Robert de Vere was the only son of Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford and Maud de Ufford.[1] He succeeded his father as earl in 1371, and was created Marquess of Dublin in 1385. The next year he was created Duke of Ireland. He was thus the first marquess, and only the second non-princely duke (after Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster in 1337), in England. King Richard's close friendship with de Vere was disagreeable to the political establishment.[citation needed] This displeasure was exacerbated by the earl's elevation to the new title of Duke of Ireland in 1386.[2]
His relationship with King Richard was very close and rumoured by Thomas Walsingham to be homosexual.[3]
Robert, Duke of Ireland, was married to Philippa de Coucy, the King's first cousin (her mother, Isabella, was the sister of the King's father, Edward, the Black Prince and the eldest daughter of Edward III). Robert had an affair with Agnes de Launcekrona, a lady-in-waiting of Richard's queen, Anne of Bohemia. In 1387, the couple were separated and eventually divorced; Robert took Launcekrona as his second wife.
Downfall
Since Robert was hugely unpopular with the other nobles and magnates, his close relationship with King Richard was one of the catalysts for the emergence of an organised opposition to Richard's rule in the form of the Lords Appellant.
In 1387, Ireland led Richard's forces to defeat at the Battle of Radcot Bridge outside Oxford, against the forces of the Lords Appellant. He fled the field and his forces were left leaderless and compelled into ignominious surrender. He travelled abroad into exile after Radcot Bridge.
He died in or near Louvain in 1392 of injuries sustained during a boar hunt. Three years later, on the anniversary of his death, 22 November 1395, Richard II had his embalmed body brought back to England for burial. It was recorded by the chronicler Thomas Walsingham that many magnates did not attend the re-burial ceremony because they 'had not yet digested their hatred' of him. The king had the coffin opened to kiss his lost friend's hand and to gaze on his face one last time.[5]
Succession
After Ireland's death, his uncle Sir Aubrey de Vere, was restored to the family titles and estates, becoming 10th Earl of Oxford. The Dukedom of Ireland and Marquessate of Dublin became extinct.
^Saul, Nigel (1997). Richard II. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN0-300-07003-9. p. 437.
^Peter Crooks, The 'Calculus of Faction' and Richard II's Ireland, in Fourteenth Century England, V, ed. Nigel Saul. Woodbridge, England: The Boydell Press, 2008. 111–112 ISBN978-1-84383-387-1
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)ISBN1460992709
