10 March 1512, death of John de Vere, 13th earl of Oxford

On 10 March 1513 John de Vere, Earl of Oxford died at nine in the evening at his ancestral home of Castle Hedingham at the age of 71. He was buried at Colne Priory on 24 April. Oxford was one of the principal Lancastrian commanders during the Wars of the Roses and as well as during the reign of Henry VII. He had joined Henry  Tudor and his uncle Jasper after he himself had escaped prison from Hammes Castle near Calais and the Tudors at the same time were in exile in France in the 1480’s. John’s support, which eventually led to Henry’s victory at Bosworth, was of great significance.

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Colne Priory C. 1500. Burial place of the de Vere's. © Earl's Colne Society

The Great Keep of Castle Hedingham, home of the de Vere Family and place where the 13th Earl died.

John was the second son of another John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, and Elizabeth Howard. He married firstly, Margaret Neville, the daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and Alice, the daughter of Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury. Oxford's first wife was the sister of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, ‘’the Kingmaker’’. Margaret Neville died between 20 November 1506 and 14 January 1507, and Oxford married secondly Elizabeth Scrope, the widow of his colleague William, 2nd Viscount Beaumont, and daughter and coheir of Sir Richard Scrope, the second son of Henry, 4th Baron Scrope of Bolton, by Eleanor, the daughter of Norman Washbourne. He is said to have had an illegitimate daughter, Katherine de Vere (d. after 20-06-1504) whose husband Sir Robert Broughton appointed the 13th Earl as his executor. Apart from this possible illegitimate daughter there were no children from these marriages. John de Vere was succeeded by his nephew, (the 2nd and only surviving son of his younger brother Sir George de Vere)another John de Vere, as 14th Earl of Oxford.

The tomb of John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford and his first wife Margaret Neville. Drawing by Daniel King in 1653, now in the British Library, Additional MS 27348, p. 31. Photo taken from James Ross' book 'John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford (1442-1513 : The Foremost Man of the Kingdom).

To read about recent excavations at Earl's Colne and the remains of the Earls of Oxford and their tombs there, this article from Time Team could be of great interest. Click HERE.