Editing Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

{{Short description|English nobleman and politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[His Grace]]
| name                = The Duke of Buckingham
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KG}}
| image               = File:Coat of arms of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.svg
| caption             = Coat of Arms of Sir Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG
| office              = [[Lord High Constable of England]]
| term_start          = July 1483
| term_end            = 2 November 1483
| monarch             = [[Richard III of England|Richard III]]
| predecessor         = [[Richard III of England|The Duke of Gloucester]]
| successor           = [[Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby|Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley]]
| birth_date          = 4 September 1455
| birth_place         = 
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1483|11|2|1455|9|4|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Salisbury]], Wiltshire
| resting_place       = 
| parents             = {{ubl| [[Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford|Humphrey, Earl of Stafford]] | [[Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Stafford]] }}
| spouse              = [[Katherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham|Katherine Woodville]]
| relations           = [[Stafford family|Stafford]]
| children            = {{ubl| [[Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham]] | [[Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex]] | [[Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire]] | [[Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon]] | Humphrey Stafford }}
}}

'''Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham''' (4 September 1455<ref>Davies, C. S. L. [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/26204 "Stafford, Henry, second duke of Buckingham"], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', 22 September 2011. Accessed 4 March 2019.</ref> &ndash; 2 November 1483), was an English nobleman known as the namesake of [[Buckingham's rebellion]], a failed but significant collection of uprisings in England and parts of Wales against [[Richard III of England]] in October 1483. He was executed without trial for his role in the uprisings. Stafford is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance (and presumed murder) of Richard's nephews, the [[Princes in the Tower]].

== Life ==
The only son of [[Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford]], and [[Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Stafford]], Buckingham became [[Earl of Stafford]] in 1458 upon his father's death, and was made a ward of King [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]]. He became the [[Duke of Buckingham]] at age 4 in 1460 following the death of his grandfather, [[Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham]], at the [[Battle of Northampton (1460)|Battle of Northampton]]. In February 1466, at age 10, he was married to [[Katherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham|Katherine Woodville]], youngest sister of Edward IV's wife [[Elizabeth Woodville]], and daughter to [[Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers]];<ref name="dnb">{{cite DNB| last=Tait| first=J.| display=Stafford, Henry, second Duke of Buckingham (1454?–1483)| volume=53| wstitle=Stafford, Henry (1454?-1483)| author-link=James Tait (historian)}}</ref> she was only around 8 at the time. Buckingham and his wife had five children:

* [[Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham]] (3 February 1478 – 17 May 1521)
* [[Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex]] (c. 1479{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} – 11 May 1532)
* [[Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire]] (c. 1479 – 6 April 1523)
* [[Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon]] (c. 1483 – 1544)
* Humphrey Stafford (died young)

Upon the death of Edward IV in 1483, Buckingham allied himself to the king's younger brother the Duke of Gloucester, helping him succeed to the throne as [[Richard III]] in lieu of Edward and Elizabeth's living sons [[Edward V]] and [[Richard of Shrewsbury]]. Becoming disaffected with Richard, Buckingham then joined with [[Henry VII of England|Henry Tudor]] and Tudor's mother, [[Lady Margaret Beaufort|Margaret Beaufort]], leading an [[Buckingham's rebellion|unsuccessful rebellion]] in his name. For his part, Buckingham raised a militia from his estates in Wales and the [[Welsh Marches|Marches]], which he was to lead into England to join other rebels; but the rivers [[River Wye|Wye]] and [[River Severn|Severn]] were in flood and impassable, and after waiting ten days his men dispersed. Buckingham fled in disguise into [[Shropshire]] but was discovered hidden at Lacon Park near [[Wem]], having been betrayed by a retainer, Ralph Bannister.<ref name="dnb" />

Buckingham was executed for treason by Richard on 2 November 1483:<ref name="dnb" /> he was beheaded in the courtyard between the Blue Boar Inn and the Saracen's Head Inn (both demolished in the 18th century) in [[Salisbury]] market-place. His burial place is uncertain; a tomb inside the parish church at [[Britford]], near Salisbury, may be his.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1023791|desc=Church of St Peter and attached Radnor Mausoleum|access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Orbach|first1=Julian|title=Wiltshire|last2=Pevsner|first2=Nikolaus|last3=Cherry|first3=Bridget|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|year=2021|isbn=978-0-300-25120-3|series=The Buildings Of England|location=New Haven, US and London|page=183|oclc=1201298091|author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner|author-link3=Bridget Cherry}}</ref>

