The New Murrey and Blue blog

It seems to me, looking at the list in this article about Newport Castle, that a few members of the Stafford family came to sticky ends, some deserved, some apparently not. They may have been unlucky, but the family was wealthy and titled, so perhaps not that hard done by.

In 1377 Hugh, Earl of Stafford, took a great interest in Newport. In 1385 his eldest son, Ralph, was killed in a fracas of some sort with John Holand, the king’s half-brother, and Hugh went on a pilgrimage from which he didn’t return. Then his next eldest son died in 1392…but Hugh was fortunate with his supply of sons and although the third one died a minor, the fourth survived to inherit….only to die at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.

Then we come to Henry Stafford, who became Duke of Buckingham and whose name is reviled by Ricardians. He was Richard’s cousin and “most untrue creature living”, and led a rebellion which failed and for which he was executed. Rightly so. I have no sympathy for him. Richard had more than done right by him, and would have been stabbed in the back.

But all this digresses from the subject of the above article, Newport and its castle. So, Staffords may come and Staffords may go, but Newport survives to tell the tale!