Stafford, Humphrey, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Young years

Humphrey was less than a year old when his father, Edmund Stafford, died. Humphrey inherited his vast possessions, as well as the titles of Count and Baron Stafford and Baron Audley. At the same time, 2/3 of the lands were under the control of the mother, Anna of Gloucester, who soon married William Burshier . The official guardian of Humphrey until he was sixteen years old was Jeanne of Navarre , wife of King Henry IV of England ^[1] .

On April 22, 1421, Humphrey was knighted by King Henry V. After the death of King Henry V, Humphrey in 1424 joined the Regency Council, and also became a member of the Privy Council ^[1] . And in 1429 he became a knight of the Order of the Garter ^[2] .

In France, the Hundred Years War resumed at that time. Humphrey took part in it. In 1430-1432 he was lieutenant-general of Normandy , and in 1431 King Henry VI bestowed Humphrey part of the Norman possessions with the title of Count Persha.

In 1438, mother Humphrey died, after which he received under the control of her possession, which included half of the inheritance of the extinct Bohun family. These possessions brought Humphrey significant income, as well as the title of Earl of Buckingham. A September 14, 1444 for Humphrey was created the title of Duke of Buckingham, after which he became one of the most powerful landowners in England ^[1] .

In France, he was the captain of Calais in 1442-1452, Holton's seneschal (in 1439). Since the crown was constantly delaying the payment of salaries to the garrison, Humphrey was forced to pay salaries from his personal funds. The Crown later compensated these expenses only partially ^[1] .

In 1450, Humphrey was appointed Lord Guardian of the Five Ports and Constable of Dover Castle. In addition, Humphrey was the hereditary Supreme Constable of England.

In 1445 and 1446, Humphrey was the representative of the English crown during peace negotiations with the French. On February 18, 1447, the Duke of Buckingham, as the Supreme Constable of England, was among the lords who arrested Humphrey of Lancaster , Duke of Gloucester.

In 1451, Humphrey returned to England. In the same year, Jack Cad’s uprising broke out in Kent . Humphrey, along with John Kemp , the Archbishop of York, tried to negotiate with the rebels, but they ended in complete failure ^[3] .

War of the Scarlet and White Rose

Since 1451, real power in England did not belong to the weak-willed King Henry VI, but to Queen Margaret of Anjou (wife of Henry VI, who completely subjugated her husband to his influence) and the Privy Council, headed by Edmund Beaufort , 2nd Duke of Somerset . Among his supporters was the Duke of Buckingham, who was related to the Duke of Somerset by kinship - Humphrey , Earl of Stafford, the eldest son and heir to the Duke of Buckingham, was married to the daughter of the Duke of Somerset. At the same time, the Duke of Buckingham sought to maintain peace with the Duke Richard of York - Anna Neville, the wife of Buckingham, was the sister of Cecilia Neville , the wife of Richard. However, he was completely removed from control of England, because Henry VI’s entourage (and, first of all, Queen Marghert of Anjou) was afraid that Richard, the male’s closest relative, would try to seize power ^[4] . Fearing for his freedom and life, Richard in 1452 recruited an army and marched on London. He was approached by King Henry, who was accompanied by his supporters, including the Duke of Buckingham. However, it did not come to a battle - the king sent negotiators to Richard, who persuaded him to lay down his arms and disband the army, after which he received royal pardon ^[5] .

But in the next 1453 the situation in England changed. July 17, the British army was defeated at the Battle of Castiglione , which meant the final defeat of England in the Hundred Years War. After receiving the news of this on August 10, Henry VI was struck down by a fit of madness. In this state, he stayed for 15 months. Richard, as the closest relative of the king, sought to become regent, which Marguerite of Anjou, who had just given birth to her son Edward , was trying to prevent. As a result of a long struggle in parliament, Richard was proclaimed protector of the kingdom, and the Duke of Somerset was imprisoned in the Tower ^[6] .

Richard retained power until the birth of 1454, when the king suddenly came to his senses. He freed Somerset from imprisonment and overturned all decisions by Richard of York. Fearing for his freedom, the Duke of York went to the north, where he began to collect troops. Henry VI with the army followed. Both armies stopped near the city of St. Albans . As in 1451, the king tried to resolve the matter peacefully. For this, he sent the Duke of Buckingham to Richard, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. As a result, on May 22, 1455, a battle took place that marked the beginning of a series of conflicts that went down in history as the war of the Scarlet and White Rose. The Duke of Buckingham in this battle was one of the commanders of Henry VI, his eldest son Humphrey also participated in the battle. At the insistence of the Duke of Buckingham, who feared the numerical superiority of the supporters of the Duke of York, the royal army strengthened in the city, hoping that urban positions would serve as additional protection for the army. However, as a result of this decision, it was difficult for Lancasters to organize a clear defense coordination. As a result, the battle ended with the defeat of the royal army. Among the dead was the Duke of Somerset, and the king was captured by Richard. The Duke of Buckingham in the battle was wounded by an arrow in the face, but was able to hide in the abbey of St. Albans. His son Humphrey was wounded by an arrow in his hand ^[7] .

