Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham,  KG (4 September 1455 – 2 November 1483) played a major role in  King Richard III's rise and fall. [1]  He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance (and presumed murder) of the Princes in the Tower. Buckingham was related to the royal family of England in many different ways, but his connections were all through daughters of younger sons. His chances of inheriting the throne would have seemed remote, but he played the role of a 'kingmaker' for Richard III and, unsuccessfully, for Henry VII.

Family
Buckingham was the son of Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford, and Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Stafford. Three of his four grandparents were descended from Edward III of England:

Thus, Buckingham was closely related to the royal families of England and Scotland. Five of his near relations became King of England - his (Lancaster) first cousin, thrice removed Henry VI, his (Beaufort/Neville) first cousins, once removed Edward IV and Richard III, his second cousin Edward V, and his (Beaufort/Holland) second cousin, once removed Henry VII - while two relations became Queen consorts of England: his (Beauchamp) first cousin, once removed (and Beaufort/Neville second cousin) Lady Anne Neville and his (Beaufort/Neville) second cousin, Elizabeth of York. His (Beaufort/Holland) first cousin, once removed was James II of Scotland.
 * Buckingham's paternal grandfather was Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who was the son of Anne of Gloucester, daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward III.
 * Buckingham's paternal grandmother was Lady Anne Neville, a daughter of Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, while Buckingham's maternal grandfather was Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, the youngest son of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset. John and Joan Beaufort were illegitimate children of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, (the third son of Edward III) and Katherine Swynford. (They were later legitimized by John of Gaunt but were not in the direct line and could not claim the throne).

Early life
His father,  Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford, supported the  House of Lancaster in the initial phase of the  Wars of the Roses. He died in 1458 of wounds after  First Battle of St Albans, and his paternal grandfather,  Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, another leading Lancastrian, was killed at the  Battle of Northampton (10 July 1460). After his grandfather's death, Henry was recognized as  Duke of Buckingham. The new Duke eventually became a ward of Queen  Elizabeth Woodville<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">,  consort<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;"> of  Edward IV of England<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">.

<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Marriage and issue
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Sometime before the Queen's coronation in May 1465 he was married to her sister <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">  Catherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham and Bedford<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">(b.1458). Both parties were children at the time; they were carried on squires' shoulders at the coronation ceremony and were reared in the queen's household together. According to Dominic Mancini<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">, Buckingham resented his wife and the other Woodvilles because of his marriage to a woman of a lower status.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Nevertheless, the couple had four children:


 * Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (3 February 1478 – 17 May 1521), who was executed by order of Henry VIII of England.
 * Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex (c. 1479 – 11 May 1532), who married Robert Radclyffe, 1st Earl of Sussex. She was mother to Henry Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Sussex and grandmother of Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex.
 * Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire (c. 1479 – 6 April 1523)
 * Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon (c. 1483 – 1544), who married George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon. She was mother to Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, and grandmother to both Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, and George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon.

Accession of Richard III
<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">When Edward IV died in 1483 and the Woodvilles struggled with Edward's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, over the <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">  guardianship<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">of the young <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">  Edward V<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">, Buckingham sided with Richard. Buckingham was with Richard when they took possession of the young King Edward V at <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">  Stony Stratford<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">in April 1483. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;">Buckingham supported Richard's claim to the throne. Parliament subsequently declared Edward V illegitimate, offering Richard the throne. Richard accepted, becoming Richard III.

The Bohun Estate
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<p style="margin-top:0.5em;">Buckingham's motives in these events are unclear. His antipathy to Edward IV and his children probably arose from two causes. One was his dislike for their mutual Woodville in-laws, whom Edward greatly favoured. Another was his interest in the Bohun estate. Buckingham had inherited a great deal of property from his great-great-grandmother, Eleanor de Bohun, wife of Thomas of Woodstock and daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Essex and Northampton.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;">Eleanor's younger sister and co-heir Mary de Bohun married Henry Bolingbroke, who eventually became Henry IV, and her share of the de Bohun estates became incorporated into the holdings of the House of Lancaster. The House of Lancaster ruled England as Kings from 1399 to 1461. When Henry VI was deposed by Edward IV of the House of York, Edward appropriated that half into the Crown property. Humphrey's grandson Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, claimed those lands should have devolved to him instead. Unsuccessful in regaining the property from Edward, he was awarded these lands by Richard III, pending approval of Parliament. This was probably one of Buckingham's motives in supporting Richard's accession as King.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]

Rebellion of 1483
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;">In 1483, a conspiracy arose among a number of disaffected gentry, supporters of Edward IV. Buckingham started working with John Morton, Bishop of Ely. The conspirators originally planned to depose Richard III and place Edward V back on the throne. When rumours arose that Edward and his brother (the Princes in the Tower) were dead, Buckingham intervened, proposing instead that Henry Tudor return from exile, take the throne and marry Elizabeth of York. For his part, Buckingham would raise a substantial force from his estates in Wales and the Marches.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[3]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;">Richard eventually put down the rebellion; Henry's ships ran into a storm and had to go back to Brittany. Henry's own ship was storm-driven to take shelter in a harbour of Jersey, an island of largely Yorkist sympathisers at that time, and Henry was given secret shelter for several days by the Red Rose Lieut-Bailiff of Jersey, Clement Le Hardy, until the weather moderated, and Henry's ship could continue his return to Brittany. Meantime, Buckingham's army was greatly troubled by the same storm and deserted when Richard's forces came against them. Buckingham tried to escape in disguise, seeking Sanctuary at the Abbey of Beaulieu in the New Forest and probably hoping to be able to arrange sea-passage to Brittany since the Beaulieu River was navigable down to the sea at that date, and Bucklers Hard was a seaport; but Buckingham was turned in for the bounty Richard had put on his head, and he was convicted of treason and beheaded in Salisbury on 2 November. A monument in nearby Britford Church has been identified as his. Following Buckingham's execution, his widow, Catherine, married Jasper Tudor.

The Princes in the Tower
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;">Richard III is alleged to have consolidated his power by eliminating his brother's children, who could even after their bastardisation serve as figureheads or incentives to rebellions. However, there is some question about Buckingham's involvement in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;">If Richard was responsible for killing the Princes in the Tower, the murders may have caused Buckingham to change sides. On the other hand, Buckingham himself had motives to kill the Princes, having a claim of his own to the throne stronger than that of Henry Tudor, depending on one's view of the legitimacy of the Beaufortline. According to a manuscript discovered in the early 1980s in the College of Arms collection, the Princes were murdered "be [by] the vise" of the Duke of Buckingham. There is some argument over whether "vise" means "advice" or "devise".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4]  According to this perspective, if Buckingham killed the Princes and blamed Richard, he could form a rebellion, putting the throne into play with only Henry Tudor as a rival. Indeed, he was one of the leaders of a rebellion, ostensibly in favour of Henry Tudor, in October 1483. However, the rebellion was quickly crushed and Buckingham executed. Henry Tudor would succeed in defeating Richard III two years later.