Fortunately, there is no such doubt about the clauses of creation. Here the question of the formula becomes all-important. The case stands thus. There are only two instances in the course of this reign in which we can be quite certain that we are dealing with creations _de novo_. The one is that by which the king "made" Geoffrey Earl of Essex; the other, that by which the Empress "made" Miles Earl of Hereford. We know that neither grantee had been created an earl before; and we find that the sovereign, in each instance, speaks of having "made" ("fecisse") him an earl.[586] So, again, in the only instance of a "counter-patent" of creation, of which we can be quite certain, namely, that by which the Empress recognized Geoffrey as Earl of Essex after he had received that title from Stephen, the formula used is: "Do et concedo ut sit Comes." The two are essentially distinct. Now, applying this principle to the present charter, we find the latter of the two _formulæ_ employed on this occasion. The words are: "Do ei et concedo ut sit Comes." We infer, therefore, if my view be right, that Aubrey was already in enjoyment of comital rank when he received this charter. It might be, and indeed has been, supposed that he was so by virtue of a creation by Stephen. I have noted an instance in which he attests a charter of Stephen (at the siege of Wallingford) as a "comes,"[587] and it is not likely that Stephen would allow him this title in virtue of a creation by the Empress. On the other hand, in this charter the Empress treats him as already a _comes_, which she does not do in the case of Geoffrey, who had been created a _comes_ by Stephen.[588] The difference between the two cases is accounted for by the fact that Aubrey was _comes_ not by a creation of Stephen, but in right of his wife Beatrice, heiress of the _Comté_ of Guisnes. This has been clearly explained by Mr. Stapleton in his paper on "The Barony of William of Arques,"[589] although he is mistaken in his dates. He wrongly thought, like others, that Aubrey's father, the chamberlain, was killed in May, 1140, instead of May, 1141, and, like Mr. Eyton, he wrongly assigned this charter of the empress to 1141, instead of 1142.[590] His able identification of "Albericus _Aper_" with Aubrey de Vere may be supplemented by a reference to the fact that "the blue _boar_" was the badge of the family through a pun on the Latin _verres_.