| Administrative History | The history and descent of the family and its estates (with pedigrees) from the 11th century can be followed in Carole Rawcliffe The Staffords, Earls of Stafford, Dukes of Buckingham 1394 - 1521 (CUP 1978).
The family can be traced to Ralph de Tonei in the early 11th century and his son Robert Stafford (d 1088). His great-grandson Robert Stafford died without issue in 1193/4 and his sister Millicent, the Stafford heiress married Hervey Bagot (d 1214). Their descendants retained the de Stafford name, as might be expected at this period. This Stafford family were later Earls of Stafford, Dukes of Buckingham (1444-1521), and then reduced to the Barony of Stafford until the line died out in 1640.
The medieval Staffords began as provincial landowners with substantial estates in Staffordshire and lesser estates in Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. The fortunes of the family rose through the military activities and marriages of Ralph Stafford whose second wife, Margaret Audley, was heiress to part of the Clare inheritance, (acquired 1343 - see D641/1/1/4/1), which included property in 13 English Counties and in Wales and Ireland. It is at this point that the manor of Thornbury in Gloucestershire, one of the favoured properties of the later Staffords, came into the family. The Clare property was supplemented with the Corbet inheritance of estates in Shropshire, including the Castle, Borough and lordship of Caus. Ralph Stafford was created Earl of Stafford in 1351 and during his lifetime his annual income rose from around £200 per annum to in excess of £3,000.
The family's fortunes continued high with the marriage of Edmund Stafford, to Anne, daughter of Thomas of Woodstock and granddaughter of Edward III, who brought with her half of the great Bohun inheritance (see D614/1/1/3), which comprised property in 9 English counties as well as substantial Welsh lordships. Further Royal grants of lands followed during the 15th century. In 1444 their son, Humphrey Stafford, was created Duke of Buckingham and after the fall of his kinsman, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1447, he was granted the manor of Penshurst in Kent. By the end of the 15th century the Staffords were the wealthiest magnates in England, second only to the crown, with vast estates in the Welsh marches and property in most English counties. After the rebellion of Henry, 2nd Duke of Buckingham against Richard III in 1483, the estates reverted to the crown only to be restored to his son on the accession of Henry VII in 1485.
After the fall of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, in 1521, the Stafford estates again fell to the crown. This marked a turning point in the family's fortunes from which they would never recover. His son, Edward Stafford, was granted an annual income from his father's Staffordshire and Shropshire estates and the family reverted to the status of minor provincial nobility. In 1531 Henry Stafford and his wife were granted Stafford Castle and he was eventually restored to the nobility in 1548 with the Barony of Stafford and also received back some property in Gloucestershire, including Thornbury. The estates remained small; although other former Stafford property was granted to him in 1550, this was sold to stave off financial ruin. The family's wealth declined to such as degree that his sole remaining grandson, Roger Stafford, in 1637 was refused the title and accession by Charles I on the grounds that he was of 'very mean and low condition'. Instead the Stafford inheritance passed to the sister of Henry Lord Stafford (d 1637), the wife of William Howard, second son of Thomas, Earl of Arundel (see Stafford-Howard). |
| Description | It is evident that although the documents in D641/1 form a massive series of estate records (over 200 court rolls and over 300 account rolls), there has been a substantial dispersal of the documents. The complete lack of original deeds in this group of documents has already been remarked on in the general introduction to Lord Stafford's papers as a whole. This combined with the impressive survival of estate administration papers is the opposite of what occurs so much more frequently.
Deeds
The medieval deeds had disappeared by 1762, as their absence is referred to in correspondence just prior to the Jerninghams' succession to the residue of the medieval Stafford estates (D641/3/E/6/10). The whereabouts of only one large group of the medieval deeds of this estate is known and these relate to Madeley in north Staffordshire, a property which the Crewe family acquired in the 16th century from the Staffords. Their archives are now in the Cheshire Record Office. Some of the deeds relating to properties in various parts of the country (mainly Staffordshire), but mostly affecting or mentioning members of the family, were copied c.1550 - 1600 into the "Great and Little Cartularies" (D1721/1/1,2); reference to the collection of Madeley deeds at the Cheshire Record Office indicates that only a small proportion of the documents were copied into these "cartularies" and that where copied the document itself was suitably endorsed.
