Agnes of Essex

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Agnes of Essex, countess of Oxford (circa 1151 - circa 1206) was the daughter of Henry of Essex and his second wife, she was betrothed at age three to Geoffrey de Vere, brother of the first earl of Oxford. Raised by the Veres, she later rejected the match with Geoffrey and by 1163 had married his brother Aubrey de Vere III, the earl, as his third wife. After her father's disgrace and forfeiture of lands and offices, the earl sought to have his marriage annulled. Agnes fought the action. On May 9, 1166, she appealed her case from the court of the bishop of London to the pope (the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, being in exile at the time). While the case was pending in Rome, the earl kept Agnes confined. The bishop of London reprimanded Aubrey for his mistreatment of her. Pope Alexander III ruled in her favor, thus establishing the right and requirement of consent by females in the sacrament of marriage. Agnes bore her husband four sons and a daughter, including two future earls of Oxford: Aubrey IV and Robert I. She died sometime in or after 1206.

Many have followed the mistake of antiquarians in believing the third wife of earl Aubrey to have been named Lucia. A woman of this name was prioress of the nunnery founded by the earl at his primary residence, Castle Hedingham, Essex. On Lucia's death, a mortuary roll was carried to many religious houses in the region for prayers, and in the preface of that document Lucia is called the foundress of the priory. As the countess presumably cooperated with her husband in the founding of the house, the assumption was made that the prioress was in fact the earl's widow.

[edit] References

• RaGena DeAragon. "The Child-Bride, the Earl, and the Pope: The Marital Fortunes of Agnes of Essex" in Henry I and the Anglo-Norman World, 2007 Boydell & Brewer.