ALMARIO, Khristin Allison S.

Earl is Essex

The Only

2013-46028

Arkiyoloji 1

In Time Teams Season 7, Episode 19, The Only Earl is Essex

archaeologist are trying to find out where the De Vere priory is, what its
history was and as well as finding Edward De Vere, who is said to be
Shakespeares inspiration in writing Hamlet or is Shakespeare himself.
The site is named the De Vere priory. Before Paul Wright, the present
owner of the land and the one that invited Time Team to dig, the land is
owned by the De Veres. The De Vere Family is one of the richest and most
powerful in England, being the Earl of Oxford. During the 12th century,
Audrey de Vere built the priory. This is to show how deeply religious they are
(spiritual insurance) and also, the priory is to serve as the family mausoleum.
On 1536, when King Henry VIII broke its alliance with the church, the De Vere
priory along with other priories in England, was demolished. After this,
according to John LeLand, the Earls built their mansion on top of it. This is
what we see today. On the 17th century, Edward De Vere was forced to sell
the land.
Now, during the excavation, they opened two trenches. The first trench
is initially 10m-long. In this trench, they saw two double burial and a lot more
reburials, meaning the bones were taken placed in a bag and then buried
again. They were also able to get 14th-13th century old decorated tiles and

glass meaning that there really is a structure in the ground at that time. The
second trench that was opened shows no sign of use so the archaeologists
concluded that it was an anchorite cell. Another artifact that was readily
available is the tomb that once stood at Paul Wrights kitchen. Now, it is in St.
Stephens Chapel also near the site. It is engraved with the owners body and
the De Veres family symbol. In the end, they proved the presence of the
priory and the De Veres mansion but did not find remains of Edward De Vere
since Edward died a long way from the De Vere land.
As for me, I think that the 3-day excavation was enough and not
finding the bones of Edward is very much okay. The most important thing is
that now they were sure of the priorys existence. I also felt that the
excavation was a success.