Maud de Ufford, Countess of Oxford (1345/1346 – 25 January 1413) was a wealthy English noblewoman and the wife of

Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford (c. 1336 – September 1371) was the second son of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, and Maud de Badlesmere. He was predeceased by his elder brother, Sir John Vere of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire, who married E ...

. Her only child was Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, the

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...

of King

Richard II of England Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father die ...

. In 1404 in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, she took part in a conspiracy against King

Henry IV of England Henry IV ( April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, to the Kingdom of F ...

and was sent to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

; however, she was eventually pardoned through the efforts of Queen consort Joanna of Navarre. She resided in the village of

Great Bentley Great Bentley is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Tendring district of north Essex, England, located seven miles east of Colchester. The parish includes the hamlets of Aingers Green and South Heath. It is home to the second lar ...

Family

Maud was born in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

sometime in about 1345 or 1346. Her parents were Sir Ralph de Ufford,

Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monarch) ...

and Maud of Lancaster, widow of

William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster and 4th Baron of Connaught (; ; 17 September 1312 – 6 June 1333) was an Irish noble who was Lieutenant of Ireland (1331) and whose murder, aged 20, led to the Burke Civil War. Background The grandson ...

. Maud was their only child and heiress, although she had a uterine half-sister,

Elizabeth de Burgh Lady Elizabeth de Burgh (; ; c. 1289 – 27 October 1327) was the second wife and the only queen consort of King Robert the Bruce. Elizabeth was born sometime around 1289, probably in what is now County Down or County Antrim in Ulster, th ...

, who was the

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

Countess of Ulster. On 9 April 1346, Maud's father died in Kilmainham. Sir Ralph had been an incompetent Justiciar, and was disliked by the Irish. Maud, who was a baby, and her mother fled to England. Sometime between 8 August 1347 and 25 April 1348, Maud's mother became a

canoness Canoness is a member of a religious community of women living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic Rule of St. Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and Rule are common to both. As with the ca ...

at the

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

Priory of Campsey in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

Marriage

Sometime before 10 June 1350, when she was still a child, she married Thomas de Vere, son and heir of

John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford (c. 12 March 1312 – 24 January 1360) was the nephew and heir of Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford who succeeded as Earl of Oxford in 1331, after his uncle died without issue. John de Vere was a trusted capta ...

and

Maud de Badlesmere Maud de Badlesmere, Countess of Oxford (1310 – May 1366) was an English noblewoman, and the wife of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford. She, along with her three sisters, was a co-heiress of her only brother Giles de Badlesmere, 2nd Baron Badles ...

. He would succeed to the title of 8th Earl in 1360; henceforth, Maud was styled as the Countess of Oxford. The marriage produced one son: * Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, Marquess of Dublin, Duke of Ireland (16 January 1362- 1392), married firstly,

Philippa de Coucy Philippa de Coucy, Countess of Oxford, Duchess of Ireland (before 18 April 1367 – 24 September 1411: 1411) was a first cousin of King Richard II of England and the wife of his favourite, Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Robert de Vere, 9th E ...

, and secondly Agnes de Launcekrona. Maud's husband died in September 1371. Maud was provided-for in terms of dower and jointure; from 1371, she held nearly half the de Vere ancestral estates and she received an annual income of £662. Her principal residence was

in Essex. She was described as a profligate landowner, and later engaged in litigations with her brother-in-law, Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford over de Vere property. In 1387, when her son Robert repudiated his first wife, Philippa for Agnes de Launcekrona, a Czech lady-in-waiting of Queen consort

Anne of Bohemia Anne of Bohemia (11 May 1366 – 7 June 1394), also known as Anne of Luxembourg, was Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II. A member of the House of Luxembourg, she was the eldest daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and ...

, Maud took Philippa's side against her son. She admitted to holding Philippa "more dear than as if she had been her own daughter", and did not hesitate to curse Robert for his actions. Philippa was afterwards taken into Maud's household. Despite her anger at her son's treatment of his wife, Maud nevertheless visited him in

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

following his forced exile by the

Lords Appellant The Lords Appellant were a group of nobles in the reign of King Richard II, who, in 1388, sought to impeach some five of the King's favourites in order to restrain what was seen as tyrannical and capricious rule. The word ''appellant'' — still u ...

and

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1388, where she brought him gifts. She received a pardon on 10 May 1391 for "having crossed the sea without licence to Brabant to confer with her son Robert de Vere, late earl of Oxford, and for relieving him with certain gifts". Maud remained in high favour with King Richard after her son's exile, having received on 16 November 1389 a grant of the farm of all the lands "lately her husband's" for twenty years. This was cancelled upon her son's death in 1392, when his uncle Aubrey succeeded as Earl of Oxford.

Conspiracy

In 1404, Maud involved herself in a conspiracy along with the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

s of Beeleigh, Colchester, and St. Osyth to depose King Henry IV by way of a French invasion, and replace him with King Richard who was allegedly still alive. It was also alleged that she had caused the white harts of Richard II's livery to be fashioned. She was arrested and sent to the Tower of London in May 1404; however, due to the intervention of Queen consort Joanna of Navarre, she was eventually pardoned by King Henry on 16 November 1404. Maud died on 25 January 1413 at her residence in Great Bentley, Essex and was buried at

Bruisyard Abbey The Abbey of Bruisyard was a house of Minoresses (Poor Clares) at Bruisyard in Suffolk. It was founded from Campsey Priory in Suffolk on the initiative of Maud of Lancaster, Countess of Ulster, assisted by her son-in-law Lionel of Antwerp, in 136 ...

in Suffolk, near her mother the founder, and her half-sister

- instead of the monastery of

Earl's Colne Earls Colne is a village in Essex, England named after the River Colne, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703. History Manor of Earls Colne In the time of Edward the Confess ...

of which she had been the patron, and where her husband and son were buried. An executor of her will is named as Robert Boleyne.http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT4/H5/CP40no609/bCP40no609dorses/IMG_0403.htm ; 1413; 8th entry

Family

Marriage

Conspiracy

References

Further reading