Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 6th Earl of Stafford, KG

Humphrey Stafford
(1402 –10 July 1460) was an English nobleman and a military commander in
both the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of the Roses. Through his mother he The Duke of Buckingham
had royal blood as a great-grandson of King Edward III, and from his father, he
inherited the earldom of Stafford at an early age. By his marriage to a daughter
of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, Humphrey was not only related to the powerful
Neville family but 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, as a result of 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 Humphrey Stafford, Duke of
her dower—had previously been in her hands, Humphrey went from having a Buckingham, by William Bond, after
reduced income in his early years to being one of the wealthiest and most Joseph Allen.
powerful landowners in England. His lands stretched across much of the country, Biographical data
ranging from East Anglia to the Welsh border. Being such an important figure in
Born December 1402
the localities was not without its dangers, and for some time he feuded violently
with Sir Thomas Malory in the Midlands. Died 10 July 1460 (aged 57)
Buried Gray Friars,
After returning from France, Stafford remained in England for the rest of his life, Northampton
serving King Henry. He acted as the King's bodyguard and chief negotiator
Spouse(s) Lady Anne Neville
during Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450, helping to suppress it. Similarly, when the
King's cousin, Richard, Duke of York, rebelled two years later, Stafford
Issue
investigated York's followers. In 1453, the King became ill and sank into a Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford
catatonic state; law and order broke down further, and the country slid towards Sir Henry Stafford
civil war. When armed conflict broke out in 1455 Stafford fought for the King in John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire
the first battle of the Wars of the Roses, at St Albans, where they were both
More...
captured by the Yorkists. Stafford spent most of his final years attempting to
Father Edmund Stafford, 5th
mediate between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions, the latter by now headed
Earl of Stafford
by Henry's Queen, Margaret of Anjou. Partly due to a personal feud with a
leading Yorkist—Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick—Stafford eventually Mother Anne of Gloucester
declared for King Henry. The weight Stafford could throw behind the royal
campaign was responsible for Richard, Duke of York's defeat 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, so the Buckingham
dukedom descended to Stafford's five-year-old grandson, Henry, a ward of the King until he came of age in 1473.
 Contents
Background and youth
Early career
Estates
Affinity and problems in the localities
Later career
Wars of the Roses
Battle of St Albans
Last years
Death at Northampton
Aftermath
Character
Family
Cultural references and portrayals
Notes
References
Bibliography

Background and youth

Humphrey Stafford was born in Stafford sometime in December 1402.[1] He was
the only son of Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford, and Anne of Gloucester,
who was the daughter of Edward III's youngest son Thomas of Woodstock.[1]
This gave Humphrey royal blood, and made him a second cousin to the then
King, Henry IV.[2]

On 21 July 1403, when Humphrey was less than a year old, his father was killed
fighting for King Henry against the rebel Henry Hotspur at the Battle of
Shrewsbury.[1] Humphrey became 6th Earl of Stafford.[3] With the earldom
came a large estate with lands in more than a dozen counties. Before his mother
Anne had married Edmund she had previously been married to Edmund's older
brother, Thomas. As a result, she had accumulated two dowries,[note 1] each
Arms of Sir Humphrey Stafford, 1st
comprising a third of the Stafford estates. She occupied these lands for the next
Duke of Buckingham, KG
twenty years,[7] and Humphrey received a reduced income of less than £1,260 a
year until he came of age. As his mother could not, by law, be his guardian,[8]
Humphrey became a royal ward and was put under the guardianship of Henry IV's queen, Joan of Navarre.[1] His minority was to
be a long one, lasting the next twenty years.[9]

Early career
Although Stafford received a reduced inheritance, as the historian Carol Rawcliffe has put it, "fortunes were still to be made in
the French wars". Stafford assumed the profession of arms.[1] He fought with Henry V during the 1420 campaign in France and
was knighted on 22 April the following year.[1] On 31 August 1422, while campaigning, Henry V contracted dysentery and died.
Stafford was present at his death and joined the entourage that returned to England with the royal corpse.[10][11] When Stafford
was later asked by the royal council if the King had left any final instructions regarding the governance of Normandy, he claimed
that he had been too upset at the time to be able to remember.[12] Stafford was still a minor,[12] but parliament soon granted him
livery of his father's estate, allowing him full possession. The grant was based on Stafford's claim that the King had orally
promised him this before dying. The grant did not require him to pay a fee into the Exchequer, as was normal.[13][note 2]

The new King, Henry VI, was still only a baby, so the lords decided that the dead King's brothers—John, Duke of Bedford and
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester—would have to be prominent in this minority government. Bedford, it was decided, would rule
as regent in France, while Gloucester would be chief councillor (although not protector) in England. Stafford became a member
of the new royal council on its formation.[17] It first met in November 1422[18] and Stafford was to be an assiduous attender for
the next three years.[19] Gloucester repeatedly claimed the title of Protector based on his relationship to the dead King. By 1424,
the rivalry between him and his uncle Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester—as de facto head of council[20]—had become
outright conflict. Although Stafford seems to have personally favoured the interests of Gloucester in the latter's struggle for
supremacy over Beaufort,[12] Stafford attempted to be a moderating influence.[1] For example, in October 1425, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Portuguese Duke of Coimbra and Stafford helped to negotiate an end to a burst of violence that had erupted in
London between followers of the two rivals.[21] In 1428, when Gloucester again demanded an increase in his power, Stafford was
one of the councillors who personally signed a strong statement to the effect that Gloucester's position had been formulated six
years earlier, would not change now, and that in any case the King would attain his majority within a few years.[12] Stafford was
also chosen by the council to inform Beaufort—now a Cardinal—that he was to absent himself from Windsor until it was decided
if he could carry out his traditional duty of Prelate to the Order of the Garter now that the Pope had promoted him.[12]

