Contents |
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]
Married Aft 10 May 1457
Eleanor died in 1472 and he m. (2) bef. 12 June 1472 Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), widow of Edmund Tudor, no children.
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.
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Thomas is 22 degrees from Emeril Lagasse, 21 degrees from Nigella Lawson, 21 degrees from Maggie Beer, 39 degrees from Mary Hunnings, 28 degrees from Joop Braakhekke, 30 degrees from Michael Chow, 21 degrees from Ree Drummond, 21 degrees from Paul Hollywood, 21 degrees from Matty Matheson, 24 degrees from Martha Stewart, 31 degrees from Danny Trejo and 27 degrees from Molly Yeh on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
S > Stanley > Thomas Stanley KG
Categories: Knights Companion of the Garter, Richard III creation | Earls of Derby