[MR] FW: Superior to many - Oxford DNB Life of the Day

[Terri Morgan]

This was pretty interesting to read.
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/lotw/2009-10-06


Vere  [de Vere], Sir  Francis  (1560/61-1609), army officer and diplomat,
was the second son of Geoffrey Vere (c.1525-1572?) and his wife, Elizabeth
(d. 1615), daughter of Richard Harkyns (or Hardekyn) of Colchester, Essex.
He was born in 1560 or early in 1561, at either Crepping Hall or Crustwick:
both properties in Essex, owned by his father, who was the fourth son of
John de Vere, fifteenth earl of Oxford [see under Vere,  John  de, sixteenth
earl of Oxford]. Thus Francis was close kin of the holders of the premier
earldom in England-something he never forgot and which he used to his
advantage.

<text cut so you'll have to read it on the website>