Stafford Castle, the Stafford family
seat, as it remains in 2017
Stafford was made a knight of the Order of the Garter in April 1429.[22] The
following year, he travelled to France with the King for Henry's French
coronation, escorting him through the war-torn countryside.[23] The Earl was
appointed Lieutenant-General of Normandy,[24] Governor of Paris, and
Constable of France over the course of his next two years of service there.[1]
Apart from one occasion in November 1430 when he and Thomas Beaufort,
Duke of Exeter took the English army to support Philip, Duke of Burgundy,
Stafford's primary military role at this time was defending Paris and its
environs.[25] He also attended the interrogation of Joan of Arc in Rouen in 1431;
at some point during these proceedings, a contemporary alleged, Stafford
attempted to stab her and had to be physically restrained.[1][26]

On 11 October 1431 the King created Stafford Count of Perche, which was a province in English-occupied Normandy; he was to
hold the title until the English finally withdrew from Normandy in 1450.[27][28] The county was valued at 800 marks per
annum,[29][note 3] although the historian Michael Jones has suggested that due to the war, in real terms "the amount of revenue
that could be extracted ... must have been considerably lower".[27] Since Perche was a frontier region, in a state of almost
constant conflict,[31] whatever income the estate generated was immediately re-invested in its defence.[32]

In England, the King's minority ended in 1436. In preparation for his personal rule, the council reorganised Henry's Lancastrian
estates to be under the control of local magnates. This gave Stafford responsibility for much of the north Midlands, which was the
largest single area of the duchy to be delegated among the nobility.[33] This put the royal affinity—those men retained directly by
the Crown to provide a direct link between the King and the localities[34]—at his command.[35]

Estates
The centrepiece of Stafford's estates, and his own caput, was Stafford Castle. Here he maintained a permanent staff of at least
forty people, as well as a large stable, and it was especially well-placed for recruiting retainers in the Welsh Marches,
Staffordshire, and Cheshire.[36] He also had manor houses at Writtle and Maxstoke, which he had purchased as part of most of
the estates of John, Lord Clinton.[37] Writtle was particularly favoured by the Earl,[38] and they were both useful when the royal
court was in Coventry.[39] Likewise, he made his base at Tonbridge Castle when he was acting as Warden of the Cinque Ports or
on commission in Kent.[40] His Marcher castles—Caus, Hay, Huntingdon, and
Bronllys—had, by the 1450s, generally fallen into disrepair, and his other border
castles, such as Brecon and Newport, he rarely used.[40] Stafford's Thornbury
manor was convenient for Bristol and was a stopping point to and from
London.[40][note 4]

Stafford's mother's death in 1438 transformed his fiscal position. He now

received the remainder of his father's estates—worth about £1,500—and his
mother's half of the de Bohun inheritance, which was worth another £1,200. The
latter also included the earldom of Buckingham, worth £1,000 on its own;
Stafford had become one of the greatest landowners in England overnight.[1]
"His landed resources matched his titles", explained Albert Compton-Reves,
scattered as they were throughout England, Wales and Ireland,[42] with only the
King and the Richard, Duke of York wealthier.[43] One assessment of his estates
suggests that, by the late 1440s, his income was over £5,000 per annum,[44] and Brecon Castle in 2006; this was the
K. B. McFarlane estimated Stafford's total potential income from land to have Duke of Buckingham's traditional
base in the Welsh Marches
been £6,300 gross annually, at its peak between 1447 and 1448.[45][46] On the
other hand, the actual yield may have been lower; around £3,700:[47] rents, for
example, were often difficult to collect. Even a lord of the status of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, owed Stafford over £100 in
unpaid rent for the manor of Drayton Bassett in 1458.[48] In the 1440s and 1450s, Stafford's Welsh estates were particularly
notable for both their rent arrears and public disorder.[49] Further—and like most nobles of the period—he substantially
overspent, possibly, says Harriss, by as much as £300 a year.[50] His treasurer, William Wistowe, when rendering his accounts for
the years 1452–1453, noted that Stafford was owed £730 by his reckoning, some debts being 20 years old. Despite this, says
Woolgar, "there [is] no suggestion that [Stafford] found it difficult to obtain cash or goods".[51][note 5]

