Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Humphrey Stafford
The Duke of Buckingham
Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, by William Bond, after Joseph Allen.
Spouse(s)	Lady Anne Neville
Issue Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford Sir Henry Stafford Edward Stafford Catherine Stafford George Stafford William Stafford John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire Joan Stafford Anne Stafford Margaret Stafford
Father	Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford
Mother	Anne of Gloucester
Born	15 August 1402
Died	10 July 1460
Buried	Gray Friars, Northampton

Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 6th Earl of Stafford, KG (15 August 1402 – 10 July 1460) was an English nobleman and a military commander in both the later Hundred Years' War and in the early years of the Wars of the Roses. A great-grandson of King Edward III on his mother's side, he inherited his father's earldom of Stafford at an early age and, through his marriage to a daughter of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, was not only related to the powerful Neville family, but many of the leading aristocratic houses of the time. His early years were spent in relative poverty, as much of his estate was in the control of his dowager mother. Like his fathers, he joined the English campaign in France and fought for King Henry V; on the king's death became a leading councillor for the new king, the six-month old Henry VI. He acted in a peace-making role in the partisan politics of the 1430s, when the duke of Gloucester vied with Cardinal Beaufort for political supremacy, and he was also involved in the arrest of the duke in 1445.

Stafford returned to the French campaign during the 1430s, and, as a result of his loyalty and years of service, he was elevated from earl of Stafford to duke of Buckingham. Around the same time, his mother died, and this turned Buckingham into one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in England of his generation. His lands covered much of the country, ranging from East Anglia to the Welsh border. Being such an important figure in the localities was not without its dangers, and for some time he was constantly feuding with, and being attacked by, Sir Thomas Malory.

Buckingham spent the rest of his life continuing to serve the English crown, but remained in England. He acted as a bodyguard to the king during Jack Cade's Rebellion, and both negotiated with the rebels for the government and, when the rebellion was over, helped investigate the causes of the revolt. He acted in a similar capacity when the king's cousin, Richard, Duke of York rebelled in 1452. As the king became ill, and sank into a coma, the country slid towards civil war. Buckingham fought for the king in the first battle of the Wars of the Roses, at St Albans, where they were both captured by the Yorkists. He spent the last few years of his life attempting to mediate between the Yorkists and the crown, but partly due to a personal feud with one of the leading Yorkists, Richard, Earl of Warwick, eventually threw in his lot firmly behind King Henry. Buckingham was responsible for York's defeat in 1459, which drove the latter into exile; but on the rebels' return the next year, the king was attacked at Northampton. Acting as the king's personal guard, he was cut down and killed, and the king was taken prisoner again. His son had already predeceased him, so Humphrey's dukedom descended to his four year old grandson, Henry Stafford.