Buckingham's precise motivation has been called "obscure"; he had been treated well by Richard.<ref>{{cite book|first=Christine |last=Carpenter|title=The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the Constitution in England, C.1437-1509|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0A9frbkU0MC&pg=PA212|access-date=5 April 2013|date=13 November 1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31874-7|page=212}}</ref> The traditional naming of the rebellion after him has been labelled a misnomer, with [[John Morton (cardinal)|John Morton]] and [[Reginald Bray]] more plausible leaders.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Ronald H. |last1=Fritze |first2=William |last2=Baxter Robison|title=Historical dictionary of late medieval England, 1272-1485|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INmdwCSkvIgC&pg=PA77|access-date=5 April 2013|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29124-1|page=77}}</ref>

==The Princes in the Tower==
As Richard III's ally, the plausibility of Buckingham as a suspect depends on the princes having already been dead by the time Stafford was executed in November 1483. It has been suggested that Buckingham had several potential motives.<ref name="Richard III">{{cite book|last1=Kendall|first1=Paul Murray|title=Richard III|date=1955|publisher=Norton|location=New York|pages=487–489}}</ref> As a descendant of [[Edward III]], through [[John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster]] and [[Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester]] on his father's side, as well as through John of Gaunt through [[John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset|John Beaufort]], son of John of Gaunt on his mother's side, Buckingham may have hoped to accede to the throne himself in due course; alternatively, he may have been acting on behalf of a third party.

Some, notably [[Paul Murray Kendall]],<ref name="Richard III"/> regard Buckingham as the likeliest suspect: his execution, after he had rebelled against Richard in October 1483, might signify that he and the king had fallen out; [[Alison Weir]] takes this as a sign that Richard had murdered the princes without Buckingham's knowledge and Buckingham had been shocked by it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Weir|first1=Alison|title=The Princes in the Tower|date=2008|publisher=Vintage|location=London|pages=151–152}}</ref> A contemporary Portuguese document suggests Buckingham as the guilty party, stating, <blockquote>... and after the passing away of king Edward in the year of 83, another one of his brothers, the Duke of Gloucester, had in his power the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, the young sons of the said king his brother, and turned them to the Duke of Buckingham, under whose custody the said Princes were starved to death.<ref>Alvaro Lopes de Chaves (ref: Alvaro Lopes de Chaves, Livro de Apontamentos (1438–1489), (Codice 443 da Colecção Pombalina da B.N.L.), Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, Lisboa, 1983), private secretary to the Portuguese King Alfonso V.</ref></blockquote>

A document dated some decades after the disappearance was found within the archives of the [[College of Arms]] in London in 1980; this stated that the murder "be the vise of the Duke of Buckingham".<ref>College of Arms Collection, Queen Victoria Street, London, manuscript MS 2M6. The entire document containing the reference consists of 126 folios. It appears to have belonged to Christopher Barker whilst he was Suffolk Herald (1514–22), since his name, title, and a sketch of his maternal arms appear on folio. io6r. of the MS.</ref> This led Michael Bennett to suggest that possibly some of Richard's prominent supporters, Buckingham and [[James Tyrrell|Tyrell]], murdered the princes on their own initiative without waiting for Richard's orders. Bennett noted in support of this theory: "After the King's departure Buckingham was in effective command in the capital, and it is known that when the two men met a month later there was an unholy row between them."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bennett|first1=Michael|title=The Battle of Bosworth|date=1993|publisher=Alan Sutton|location=Stroud|page=46|edition=2nd}}</ref>

Buckingham is the only person to be named as responsible in a contemporary chronicle other than Richard himself. However, for two reasons he is unlikely to have acted alone. First of all, if he were guilty of acting without Richard's orders it is extremely surprising that Richard did not lay the blame for the princes' murder on Buckingham after Buckingham was disgraced and executed, especially as Richard could potentially have cleared his own name by doing so.<ref name="The Life and Times of Richard III">{{cite book|last1=Cheetham|first1=Antony|title=The Life and Times of Richard III|date=1972|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|location=London|page=148}}</ref> Secondly, it is likely he would have required Richard's help to gain access to the princes, under close guard in the Tower of London,<ref name="Jonathan Cape">{{cite book|last1=Weir|first1=Alison|title=Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen|date=2013|publisher=Jonathan Cape|location=London|page=104}}</ref> although Kendall argued that, as [[Constable of England]], responsible for the Tower, he might have been exempt from this ruling.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kendall|first1=Paul Murray|title=Richard III|date=1955|publisher=Norton|location=New York|page=488}}</ref>

