Thomas Stanley KG (1435 - 1504)

Born 1435 in Lathom, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret (Beaufort) Stanley — married before 12 Jun 1472 in Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, England

Descendants

Died 29 Jul 1504 at about age 69 in Lathom, Lancashire, England

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Sir Thomas Stanley was a member of the aristocracy in Europe.

Biography

Thomas was born in 1435. 1st Earl of Derby. Knight of the Garter. Constable of England. Died 28 Jul 1504 Lathom, Ormskirk, Lancashire, England Buried: Priory, Burscough, Lancashire, England. ^[1]

Father: Sir. Thomas STANLEY, Baron, b. Abt 1409, , d. 11 Feb 1458, Knowsley, Huyton, Lancashire, England

Mother: Joan GOUSHILL, Baroness Stanley, b. Abt 1408, Hoveringham, Nottingham, England, d. Aft Feb 1459

Wife 1: Eleanor NEVILLE, b. Abt 1438, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, d. 1504

Married Aft 10 May 1457

Thomas Stanley and Eleanor Neville had eleven children, of which three attained positions of great status and authority:

1. John Stanley died young.
2. George Stanley (jure uxoris 9th Baron Strange) (1460–1503), K.G., K.B. – his heir apparent and father of his eventual heir Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby.
3. Richard Stanley died young.
4. Sir Edward Stanley, K.G., 1st Lord Monteagle (1462–1524)
5. James Stanley, Bishop of Ely (1465–1515).
6. Thomas Stanley died 1475.
7. William Stanley died young.
8. Anne Stanley died young.
9. Alice Stanley died young.
10. Katherine Stanley died young.
11. Agnes Stanley died young.

Eleanor died in 1472 and he m. (2) bef. 12 June 1472 Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), widow of Edmund Tudor, no children.

Titles of Sir Thomas Stanley

Esquire of the Body to King Henry VI 1454

Chief Justice of Chester and Flint 1461

Steward of Blackburnshire 1463-80

Lord Steward of the Household 1471-83, 1484-85

Privy Councillor 1471, 1485

Constable of England 1483, 1486

High Forester of England north of Trent 1485

Chief Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster (Northern parts) 1485

Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, KG (1435 – 29 July 1504) was titular King of Mann, an English nobleman and stepfather to King Henry VII of England. He was the eldest son of Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley and Joan Goushill, and through his mother a lineal descendant of King Edward I of England by Elizabeth Plantaganet, Countess of Hereford and the FitzAlan family of Arundel.^[2]

Thomas fought on the Lancastrian side at the battle of Northampton. He then joined Edward IV but switched his support briefly to Warwick. After the battle of Barnet, Thomas re-joined Edward. However, he finished the Wars of the Roses a Lancastrian, betraying Richard III at Bosworth. As a result, his stepson Henry won the kingdom.^[3]

THOMAS STANLEY, 1ST EARL OF DERBY AND 2ND BARON STANLEY, was a nobleman who played a prominent part during the reigns of Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII.

He married Warwick's sister Eleanor, and gained Edward IV's favour. In Edward's pretended war upon France (1475), in support of Charles the Bold, Stanley was the ready recipient of the bribes of the French king [Louis XI], and it was in a great measure in consequence of his counsel thus inspired that Edward IV became a party to the Treaty of Pecquigny, Sept. 13, 1475.

During the brief reign of Edward V Lord Stanley figured as a loyal upholder of the rights of his young sovereign, and was one of the nobles arrested at the council board in Richard of Gloucester's coup d'état of the 13th June, 1483. Gloucester, however, not only forbore proceeding to extremities with him, but sought to secure his service by conferring upon him the high office of Constable of England.

On the death of his first wife, Eleanor Neville, Lord Stanley married Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. On the landing of Henry Tudor at Milford Haven, Lord Stanley, on a plea of illness, refused to join Richard, and was only kept from following the example of his brother, Sir William Stanley, who had openly united with the invader, by the fact of his son, Lord Strange, being detained in Richard's hands as a security for his father's good faith. He still, however, kept in the neighbourhood of the invaders with a force of some 5,000 men, and it was his sudden support of Richmond in the heat of the battle that decided the day [cf. The Battle of Bosworth Field].

At the coronation of his step-son, Henry VII, at which he officiated as High Constable, he was raised to the dignity of Earl of Derby; and apparently continued in friendly relations with Henry VII to his death.

Occupation

1st Earl of Derby; the last King of Mann

Burial

Priory, Burscough, LAN, England

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia:Thomas_Stanley,_1st_Earl_of_Derby.
2. ↑ http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasStanley(1EDerby).htm
3. ↑ http://www.historyextra.com/feature/treachery-what-really-brought-down-richard-iii

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, pp. 125-7.

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry, 2013 Vol. V pp. 203-205.

• Royal Ancestry D. Richardson 2013 Vol. V pp. 28-30

• The Peerage.

• European Heraldry #2 Crests by Arnaud Bunel, Arnaud Bunel , (Coats of Arms for European Royalty and Nobility (http://www.heraldique-europeenne.org, Arnaud Bunel, 1998) , Internet).

• Kings & Queens of England (1) Antonia Fraser, Fraser, Antonia, ((New York:NY, Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1975)), p. 70-71.

• Wives: Six wives of King Henry VIII (Alison Weir), Weir, Alison, ((New York:NY, Grove Weidenfeld, 1991); ISBN 0-8021-1497-0;), 942.05'2'092-dc20., p. 613.

• Hope, Sir William Henry St. John. The Stall Plates of the Knights of the Order of the Garter, 1348-1485 (A. Constable and Co., ltd., Westminster, 1901) Plate LXXXVI.

• Nicolas, Nicholas Harris. Testamenta Vetusta (Nichols & Son, London, 1826) Vol. 2, Page 458-60