis pretiosis cum corpore terræ tradendis. Demonstravitque dilectionem defuncto publice, quam impenderat prius vivo.

Erant ibi, cum Rege et matre defuncti, Archiepiscopus et alii plures Episcopi, cum Abbatibus et Prioribus, aliisque viris religiosis. Sed pauci interfuerunt proceres; quiæ nondum digestum fuerat odium quod conceperant contra illum.

Westminster Chronicle. At that time the king gave in marriage, at his own expense, certain women of the lady queen’s country to noble men¹. For this king, in the beginning of his reign, was so liberal that if anyone rightly asked anything of him, he immediately granted it to him. Indeed, sometimes he anticipated the wishes of those asking, and often used to confer more than had been requested. Yet he gave away his possessions so lavishly that almost everything belonging to his Crown he distributed piecemeal to various persons asking for this and that, together with other profits belonging to the king’s treasury. Thus, after giving away his own resources to others, he was compelled by necessity to oppress the commons. Therefore the poor complain bitterly about this, saying that they cannot long sustain such a burden. Would that the king might arrange to relieve them in some measure, and indeed, as I think, he would gain no small advantage from it.

Quo in tempore rex quasdam mulieres dominæ reginæ compatriotas viris nobilibus suis sumptibus nuptui tradidit. Erat namque rex iste in sui primordio tam liberalis ut si quis ab eo quiequid rite petiisset illico sibi concederet. Immo quandoque petentium voluntates ipse prævenit et ultra petita sæpe conferre solebat ; verum tamen tam profuse est sua largitus quod omnia quæ suæ coronæ pertinuerunt diversis personis hæc et illa postulantibus particulatim cum aliis emolumentis fisco regis pertinentibus fère distribuit; sic enim suis aliis erogatis communitatem de necessitate opprimere est compulsus, Unde pauperes super hoc graviter conqueruntur, asserentes se tale onus diu sustinere non posse. Utinam rex disponeret eosdem in aliquo alleviare et profecto commodum inde non modicum, ut æstimo, reportaret.

Note 1. For example, Simon Felbrigge, died 1442, King Richard II’s standard-bearer, and in 1398 Knight Garter, married Margaret who, as the inscription on the brass over his grave in Black Friars Priory, Norwich, states, was 'of the nation and noble blood of Bohemia and once maid of honour to the most noble Lady Anne, formerly Queen of England.' And Nicholas Sarnesfield, died 1397, who married a Margaret, also one of the Queen's maids of honour. And Robert de Vere, who was, or soon would be, Duke of Ireland, who married Agnes de Launcecrona, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Anne, having divorced his first wife Philippa, first cousin to King Richard, who he had married ten years before, causing a scandal, as described by Walsingham, St Albans Chronicle: The Chronica Maiora: "It happened in these days that Robert de Vere, puffed up by the honours which the king was bestowing on him, continually repudiated his wife, a young noblewoman both noble and beautiful, born of Isabella, daughter of the illustrious King Edward [the Third], and married another woman, who had come from Bohemia with Queen Anne, as is said, the daughter of a certain saddler, altogether low-born and ugly. Because of this, a great occasion for scandals crept in. Her name, in the common tongue, was 'Launcecrona.' In all these matters the king himself favoured him, unwilling to distress him in anything, or rather, as is said, unable in any way to oppose his wishes, because, hindered by the sorceries of a certain friar who was with the said Robert, the king was in no way able to discern or pursue what was good and honourable. The nobles were therefore indignant, but especially the duke of Gloucester, the uncle of the aforesaid young woman [Philippa]. Although he was not at that time able to avenge such great injuries inflicted upon his niece, nevertheless he kept all these things in his heart until the time of future retribution. The duke of Ireland, however, was not unaware of the aforesaid matters. For that reason he resolved to take precautions for himself, and considered removing from the midst the duke of Gloucester, together with all those who favoured him."