Office of The Lord Great Chamberlain and the Earls of Oxford

The Lord Great Chamberlain is the sixth of the “great” offices of feudal responsibility to the English monarch.[1]  The “great” offices began as hereditary offices.  The Great Chamberlain remains such to this day.  It is, however, reduced to an entirely ceremonial position.

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 17^th 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 18^th Earl, in 1625.   The Earldom fell to a male Vere cousin.  It lapsed altogether with the death of the 20^th 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.

With the death of Peregrine Bertie, the 3^rd Duke of Ancaster, and of his lone a male heir, the 4^th Duke, a year later, the office was renamed Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain and divided between the 3^rd Duke’s eldest daughters.  It has remained in the joint possession of ever more distant relatives since that time.

---

[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.

[2] Dictionary of National Biography (1906).  1137.

[3] Collections relative to claims at the coronations of several of the kings of England (182).  15.

[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.