OXFORD
AUBREY DE VERE I was almost certainly a Norman who derived his name from Ver in the Cotentin(b) and probably had connexions with the adjoining duchy of Brittany.(c)
* (b) Aubrey's name is always spelt Ver, and in 1086 he was a tenant of the Bishop of Coutances; moreover, the Cotentin adjoining Brittany, with which he seems to have had some connexion.
* (c) A charter of Conan, Count of Brittany (1056-66), is attested by: "his baronibus meis... Alberico de Ver" (Round, Ca. Doct., no. 1168); in 1086 Aubrey was a tenant in England of Count Alan of Brittany; and Aubrey II founded a priory at Hatfield Broadoak as a cell of St. Malaine of Rennes (cf. Round, V.C.H., Essex, vol. i, p. 350). Moreover, either Aubrey II or more probably Aubrey III was given land in Essex by Count Alan of Brittany. A charter (1083-1093) of Count Geoffrey Boterel is attested by "Albredus Aper" (J. Geslin de Bourgogne and A. de Barthelemy, Ancient Eveches de Bretagne, vol. iv, p. 304), which may be a latinisation of Aubrey de Ver, through the Latin verres (cr. infra, p. 199) note "g," sub AUBREY III).
He was b. probably before 1040.(d)
* (d) It may be assumed that Aubrey received his English estates for services rendered in 1066 or the next few years.
The Conqueror granted him, with other lands, the great estates of an English thegn named Wulfwine in Essex, Suffolk and Cambridge.(e)
* (e) Whereupon he seized the lands which Wulfwine held of Ramsey Abbey (Chron. Ab. Remeseiensis, Rolls Ser., p. 153). The bulk of Aubrey's estates lay in north Essex and south Suffolk, along the valleys of the Colne and Stour (c.f. Markham, The Fighting Veres, p. 11).
In 1084 he attested a royal charter for Lessay as Aubrey the Chamberlain.(a)
* (a) [Signa] Alberici camerarii (Round, Cal. Docs., no. 920; Davis, Regesta, no. 100, and p. xxv).
In 1086 he held in chief 14 estates in Essex, with 2 houses and 3 acres in Colchester, 9 estates in Suffolk, 7 in Cambs, and 2 in Hunts.(b) He also held Kensington in Middlesex and two properties in Northants of the Bishop of Coutances, land in Hunts of the Abbey of Ramsey, and land in two places in Essex of Count Alan of Brittany.(c)
*(b) Domesday Book, vol. ii, ff. 76-78, 107, 418-19; vol. i, ff. 199 b, 207. All the manors in Cambs and the majority of those in Essex and Suffolk had belonged to Wulfwine. The 2 manors in Hunts had been given by the Abbot of Ramsey for life to a certain Aluric, who was slain "in bello apud Hastinges," when the Abbot recovered them and held them until Aubrey disseised him. Aubrey had also one socman at Bergholt in Suffolk (Idem, vol. ii, f. 287 b). He had encroached on the King's land in Cambridge (where he was dislodged by Picot the sheriff) and Essex (Idem, vol. i, f. 190; vol. ii, f. 101).
*(c) Idem, vol. i, ff. 130 b, 220 b, 204, b; vol. ii, ff. 35, 35 b.
The head of his barony was at (Castle) Hedingham in Essex, where he had planted a vineyard.(d)
* (d) Idem, vol. ii, f. 76 b. That Aubrey had a residence at Hedingham is implied by the existence there of a vineyard and of the "small holdings on a large manor in the hands of foreigners" (Round, V.C.H., Essex, vol. i, p. 533, note 7; cf. pp. 343, 383, 386). On the significance of such small military tenancies cf. Round, Eng. Hist. Review, vol. xxii, pp. 508-10, and Stenton, First Century of English Feudalism, pp. 143-44. Hedingham is selected as a typical Norman motte-castle by Mrs. Armitage (Early Norman Castles in the British Isles, plate opp. p. 4); but this is doubtful, owing to the large size of the alleged motte (Round, Eng. Hist. Review, vol. xxvii, p. 546).
It is usually assumed that he is identical with, and not the father of, the Aubrey de Vere who attested a writ at Westminster (Sep. 1102) to Easter 1103)(e) and a charter for Abingdon (1101-06).(f)
* (e) Douglas, Feudal Documents from the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, no. 21; Col. Charter Rools, vol. ii, p. 258.
* (f) Chron. Mon. de Abingdon, Rolls Ser., vol. ii, pp. 74-75.
Not later than 1106 he was acting as sheriff of Berkshire, being styled simply Aubrey.(g)
* (g) Idem, vol. ii, p. 90; Col. Charter Rolls, vol. iv, p. 290. These 2 writes are addressed to Hugh de Bocheland and Aubrey, presumably as justice and sheriff; cf. Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 107-11.
Within the next few years he was acting as a justice in Northants, being styled Aubrey the Chamberlain,(h) and as sheriff of Berkshire, being styled Aubrey de Berkshire.(i)
* (h) Registrum Antiquissimum, Lincs Rec. Soc., vol. i, p. 28; Stenton, Facsimiles of Early Charters from Northamptonshire Collections, no. II.
* (i) Chron. Mon. de Abingdon, vol. ii, p. 91.
At the dying request of his eldest son, not later than 1106, he gave Abingdon Abbey his church of Kensington with its appurtenances and 2 hides and 1 yardland;(a) but as he resided mostly in Essex, he founded a priory at Earls Colne as a cell of Abingdon.(b)
* (a) The King's confirmation is attested by Robert Malet (Idem, vol. ii, pp. 55-56), so the date cannot be later than 1106.
* (b) Confirmed by the King before Aug. 1111 (Idem, vol. ii, pp. 58-59; Colne Cart., Cole's Transcript, Add. MS.5860, no. 1). On 20 Mar. [?1112] Abbot Faritius received seisin at the hands of Aubrey's steward Picot (Chron. Mon. de Abingdon, vol. ii, p. 59).
He seems to have held 1 1/2 knights' fees of the Abbey of St. Edmund.(c)
* (c) In a list (circa 1200) of the Abbey's fees of the old feoffment and their early holders, there is the entry: "Albericus de Ver 1 militem et dimidium" (Douglas, op. cit., p. lxxxvii). Presumably these are the 1 1/2 fees afterwards found in the hands of Roger de Vere, 3rd son of Aubrey I; and he is more likely to have obtained them from his father than from his brother.
He m. Beatrice,(d) whose parentage is unknown.
* (d) Colne Cart., no. 1; Chron. Mon. de Abingdon, vol. ii, pp. 55-59. In 1086 the wife of Aubrey de Vere (unnamed) held land in Essex of the Bishop of Bayeux and was accused of a small encroachment on the King's land in that county (Domesday Book, vol. ii, ff. 24, 101).
He d. before 1113 (almost certainly in 1112),(e) at Colne Priory, and was bur., with his wife, in the church there.(f)
* (e) He is said to have died a few years after the foundation of Colne Priory (Chron. Mon. de Abingdon, vol. ii, p. 60); but his son and successor issued a charter for Thorney Abbey before the death of Abbot Gunter in 1112 (see AUBREY II).
* (f) He had assumed the monastic habit there before his death (Idem, vol. ii, p 60). His grandson confirmed a gift of his father: "pro anima patris mei qui ibi requiescit et pro anima avi mei ibidem similiter requiescentis qui et ipsam ecclesiam fundavit" (Colne Cart., no. 48). Aubrey's youngest son William was bur. under the same tomb (now perished), on which was placed a Latin epitaph commemorating father and son (Weever, Ancient Funerall Monuments, p. 614).
