Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland

Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, and 9th Earl of Oxford KG (16 January 1362 – 22 November 1392) was a favourite and court companion of King Richard II of England.

Royal favour

He succeeded his father, Thomas, as 9th Earl of Oxford 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. Richard's close friendship to de Vere was disagreeable to the political establishment. This displeasure was exacerbated by the earl's elevation to the new title of Duke of Ireland in 1386.^[1] His relationship with King Richard was very close and rumored by Thomas Walsingham to be homosexual.^[2]

Ireland was married to Philippa de Coucy, the King's first cousin (her mother had been the sister of the King's father, Edward, the Black Prince), and also had an affair with Agnes de Launcecrona, a Czech lady-in-waiting of Richard's Queen, Anne of Bohemia. In 1387, the couple were separated and eventually divorced; Ireland took Launcecrona as his second wife.

Downfall

Since Robert, Duke of Ireland 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 his rule in the form of the Lords Appellant.

In 1387, Ireland led Richard's forces to defeat at 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 was attainted and sentenced to death in absentia by the Merciless Parliament of 1388, although he had fled abroad into exile directly after Radcot Bridge; his titles and lands were forfeited.

Death

He died in or near Louvain of illness, possibly disease, in 1392. 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.^[3]

Succession

After Ireland's death, his uncle Sir Aubrey de Vere, was restored to the family titles and estates, becoming 10th Earl of Oxford.

References

1. ^ McKisack (1959), pp. 425, 442–3.
2. ^ Saul, Nigel (1997). Richard II. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07003-9. p. 437.
3. ^ Saul, 461.