Affinity and problems in the localities

In the late medieval period, all great lords created an affinity between themselves and groups of supporters, who often lived and
travelled with them for purposes of mutual benefit and defence,[53] and Humphrey Stafford was no exception. These men were
generally his estate tenants, who could be called upon when necessary for soldiering, as well as other duties,[54] and were often
retained by indenture.[note 6] In the late 1440s his immediate affinity was at least ten knights and twenty-seven esquires, mainly
drawn from Cheshire.[46] By the 1450s—a period beginning with political tension and ending with civil war—Stafford retained
men specifically "to sojourn and ride" with him.[57] His affinity was probably composed along the lines laid out by royal
ordinance at the time which dictated the nobility should be accompanied by no more than 240 men, including "forty gentlemen,
eighty yeomen and a variety of lesser individuals",[46] suggested T. B. Pugh, although in peacetime Stafford would have required
far fewer. It was directly due to the political climate that this increased, especially after 1457.[58] Stafford's household more
generally has been estimated at around 150 people by about 1450,[59] and it has been estimated that maintaining both his affinity
and household cost him over £900 a year.[46]

Along with Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, Stafford was the major magnatial influence in Warwickshire,[60] so when
Warwick left for a lengthy tour of duty in France, in 1437, Stafford became the centre of regional power stretching from
Warwickshire to Derbyshire.[37] He was sufficiently involved in the royal court and government that he was often unable to
attend to the needs of his region.[1] This caused him local difficulties; on 5 May 1430 a Leicestershire manor of Stafford's was
attacked[61] and he faced problems in Derbyshire in the 1440s, although there, Helen Castor has said, Stafford "made no attempt
to restore peace, nor made any attempt to intervene at all".[62] Stafford also had major estates on the Welsh Marches. This area
was prone to regular lawlessness and particularly occupied his time as a royal justice.[1]
 One of the best-known disputes Stafford had with his local gentry was in his
Midlands heartlands. This was with Sir Thomas Malory. On 4 January 1450,
Malory, with twenty-six other armed men, waited for Stafford near Coombe
Abbey woods—near the Stafford's Newbold estate—intending to ambush
him.[63] Stafford fought back, repelling Malory's small force with sixty
yeomenry.[64] In another episode, Malory stole deer from the earl's park at
Caludon.[65] Stafford personally arrested Malory on 25 July 1451.[66] The Earl
Maxstoke Castle, purchased by
also ended up in a dispute with William Ferrers of Staffordshire, even though the
Stafford from Lord Clinton
region was the centre of Stafford's authority and where he may have expected to
be strongest. Ferrers had recently been appointed to the county King's Bench and
attempted to assert political control over the county as a result.[67] Following Cade's rebellion in 1450, Stafford's park at
Penshurst was attacked by local men whom the historian Ralph Griffiths describes as "concealing their faces with long beards and
charcoal-blackened faces, calling themselves servants of the queen of the fairies".[68] Towards the end of the decade, not only
was he unable to prevent feuding amongst the local gentry, but his own affinity was in discord.[69] This may in part be due to the
fact that at this time he was not spending much of his time in the Midlands, preferring to stay close to London and the King,
dwelling either at his manors of Tonbridge or Writtle.[70]

Later career
In July 1436, Stafford, accompanied by Gloucester,
the Duke of Norfolk, and the Earls of Huntingdon,
Warwick, Devon, and Ormond, returned to France
again with an army of nearly 8,000 men.[72] Although
the expedition's purpose was to end the siege of
Calais by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundians
had withdrawn before they arrived,[73] leaving behind
a quantity of cannon for the English to seize.[74]
Subsequent peace talks in France occupied Stafford
throughout 1439, and in 1442 he was appointed
Captain of Calais[1] and the Risbanke fort, and was
indented to serve for the next decade.[75] Before his
departure for Calais in September 1442, the garrison
had revolted and seized the Staple's wool in lieu of
unpaid wages. Stafford received a pledge from the
council that if such a situation arose again during his
tenure, he would not be held responsible.[76] In light
of the secrecy that cloaked Stafford's appointment in
1442, suggests David Grummitt, it is possible that the
revolt had actually been staged by his servants to
ensure that Stafford "had entry [to Calais] on
favourable terms".[77] Stafford himself emphasised
the need to restore order there in his original
application for the office.[78] He also received another
important allowance, being granted permission to
export gold and jewels (up to the value of £5,000 per Rouse's text reads:
trip) for his use in France, even though the export of
bullion was illegal at the time.[79] He served the full
term of his appointment as Calais captain, leaving
office in 1451.[1]

Around 1435, Stafford was granted the Honour of

Tutbury, which he held until 1443. Then, says
Griffiths, Buckingham proceeded to transfer it one of
his councillor's sons.[80][note 7] Other offices he held
around this time included Seneschal of Halton from
1439, and Lieutenant of the Marches from 1442 to
1451. Stafford became less active on the council
around the same time.[82] He became Lord Warden of
the Cinque Ports, Constable of Dover Castle and
Constable of Queenborough, on the Isle of Sheppey,
in 1450. He again represented the Crown during
further peace talks with the French in 1445 and
1446.[1]