Richard, accompanied by the king, arrived in York and again became the ruler of the kingdom, aided by the new bout of madness of Henry VI. However, supporters of the king refused to recognize the power of Richard, rallying around Queen Margaret of Anjou. Duke Buckingham, who during the second protectorate of Richard York held a balanced position ^[8] .

After his sanity returned to the king in February 1456, Richard again lost all his posts. On October 8, the royal court arrived in Coventry, where the royal council was held. Despite the opposition of the Duke of Buckingham, the council dismissed his half-brothers from official posts, who were appointed by the Duke of York: Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Burshier was removed from the post of Chancellor, and Viscount Henry Borshier from the post of treasurer. On the same day, there was a clash between the people of Henry Beaufort , 3rd Duke of Somerset (the son and heir of Edmund Beaufort who died in St. Albans) and Coventry city guards, but the intervention of the Duke of Buckingham, who had influence on the townspeople, was reconciled ^{[8 ]} .

Soon clashes between supporters of York and Lancaster resumed. On October 12, 1459, the Duke of Buckingham took part in the Battle of Ladford Bridge , after losing in which Richard of York was forced to flee to Wales. After this, Parliament declared supporters of Richard a traitor. The wife of Richard, who gave herself at the mercy of the king, was placed under the supervision of the Duke of Buckingham, her brother-in-law ^[9] .

However, in 1460, some York supporters returned to England. On July 10, one of the Yorkists, Richard Neville , the 16th Earl of Warwick , met the Lancastrian army, commanded by the Duke of Buckingham, at the Battle of Northampton . The battle ended with the defeat of Lancaster, and the Duke of Buckingham died in this case ^[10] .

Since the eldest son of the Duke of Buckingham, Humphrey, had died while his father was still alive, the young grandson of Henry became the heir to his possessions and titles.

Wife: earlier on October 18, 1424, Anna Neville (c. 1411 - September 20, 1480), daughter of Ralph de Neville , 1st Earl of Westmoreland, and Joan Beaufort . Children:

• Humphrey Stafford (c. 1424 - c. 1459), Earl of Stafford
• Sir Henry Stafford (c. 1425 - 4 October 1471)
• John Stafford (November 24 c. 1427 - May 8, 1473), 1st Earl of Wiltshire from 1470, Lord Supreme Stewart of England from 1471
• Edward Stafford (died in infancy)
• Richard Stafford (died in infancy)
• Margaret Stafford (1435 -?); husband: Robert Dunham
• Catherine Stafford (c. 1437 - December 26, 1476); husband: with approx. 1467 John Talbot (December 12, 1448 - June 28, 1473), 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury
• George Stafford (1439 - in infancy), William's twin brother
• William Stafford (1439 - in infancy), George's twin brother
• Joan Stafford (1442-1484); 1st husband: earlier March 4, 1461 (divorce 1477) William Beaumont (April 23, 1438 - December 19, 1507), 2nd Viscount Beaumont ; 2nd husband: with approx. 1477 Sir William Nivette from Buckingham (1440 - 2 December 1515), Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk
• Elizabeth Stafford
• Anna Stafford (1446 - approx. April 14, 1472); 1st husband: approx. April 1460 Aubrey de Vere (died February 20, 1462); 2nd husband: Sir Thomas Cobham (d. 1471), 4th Baron Cobham

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• Ustinov V. G. The Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses. - M .: AST: Astrel, Keeper, 2007. - 637 p. - (Historical library). - 1500 copies - ISBN 978-5-17-042765-9 .
• Burke J. Alamo and the Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England . - London, 1831.
• Tait James. // Dictionary of National Biography . - 1898. - Vol. 53. - P. 451-453.
• Rawcliffe Carole. Stafford, Humphrey, first duke of Buckingham (1402–1460) // Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–2014.

• Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (Neopr.) . thePeerage.com. The appeal date was August 13, 2012. Archived October 2, 2012.
• Stafford family (Neopr.) . Tudor Place. The appeal date is August 13, 2012. Archived October 1, 2012.
• Dukes of Buckingham 1444-1164 (Stafford) (English) . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. The appeal date is August 13, 2012.