Click for
PDF index  |
This page shows the descent of Juliana de Vere, wife of Magna Charta Surety Hugh Bigod and aunt of Magna Charta Surety Robert de Vere from Aubrey I de Vere who accompanied Duke William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Michael W.Cook writes: "The family name of de Vere is believed to have come from the small town of Ver, near Bayeaux in Normandy and their roots trace back to the early tenth century and Danish origins. Other suggestions say they are decended from a Breton family from Vair, near Nantes, although their early history is surrounded in mystery and nobody is really certain."
See Hedingham Castle on Wikipedia.
Visit the official Hedingham Castle web site.
Click to return to the main Magna Charta page.
| Click for
PDF index |
To see where all this information came from, please click on Sources.
Generation One
Aubrey I de Vere
Born before 1040
Died in 1112 at Colne Priory
Aubrey or Albericus de Vere was present
at the Battle of
Hastings and obtained vast estates from William the Conqueror in 1066.
These estates were once the property of Ulwine, a great Saxon thane, and
consisted of manors in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire,
Huntingdonshire and Middlesex. He founded Earl's Colne Priory in
1105, and after the death of his wife Beatrice he became a Monk.
Aubrey married to Beatrice and they had the following children:
 |
left: Hedingham Keep as it is to-day. above: Hedingham Castle as completed in the 12th century was surrounded by a curtain wall similar to this drawing. For more history of Hedingham Castle, see |
Generation Two
Aubrey
II de Vere, Justiciar of England
Born in 1062
Died on May 15, 1141 in London. Killed in a riot.
Aubrey went on the First Crusade in 1098, and it was at this point that the star was added to his coat of arms. According to legend, darkness was falling over the battlefield, and it appeared the saracens would be saved. However, a brilliant star appeared on Aubrey de Vere's banner to illuminate the field. The battle continued, the Crusaders were victorious, and the star became a permanent part of the Arms of de Vere. Richard Thomson describes the arms as "Quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a mullet argent".
Aubrey II began the construction of Hedingham castle which was completed by his sons Aubrey III and Robert.
Aubrey married to Alice de Clare, daughter of Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare, Earl of Clare. For Alice de Clare's descent from the Dukes of Normandy, please click on De Clare. Alice de Clare is said to have been a Nun. Presumably, this was after she and Aubrey had the following children:
Generation Three
Juliana de Vere
Juliana married to Hugh de Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk
and they had a son:
Generation Four
Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of
Norfolk
For the continuation of this line, click on Roger Bigod.
Click to return to the top of this page.
Click to return to the main Magna Charta page.
Please visit the Sewell Genealogy Site Map for other pages in this series.
 |