JOHN DE VERE, fifteenth earl of Oxford (c.1490-1540), a cousin of John de Vere, fourteenth earl, was esquire
of the body to Henry VIII in 1510; was knighted by the king
on 25 Feb. 1513 at the Battle of the Spurs;
was created K.G. on 21 Oct. 1527; took a prominent part, as a friend of the king, in the measures against
Wolsey and Catherine of Aragon; bore the crown at the
coronation of Anne Boleyn, and acted as a
commissioner at her trial.
He was the first protestant earl of Oxford, and was popularly known as 'the good earl.' He died at his manor of Earls
Colne on 21 March 1540, and was buried at Castle Hedingham on 12 April. An altar-tomb in black marble is adorned with
effigies of himself and his countess in an attitude of prayer, surrounded by their four sons and four daughters. Of his
younger sons, Aubrey was great-grandfather of Aubrey de Vere, twentieth earl, while Geoffrey was father of Sir Francis Vere
and of Sir Horace Vere. John, the eldest son, succeeded him as sixteenth earl of Oxford.
(Sidney Lee)
Source:
Dictionary of National Biography. Vol LVIII. Sidney Lee, Ed.
New York: The Macmillan Co., 1899. 242.
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