Birth & Death Date of Margaret (d'Audley), Lady Stafford (Was Re: Ancestors of Elizabeth Wentworth)
Brad Verity
"Hugh de Stafford did not succeed
his mother as Lord Audley (a title CP slapped onto him in order to
demonstrate the succession of an abeyance terminated centuries later),
Margaret de Audley did not die in 1348, but apparently sometime
between late 1349 and spring 1357,"
Actually another Patent Rolls entry narrows the window considerably.
"1 March 1351, Westminster. By letters patent the king lately granted
licence [on 28 January 1348] for Ralph, baron of Stafford, and
Margaret, his wife, to enfeoff Master Edmund Morteyn and William de
Rothewell, clerk, of certain tenements specified therein, and for
Edmund and William to re-grant the same to them in tail, but before
this latter feoffment could be made Margaret departed this life and
Edmund and William are still in seisin of the premises; the king
willing that the licence should take effect has granted licence for
them to grant to Ralph the manor of Thornebury, co. Gloucester, held
in chief, one of the manors included in the former letters, to hold
for his life, with remainder to Hugh, his son, and Philippa daughter
of Thomas de Bello Campo, earl of Warwick, and the heirs of the body
of Hugh, or in default of such to his right heirs, and to the said
Ralph and his heirs begotten of the body of Margaret, the residue of
the premises, with remainder to Hugh, son of the same Ralph and
Margaret, and his heirs. By K. Vacated because otherwise
below."
Ralph was created Earl of Stafford four days after the above grant.
We know Ralph and Margaret visited her aunt Elizabeth, Lady of Clare,
at her castle of Usk, in August 1349.
So Margaret (d'Audley), Lady Stafford, died sometime between September
1349 and February 1351. She did not live to be Countess of Stafford.
In March 1351, her son and heir Hugh was aged about 8 or 9. The
wording of the above grant shows Philippa Beauchamp was not yet his
wife, but was in the process of being contracted to him in marriage.
I can only surmise that the reason an Inquisition was ordered on
Margaret, Lady Stafford, in July 1362, at least a dozen years after
her death, was because her son and heir was coming of age.
The Stafford IPM jurors returned in January 1363 that Margaret died on
16 September, 21 Edward III, and her son Hugh, of full age, is her
heir. As Margaret was definitely alive in August of 23 Edward III,
either the jurors remembered the date of death incorrectly (it was
over a dozen years ago), or the 21 Edward III was a mis-transcription
from the original document on the part of the CIPM series. Perhaps it
reads 23 Edward III or 24 Edward III?
Margaret and Ralph had six known children, two sons and four
daughters. Margaret was abducted by Ralph in the spring of 1336, and
their first child, apparently their daughter Elizabeth, was born in
the following year. Ralph, their elder son, came next, and was
contracted to marry Maud of Lancaster in November 1344, but died
before November 1347 and before he was aged 10. Either Beatrice or
Hugh came next, with the two youngest children the daughters Joan and
Katherine.
Cheers, ----Brad
Chris Phillips
It's interesting that in the Audley article (CP i 347) the limits on
Margaret's date of death are given as 1347/8-1350/1, evidently based on the
dates in your post. For some reason the Stafford article (CP xii/1 177) says
only that she died after 28 January 1347/8 (and points out the erroneous
date of death given at an inquisition), but then goes on to say her son Hugh
succeeded in 1348. On the basis of your evidence that she was living in
August 1349 this is wrong.
Incidentally, i 347 also says that her elder son Ralph died "about 1358",
which is corrected at xii/1 177 to "dead in 1347", as you say. (I'm not sure
whether the Audley account is corrected in vol. 14.)
Chris Phillips