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Aubrey de Vere III (c. 1115-Dec. 1194) was created Earl of Oxford by the empress Matilda in July 1141. He had inherited the barony of Hedingham onthe death of his father Aubrey de Vere II in May 1141, when he was already Count of Guînes by right of his wife Beatrice. In July 1141 he wasgranted an earldom by the Empress Matilda, and was confirmed as the first earl of Oxford by her son King Henry II of England. On the annulment ofhis first marriage, between 1144-46, he lost Guînes. Earl Aubrey was little involved in national political affairs after this period. His attempt todivorce his third wife, Agnes of Essex, was a celebrated marriage case that Agnes appealed successfully to Pope Alexander III. Two of his sons byAgnes, Aubrey IV and Robert, became earls of Oxford. Robert, the third earl, was one of the 25 rebel barons who were to hold King John to the termsof Magna Carta.

A portion of the information concerning Surety Baron ROBERT de VERE is as follows:

The principal residence of the de VERES was Castle Headingham. The keep still stands sentry guard over the River Colne in the North of Essex,probably erected by Aubrey de Vere, who died in 1194. The Headingham keep ranks with that of Rochester as the finest of the square keeps in England.

Oxford Castle was the seat of the Earls de Vere. It now consists of little more than a Norman tower which stands inside the walls of a county jail.It was here that King Stephen laid siege to Matilda in 1141. She escaped by a rope ladder fashioned from bed sheets during the night and, fleeing,found refuge at Wallingford.

Oxford Castle is thought to be the oldest in all England. The Norman structure was built in 1071 by Robert d'Oilly. From what is left of it we canconclude that it was originally a pre-Norman motte and bailey fort. After the 1071 rebuilding, alterations were made by Henry II, between 1165 and1173. He added the houses inside the shell keep, and also the well. He presumably built the diagonal keep on the motte, the foundations of whichwere discovered in the 18th Century.