In the event, Stafford rarely visited Calais. Factional

strife had continued intermittently between Beaufort
and Gloucester, and Stafford—who had also been
appointed Constable of England—was by now firmly
in the Beaufort camp.[50][83] In 1442, he had been on
the committee that investigated and convicted
Gloucester's wife, Eleanor Cobham, of witchcraft,[50]
and five years later he arrested the Duke at Bury St
Edmunds on 18 February 1447 for treason.[1] Like
many others, Stafford profited substantially from
Gloucester's fall: when the latter's estates were
divided up, the "major prizes"[84] went to the court
nobility.[84]
Here shewes howe Philip Duc of Burgoyn
beseged Caleys/ And humfrey Duc of Gloucester
Richard Erle of Warrewik and humfrey Erle of
Stafford. w' a greet multitude. went over the see/
and folowed the Duc 0f Burgoyn he ever fleyng
before them / And there they sore nioed the
Contrey. w' fire and swerd.[71]
— John Rouse, Beauchamp Pageant

In September 1444, as reward for his loyal and continuous service to the Crown, he was created Duke of Buckingham.[85] By
then he was already describing himself as "the Right Mighty Prince Humphrey Earl of Buckingham, Hereford, Stafford,
Northampton and Perche, Lord of Brecknock and Holdernesse".[86] Three years later he was granted precedence over all English
dukes not of royal blood.[87] Despite his income and titles he was consistently heavily out of pocket. Although rarely in Calais, he
was responsible for ensuring the garrison was paid, and it has been estimated that when he resigned and returned from the post in
1450, he was owed over £19,000 in back wages.[88] This was such a large amount that he was granted the wool trade tax from the
port of Sandwich, Kent until it was paid off.[79] His other public offices also forced him to spend over his annual income, and he
had household costs of over £2,000.[1] He was also a substantial creditor to the government, which was perennially short of
cash.[89]

With the outbreak of Jack Cade's rebellion, Buckingham summoned about seventy of his tenants from Staffordshire to accompany
him while he was in London in May 1450.[90] He was one of the lords commissioned to arrest the rebels as part of a forceful
government response on 6 June 1450, and he acted as a negotiator with the insurgents at Blackheath ten days later.[91] The
promises that Buckingham made on behalf of the government were not kept, and Cade's army invaded London.[92] After the
eventual defeat of the rebellion, Buckingham headed an investigatory commission designed to pacify rebellious Kent,[93] and in
November that year he rode noisily through London—with a retinue of around 1,500 armed men—with the King and other peers,
in a demonstration of royal authority intended to deter potential troublemakers in the future.[94] Following the rebellion,
Buckingham and his retinue often acted as a bodyguard to the King.[95]

Wars of the Roses

In 1451, the King's favourite, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, replaced Suffolk as the King's chief councillor,[96] and
Buckingham supported Somerset's government.[97] At the same time, he tried to maintain peace between Somerset and York,
who by now was Somerset's bitter enemy.[98] When York rebelled in 1452 and confronted the King with a large army at Dartford,
Buckingham was again a voice of compromise, and, since he had contributed heavily towards the size of the King's army, his
voice was heeded.[99] Buckingham took part in a peace commission on 14 February that month in Devon, which prevented
Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon from joining York at Dartford.[100] A year later, in August 1453, King Henry became ill, and
slipped into a catatonic state; government slowly broke down. At Christmas, Buckingham personally presented the King's son—
the newly-born Edward, Prince of Wales—to the King. But Henry remained unable to respond.[101] Buckingham took part in the
council meeting which resulted in the arrest and subsequent year-long imprisonment of the Duke of Somerset.[98] In the February
1454 parliament Buckingham was appointed Steward of England, although Griffiths called this position "largely honorific".[102]
This parliament also appointed York as Protector of the Realm from 27 March 1454.[103] Buckingham supported York's
protectorate, attending York's councils more frequently than most of his fellow councillors.[104] The King recovered his health in
January 1455, and, soon after, Somerset was released—or may have escaped—from the Tower. A contemporary commented how
Buckingham "straungely conveied" Somerset from prison,[104] but it is uncertain whether this was as a result of the King
ordering his release or whether Somerset escaped with Buckingham's connivance.[105] Buckingham may well by now have been
expecting war to break out, because the same year he ordered the purchase of 2,000 cognizances—his personal badge of the
'Stafford knot'[106]—even though strictly the distribution of livery was illegal.[107]

Battle of St Albans
Following the King's recovery, York was either dismissed from or resigned his protectorship, and together with his Neville allies,
withdrew from London to their northern estates. Somerset—in charge of government once again—summoned a Great Council to
meet in Leicester on 22 May 1455. The Yorkists believed they would be arrested or attainted at this meeting. As a result, they
gathered a small force and marched south. The King, with a smaller force[108] that nonetheless included important nobles such as
Somerset, Northumberland, Clifford and Buckingham and his son Humphrey, Earl of Stafford,[109] was likewise marching from
Westminster to Leicester, and in the early morning of 22 May, royal scouts reported the Yorkists as being only a few hours away.
Buckingham urged that they push on to St Albans—so that the King might dine[110]—which was not particularly easy to
defend.[note 8] Buckingham also assumed that York would want to parley before launching an assault on the King, as he had in
1452. The decision to head for the town and not make a stand straight away may have been a tactical error;[108] the contemporary
Short English Chronicle describes how the Lancastrians "strongly barred and arrayed for defence" immediately they arrived.[108]

