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John Clifford is a descendant of a number of Surety Barons. See below.
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Sir John Clifford, Knt., 9th Lord Clifford, of Appleby, Westmorland, was born at Conisbrough Castle, Yorkshire, on 8 Apr 1435, the heir of Thomas Clifford, the 8th Baron, and his wife Joan Dacre.[1][2] He was a beneficiary of 12 silver dishes[3] in the will, dated 15 Aug 1446,[4] of his great aunt and godmother Maud Clifford, widow of Richard of York, Knt., Earl of Cambridge.[1] John inherited, from his father Thomas Clifford, the barony of Clifford,[4][5] the family seat at Skipton Castle,[5] and the hereditary office of High Sheriff of Westmorland.[4][5]
He married, about 1453, Margaret Bromflete, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Bromflete, Knt., Lord Vescy, of Londesborough, Yorkshire, by his 2nd wife, Eleanor Fitz Hugh, daughter of Henry Fitz Hugh, K.G., 3rd Lord Fitz Hugh, Lord High Treasurer. They had 3 children:[1]
John, a Lancastrian, supported the traditional allies of his family, the Percy family, who were in a bitter feud with the House of Neville in Yorkshire. On 24 August 1453, John joined Thomas Percy and Sir Richard Percy when they tried to ambush the returning wedding party of Thomas Neville and Maud Stanhope at Heworth Moor in North Yorkshire.[5]
Some time before May 1453, when John was about 18 years old, his mother died. This was when his father contracted to marry Elizabeth Dacre, a lady in waiting to Queen Margaret of Anjou. However, this marriage never took place. Two years later, on 22 May 1455, his father was killed at the 1st Battle of St. Albans, the first battle in the Wars of the Roses, leaving him an orphan.[1] John was still under age at the time, and was not able to prove his age in order to obtain his lands until 16 June 1456.[2][4]
In February 1458 and 'with a grete power' John demanded compensation for his father's death at St. Albans.[4] King Henry VI and his council intervened, and ordered that the Duke of York and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick should pay the monastery of St. Albans to establish masses for Thomas Clifford and the other notable Lancastrians who died during the battle and pay their children a notable sum of money.[2][7]
John is said to have killed Edmund, Earl of Rutland himself: long after John’s own death, lurid accounts were written portraying John slaughtering Edmund (in some accounts Edmund is wrongly said to have been a boy of 12) in a brutal and pitiless way.[2] Writing in about 1540, the antiquary John Leland wrote that John Clifford killed so many during the battle that he was known as the "boucher", that is, butcher.[2] The much later account by the chronicler Holinshed that John cut off the head of the Duke of York after the battle and presented it decked with a paper crown to Queen Margaret of Anjou[9] is almost certainly invention.[4][10]
The Battle of Ferrybridge was a small engagement between the houses of York and Lancaster before the larger Battle of Towton. On 27 Mar 1461, the Earl of Warwick, forced a crossing at Ferrybridge, which the Lancastrians had previously destroyed, by bridging the gaps with planks. Early the next morning the Yorkists were ambushed by a large party of Lancastrians under Sir John Clifford and Lord John Neville and again destroyed the bridge. Warwick sent his uncle, Lord Fauconberg with the Yorkist cavalry upstream where they crossed the ford at Castleford and pursued Lord Clifford.[10][11]
John Clifford's men retreated north, but they were caught at Dinting Dale, to the northeast of the village of Saxton and not far from the main Lancastrian army. He was killed on 28 Mar 1461,[1] 11 days shy of his 27th birthday, by a chance arrow to his throat after loosening the straps on his bevor (an armor piece designed to protect the mouth and throat), possibly so he could breathe better, scan the battlefield more quickly and shout commands.[12][13] It was said he was buried in a pit with the others slain there.[2] All of his titles and estates were then forfeited through a posthumous attainder[2] by the first parliament in the reign of King Edward IV on 4 Nov 1461.[5]
His widow Margaret married Sir Lancelot Threlkeld[2] before 14 May 1467.[1]
Through his father:
Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor[14] - 22th great grandfather.
William I, "The Conqueror", King of England[15] - 12th great grandfather.
Henry II, King of England[16] - 9th great grandfather.
Philippe IV, King of France [17] - 6th great grandfather.
Edward I, "Longshanks", King of England[18] - 6th great grandfather.
Edward III, King of England[6] - 4th great grandfather.
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Featured National Park champion connections: John is 15 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 20 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 15 degrees from George Catlin, 17 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 25 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 15 degrees from George Grinnell, 22 degrees from Anton Kröller, 14 degrees from Stephen Mather, 22 degrees from Kara McKean, 18 degrees from John Muir, 14 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 26 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Categories: Battle of Towton | Edward III 6th Gen Descendants | Battle of Wakefield | Battle of Ferrybridge | Sheriffs of Westmorland | Lacy-284 Descendants | Clavering-13 Descendants | Clare-673 Descendants | Clare-651 Descendants | Bigod-2 Descendants | Bigod-1 Descendants | Quincy-226 Descendants | Magna Carta
edited by Michael Cayley