There are some copy deeds for the counties of Rutland, Cheshire, Essex, Shropshire and Staffordshire and a fragment of a cartulary for Suffolk estate, c 16th cent. More important are the 16th-century great and little cartularies, largely for the Staffordshire estates, 13th-16th centuries. These are supplemented by the series of documents relating to the partition of the Bohun inheritance and the partition of the Clare inheritance, 14th-15th centuries, which saw substantial accruals to the Stafford estates. In addition there are some leases for the Staffordshire estates, 16th-17th centuries.
Manorial records
Manorial records are a strength of this section and include records for the manors that form the core family estates in Staffordshire and Gloucestershire, although there are few records for the Welsh estates.
Staffordshire: Bradeley, Coppenhall, Rodbaston, Stafford, Forebridge, Madeley, Church Eaton, Barlaston, Tittensor, Blymhill, Brineton, Norton-le-Moors, Darlaston, 13th-16th cent;
Shropshire: Whitchurch, 15th cent
Gloucestershire: Thornbury 14th -16th cent; Mare, 14th-15th cent; Thornbury borough, 14th-16th cent; Honour of Gloucester, 13th-16th cent; Honour of Hereford, 15th cent; Alkerton and Eastington, 14th-16th cent; Newnham borough, 16th cent; Pendcomb, 14th-15th cent.
Also records of various manor courts in the following English counties: Bedfordshire, Kent, Surrey, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Yorkshire, 14th-16th cent. In addition there are a few records of the Welsh lordships, which represent a fraction of the whole.
Estate and household records
The unusually good administrative records of the Stafford estates are the highlight of this medieval collection, and due largely to the personal supervision of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (see Carole Rawcliffe, 'A Tudor nobleman as archivist: The papers of Edward, 3rd Duke of Buckingham' in Journal of the Society of Archivists 5:5 (1976)). Estate administration was hierarchical with a receiver general in overall charge, local receivers with local ministers, and ministers for properties directly under the control of the receiver general. The records comprise accounts of: the receiver-general, 14th-16th cent; the Stafford receiver, 14th-16th cent; the Gloucestershire receiver (mainly Thornbury but also some Wiltshire and Hampshire estates) 14th-16th cent; the Kent and Surrey receiver, 14th-15th cent; the lordship of Holderness, 14th cent; the Border and Welsh lordships, 14th-16th cent; and various properties in Nottinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Warwickshire, 14th-16th cent. For Staffordshire the estate accounts are supplemented with rentals, 15th-16th cent. Interestingly alongside the accounting records are directives from the Dukes about the management of their estates and the importance of good record keeping (D641/1/5/4). The letter book, of Henry Lord Stafford, mid-16th century includes estate correspondence. Other documents include an agreement for the building of Stafford Castle, 1347 (D(W)1721/1/11/f207).
Household accounts survive for the14th-16th centuries, and there is a separate account for Stafford Castle, 16th cent. Among these of particular interest are: the wardrobe account of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, early 14th century, which details the money he borrowed from Italian bankers including the Frescobaldi (D641/1/3/1); and the Household Book of the Duke of Buckingham, 1507-8 (D(W)1721/1/5), which lists individuals at dinner and supper, names of principal guests and number of their attendants.
Personal
Among the personal papers are records collected by John Speed, purchased by the antiquary Stebbing Shaw and then given to Lord Bagot in 1820. They include the letter book and estates record book of Henry, Lord Stafford, which along with the 16th century cartularies, record his attempts to document and possibly retrieve his father's estates and titles. His son Edward, Lord Stafford also kept a register commencing in 1568 and concerned with the last Duke's titles and offices as well as with his estates. Other personal papers include: grants of wardship, 12th and 15th cent; miscellaneous documents concerning public and local military office, 16th cent; and genealogical records, 14th-17th cent. including a 16th-century copy of a roll concerning the concealment of Lord Stafford after his father's capture, 1483 (D(W)1721/1/11/f241-243).
Borough of Stafford
The Lords Stafford from the 16th century onwards were returned as MPs for Stafford and it is probably in this connection that the collection includes a bound collection of documents relating to Stafford Borough, including: copy charters, list of officers, survey, accounts, correspondence, 17th cent. |