The King was lodged in the town and York, with the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, encamped to the south.[111] Negotiations
commenced immediately. York demanded that Somerset be released into his custody, and the King replaced Somerset as Lord
High Constable with Buckingham,[112] making Somerset subordinate.[110] In that capacity, Buckingham became the King's
personal negotiator—Armstrong suggests because he was well known to be able to "concede but not capitulate"[109]—and
received and responded to the Yorkists' messengers.[113] His strategy was to play for time,[114] both to prepare the town's
defences[115] and to await the arrival of loyalist bishops, who could be counted on to bring the moral authority of the church to
bear on the Yorkists.[115] Buckingham received at least three Yorkist embassies, but the King—or Buckingham—refused to give
in to the main Yorkist demand, that Somerset be surrendered to them.[116] Buckingham may have hoped that repeated
negotiations would deplete the Yorkists' zest for battle, and delay long enough for reinforcements to arrive.[117] Buckingham
 made what John Gillingham described as an "insidiously tempting
suggestion"[118] that the Yorkists mull over the King's responses in
Hatfield or Barnet overnight.[118] Bukingham's confidence in how
reasonable the Yorkists would be[119] was misplaced.[109]

The Yorkists realised what Buckingham—"prevaricating with

courtesy", says Armstrong[120]—was trying to do and battle
commenced while negotiations were still taking place: Richard,
Earl of Warwick launched a surprise attack at around ten o'clock in
the morning.[117][121] Buckingham commanded the King's army of
2,500 men, although his coordination of the town's defence was
problematic, giving the initiative to the Yorkists.[118] Although the
defences that Buckingham had organised successfully checked the
Yorkists' initial advance,[122] Warwick took his force through
Estimated disposition of the Yorkist (blue) and
gardens and houses to attack the Lancastrians in the rear. The battle
Lancastrian (red) armies at the first Battle of St
Albans, 22 May 1455 was soon over, and had lasted between half an hour[117] to an
hour[122] with only about 50 casualties. They included senior
Lancastrian captains: Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland and
Lord Clifford had all been killed.[note 9] Buckingham himself was wounded three times in the face[113][126] by arrow fire[123]—
and sought sanctuary in the abbey.[127][note 10] His son appears to have been badly wounded. A chronicler reported that some
Yorkist soldiers, intent on looting, entered the abbey to kill Buckingham, but that the Duke was saved by York's personal
intervention.[109] In any case, says Harriss, Buckingham was probably captured with the King,[128] although he was still able to
reward ninety of his retainers from Kent, Sussex[92] and Surrey. It is not known for certain whether these men had actually fought
with him at St Albans; as K. B. McFarlane points out, many retinues did not arrive in time to fight.[129]

Last years
York now had the political upper hand, made himself Constable of England and kept the King as a prisoner, returning to the role
of Protector when Henry became ill again.[103] Buckingham swore to "draw the lyne" with York,[130] and supported his second
protectorate, although losing Queen Margaret's favour as a result. A contemporary wrote that in April 1456 the Duke returned to
his Writtle manor, not looking "well plesid".[104] Buckingham played an important role at the October 1456 Great Council in
Leicester.[131] Here, with other lords, he tried to persuade the King to impose a settlement, and at the same time declared that
anyone who resorted to violence would receive "ther deserte"[132]—which included any who attacked York.[1]

In 1459, with other lords, he renewed his oath of loyalty to the King and Prince of Wales.[133] Until this point he had been a voice
of restraint within the King's faction.[134] But he had been restored to her favour that year and—as she was the de facto leader of
the party—his realignment was decisive enough that it ultimately hastened the outbreak of hostilities again. Buckingham may
also have been partially motivated by financial needs,[135] and encouraged to do so by those retainers reliant on him.[136] He had
a bigger retinue than almost any other noble in England[135] and was still the only one who could match York in power and
income.[137] This was demonstrated at the Battle of Ludford Bridge in October 1459, where his army played a decisive part in the
defeat of the Yorkist forces.[138][135] Following their defeat, York and the Neville earls fled Ludlow and went into exile; York to
Ireland, the earls to Calais. They were attainted at the Coventry parliament later that year, and their estates distributed amongst
the Crown's supporters. Buckingham was rewarded by the King with extensive grants from the estates of Sir William Oldhall,[1]
worth about £800 per annum.[139] With York in exile, Buckingham was granted custody of York's wife, Cecily, Duchess of York,
whom, a chronicler reports, he treated harshly in her captivity.[139]

