Sir Humphrey Stafford, 1st Earl of Devon, 1st Baron Stafford of Southwick (''ca.'' 143917 August 1469)Michael Hicks, ‘Stafford, Humphrey, earl of Devon (c.1439–1469)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008. was a dominant magnate in

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

in the mid-15th century, and a participant in the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

. A distant relative of the

Earls of Stafford Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

, Humphrey Stafford became the greatest landowner in the county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

through fortunes of inheritance. Later, Stafford was one of several men promoted rapidly through the nobility by King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...

, to fill the

power vacuum In political science and political history, the term power vacuum, also known as a power void, is an analogy between a physical vacuum to the political condition "when someone in a place of power, has lost control of something and no one has r ...

left by dead or forfeit Lancastrians. In the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

it was particularly the forfeitures of the Lancastrian Courtenay family that benefited Stafford. In 1469 he received the Courtenay title of Earl of Devon. Stafford held the comital title for only three months. In July he was sent north to quell a rebellion instigated by the discontented Earl of Warwick. Even though he escaped the disastrous Battle of Edgcote, he was lynched by a mob at

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

on 17 August 1469. Considered an overambitious man by many, Stafford was nevertheless a capable administrator, who enjoyed the absolute confidence of the king.

Family background

The Staffords of Hooke in

and Southwick in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

were a

cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, t ...

of the

and later

Dukes of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingham ...

. Stafford's grandfather was Sir Humphrey Stafford, called "of the silver hand" (d. 1442). His heir was a grandsonyet another Humphrey Staffordwho died childless in 1461. This left Stafford, the future Earl of Devon, heir to the family lands, the greatest part of which was in Dorset and the rest mostly in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

and

(including Southwick Court). Stafford's father, William Stafford (d.1450), was already dead by this time, having fallen victim to Jack Cade's Rebellion on 18 June 1450. William's uncle, and Stafford's grand uncle, was John Stafford,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

(1443–1452). The inheritance of these family lands made Stafford the greatest landowner in the county of Dorset. Through his mother Katherine, he was also heir to the possessions of her father John Chidiock, another major south-western landowner. At some pointdefinitely after 21 June 1450he married Isabel, daughter of Sir John Barre of

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouths ...

Service to the House of York

In the late 1450s, Stafford might have been in the service of his distant relative John Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, son of Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. His association with James Touchet, Baron Audleyone of Wiltshire's menimplies so. If so, this represented a short episode of loyalty to the

House of Lancaster The House of Lancaster was a cadet branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. The first house was created when King Henry III of England created the Earldom of Lancasterfrom which the house was namedfor his second son Edmund Crouchback in 126 ...

over the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of Yor ...

in the ongoing civil war. In 1460 the two were sent to Guînes to relieve the English garrison there. Bad weather forced them into the harbour of

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, which was held by the Yorkist leader Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Here they were both recruited for the Yorkist cause. Stafford took part in the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, where the Yorkist forces under Edward, Earl of March, won a major victory on 2 February 1461. After the

Battle of Towton The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between a ...

on 29 March that year, Stafford was knighted by Edward, who had by now been pronounced King

after the deposition of Henry VI. Later that same year, on 26 July, he received a summons to Parliament for the first time, as Lord Stafford of Southwick. Over the course of the following years, the king granted him numerous lands and offices. In 1461 he was appointed steward of the

Duchy of Cornwall The Duchy of Cornwall ( kw, Duketh Kernow) is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of 'Duke of Cornwall' at ...

and constable of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

, and in 1462 he received the greater part of the Devon estates of Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon, who had been captured at Towton and executed. In 1464 he was made keeper of Dartmoor, and in 1467 he was granted more of the Courtenay manors. Stafford repaid the king's generosity by serving him faithfully as a local commissioner, in a part of the country that had up until that point been fiercely Lancastrian. Throughout the 1460s he presided at Quarter Sessions and other courts all over the

. His activities were not limited to legal commissions; in 1461–2 he performed military service against the Scots, and in 1468 he conducted diplomacy with

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

. In 1469 he was admitted to the Royal Council, and served on the commission that convicted Henry Courtenay, Thomas Courtenay's brother, for treason. According to the chronicler

John Warkworth John Warkworth DD (c. 1425 – 1500) was an English churchman and academic, a Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He is no longer considered to be a chronicler of Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England fr ...

, Henry's downfall was due to the machinations of Stafford, who was rewarded with further land and created Earl of Devon on 17 May 1469. However, the king himself took great interest in the trial against Courtenay, and it is more reasonable to see the decision as a result of Edward's need for a loyal agent in the region.

Death and aftermath

Stafford's quick rise did not go unnoticed among the established aristocracy. In 1468, the discontented Warwick named the Earl of Devon as a courtier with undue influence on King Edward. Warwick and Devon were later reconciled, but the next year Warwick repeated his accusations once more. In an act of rebellion by proxy, Warwick instigated an insurrection in Yorkshire led by a "

Robin of Redesdale Robin of Redesdale ( fl. 1469), sometimes called "Robin Mend-All", was the leader of an insurrection against Edward IV of England. His true identity is unknown, but is thought to have been either Sir John Conyers (d. 1490), steward of Middleham, ...

". At the same time Warwicktogether with

George, Duke of Clarence George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (21 October 144918 February 1478), was the 6th son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of English kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in t ...

, King Edward's brotherstaged an invasion of the country from Warwick's stronghold of

. Devon, together with William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was ordered to gather troops to quell the rebellion. Battle of Barnet retouched

The royal army under Devon and Pembroke intercepted the northern rebelson their way south to meet up with Warwick and Clarenceby Banbury in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

. It is not clear what happened after this. According to Warkworth, Devon and Pembroke quarrelled over billeting arrangements, and Devon took off with the majority of the archers. The next day, on 24 July 1469, Pembroke met the rebels at the Battle of Edgcote, but without Devon's archers, he was thoroughly defeated. The French chronicler Jean de Waurin, however, gives a different account. According to Waurin, Devon left the field of battle once he heard the news that Clarence was arriving with reinforcements. In either case, Pembroke was captured and executed on Warwick's order. Devon managed to escape, but was later captured by a mob at

, and executed on 17 August. Stafford had been Earl of Devon for exactly three months at the time of his death. He and Isabel had no children, so when he died his title became extinct. It was restored the next year for John Courtenay, the brother of Thomas, the last Courtenay earl of Devon. Stafford was buried in Glastonbury Abbey, and a dispute over his lands followed between his cousins. Stafford was considered over-ambitious and unscrupulous by many contemporaries. This can be seen both by Warkworth implicating him in the downfall of Henry Courtenay, and Warwick targeting him as one of King Edward's evil councillors. This thread has also been picked up by modern historians; Charles Ross calls him a "greedy and ambitious man". At the same time, his skills as an administrator can hardly be doubted, as evidenced by King Edward's heavy reliance on him. He could also show a more human and sympathetic side. Michael Hicks describes his activity, from 1467 onwards, in adding codicils to his will "to right the wrongs that he was conscious of committing"the last of these he added as he faced his own execution.

Notes

a. He was listed as "ten years or more" at his father's death on 18 June 1450. b. While it is possible that this Humphrey had a prosthetic hand made of, or plated in silver, it is more likely that he earned this moniker from a reputed generosity. c. "Robin of Redesdale" was an alias; the rebellion was actually led by Warwick's northern retainers.Hicks (1998), pp. 270–1, 275.

References

External links