Aubrey de Vere III (c. 1115 – December 1194) was created Earl of Oxford by the empress Matilda in July 1141. He had inherited the barony of Hedingham on the death of his father Aubrey de Vere II in May 1141, when he was already Count of Guînes by right of his wife Beatrice. In 1139 and 1154 he was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. In July 1141, after the death of his father in a London riot, he was granted an earldom by the Empress Matilda, and was confirmed as the first earl of Oxford by her son King Henry II of England.