Humphrey (Stafford), 1st Duke of Buckingham

1402 - 1460  (57 years)

• Heraldry		Arms of Stafford (Earl of Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, Baron Stafford) Or a chevron Gules. Source: Burke's General Armory, last ed. (1884), Fourth Impression (London: Heraldry Today, 1984), page 958.
  		Arms of Stafford quartering Arms of Thomas of Woodstock (Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Stafford, Baron Stafford) Quarterly, 1st and 4th, quarterly France Modern and England within a bordure Argent (THOMAS OF WOODSTOCK); 2nd and 3rd, Or a chevron Gules (STAFFORD).

  
  

• Name	Humphrey (Stafford)  [1]
  Suffix	1st Duke of Buckingham
  Born	15 Aug. 1402  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Decoration	1421  [1]
  	Knighthood
  Office	1424  [1, 2]
  	Privy Councillor (P.C.)
  Decoration	22 April 1429  [1, 2]
  	Knight of the Order of the Garter (K.G.)
  Hereditary Title	Earl of Stafford  [2]
  Hereditary Title	1431  [1, 2]
  	Count of Perche [Normandy, 1431]
  Hereditary Title	Before 1438  [1, 2]
  	jure matris Earl of Buckingham
  	He is called "Earl of Buckingham and Stafford," when created a Duke (1444) according to the recital of that creation in the Parliamentary settlement of his precedency. In an indenture 13 Feb. (1443/4) 22 Hen. VI he is styled "The Right Mighty Prince Humphrey, Earl of Buckingham, Hereford, Stafford, Northampton, and Perche, Lord of Brecknock and Holderness." He did not, however, add thereto the title of "Earl of Essex," though his grandfather, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Buckingham, had assumed that title, (as well as those of Hereford and Northampton) having married the daughter and co-heiress of Humphrey (de Bohun), Earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton. The Earldom of Perche was a foreign title and the Lordships of Brecknock and Holderness were not peerage dignities. [2]
  Office	1439  [1, 2]
  	Seneschal of Halton
  Hereditary Title	14 Sept. 1444  [1, 2]
  	1st Duke of Buckingham [E., 1444]
  	The precedency belonging (chronologically) to this creation was interfered with by the creation of the Dukedom of Warwick, 5 April following, with precedence next after the Duke of Norfolk and before that of the Duke of Buckingham. The controversy thus raised was settled by Parliament giving to each Duke alternately, year and year about, the precedency. It was, however, terminated by the death, sine prole mascula, of the Duke of Warwick, 11 June 1446. See as to Precedency of Peers by Royal Warrant, The Complete Peerage, 2nd ed., volume I (1910), Appendix C. [2]
  Office	1442–51  [1, 2]
  	Captain of Calais and Lieutenant of the Marches
  Office	1430–32  [1, 2]
  	Lieutenant-General of Normandy
  Office	1446  [1, 2]
  	Ambassador to France
  Office	1450  [1, 2]
  	Warden of the Cinque Ports
  	He bought this office from the 2nd Lord Saye and Sele, who held it in fee. [3]
  Office	16 July 1450  [1, 3]
  	Constable of Dover and Queenborough Castles
  Died	10 July 1460	Northampton, Northamptonshire, England   [1]
  	He was a zealous Lancastrian, in which cause he was slain at the Battle of Northampton. With him were slain Thomas (Percy), Lord Egremont, father of his daughter's husband, and Viscount Beaumont. [3]
  Buried	Grey Friars, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England   [3]
  Person ID	I742	British Peerage & Gentry
  Last Modified	12 Aug. 2018

  
  

  Father	Edmund (Stafford), 5th Earl of Stafford,   b. 2 March 1377/78,   d. 21 July 1403, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England  (Age 25 years)
  Mother	Lady Anne (Plantagenet), of Gloucester,   b. April 1383,   d. 16 Oct. 1438  (Age ~ 55 years)
  Married	1398  [4]
  Family ID	F261	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Lady Anne Neville,   d. 20 Sept. 1480
  Married	Before 18 Oct. 1424  [3]
  Children	+ 1. Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford,   d. 1457/58   2. Lord (Sir) Henry Stafford,   d. 4 Oct. 1471 + 3. John (Stafford), 1st Earl of Wiltshire,   b. 24 Nov. 1420,   d. 8 May 1473  (Age 52 years)   4. Lady Anne Stafford,   d. circa 14 April 1472   5. Lady Joan Stafford   6. Lady Katharine Stafford,   d. 26 Dec. 1476
  Last Modified	12 Aug. 2018
  Family ID	F408	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  On 22 May 1447, he had a grant of special precedence given him "before all Dukes who might thenceforward be created, excepting descendants of the King's body." [2]

  
  

• Sources

  [S2] BP 2003, Charles Mosley (ed.), (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd., 2003), volume 3, page 3707. [S22] The Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (eds.), (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1910–59; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, 2000), volume II, page 388. [S22] The Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (eds.), (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1910–59; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, 2000), volume II, page 389. [S8] BP 1970, Peter Townend (ed.), (London: Burke's Peerage Ltd., 1970), page liv.