The office was created by Henry I for the Vere
family. It was awarded first to Albericus
(Aubrey) de Vere, in 1133. Like all
hereditary offices, it was created as reward for highly valued feudal allegiance
to the king. Close, dependable alliance
with the power of the De Veres was sufficiently attractive that they received
special favors that kept them close at hand.
The original office required the holder of it to remain continually in
physical attendance upon the king at Court.
The Vere’s were not yet the holders of the Earldom of
Oxford. That would come in 1141 at the
hand of the Empress Matilda (a.k.a. Maude) during the years of civil war
following the death of Henry I without an heir, and would be confirmed, in 1156[2],
by her son, King Henry II. The Vere’s
had gone back and forth in their loyalty between she and King Stephen during
the war. In this way she sought to
assure their loyalty. Nevertheless, they remained with a foot in every camp.
Between the creation of the Lord Great Chamberlain and King
Edward II’s coronation in 1308, the office seems to have separated itself from continual
attendance upon the king. Records from
the coronation of Richard II, however, indicate that he held the rights and
fees of the office that went with that ceremony, and had “from time immemorial”.[3]
What precisely the coronation duties were, at that time, cannot
be determined from available period records.
Only the duty of presenting the king’s ewer before and after the feast
that followed is explicitly mentioned.
All offices of the Lord Great Chamberlain, relating to the coronation of
Henry IV, were refused to the Earl of Oxford, whose support had been erratic,
and given to Thomas Erpingham.
The memorandum regarding the coronation of James I, in 1603,
regarding the request of the 17th Earl, Edward de Vere, to perform
the then traditional duties, and receive the traditional gifts and fees, for
the office, gives us the first detailed description of what those duties and
fees had come to be.
Edward de Vere Earl of Oxford, asks that as he is Great
Chamberlain of England,… that it should please the King that he should likewise
at the Coronation… do the said office and services as he and his ancestors have
formerly done. . . . That is to say that the said Earl on the day of the said
Coronation, on the morning before the King rises, ought to enter into the
chamber where the King lies, and bring him his shirt, and stockings, and under-
clothing. And that the said Earl and the Lord Chamberlain for the time being
together on that day ought to dress the King in all his apparel. And that he
may take and have all his fees, profits, and advantages due to this office. . .
. That is to say forty yards of crimson velvet for the said Earls robes for
that day . . . then the Earl should have the bed where the King lay on the
night before the Coronation, and all the apparel of the same, with the
coverlet, curtains, pillows, and the hangings of the room, with the King's
nightgown, in which he was vested the night before the Coronation. He also asks
as his ancestors from time immemorial served the noble progenitors of our Lord
the King with water before and after eating the day of the Coronation, and had
as their rights the basins and towels and a tasting cup ... as appears in the
records of the Exchequer.[4]
The direct male line of the Earls of Oxford was broken with
the death of Henry, the 18th Earl, in 1625. The
Earldom fell to a male Vere cousin. It
lapsed altogether with the death of the 20th Earl, in 1703.
Peregrine Bertie, the Baron Willoughby, being more directly
related to the line of earls, through his mother Mary Vere, eventually received
the hereditary office of Lord Great Chamberlain. Bertie was created Earl of Lindsey, in 1626, and
he and his male heirs to that title became the hereditary holders of the
office. The family was created Dukes of
Ancaster, in 1715, thus transferring the office to that title.
[1] The
great officers of the Crown are: 1. Steward, the Lord High, of England; 2. The
Lord High Chancellor; 3. The Lord High Treasurer; 4. The Lord President of the
Council ; 5. The Lord Privy Seal; 6. The Lord Great Chamberlain of England ; 7.
The Lord High Constable of England; 8. The Earl Marshal of England; and 9. The
Lord High Admiral.
[4] Purdy,
Gilbert. Edward de Vere was Shakespeare; at long last the proof.
285. Citing Oxford Authorship,
Col. S. P. Dom. James I (July 7, 1603) http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/StatePapers14/SP_14-2-76_ff_187-207.pdf.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Dietary Rules for Barnacles: Innocent III to Gordon Ramsey. March 4, 2019. “The Barnacle was a marvel of God, a confusion to those in authority in such matters. Their people turned to them for clarification.”
- Shakespeare’s Barnacles. March 3, 2016. “Prospero will wake, he fears, before they can murder him, and will cast a spell on them.”
- The King's Esnecce. January 13, 2019. “It comes as no surprise, then, that when Maud’s son, Henry Plantagenet, Count or Duke of most of the western territories of France, and, by terms of the treaty, heir to Stephen, next rose to the throne as Henry II, he was quick to arrange for the safest possible means of transit across the channel.”
- Check out the Medieval Topics Article Index for many more articles about this fascinating time.
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time.
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