Hello johnqa,
Thank you for your question.
I think you will find this interesting:
Richard III Society - American branch
http://www.r3.org/basics/basic4.html
"Finding out about people in the 15th century: Henry Stafford, Second
Duke of Buckingham
Continuing our series on fifteenth century people we shall look at the
life of Henry Stafford, Second Duke of Buckingham and his relations
with Richard III - yet another mystery of the period!
The main source is The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of
Buckingham 1394-1521 by Carole Rawcliffe (1978). This book traces the
lives of the first three Dukes of Buckingham and their relationship
with Crown and makes a detailed study of how they managed their
estates and finances. There are also brief biographies of Henry
Stafford in the Complete Peerage,, the Dictionary of National
Biography and The Coronation of Richard III: the extant documents
edited by Anne F. Sutton and P.W. Hammond, (1983); this latter book is
a very useful source for concise biographies of all who attended
Richard's coronation.
Henry was born in 1455 into a noble family who were proud of their
descent from Thomas of Woodstock, the fifth son of Edward III. His
mother was Margaret Beaufort, daughter of Edmund Beaufort, Second Duke
of Somerset and cousin of that other better-known Margaret Beaufort
who was mother of Henry Tudor. When he was only three years old his
father, Lord Humphrey Stafford, died of the plague, so that when his
grandfather the First Duke was killed fighting for the Lancastrians at
the Battle of Northampton two years later, Henry inherited the title.
As heir to a rich inheritance Edward IV purchased his wardship and
marriage from the First Duke's executors, perhaps already seeing him
as a suitable match for one of Elizabeth Woodville's younger sisters.
In 1465 aged eleven he was duly married to Katharine Woodville (which
marriage he always resented according to Dominic Mancini in The
Usurpation of Richard III, edited by C.A.J. Armstrong, 2nd edition,
1969) and shortly afterwards he and his brother became members of
Queen Elizabeth Woodville's household.
He seems to have grown up in court circles, but without being trusted
with any positions of power or authority in government, only purely
formal or ceremonial duties. He took part in the ceremony for the
marriage of Anne Mowbray to Richard Duke of York, when he and Richard
of Gloucester lead the young bride back to the King's Great Chamber
for the wedding banquet. His appointment as High Steward of England
seems only to have been for the period of the Duke of Clarence's
trial.
Perhaps his willingness to ally himself with Richard of Gloucester in
1483 stemmed partly from a desire to have his revenge on the
Woodvilles in whose shadow he had grown up, and partly because he now
saw an opportunity to gain the position and power that he felt was his
due. Whatever the reason, he became Richard's most enthusiastic
supporter, assisting him in the coup at Stony Stratford and acting as
his right hand man through the uncertain weeks leading up to the
coronation. According to More and the London chroniclers it was
Buckingham's golden oratory that persuaded the citizens of London to
offer Richard the crown. Appointed Lord Great Chamberlain he had the
chief rule of the coronation, carried the King's train in the
procession and led the lords in homage.
Richard rewarded Buckingham's support with generous grants of lands
and offices, particularly in Wales and the Marches and also gave him
the remaining de Bohun estates which Edward IV had long witheld from
him.
In view of the power and honours heaped upon him it is difficult to
understand Buckingham's motives in joining the rebellion against
Richard in autumn 1483; some writers have suggested he hoped to win
yet more power and perhaps the crown itself, others have pointed to
his revulsion at the rumour that Richard had had the Princes done away
with, while others have credited the skill of his prisoner Bishop
Morton at persuading him to break his allegiance - we shall never
know. A detailed study of what has been written about the rising
appeared in two parts in The Ricardian, Number 78, September 1982 and
Number 80, March 1983 entitled "The Rebellion of 1483: a study of
Sources and Opinions' by Kenneth Hillier, who also contributed a
series of articles on some of the leading rebels, which have been
collected in Richard III: Crown and People edited by James Petre,
(1985) on pages 101 and 145.
The rebellion collapsed, Buckingham was captured, betrayed by a
servant, and executed at Salisbury on the 2nd November 1483. Richard
refused a last interview with 'him that had best cause to be true.' -
HCH..."
You may be interested in this page on the author of "The Staffords,
Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham 1394-1521", Carole
Rawcliffe:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/his/people/faculty/rawcliffe.shtml
The book is available at Amazon starting at $150:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/052121663X/002-1388319-7526415
And you might email her to see if the book contains images or if she
is aware of any others. Check her page for email information.
But here is an an excellent (and perhaps only) picture of Henry
Stafford from the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco by Dutch
printmaker Jacobus Houbrake in 1747:
http://search.famsf.org/4d.acgi$Record?9197&=list&=21&=jacobus&=And&=28&=0&=keywords&=Yes&=houbraken%20&=&=&=Yes&=&=f
Jacobus Houbraken
Dutch , 1698 - 1780
(Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham), 1747
37.1 x 23.5 cm (image) inches
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts
1963.30.14236
Use their zoom option for a better view.
Interesting that others have also sought out this picture:
http://www.livinghistory.co.uk/general/history/xw_181.html
Sandra Sun Mar 10 2002 02:04:31
Henry Tudor killed the princes!!! hehehe well thats what i think.
ANybody know where I can get a picture of Henry Stafford otherwise
known as Duke of Buckingham? i'm doing a history project on this!
thanks
Sandy
Martyn Sun Mar 10 2002 15:33:02
Sandra-to the best of my knowledge there are on surviving contempory
images of Buckingham
martyn Sun Mar 10 2002 20:04:59
sorry,I meant no not on
Sandra Tue Mar 12 2002 07:51:33
What in the world sorry I don't understand you! :-)
well if you say that there are surviving images of Buckingham may you
please tell me the website because my teacher too couldn't find a
single picture of him
Thank you very much
I hope the image linked above is the one that you and others have
sought.
Search Strategy:
"Henry Stafford" +duke +image OR portrait OR picture
I trust my research has located your picture. If a link above should
fail to work or anything require further explanation or research,
please do post a Request for Clarification prior to rating the answer
and closing the question and I will be pleased to assist further.
Regards,
-=clouseau=- |
