Margaret (Audley) de Stafford (bef. 1324 - 1349)

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

Family and Early Life

Margaret de Audley, suo jure Lady Audley, was the daughter and heiress of Hugh de Audley, Earl of Gloucester, and Margaret de Clare.^[1][2] She was born about 1322-4 (age twenty in 1342),^[1] and had no siblings.

Early in his career Hugh Audley was a member of the royal household and much in favor with Edward II.^[3] However, along with his father he supported the earl of Lancaster in the insurrection of 1321-2 and in March of that year he was taken prisoner at the Battle of Boroughbridge and his lands were seized by the king.^[3][4][5] His wife Margaret was held at Sempringham Priory during this time and not allowed to leave the priory's grounds.^[4] It is likely that their daughter, Margaret, was born during the early months of her mother's captivity. Audley escaped in 1325 shortly after he had been transported to Nottingham Castle, it is not known exactly when his wife and small daughter were released and joined him.

When Edward III took the throne, Audley pledged his allegiance to the new king and his lands were restored to him.^[3] He served in nine parliaments under Edward III; was one of the marshals of the royal army and later an ambassador to France; and on 16 March 1336/7 was created earl of Gloucester.^[3][4]

Marriage and Children

Before 6 Jul 1336, as his 2nd wife, Margaret married Sir Ralph Stafford, K.G., 2nd Lord Stafford, son and heir of Edmund de Stafford, 1st Lord Stafford, and Margaret Basset.^[1][6] Stafford was likely about 35 years of age at this time, and Margaret could have been no older than 14.

Stafford and Margaret's father, Lord Audley, had been sent abroad by the king in 1332 as special envoys to conduct royal business overseas.^[7] Soon after the death of his first wife, Catherine Hastang, Stafford led an armed raid on Audley's manor at Thaxted, abducting his daughter Margaret and forcing her into marriage.^[8] Margaret, who was not only her father's sole heir but also stood to inherit additional wealth and lands from her mother (one of three co-heirs of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford) was estimated to have a potential income of at least £2314 a year, about twenty times the value of Stafford's own estates.^[9] Audley filed legal proceedings against Stafford in July 1336 ,^[8] but the king intervened on Stafford's behalf and the proceedings were eventually dropped.^[9]

There were at least seven children from this marriage:

• Ralph de Stafford; married 1 November 1344 Maud of Lancaster;^[10][11] died c.November 1347^[10][12]
• Hugh de Stafford, KG, 2nd earl of Stafford; married before 1 March 1350/1 Philippe de Beauchamp;^[12][13] died 16 October 1386^[12][13]
• Thomas de Stafford; said by Richardson to have been a clerk^[14]
• Elizabeth de Stafford; married (1) Fulk le Strange, 3rd Lord Strange of Blackmere;^[15][16][17] married (2) John de Ferrers, de jure 4th Lord Ferrers of Chartley;^[15][17] married (3) after 2 April 1367 Reynold Cobham, 2nd Lord Cobham of Sterborough^[7][15][17]
• Beatrice de Stafford; married (1) Maurice Fitz Maurice, 2nd earl of Desmond;^[18] married (2) after 1 January 1359 Thomas de Roos, 4th Lord Roos of Helmsley;^[18][19][20] married (3) before 20 August 1385 Richard de Burley, KG, of Burgate, Hampshire;^[18][21] died 13 April 1415^[22]
• Joan de Stafford; married (1) John de Cherleton, 3rd Lord Cherleton;^{[16] [23][24]} married (2) before 16 November 1379 Gilbert Talbot, 3rd Lord Talbot^[7][23][24]
• Katherine de Stafford; married John de Sutton, Knt, of Dudley, Staffordshire^[25]

Death

Margaret died 7 September 1349, at the age of about twenty-five years.^[14] She was buried at Tonbridge Priory (Priory of St. Mary Magdalene) in Kent at the feet of parents, and her husband Ralph, who died twenty-three years later on 31 August 1372, was eventually laid to rest beside her.^[14][26]

An Inscription found in the Priory reads as follows:
Here (Tunbridge, Kent,) sometime lay entombed the bodies of Hugh de Audley, second son of Nicholas, Lord Audley of Heleigh Castle, in the county of Stafford, who was created Earle of Gloucester by King Edward the third. This Hugh died 10 November 1347. His wife Margaret (first married to Pierce Gaveston Earle of Cornwall) dyed before him in the yeare of our Lord 1342, the 13 day of Aprill. They were both together sumptuously entombed by Margaret their daughter, the onely heire of her parents, wife to Ralph de Stafford, Earle of Stafford. The said Ralph de Stafford and Margaret his wife, were here likewise entombed at the feet of their father and mother, this Ralph by the marriage of his wife Margaret, writ himself in his charters and deeds, Baron of Tunbridge. Hee died 31 August, 1372, Margaret his wife dyed 7 September, 1349. (Weever.)^[27]

Research Notes

• Ralph Stafford-78 (1301) & Margaret de Audley-130 (1318) were removed as parents of

1. Edmund Stafford_De-1 (b. abt. 1270) [he is the father of Ralph]
2. John Stafford-713 (1315)
3. William DeStafford-13 (1306).

