POLITICAL HISTORY 



been found at all for Staffordshire ; the same is the case in 1459 and 1460, 

 doubtless owing to the confusion of the times ; while of the Parliaments of 

 1461 and 14623 no returns for any part of England have been discovered. 

 Constitutional forms were in abeyance, and the regular machinery of 

 government paralysed. From 14623 to 1483 Parliaments were only sum- 

 moned irregularly. 197 



The part played in the reign of Richard III by Henry Stafford the 

 second Duke of Buckingham, grandson of the duke killed before the battle 

 of Northampton, and descended both on his father's and mother's side from 

 Edward III, 198 was as important as from his lineage and wealth we should 

 expect. He was the greatest of the old nobility, possessing lands in half 

 the counties in England, including in Staffordshire the castle and manor of 

 Stafford and the manors of Billington, Bradley, Tillington, Madeley, Eaton, 

 Darlaston, Doddington, Stalbroke, Packington, Wigginton, Hartwell, Tit- 

 tensor, and the fourth part of the manor of Blymhill. 199 He was married to 

 Catherine Woodville, but regarded his wife's family as upstarts, and was 

 naturally in return hated by them. On the death of Edward IV he threw 

 all his influence upon the side of the Duke of Gloucester, and he was mainly 

 instrumental in effecting the arrest of his own brother-in-law Lord Rivers, 

 and Lord Grey, and obtaining possession of Edward V. 



Gloucester was not lacking in gratitude for the support of the head 

 of the old nobility, and he was invested with extraordinary powers in Wales 

 and five of the English counties, made chief justice and chamberlain of the 

 principality of Wales, and constable and steward of all the royal castles 

 there, in the marches, and in the counties of Salop, Hereford, Somerset, 

 Dorset, and Wilts. 200 



In Richard's coronation procession Buckingham's magnificence outshone 

 everyone, his retainers all wearing his livery of the Stafford knot, 201 and 

 immediately afterwards he was made steward of the honour of Tutbury and 

 other Duchy of Lancaster estates in Staffordshire, and vast additions, by 

 reason of his descent from the Bohuns, were promised to his enormous 

 possessions. 202 Yet in a little while he was in revolt, why it is impossible 

 to determine ; and after some hesitation, during which visions of claiming 

 the throne for himself may have crossed his mind, he decided, with the 

 connivance of his prisoner Morton, Bishop of Ely, to marry the earl of 

 Richmond to Elizabeth of York, and place them on the throne. 203 His fall 

 was terrible in its suddenness : the army he had collected dispersed in a few 

 days, and he was a fugitive. He had been proclaimed a ' false traitor and 

 rebel,' m his hiding-place was discovered, and on i November he was 

 brought to Salisbury, where he was executed next day, and his vast estates 

 confiscated. 205 



But the period of constant strife was nearly over. On 7 August, 1485, 

 Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven, and marched by way of Shrewsbury 



197 C. H. Parry, Parliaments and Councils of England under the above dates. 



198 His mother was Margaret, daughter of Edmund Beaufort, second Duke of Somerset, great-grandson 

 of Edward III. '"Dugdale, Baronage (ed. 1675), i, 166 ; Cal. of Inj. p.m. (Rec. Com.), iv, 294. 



""Dugdale, Baronage (ed. 1675), i, 169 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. Stafford. 



101 Hall, Chron. (ed. 1809), 375. "'Dugdale, Baronage (ed. 1675), i, 168. 



""Dugdale, Baronage (ed. 1675), i, 169. *" Rot. Par!. (Rec. Com.), vi, 245. 



104 Hall, Chron. (ed. 1809), 395. 



245 



