Elizabeth Trentham
| Elizabeth Trentham | |
|---|---|
| Countess of Oxford | |
| Spouse(s) | Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford |
| Issue | |
| Noble family | de Vere |
| Father | Thomas Trentham |
| Mother | Jane Sneyd |
| Born | Rocester, Staffordshire, England |
| Died | c. December 1612 |
| Buried | Hackney, London, England |
Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Oxford, formerly Elizabeth Trentham (d. c. December 1612), was the second wife of the Elizabethan courtier and poet Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
Elizabeth Trentham was born at Rocester, Staffordshire, the daughter of Thomas Trentham and Jane Sneyd. Her father's will, made 19 October 1586, mentions his son and heir, Francis, another son, Thomas, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Dorothy and Katherine. Elizabeth's brother Francis married Katherine, the daughter of Ralph Sheldon of Beoley, and carried on the family line. Her younger brother, Thomas, died unmarried in 1605. Two of Elizabeth's sisters were already married when Thomas Trentham made his will in 1586, Dorothy to William Cooper of Thurgarton, and Katherine to Sir John Stanhope.
Thomas Trentham's reputation in the county is indicated by his appointment by the Privy Council as one of the "principal gentlemen in Staffordshire" to accompany Mary, Queen of Scots from her Staffordshire exile to her trial at Fotheringay Castle in 1586 (a trial at which the 17th Earl of Oxford sat on the jury).
Elizabeth Trentham was Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth for at least ten years. Records indicate that she exchanged New Year's gifts with the Queen in 1584, 1588 and 1589, and she is listed as a Maid of Honour on a subsidy roll dated 10 November 1590. She was known at court as a beauty.
In 1591 Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, whose first wife, Anne Cecil, had died on 5 June 1588, entered into a number of legal agreements with Elizabeth's brother, Francis Trentham, and others for the purpose of providing a jointure for Elizabeth. The couple were married, at the latest, by 27 December of that year, at which time the Queen bestowed a gift on the new Countess at her marriage. Elizabeth Trentham brought her husband a dowry of £1000 bequeathed to her in her father's will, payable at the rate of 500 marks a year for three years. The newly married couple resided at Stoke Newington, where their son, Henry de Vere, was born on 24 February 1593.
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