| John de Vere | |
| 15th Earl of Oxford | |
| Noble Family: | de Vere |
| Father: | John de Vere |
| Mother: | Alice Kilrington |
| Spouse: | Christian Foderingey Elizabeth Trussell |
| Issue: | John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford Aubrey Vere Robert Vere Geoffrey Vere Elizabeth Vere Frances Vere Anne Vere |
| Birth Date: | c. 1482 |
| Birth Place: | Castle Hedingham, Essex |
| Death Date: | 21 March 1540 |
| Death Place: | Wakes Colne, Essex |
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, Lord Great Chamberlain KG PC (c. 1482 – 21 March 1540)[1] was an English peer and courtier.
John de Vere, born about 1482, was the son of John de Vere and Alice Kilrington (alias Colbroke), and the great-grandson of Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford,[2] succeeding his second cousin, John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, in the earldom.[3] De Vere had two stepbrothers, William Courtenay and Walter Courtenay, and a stepsister, Katherine Courtenay, by his mother's second marriage, before 1491, to Sir Walter Courtenay (d. 7 November 1506), a younger son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, Devon, by Elizabeth Hungerford.[4]
De Vere was an Esquire of the Body at the funeral of Henry VII in 1509,[5] and was knighted by Henry VIII 25 September 1513 at Tournai, following the Battle of the Spurs.[6] He attended Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and at his meeting with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, at Dover in 1522.[7]
On 19 December 1526, Oxford was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain for life and was made a Knight of the Garter on 21 October 1527. He signed the Lords' petition against Cardinal Wolsey on 1 December 1529,[8] and was appointed to the Privy Council before 22 March 1531.[7]
In 1531 it was reported from Venice that Oxford was 'a man of valour and authority ... and it is his custom always to cavalcade with two hundred horse'.[8]
Oxford bore the crown at Queen Anne Boleyn's coronation in April 1533, but later served on the commission which tried the Queen on 15 May 1536.[7] On 15 October 1537 he attended the christening of the future King Edward VI, and on 12 November following was present at the funeral of Queen Jane Seymour.[7]
On 2 and 3 December 1538 Oxford served on the panel of peers at the treason trials of the Marquess of Exeter, and Lord Montagu.[7]
Oxford and his son, John, were in the King's retinue at the reception of Anne of Cleves at Blackheath.[7]
De Vere was reputedly the first Protestant earl of Oxford. He patronised a company of players for which he commissioned John Bale to write plays from 1534 to 1536.[9] As Lord Great Chamberlain and a favourite of Henry VIII, about 1537 he directed Bale to write anti-Catholic propaganda plays for Richard Morison's campaign against the Pope.[10]
Oxford died on 21 March 1540 at his manor of Colne, Essex and was buried on 12 April at Castle Hedingham.[11]
Oxford's first wife was Christian Foderingey (b. circa 1481, d. before 4 November 1498),[1] daughter of Thomas Foderingey (circa 1446–1491) of Brockley, Suffolk,[12] by Elizabeth Doreward (c. 1473–1491), daughter of William Doreward of Doreward’s Hall in Bocking, Essex.[12] The couple had no children.Oxford's second wife was Elizabeth Trussell, daughter of Edward Trussell (c. 1478 – 16 June 1499) of Kibblestone (Cublesdon), Staffordshire, and Margaret Donne, the daughter of Sir John Donne of Kidwelly(d. 1503) by Elizabeth Hastings (d. 1508).[13] [14] They had four sons and three daughters.[15]