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Humphrey Stafford Esq. MP (abt. 1427 - 1486)

Humphrey Stafford Esq. MP
Born about in Englandmap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married after 1462 in Englandmap [uncertain]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 59 in Tyburn, Middlesex, Englandmap
Profile last modified | Created 3 Jan 2011
This page has been accessed 11,651 times.
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Contents

Biography

Humphrey Stafford, Esq., was the second but eldest surviving son of Humphrey Stafford, Knt., and Eleanor Aylesbury. He was born about the year 1426/7.[1][2]

Marriage

Humphrey was married after 1462 to Katherine Fray, second daughter and co-heiress of John Fray, Knt., and Agnes Danvers. Katherine was born about 1447 and was age 14 in 1461.[1] Humphrey and Katherine had two sons and two daughters:
  • Humphrey Stafford, Knt., born 1 May 1478, died 22 September 1545, married first to Margaret Fogge (had issue) and second to Joan ____, widow of William Lane[1]
  • William Stafford, Knt., of Bradfield[1]
  • Anne Stafford, married Richard Neville, K.B., 2nd Lord Latimer[1] of Snape, as his first wife and they had twelve children; Anne died sometime between 1500 and July 1522, when her husband remarried[3]
  • Margaret Stafford, married John Archer[1]

Lands and Titles

Humphrey held lands in Grafton, Bromsgrove, Kenswick and Upton Warren in Worcestershire; Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire; Blatherwycke and Pytchley in Northamptonshire; Chebsey in Staffordshire; Abinger in Surrey; Bourton-on Dunsmore, Broadwell, Grandborough, and Hopsford in Warwickshire; Ditchampton in Wiltshire, etc., and, in right of his wife, Cottered, Great Munden, and Rushden in Hertfordshire; and Sudbury in Bedfordshire.[1]
He was a Knight of the Shire (MP) for Worcestershire and Warwickshire.[1]
Humphrey was a strong supporter of King Richard III. While Sheriff in 1483, he held the fords of Severn against his distant kinsman, Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham and brought about the Duke's defeat and death.[1] After the Yorkist defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Humphrey was among those attainted in 1485[1] by the first Parliament of Henry VII.[4][5]

Lovell and Stafford Insurrection

Along with Lord Francis Lovell,[4] Humphrey and his brother, Thomas, hoped to restore a Yorkist monarchy and, in April 1486, the three headed a revolt.[4][6]
The Stafford brothers led the rebellion in Worcestershire and Lovell in Yorkshire, but it was quickly put down. The Staffords found sanctuary in Abingdon Abbey at Culham[6] on 11 May 1486, but were forcibly removed from the abbey on the night of 14 May.[7]
They were tried before the Court of King's Bench. The severity of the offense and Humphrey's claim of sanctuary at Culham were debated by the judges with witnesses being called, including the Abbot of Abingdon. The judges of both benches agreed unanimously that sanctuary could only be granted expressly and did not apply to cases of treason.[8] It was ordered that Humphrey was to be executed.[4][7] His younger brother, Thomas Stafford, was convicted[6] but pardoned on the grounds that he had been misled by his elder brother, but Thomas lost most of his property.[4]
Humphrey was sentenced to be dragged through the city of London to Tyburn hill where he was to be hanged and cut down, then beheaded and quartered (typically his head was put on a spike and displayed, and his quartered body displayed in four rebel towns as a reminder to the people). The sentence as it is read in Latin, did not include disembowelment.[8]

Death

Humphrey was executed on 8 July 1486 at Tyburn, and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars in London.[1]
On 7 August 1486 a commission was appointed to inquiry about lands and properties of those attained in rebellion.[9]
Humphrey's wife Katherine died 12 May 1482.[1] The Inquisitions Post Mortem of "Katharine, late the wife of Humphrey Stafford, Esq." were taken in 1486/7 (after Humphrey was attainted and executed) and in 1499/50: her son Humphrey was named as her heir.[10]

Sources

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2013), Vol. III, pages 240-242, HASTANG 15 & 16, Humphrey Stafford.
  2. Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author, 2011. Vol. I, page 119, BASSET #11, Humphrey Stafford.
  3. Richardson. Royal Ancestry. Vol. III, pages 540-541, LATIMER 16, Richard Neville.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Collections for a History of Staffordshire. New Series, Vol. XI. (London: Harrison and Sons, 1908). Online at Archive.org, page 10.
  5. 'Henry VII: November 1485', in Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, ed. Chris Given-Wilson, et al. (Woodbridge, 2005), British History Online, accessed 5 March 2021.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Wagner, John A. Encyclopedia of the War of the Roses. 2001. ABC Printers. Santa Barbara, Calif. Pages 151-152. Google Books: Lovell-Stafford Uprising (1486)
  7. 7.0 7.1 C. H. Williams. "The Rebellion of Humphrey Stafford in 1486" in The English Historical Review, Vol. 43, No. 170 (Apr. 1928), pp. 181-189. Oxford University Press. Online at JSTOR.
  8. 8.0 8.1 J. W. Willis Bund. A selection of cases from the state trials. Vol. I: Trials for treason (1330-1662). Cambridge University Press, 1879-1882. Pages 42-45. Archive.org.
  9. Rev. William Campbell, ed. Materials for A History of the Reign of Henry VII. Vol. I. London: Her Majesty's Stationery office, 1873 Archive.org.
  10. Maskelyne and H. C. Maxwell Lyte, 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry VII, Entries 201-250', in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Series 2, Volume 1, Henry VII (London, 1898), pp. 61-111. British History Online, Katherine Stafford #224-226.
See also:
  • "Parishes: Rushden" in A History of the County of Hertford, Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 265-270. British History Online.
  • Foster, J. "John William Warre Tyndale, Esq. from the blood royale of England," in The Royal Lineage of Our Noble and Gentle Families, Vol 3. p. 879. 1891. Pedigree Chart.
  • Taylor, James D. Jr. Complete State Trials of the Tudor Era. Algora Publishing, 2019. Google Books: Humphrey Stafford Trial.
  • Wikipedia: Stafford and Lovell rebellion.
  • Desmond Seward. The Last White Rose: The Secret Wars of the Tudors. 2010. Download as .pdf online at 1lib.us, page 25.

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was developed by David Leighr on 6 May 2021 and reviewed and approved by Thiessen-117 7 May 2021.
Humphrey Stafford Esq. MP is on a trail documented by Douglas Richardson between Gateway Ancestor Audrey (Barlowe) Almy and Magna Carta Surety Baron William de Huntingfield (Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. I, pages 114-123 BASSET). This trail was badged by the Magna Carta Project on 17 November 2021. Profiles in this trail, and their status, can be seen in the Magna Carta Trails on the profile of Stafford Barlow.
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".




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Comments: 4

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I have finished working on this profile for the Magna Carta project. I have added two new sources related to the trial of Humphrey Stafford, One is used by the book Last White Rose as one of its sources.
BIO amended thanks for heads up
posted by Robin Wood C.Eng
Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, p. 240 gives a birth of about 1426-7, with no location given. His marriage date is said to be "after 1462", no location given. Children were Humphrey, Knt., William, Knt. (of Bradfield), Anne (wife of Richard Neville, 2nd Lord Latimer), and Margaret (wife of John Archer. Humphrey was executed at Tyburn for his insurrection against Henry VII, and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars, London.
posted by William Collins

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Categories: Huntingfield-11 Descendants | Grafton Manor, Worcestershire | Magna Carta