Vere Plot to Murder Edward IV

Vere Plot to Murder Edward IV is in 1461-1464 Edward IV takes the Crown.

On 12th February 1462 John de Vere 12th Earl of Oxford (age 53), his son Aubrey de Vere (age 21) and Thomas Tuddenham (age 60) were arrested for treason against King Edward IV (age 19). They were subsequently tried by John "Butcher of England" Tiptoft 1st Earl of Worcester (age 34) who was appointed Constable of England five days before.

On 20th February 1462 Aubrey de Vere (age 21) was executed at Tower Hill [Map].

On 23rd February 1462 William Tyrrell (age 54), John Montgomery and Thomas Tuddenham (age 60) were beheaded at Tower Hill [Map].

On 26th February 1462 John de Vere 12th Earl of Oxford (age 53) was hanged at Tower Hill [Map]. His son John (age 19) succeeded 13th Earl of Oxford.

Chronicle of Robert Fabyan [-1512]. 20th February 1461. & upon the. xx. day of y^e sayd moneth, y^e sayd Lorde Awbry (age 20) was drawen from Westmynster unto y^e Towre Hyll, and there behedyd.

Chronicle of William of Worcester [1415-1482]. In the month of February [1462], John, Earl of Oxford (age 53), his son and heir Aubrey (age 21), Thomas Tudenham (age 60), knight, John Clopton, John Mongomere, and William Tyrrell, were arrested by John, Earl of Worcester, Constable of England (age 34), on suspicion of receiving letters from Lady Margaret, former Queen of England. They were convicted before the court of the Constable, the said earl was beheaded, Clopton was excused, and all others were drawn and beheaded on a scaffold made for them on Tower Hill in London.

Mense Februarii Johannes comes Oxoniæ, Albredus filius ejus et hæres, Thomas Tudenham, miles, Johannes Clopton, Johannes Mongomere, et Willelmus Tyrrele, per Johannem comitem Wigorniæ, constabularium Angliæ, arrestantur, ob suspicionem litterarum receptarum dominæ Margarets, nuper reginæ Angliæ, coram quo per curiam constabilariæ convicti, dictus comes decollatus est, ac Cloptone excusatus, et omnes alii tracti et decollati sunt in quadam scafalda pro eis facta super montem Turris Londoniæ.

John Tiptoft by R J Mitchell. 2nd February 1462. Five days before Tiptoft's appointment the Earl of Oxford, his eldest son, John Clopton, Sir Thomas Montgomery, and "William Tyrell were all arrested in Essex on a charge of ‘hyghe and myghty treson that they ymagenyd agayne the Kynge'¹⁵; it is impossible not to suspect that there was close connection between these two events — the capture of the King's enemies immediately followed by the appointment of his friend and kinsman as their judge. A commission for the arrest of Sir Thomas Tudcnham¹⁶, Capgrave's patron, had been issued soon after Edward's accession, and he was captured at about the same time as Oxford and found to be implicated in the plot.

There can be little doubt of Oxford's guilt, though there are two different stories of his plot. The first, and more probable, is that he had been making arrangements for the Duke of Somerset, then in Bruges, to land with an army on the Essex coast; the other, more highly coloured tale, is told by William of Wyrcester¹⁷, and in part corroborated by a letter from the Milanese ambassador to the Legate Coppini¹⁸. From this account it appears that Oxford and Ins fellow conspirators were to accompany Edward on his expedition to the north and to fall upon his army from the rear as soon as the Lancastrian forces under Margaret of Anjou came within striking distance in the front. Their messenger, bearing Oxford's letter to Queen Margaret and the King in Scotland, became so conscience stricken while attending Mass near Northampton that he took the letter to Edward IV instead. Edwafd had the letters copied, so the story runs, and sent them on again by the hand of this messenger, and then seized Oxford before he had time to carry out his plan.

Note 15. Gregory: Chronicle, p. 218.

Note 16. He had been Keeper of the great wardrobe and Treasurer to the household of Henry VI.

Note 17. Annales, p. 779.

Note 18. Dated 25 March 1462. Calendar of Milanese State Papers, I. 106.

Become a Member via our 'Buy Me a Coffee' page to read complete text.

Chronicle of Robert Fabyan [-1512]. 12th February 1462. And upon the xii. day of February was the erle of Oxenforde (age 53), w^t the lorde Aubry (age 21) his elder sone, syr Thomas Todenhame (age 60), Wyllya Tyrell (age 54), & other, brought unto the Towre of London:

Sprotts Chronicle. 20th February 1462. In fo much that Harry Vere lorde Awbry accufid his owne fadir erle of Oxforde of trefon, wheruppon they were bothe takin the xiith. day of February in the same Yere and brougt to the toure att London, and fhortely theruppon the xxth, day of the fame moneth bothe the fadir-and the fon were brougt unto the toure hill, where they fuffrid deth bothe on one day: how be it the cronicques late made affermith that therle fhuld be executid vi, dayes after: for it was a pitivous figt to fee theime bothe fadir and fon in fuch diftreffe.

