Robert d'Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk

Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk, KG (9 August 1298 – 4 November 1369) was an English peer. He was created Earl of Suffolk in 1337.

Born 9 August 1298, Robert de Ufford was the second but eldest surviving son of Robert de Ufford, 1st Baron Ufford (1279–1316), lord of the manor of Ufford, Suffolk, who was summoned to Parliament by writ of the king dated 13 January 1308, by which he is deemed to have become a baron. His mother was Cecily de Valoignes (d.1325), daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert de Valoignes (d.1289) and Eve de La Pecche. He had a younger brother, Sir Ralph Ufford (d.1346).

On 19 May 1318 he had livery of his father's Suffolk lands. He was knighted and received some official employments, being occupied, for example, in 1326 in levying ships for the royal use in Suffolk, and serving in November 1327 on a commission of the peace in the eastern counties under the statute of Winchester. In May and June 1329 he attended the young Edward III on his journey to Amiens.

He was employed on state affairs down to the end of the rule of Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and on 1 May 1330 received a grant for life of Orford Castle in Suffolk, which had been previously held by his father; he also obtained grants of other lands. On 28 July he was appointed to array and command the levies of Norfolk and Suffolk summoned to fight "against the king's rebels". Nevertheless, in October he associated himself with William de Montacute in the attack on Mortimer at Nottingham. He took part in the capture of Mortimer in Nottingham Castle, and was implicated in the deaths of Sir Hugh de Turplington and Richard de Monmouth that occurred during the scuffle; that on 12 February 1331 he received a special pardon for the homicide. He was rewarded by the grant of the manors of Cawston and Fakenham in Norfolk, and also of some houses in Cripplegate that had belonged to Mortimer's associate, John Maltravers, succeeding Maltravers in some posts. He was summoned as a baron to parliament on 27 January 1332. From that time he was one of the most trusted warriors, counsellors, and diplomats in Edward III's service.

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