 Both were great-grandsons of Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford.After the 14th Earl's death, his widow complained to both Cardinal Wolsey and to her brother, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, about the 15th Earl's conduct towards her.On 11 August 1526, she wrote to Wolsey alleging that the 15th Earl, Sir John Raynsford and their men had on two occasions broken into the park at Lavenham and killed more than one hundred deer.