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Birth:          ABT 1150 of Essex. England
Death:          AFT 1212 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_Essex,_Countess_of_Oxford
Agnes of Essex, Countess of Oxford (c. 1150 – 1212 or later) was the daughter of a 
royal constable Henry of Essex and his second wife, Alice.[1] She was betrothed at 
age three to Geoffrey de Vere, brother of the first Earl of Oxford, and turned over to 
be raised by the Veres soon thereafter. Agnes later rejected the match with Geoffrey 
and by early 1163 was married to his eldest brother Aubrey de Vere III, 1st Earl of 
Oxford, as his third wife.

In 1163, Agnes's father was accused of treason and lost a judicial duel. After her 
father's disgrace and the resulting forfeiture of lands and offices, the earl sought to 
have his marriage annulled. Agnes fought his action. On 9 May 1166, she appealed 
her case from the court of the bishop of London to the pope (the archbishop of 
Canterbury, Thomas Becket, being in exile at the time).[2] While the case was pending 
in Rome, the earl reportedly kept Agnes confined in one of his three castles, for which 
the bishop of London Gilbert Foliot reprimanded Aubrey.[2] Pope Alexander III ruled in 
her favor, thus establishing the canon law right and requirement of consent by females 
in betrothal and the sacrament of marriage.

The couple seem to have jointly founded a Benedictine priory for nuns near their 
castle at Castle Hedingham, Essex. Countess Agnes survived her husband and in 
1198 paid the crown for the right to remain unmarried. She died sometime in or after 
1212 and was buried in the Vere mausoleum at Colne Priory, Essex.[3]

Name Dispute[edit]

Many mistakenly have called Earl Aubrey's third wife Lucia, rather than Agnes. This 
mistake is based on a misreading of a single document associated with a religious 
house at Hedingham, Essex, established around 1190. A woman named Lucia was 
prioress at Castle Hedingham Priory. On her death in the early thirteenth century, an 
illustrated mortuary or 'bede' roll was carried to many religious houses requesting 
prayers for her soul. In the preface of that document Lucia is called the foundress of 
the priory. As the role of "founder" is generally ascribed to lay patrons and the 
countess presumably cooperated with her husband in the founding of the house, 
18th-century scholars erroneously assumed that the prioress was Earl Aubrey's widow. 
Royal records disprove that assumption. [4]

Children[edit]

Agnes bore her husband four sons and a daughter, including two future earls of 
Oxford: Aubrey IV and Robert I. Her daughter Alice married 1) Ernulf de Kemesech, 2) 
John, constable of Chester. Agnes's son Henry appears to have become chancellor of 
Hereford Cathedral under his uncle, Bishop William de Vere, and later a royal clerk 
under King John of England.[5] Little is known of Roger de Vere except that he seems 
to have been the second son and that he had died before 1214, when his younger 
brother Robert succeeded to the earldom on the death of the eldest son Aubrey IV, 
2nd earl.

Parents
DE ESSEX Henry (ABT 1121 - ABT 1170)
DE MONTFORT Alice (ABT 1125 - )

Siblings
OF ESSEX Agnes (ABT 1150 - AFT 1212)

Marriage To DE VERE Aubrey (ABT 1115 - 26 Dec 1194)
    m. 1163 

Notes

Parents
DE VERE Aubrey II (ABT 1082 - 15 May 1141)
DE CLARE Adeliza (ABT 1079 - ABT 1163)

Children by DE VERE Aubrey ABT 1115 - 26 Dec 1194
DE VERE Robert (ABT 1166 - 25 Oct 1221)

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