Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Earl of Oxford

Aubrey de Vere IV, 2nd Earl of Oxford
Hedingham Castle, Essex, seat of the Earls of Oxford
Born	c. 1163
Died	1214 burial in Colne Priory
Noble family	De Vere
Spouse(s)	Isabel de Bolebec Alice
Issue Roger de Vere (illegitimate)
Father	Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford
Mother	Agnes of Essex

Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Earl of Oxford (c. 1163 – 1214), hereditary Master Chamberlain of England, served in military campaigns under King Richard and King John. He was succeeded in the earldom by his brother, Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford.

Aubrey de Vere, the eldest son and heir of Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, by his third wife, Agnes of Essex, the daughter of Henry of Essex, lord of Rayleigh, was born in 1163 or later. He had three brothers, Ralph, Robert and Henry, and a sister, Alice. His brother Ralph predeceased him, and his brother Robert succeeded him as 3rd Earl in 1214. The first notice of Aubrey de Vere is as a young boy witnessing his father's charters for Colne Priory.

In 1194 Vere was with King Richard I in France, and succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father on 26 December of the same year. In 1195 he was assessed to pay 500 marks towards the ransom of King Richard, who was being held captive by the Emperor Henry VI.

In 1197 Oxford was again with King Richard in Normandy when a dispute was litigated between Abbot Samson of Bury St Edmunds and some fifty tenants of the Abbey, including the earl of Oxford. Ultimately most of the tenants came to the King's court in London and acknowledged the Abbey's right to certain feudal aids. Earl Aubrey, the last to hold out, finally capitulated when the abbot seized and sold his plough-beasts.

In 1204 Oxford paid 200 marks for the third penny of Oxfordshire and 'that he might be Earl of Oxford', a confirmation of the title which had been granted to his father in July 1141 by the Empress Matilda during a time of civil war. The title had already confirmed to his father by Matilda's son, King Henry II and Aubrey III had been acknowledged earl of Oxford by Richard I and John. This payment five years after John took the throne is thus unusual.