As a result, although it is extremely possible that he was implicated in the decision to murder them, the hypothesis that Buckingham acted without Richard's knowledge is not widely accepted by historians.<ref name="The Life and Times of Richard III"/><ref>Pollard 123–124</ref> While Jeremy Potter suggested that Richard would have kept silent had Buckingham been guilty because nobody would have believed Richard was not party to the crime,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Potter|first1=Jeremy|title=Good King Richard? An Account of Richard III and his Reputation|date=1983|publisher=Constable|location=London|page=134}}</ref> he further notes that "Historians are agreed that Buckingham would never have dared to act without Richard's complicity or, at least, connivance".<ref name="Constable">{{cite book|last1=Potter|first1=Jeremy|title=Good King Richard? An Account of Richard III and his Reputation|date=1983|publisher=Constable|location=London|page=135}}</ref> However, Potter also hypothesised that perhaps Buckingham was fantasising about seizing the crown himself at this point and saw the murder of the princes as a first step to achieving this goal.<ref name="Constable"/> This theory formed the basis of [[Sharon Kay Penman|Sharon Penman]]'s [[historical novel]] ''[[The Sunne in Splendour]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Penman|first1=Sharon|title=The Sunne in Splendour|date=1983|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|pages=884–885}}</ref>

==In fiction==
Buckingham is among the major characters featured in [[William Shakespeare]]'s play [[Richard III (play)|''Richard III'']], which portrays him as a man openly allying with Richard III in his schemes until he is ordered to kill the [[Princes in the Tower]]. In [[Colley Cibber]]'s [[Richard III (1699 play)|1699 adaptation]] of Shakespeare's play, he is the subject of the notable line "Off with his head! So much for Buckingham!"

In [[Sharon Kay Penman]]'s 1982 debut novel ''[[The Sunne in Splendour]]'', Buckingham is depicted as the murderer of the Princes in the Tower. He is a supporting character in [[Philippa Gregory]]'s 2009 historical novel [[The White Queen (novel)|''The White Queen'']] (2009) and a central character in [[Susan Higginbotham]]'s [[historical fiction]] novel, ''The Stolen Crown'' (2010), which deals with his associations with King Edward IV and King Richard III.

Buckingham is the major character and storyteller in Isolde Martyn’s historical novel ''The Devil in Ermine'' (2013), which deals with the events of 1483. As Henry Stafford, he is the lead character in J. P. Reedman's ''A Man Who Would be King'' (2017), which tells his story from his own first-person viewpoint, and portrays him as desiring the throne for himself.

==See also==
*[[Buckingham College, Cambridge]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{wikicite |reference=[[Charles Lethbridge Kingsford|Kingsford, C.L.]] (1911). "[[s:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Buckingham, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of|Buckingham, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of (1454–1483)]]". [[Hugh Chisholm]], ed. [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (11th ed.)]], 4. [[Cambridge University Press]].|ref={{sfnref|Kingsford}} }} 
*[http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/STAFFORD1.htm#Henry%20STAFFORD%20(2°%20D.%20Buckingham) Listed among other members of the Stafford family, with their genealogies clarified]
 
{{S-start}}
{{S-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Richard III of England|The Duke of Gloucester]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lord High Constable of England|Lord High Constable]]|years=1483}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby|Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley]]}}
{{S-reg|en}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham|Humphrey Stafford]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Duke of Buckingham]]|years=1460&ndash;1483}}
{{s-vac|reason=Forfeit|next=[[Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham|Edward Stafford]]|as=duke from 1485}}
{{S-end}}{{Wars of the Roses}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckingham, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke Of}}
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[[Category:1455 births]]
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[[Category:15th-century English nobility]]
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[[Category:People executed under the Yorkists]]
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[[Category:Stafford family|Henry]]
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