Death at Northampton
From the moment the Duke of York and the Neville earls
left England it was obvious to the government that they
would return; the only question was when. After a series of
false alarms in early 1460, they eventually did so in June,
landing at Sandwich, Kent.[140] They immediately marched
on, and entered, London; the King, with Buckingham and
other lords, was in Coventry, and on hearing of the earls'
arrival, moved the court to Northampton.[141] The Yorkists
left London and marched to the King; they were
accompanied by the Papal legate Francesco Coppini. In the
lead up to the Battle of Northampton, the Earls of Warwick
and March sent envoys to negotiate,[141] but Buckingham
—once again the King's chief negotiator,[142] and backed
by his son-in-law, the Earl of Shrewsbury and Lords
Beaumont and Egremont[141]—was no longer
conciliatory.[141] Buckingham denied the Yorkists' envoys'
repeated requests for an audience with Henry,[143]
denouncing the earls: "the Earl of Warwick shall not come
to the King's presence and if he comes he shall die".[144]
Buckingham condemned the bishops who had accompanied
the Yorkist army as well, telling them that they were not
men of peace, but men of war, and there could now be no
peace with Warwick.[144] Personal animosity as much as Estimated positions of the Yorkist and Lancastrian
political judgment was responsible for Buckingham's armies at Northampton, 10 July 1460
attitude, possibly, suggests Rawcliffe, the result of
Warwick's earlier rent evasion.[138] Buckingham's
influential voice was chief among those demanding a military response to Warwick and March;[145] the Duke may also have
misinterpreted the Yorkists' requests to negotiate as a sign of weakness,[146] seeing the coming battle as an opportunity to settle
scores with Warwick. But Buckingham misjudged both the size of the Yorkist army—which outnumbered that of the King[141]—
and the loyalty of the Lancastrian army.[146] Whatever plans Buckingham had, says Carol Rawcliffe, they "ended abruptly" on
the battlefield.[138]

Buckingham's men dug in outside Northampton's southern walls, and fortified behind a tributary of the River Nene, close to
Delapré Abbey.[147] Battle was joined early on 10 July 1460. Although it was expected to be a drawn-out affair—due to the near-
impregnability of the royal position—it was shortened considerably when Lord Grey of Ruthin turned traitor to the King.[146]
Grey "welcomed the Yorkists over the barricades" on the Lancastrian wing[142] and ordered his men to lay down arms, allowing
the Yorkists access to the King's camp. Within half an hour, the battle was over.[146] By 2:00 pm, Buckingham, the Earl of
Shrewsbury, Lord Egremont and Viscount Beaumont, had all been killed by a force of Kentishmen.[146] The Duke was buried
shortly after at Grey Friars Abbey in Northampton.[1]

Buckingham had named his wife Anne sole executrix of his will. She was instructed to provide 200 marks to any clergy who
attended his funeral, the remainder being distributed as poor relief. She was also to organise the establishment of two chantries in
his memory, and, says Barbara Harriss, he left "exceedingly elaborate" instructions for the augmentation of Pleshy
college.[148][note 11]

Aftermath
Michael Hicks has noted that Buckingham was one of the few Lancastrian loyalists who was never accused by the Yorkists of
being an "evil councillor",[151] even though he was—in Hicks's words—"the substance and perhaps the steel within the ruling
regime".[151] Although Buckingham was not attainted when the Duke of York's son, the Earl of March, took the throne as King
Edward IV in 1461,[138] Buckingham's grandson Henry became a royal ward, which gave the King control of the Stafford estates
during the young duke's minority.[152] Henry Stafford entered into his estates in 1473 but was executed by Edward's brother
Richard—by then King, and against whom Henry had rebelled—in November 1483.[153]

Character
Humphrey Stafford has been described as something of a hothead in his youth,[154] and later in life he was a staunch anti-Lollard.
Lustig suggests that it was probably in connection to this that Sir Thomas Malory attempted his assassination[155] around 1450—
if indeed he did, as the charge was never proved. Buckingham did not lack the traits traditionally expected of the nobility in this
period of the time, particularly, in dispute resolution, that of resorting to violence as a first rather than last resort. For instance, in
September 1429, following an altercation with his brother-in-law the Earl of Huntingdon, he arrived at parliament fully
armed.[156] On the other hand, he was also a literary patron: Lord Scrope presented him with a copy of Christine de Pizan's
Epistle of Othea, demonstrating his position as a "powerful and potentially powerful patron",[157] and its dedicatory verse to
Buckingham is particularly laudatory.[158] On Buckingham's estates—especially on the Welsh marches—he has been described
as a "harsh and exacting landlord" in the lengths he went to in maximising his income.[159] He was also competent in his land
deals, and seems never—unlike some contemporaries—to have had to sell land to stay solvent.[160]

G. L. Harriss noted that, although he died a staunch Lancastrian, he never showed any personal dislike of York in the 1450s, and
that his personal motivation throughout the decade was loyalty to the Crown and keeping the peace between his peers.[161]
Rawcliffe has suggested that although he was inevitably going to be involved in the high politics of the day, Buckingham "lacked
the necessary qualities ever to become a great statesman or leader ... [he] was in many ways an unimaginative and unlikeable
man".[162] On the latter quality, Rawcliffe points to his reputation as a harsh taskmaster on his estates and his "offensive
behaviour"[162] towards Joan of Arc. Further, she says, his political judgement could be clouded by his attitude.[162] His temper,
she says, was "ungovernable".[1]

