Person:Humphrey Stafford (65)

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Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 6th Earl of Stafford, 7th Baron Stafford, (December 1402 – 10 July 1460) of Stafford Castle in Staffordshire, was an English nobleman and a military commander in the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of the Roses. Through his mother he had royal descent from King Edward III, his great-grandfather, and from his father, he inherited, at an early age, the earldom of Stafford. By his marriage to a daughter of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, Humphrey was related to the powerful Neville family and to many of the leading aristocratic houses of the time. He joined the English campaign in France with King Henry V in 1420 and following Henry V's death two years later he became a councillor for the new king, the nine-month-old Henry VI. Stafford acted as a peacemaker during the partisan, factional politics of the 1430s, when Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, vied with Cardinal Beaufort for political supremacy. Stafford also took part in the eventual arrest of Gloucester in 1447.

Stafford returned to the French campaign during the 1430s and for his loyalty and years of service, he was elevated from Earl of Stafford to Duke of Buckingham. Around the same time, his mother died. As much of his estate—as her dower—had previously been in her hands, Humphrey went from having a reduced income in his early years to being one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in England. His lands stretched across much of the country, ranging from East Anglia to the Welsh border. Being such an important figure in the localities was not without its dangers and for some time he feuded violently with Sir Thomas Malory in the Midlands.

After returning from France, Stafford remained in England for the rest of his life, serving King Henry. He acted as the King's bodyguard and chief negotiator during Jack Cade's Rebellion of 1450, helping to suppress it. When the King's cousin, Richard, Duke of York, rebelled two years later, Stafford investigated York's followers. In 1453, the King became ill and sank into a catatonic state; law and order broke down further and when civil war began in 1455, Stafford fought for the King in the First Battle of St Albans which began the Wars of the Roses. Both were captured by the Yorkists and Stafford spent most of his final years attempting to mediate between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions, the latter by now headed by Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou. Partly due to a feud with a leading Yorkist—Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick—Stafford eventually declared for King Henry and the Duke of York was defeated in 1459, driving York into exile. When the rebels returned the following year they attacked the royal army at Northampton. Acting as the King's personal guard in the ensuing struggle, Stafford was killed and the King was again taken prisoner. Stafford's eldest son had died of plague two years earlier and the Buckingham dukedom descended to Stafford's five-year-old grandson, Henry, a ward of the King until he came of age in 1473.

A zealous Lancastrian.

He, and his wife, received papal indults for plenary remission and to choose their own confessor, 1442; they both received an indult for a portable altar, 1443.

Died testate [PCC:Stokton].

Property

• Lord of Tonbridge, Kent {Tonbridge, Kent, England}.
• Lord of Caus, Shropshire
• Acquired the castle of Maxstoke, Warwickshire, 1437.
• Granted the castle and manor of Penshurst, Kent, 1447.

Offices

• [P.C.] Privy Councillor, 1424.
• Lieutenant-General of Normandy, 1430-1432.
• Seneschal of Halton, 1439.
• Captain of Calais and Lieutenant of the Marches, 1442-1451.
• Ambassador to France, 1446.
• Warden of the Cinque Ports.
• Constable of Dover and Queenborough Castles.

Honors

• Knighted, 1421.
• [K.G.] Knight of the Order of the Garter, 1429.

Titles

• Succeeded father in 1403 as Earl of Stafford, title created 1350/1351, and Lord Stafford, title by writ 1298/1299.
• Considered as Earl of Buckingham, in right of his mother, shortly after her death in 1438, when he was allowed the arrears of the 3rd penny of Buckinghamshire: see 'The Complete Peerage', vol. 2 p. 388; vol. 6 p. 476-477 fn. h.
• Created Count of Perche in Normandy, 1431.
• Created Duke of Buckingham, 1444.

1.   Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2. ↑ Cokayne, George Edward, and Vicary Gibbs; et al. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant [2nd ed.]. (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-59)
   vol. 2 p. 62 fn. f, 389.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Cokayne, George Edward, and Vicary Gibbs; et al. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant [2nd ed.]. (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-59)
   2:388-389.
4.   Richardson, Douglas. Plantagenet ancestry : a study in colonial and medieval families. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co Inc, c2004)
   p. 16 BEAUFORT:10.ix, p. 164 GURDON:6.
5.   Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.