 On 22 April, he was the chief mourner at his uncle's impressive funeral, at which nine hundred black gowns were given out to the mourners in attendance.The 13th Earl of Oxford was buried at Colne Priory, and at the burial ceremony 'A mounted knight, armed with an axe, was led into the choir by two knights and delivered the axe to the bishop, who gave it to the heir'.When John de Vere was only twelve years of age, the 13th Earl had married his nephew and heir presumptive to Anne Howard, a daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife, Agnes Tilney, a marriage which served the purpose of uniting the families of the two greatest magnates in East Anglia.