Family
Humphrey Stafford married Lady Anne Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland and Lady Joan Beaufort
(Westmorland's second wife), at some point before 18 October 1424.[1] Anne Neville was a literary patron in her own right, also
receiving a dedication in a copy of Scrope's translated Othea.[157] On her death in 1480, she left many books in her
will.[163][note 12] Scholars generally agree that Buckingham and Anne had twelve children, consisting of seven sons and five
daughters.[1] Sources conflict over the precise details of the Staffords' progeny.[note 13] The antiquarian, I. W. Dunham, writing in
1907, listed them as Humphrey, Henry, John, Anne (married Aubrey de Vere), Joana (married Viscount Beaumont before 1461),
Elizabeth, Margaret (born about 1435, married Robert Dinham),[note 14] and Katherine (married John Talbot before 1467).
[note 15] James Tait lists the daughters as Anne, Joanna, Elizabeth, Margaret and Catherine and suggests that Elizabeth and
Margret never married.[note 16] Rawcliffe gives the following as dates of birth and death for three of the daughters: Anne (1446–
1472), Joan (1442–1484) and Katherine (1437–1476).[1] Edward and the twins, George and William, died young. The seventh
son has gone unremarked in the sources.[171]

The marriages Buckingham arranged for his children were structured around strengthening his ties to the Lancastrian royal
family. Of particular importance were the marriages of two of his sons, Humphry and Henry. They married into the Beaufort
family, which was descended from the illegitimate children of John of Gaunt[172] and thus of royal blood.[173] There was also,
about 1450, discussion[170] regarding a proposal for one of Buckingham's daughters to marry the Dauphin of France
(subsequently Louis XI).[170][note 17] Had it proceeded, it would have again linked the French Crown with the Lancastrian
regime.[174]

The Stafford knot, the
cognizance of the earls
of Stafford and dukes of
Buckingham, worn by
their retainers to
indicate their allegiance
Buckingham's eldest son, Humphrey, married Margaret Beaufort. She was the daughter of
Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Eleanor Beauchamp. Margaret and Humphrey's son
was Buckingham's eventual heir.[1] A second link to the Beaufort family was between
Buckingham's second son, Sir Henry Stafford (c. 1425–1471), who became the third husband
of Lady Margaret Beaufort, daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Margaret
Beauchamp. Margaret Beaufort had previously been married to Edmund Tudor, the eldest half-
brother of Henry VI, and had given birth to the future King Henry VII two months after
Edmund's death. She and Henry were childless.[175] Buckingham's third surviving son, John
(died 8 May 1473) married Constance Green of Drayton,[175] who had previously been the
duke's ward.[176] Humphrey Stafford assigned them the manor of Newton Blossomville at the
time of their marriage.[177] John was created Earl of Wiltshire in 1470.[178]

Buckingham arranged good but costly

marriages for three of his daughters.[1] Anne married Aubrey de Vere, son of
John de Vere, Earl of Oxford.[179] Their 1452 marriage cost Buckingham 2,300
marks; he was slow to pay, and still owed Oxford over £440 seven years
later.[180] In 1452, Joan married William Beaumont, heir of Viscount Beaumont.
Katherine married John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury six years later. Buckingham
had apparently promised to give them £1,000 but died before acting on the
promise.[181]
The first page of the First Folio,
illustrating Henry VI, Part 2, with a
Cultural references and portrayals subtitle emphasising Buckingham's
Buckingham was depicted, during his son's lifetime, "mounted in battle death
array"[71]—showing him during the 1436 campaign against Burgundy—in the
pictorial genealogy, the Beauchamp Pageant.[182] [note 18]

T. L. Lustig has suggested that Thomas Malory, in his Morte d'Arthur, based his character Gawaine on Buckingham. Lustig
suggests that Malory may have viewed the Duke as being "peacemaker and warlord, warrior and judge"—qualities which the
writer also ascribed to his Arthurian character.[154] Buckingham appears in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2 (c. 1591), in which
his character conspires in the downfall and disgrace of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester.[184]

According to Martin Wiggins of the Shakespeare Institute,[185] Buckingham may be the eponymous character of the early-17th-
century play, Duke Humphrey, which is now lost.[186]