John Tiptoft by R J Mitchell. In the circumstances Oxford's execution after a perfunctory trial was a foregone conclusion. He was arraigned before Tiptoft at Westminster, and, while his trial was proceeding, a high scaffold was built upon Tower Hill. The Earl (age 53) and his son (age 21) were condemned and executed, while of the other four conspirators only Clopton escaped with his life. An anonymous chronicler says that Oxford's son, Lord Aubrey de Vere, accused his father of treason and turned King's evidence, and ‘they were both takin ... and they suffrid deth bothe on one day'¹⁹, but this is unlikely, and in any case father and son did not die on the same day, for Oxford was executed on 20 February 1462 and Aubrey de Vere six days later [26th February 1462]^a. As this chronicler gives the date as ‘February 1460' — when Tiptoft was still in Italy, and shortly after the Lancastrian victory of Wakefield — his account may be disregarded. Both father and son were buried in the church of the Augustinian Friars.

Note 19. Sprott's Chronicle, pp. 289-90.

Note a. The author here appears to have transposed the dates of execution.

All About History Books

The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

Chronicle of Robert Fabyan [-1512]. 23rd February 1462. And upon the. xxiii. daye of the same moneth, syr Thomas Todenham (age 60), Wyllyam Tyrell (age 54), & lohn Mongomory were also there behedid.

Chronicle of Gregory [1400-1467]. 26th February 1462. And this same year the Erle of Oxforde (age 53), the Lord Abbry, the lord of Oxforde (deceased) is sone, Syr Thomas Todenham (deceased) knyght, John Mongomery, and William Terelle (deceased) squyer, were takyn in Esex, and brought unto Lundon to the Towre [Map]. Ande thenne they were ledde to Westemyster to the Kings palys, and there they were attaynte of hyghe and mighthy treson that they ymagenyd agayne þe King. And then they were drawe to the Towre from Westemyster. And at the Towre hylle was made a schaffolde for them, and there her heddys were smetyn on, and her bodys beryd, as it plesyd them to be qwethe her bodys.

Chronicle of Robert Fabyan [-1512]. 26th February 1462. And upon the Fryday next ensuynge, or the. xxvi. daye of y^e sayd moneth, the erle of Oxenforde (age 53) was ladde from Westmynster upon his feete, to the sayde place, [of Inesse,]¹ & there also behedyd, whose corps was after borne unto y^e Frere Augustynes, & there buryed within y^e quyer for y^e tyme.

The Early Life of John de Vere. [26th February 1462] One of the saddest tragedies of the early years of the reign of Edward IV was the execution, within a twelvemonth after Edward seized the throne, of John de Vere, twelfth earl of Oxford, his eldest son, Aubrey de Vere, and three other men of lesser note, for treasonable dealings with Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. Aubrey de Vere is said to have sealed the fate of all by bearing witness against his own father, and it was the famous and infamous earl of Worcester who pronounced the death sentence. The earl of Oxford was but a few years past the half century mark at the time of his execution in February 1462¹, but in those days a man of fifty was reckoned an old man, and a few months before the dethronement of Henry VI the earl had been excused, in consideration of his bodily infirmities, from personal attendance on king, council, or parliament². The letters patent granting this excuse stated that the earl had done good service to his sovereign lord both in England and in France, and that was true; but it was a king of the house of Lancaster that he had served, and now, when a member of the house of York wore the crown, those services were but too easily forgotten. Certainly there were many persons in England in the year 1462 who saw no reason for transferring their loyalty and affection to one who, without any right as they believed, had robbed Henry of Lancaster of the throne, and whose ability, moreover, to keep what his sword had won was still much a matter of doubt; and not at all improbable is it that the earl of Oxford had been actually guilty of conspiracy. Nevertheless, clemency might have converted him and his family into faithful subjects of the king it facto, whereas his execution made of his son and heir a lifelong and peculiarly determined foe of the house of York, a foe who, though some of his schemes miscarried and years of imprisonment fell to his lot, was in the end fortunate enough not merely to witness the overthrow of Richard III, but to be an important contributor to the victory won on Bosworth field.

Note 1. Dugdale states (Baronage, L. 196) that the earl waa ninn years of age when his father died on 16 February 1417; therefore he most have been fifty-four at the time of his execution.

Note 2. Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1452-61, p. 465 [645] (12 November 1460)

Become a Member via our 'Buy Me a Coffee' page to read complete text.

Calendar of State Papers of Milan 1462. [25th March 1462]. Eleven days before the king's departure they discovered a great conspiracy, at the head of which was the Earl of Oxford (deceased), and he, his eldest son (deceased) and many other knights and esquires lost their heads. Before the king left the treason was discovered in this manner, quidquid fortassis dicatur [Whatever perhaps may be said]. The said earl with his accomplices, sent letters to King Henry and the queen in Scotland, by a servant of his, who, after having been to York, returned to King Edward and presented the letters, which were read as well as copied and then sealed up again and sent by this same messenger to King Henry with a promise that he would return with the reply. He did so and it was done very secretly. After the reply had been read the Earl of Worcester (age 34), who has been made Constable of England¹, was sent to take the said earl and others.

el dicto conte con soi complitii mandavano lettere al re Hari et alla regina in Scotia per uno servitore de'soi, el quale, poi fu a Aiorch, ritorno alla Maesta de Re Eduuardo et presentolli le lettere le quale forono lecte et etiam copiate et poi reserrate et subito per el decto messo mandate al re hari con promessa che ritornarebe colla resposta et cosi fece et fu facta molto secretamente et viso responso el Conte de Wygornia, el quale e facto conestabile de Engleterra a fo mandato ad prendere el sopradicto conte et altri.

Note 1. John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, appointed Constable of England for life by letters patent dated the 7th February, 1462. Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1461–7, page 74.