Bairfield-1 00:11, 3 May 2014 (EDT)

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author (2011), volume 4, pp. 72-74 STAFFORD 6. Margaret de Audley.Google books
2. ↑ Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol. 5, pp. 79-81 STRATTON AUDLEY. 10. Hugh de Audley.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Cooke, William Henry. Collections Towards the History and Antiquities of Hereford. London: John Murray (1882), pp.8-9.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author (2011), volume 4, pp. 69-72 STAFFORD 6. Margaret de Clare.Google books
5. ↑ Maddicott, J.R. Audley, Hugh, Earl of Gloucester (c.1291-1347). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition (23 Sep 2004), available here by subscription.
6. ↑ Beltz, George Frederick. Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. London: W. Pickering (1841), p. 33.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Rawcliffe, Carole. Stafford, Ralph, first earl of Stafford. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition (23 Sep 2004, rev. 25 May 2006), available here by subscription.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1334-8. H.M. Stationery Office, p. 298 (6 July, Perth). Complaint by Hugh Daudele that Ralph de Stafford...and others...broke his close at Thaxtede, carried away his goods, and abducted Margaret his daughter and heir, then in his custody, and married her against his will.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Rawcliffe, Carole. The Staffords: Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham, 1394-1521. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1978), p. 8.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol. 3, p. 488 LANCASTER 9ii. Maud of Lancaster
11. ↑ National Archives Discovery Center: DL27/36. Agreement, indented, between Henry of Lancaster, earl of Derby...and Hugh Daudelee, earl of Gloucester, and Sir Ralph de Stafford and Dame Margaret his wife..that Ralph son and heir of the said Ralph and Margaret shall marry Maud, daughter of the said earl, and a settlement be made on them...(18 Edw. III)
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2} Rawcliffe, Carole. The Staffords: Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham, 1394-1521. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1978), p. 9.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol. 5, pp. 11-13 STAFFORD 8. Hugh de Stafford.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol. 5, pp. 9-11 STAFFORD 7. Ralph de Stafford.
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol. 5, p.11 STAFFORD 7iii. Elizabeth de Stafford.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Banks, Thomas Christopher. Dormant & Extinct Baronage of England. London: J. White (1807), p. 521.
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1 17.2} Cokayne, George Edward. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom: extant, extinct, or dormant. London: St Catherine Press (1910), vol. 3, pp. 353-354
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1 18.2} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol.4, pp. 496-498. ROOS 10. Thomas de Roos.
19. ↑ Eller, Irvin. The History of Belvoir Castle. London: R. Tyas (1841), pp. 23-24.
20. ↑ Baildon, William Paley. Baildon and the Baildons. London: St Catherine Press (1912), pp. 566.
21. ↑ Calendar of Patent Rolls Edw II 1885-1889. London: H.M. Stationery Office (1971). p. 8.
22. ↑ Kirby, J.L.. "Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry V, Entries 351-406," in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem: Volume 20, Henry V, (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1995), 109-123. British History Online, accessed November 26, 2023, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol20/pp109-123.
23. ↑ ^{23.0 23.1} Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol. 5, p.11 STAFFORD 7v. Joan de Stafford.
24. ↑ ^{24.0 24.1} Cokayne, George Edward. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom: extant, extince, or dormant. London: St Catherine Press (1910), vol. 3, p. 161.
25. ↑ Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author (2013), vol. 5, p.11 STAFFORD 7vi. Katherine de Stafford.
26. ↑ Weever, John. Ancient Funerall Monuments... London: Thomas Harper (1631), p. 323.
27. ↑ Rogers, W.H. Hamilton. The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West. Exeter: James G. Commin (1890), reproduced online by Project Gutenberg, footnote 30.

See also:

• Banks, Thomas Christopher. Baronies in Fee. Ripon: William Harrison (1844), p. 103 (Audley); p. 408 (Stafford)

• Cokayne, George Edward. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom: extant, extince, or dormant. London: St Catherine Press (1910), vol. 1, pp. 346-347.

• Doyle, James. Official Baronage of England. London: Longmans Green and Son (1886), vol. 2, pp. 18-19 (Gloucester); vol 3, pp. 384-385 (Stafford).

• Hunt, William. Stafford, Ralph de. Dictionary of National Biography archive edition.

• Lipscomb, George. The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham. London: J. & W. Robins (1847), vol. 1, pp. 200-201. (Clare pedigree)

• Moor, Rev. C. The Knights of Edward I. Great Britain: John Whitehead and Son (1929), H.S.P. 80, vol. 1, p. 27. (Audley)

• Nicholas, Nicholas Harris. A Synopsis of the Peerage of England. London: J. NIchols and Son (1825), vol. 1, pp. 35-36.

• Wikipedia: Margaret de Audley.

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was re-reviewed for the Magna Carta Project on 8 December 2023 by Jen Hutton.

Margaret (Audley) de Stafford is in a project-approved/badged trail (reviewed January 2015 by a Magna Carta project member) from Gateway Ancestor George Reade to Magna Carta Surety Barons John de Lacy. The Lacy trail branches off into badged trails to Saher de Quincy, Gilbert de Clare and Richard de Clare. These trails are set out in the Magna Carta Trails section of the Gateway's profile.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".