User:Dearagon/Juliana de Vere, Countess of Norfolk

Juliana de Vere, Countess of Norfolk Juliana, Countess of Norfolk (c. 1128-c. 1200) was the youngest daughter of Aubrey de Vere II, master chamberlain of England and Adeliza of Clare and first wife of Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk.

While it is certain that Juliana was married to Hugh Bigod, the timing of their marriage is unclear. It may have occurred before he was created earl of Norfolk by King Stephen (Dec. 1140 or Jan. 1141) or either before the murder of her father in May 1141 or after her brother Aubrey received an earldom from the Empress Matilda in late July 1141. She bore Hugh a son, Roger, in 1143 or 1144. At some point between that event and the death of Stephen, King of England in 1154, Hugh obtained an annulment of their marriage. The grounds for dissolving their marriage are unknown, but political concerns in a time of civil war may have prompted his decision. The annulment later cast doubts on the legitimacy of their son and complicated his inheritance on his father's death in 1172. Hugh subsequently married Gundreda, daughter of the earl of Warwick, and had two more sons.

Despite the annulment of her first marriage, Juliana was accorded the title countess for the rest of her life. By 1164 Juliana had taken a second husband, Walkelin Maminot, a long-time supporter of Empress Matilda and one-time castellan of Dover Castle. They may have had a son, Walkelin II, although her husband's heir was his sister's son Geoffrey de Say.

About 1182, the widowed Countess Juliana and her seneschal, Walkelin's vassal Michael de Turnham, founded a Premonstratensian monastery at Brockley, Kent. That community moved to Bayham in Sussex after her death. She also contributed to the Vere family monastery at Earl's Colne, Essex.

The countess was one of many who borrowed from the moneylender Aaron of Lincoln in the later 12th century. On his death the crown inherited Aaron's outstanding loans and in 1191 she was recorded in the royal accounting records as still owing 40 shillings. She paid nothing toward the debt for the next 8 years, and her outstanding balance was charged to her son Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk in 1200.