Notes
1. The legal concept of dower had existed since the late twelfth century as a means of protecting a woman from
being left landless if her husband died first. He would, when they married, assign certain estates to her—a dos
nominata, or dower. The amount was usually a third of everything he was seised of. By the fifteenth century, the
widow was deemed entitled to her dower.[4] Stafford's situation was not uncommon in the late middle ages. When
Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent, inherited the title from his childless brother Thomas in 1404, the estates had to
support the dowers of their mother Alice, his brother's widow, Joan Stafford, and his aunt, Elizabeth of Lancaster,
Duchess of Exeter.[5] When Edmund died in 1408, his wife then became the fourth dowager on the inheritance.
There being no male heirs though, it was broken up and divided amongst them and Edmund's five sisters.[6]
 2. The feudal system was based on the premise that all land belonged to the king. What was held directly by the
king was the royal demesne. That which was granted away was held on his behalf by tenants-in-chief.[14] If a
tenant-in-chief died without leaving an adult heir who could immediately receive the inheritance, the estates
escheated (returned to the king).[15] The king would hold the estates until the heir (if any) reached his majority, at
which point he would apply for livery of seisin: the right to enter his estates. Possession was usually obtained by
paying a fine to the exchequer.[16]
3. A medieval English mark was an accounting unit equivalent to two-thirds of a pound.[30]
4. Christian Woolgar has noted that, by this period, noble families were less peripatetic than they had been in the
Early Middle Ages, and were tending to spend a greater amount of their time on fewer manors; Buckingham, he
says, "spent much time at Writtle and Maxstoke".[41]
5. One of the most luxurious contemporary foodstuffs—sugar—says Woolgar, is a good barometer of the health of a
medieval cashflow. Buckingham's household, he notes, consumed 245 pounds (111 kilograms) of the stuff in
1452–1453. In comparison, less than 50 years earlier, Richard, Bishop of Chichester, had used 50 pounds (23
kilograms) in 1406.[52]
6. K. B. McFarlane uses the example of John of Gaunt to illustrate the wide variety of staff that could be indentured;
Gaunt contracted with, among others, his surgeons, chaplains, clerk, falconer, cook, minstrels, heralds, and legal
counsels.[55] Buckingham retained one Thomas Edmond, physician, to be available at all times with three horses,
a yeoman, and a page, for which Edmond received £10 in wages.[56]
7. Tutbury did not remain within his influence for long; in 1444 the King granted it to his childhood companion Henry,
Duke of Warwick. The historian Christine Carpenter has commented that, for Stafford, "the prospect of [Tutbury's]
eventual alienation to someone who was then so young, whose interests in the north midlands were nothing like
as strong as his own, and the eventual exclusion of any other grantees, including the Staffords, must have
seemed profoundly insulting to Humphrey".[81] Carpenter suggests, though, that the transfer of the Honour to
Warwick should be seen as a favour to Warwick rather than an explicit criticism of Stafford.[81]
8. For example, it had no walls, only a defensible ditch, and access to the south of the main street was easy.[108]
9. A contemporary chronicler observed how "when the said lords were dead, the battle was ceased".[123] The
historian C. A. J. Armstrong suggested that this may indicate that the Lancastrian lords' deaths were less an
accident of war and more an "act of private revenge on a few prominent individuals" by York and the
Nevilles.[124][125]
10. The Earl of Wiltshire had also taken refuge with the King and Buckingham, but escaped as the Yorkists
approached; he was reported to have fled dressed in the garb of a monk, discarding his armour as he
went.[124][125]
11. The college had been founded within Holy Trinity parish church by Thomas, Duke of Gloucester in 1394, and on
his death it had been inherited by his daughter, Buckingham's mother, and eventually passed to the duke himself.
The Victoria County History describes how the college was to be "augmented by three priests and six poor men,
its possessions increased with lands to the amount of 100 marks yearly and a chapel built on the north side of
the church, in which mass was to be said daily".[149] Anne seems to have done little regarding Buckingham's
wishes until 1467, when, with her second husband Walter, Lord Mountjoy, she received licence to grant the
college an estate worth about 40 marks per annum.[149] The church was almost completely rebuilt in 1888, but
some of the central arches remain of the original 14th-century building.[150]
12. Anne lists her still-living children in her will of 1480: her "son Buckingham"—meaning her grandson Henry—and
"my daughter Beaumond", "my son of Wiltshire", "my daughter of Richmond" and "my daughter Mountjoy".[164]
13. As Harald Kleinschmidt has noted, "determining the precise age of a person was difficult because birth dates
were rarely recorded before the nineteenth century and because baptism was usually dated in terms of the day
and the month, but not of the year in which it had occurred".[165] Further, says Hugh M. Thomas, there is an
"inherent difficulty of calculating birth dates from life events" such as marriages.[166]
14. The Dinhams were one of the wealthiest gentry families in Devon of the period.[167]
15. Dunham, however, says that Humphrey was killed at the battle of St. Albans in 1455,[168] rather than dying in
1458 (either from wounds sustained in the battle or of plague).[169]
16. The suggestion is by omission.[170]
17. Tait suggests that the proposal was in regard to Buckingham's eldest daughter while Rawcliffe indicates it was in
respect to Anne.[170][1] The two authors are in conflict as to Anne being the eldest daughter.
18. According to the British Library, the Pageant was probably compiled by the antiquarian John Rouse, under the
patronage of Anne, Countess of Warwick, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, in 1485.[183] The Beauchamp
Pageant is currently held by the library as BL Cotton MS Julius, e iv. They describe the Pageant as "the only
illustrated biography of a secular figure to have survived from the late middle ages".[183]

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2. Griffiths 1979, p. 20.
3. Cokayne 1912, p. 389.
4. Kenny 2003, pp. 59–60.
5. Stansfield 1987, pp. 151–161.
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30. Harding 2002, p. xiv.
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125. Grummitt 2015, p. 179.
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 Honorary titles
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord High Constable
The Duke of
The Earl of Stafford 1403–1460
Buckingham
Preceded by Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports Succeeded by
The Lord Saye and Sele 1450–1459 The Lord Rivers

Peerage of England
Duke of Buckingham
New creation
1444–1460 Succeeded by
Preceded by Earl of Stafford Henry Stafford
Edmund Stafford 1403–1460

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