General Notes

Sir Ralph de Stafford, KG, b. 24 Sep 1301, d. 31 Aug 1372, KG 23 Apr1349, Earl of Stafford. By his 1st wife, Katharine de Hastang, he hadMargaret Stafford, who married her cousin John de Stafford, Knight, ofBramshall, co. Stafford. [Magna Charta Sureties]

Note: Ralph's 1301 birth date does not agree with Ancestral Roots, norline 136 in MCS. They have 1299.

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Ralph de Stafford, 2nd Lord (Baron) Stafford and 1st Earl of Stafford, socreated 5 March 1350/1, KG (1348), KB (Jan 1326/7), JP (Staffs March1331/2); campaigned against Scots 1336, 1337 and 1343 and French atBattles of Sluys 1340 and Crecy 1346 and Siege of Calais 1346-7, also1355-60; Steward of the Household Feb 1340/1, Seneschal of Aquitaine orGascony Feb 1344/5-March 1345/6 and Aquitaine Oct 1346-March 1346/7;married 1st probably c1326-27 Katharine, daughter of Sir John Hastang, ofChebsey, Staffs; married 2nd by 6 July 1336 Margaret, Baroness Audley inher own right, daughter of Hugh Audley, 1st and last Earl of Gloucesterof the 1337 creation and 1st Lord (Baron) Audley of the 1317 creation,and died 31 Aug 1372. [Burke's Peerage]

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Ralph de Stafford, 2nd baron, summoned to parliament from 14 January,1337, to 25 November, 1350. This nobleman attaining majority in the 17thEdward II [1324], and then doing his homage, had livery of his father'slands, and the next ensuing year, being made a knight by bathing andother sacred ceremonies, had robes, &c., as a banneret, allowed him outof the king's wardrobe for the solemnity; after which he soon became apersonage of celebrity in the wars of King Edward III. His lordship wasfirst engaged in Scotland for some years, and he then embarked forBrittany, where he was made prisoner at the siege of Nantes. In the 19thEdward III [1346], he was sent into Gascony with Henry of Lancaster, Earlof Derby, and while that nobleman assaulted Bergerath by land, LordStafford commanded the force which attacked it by sea. the next year hewas constituted seneschal of Aquitaine, when John, son and heir ofPhilip, King of France, coming to besiege Aguillon, where his lordshipthen resided, he stoutly defended that place against the whole power ofthe French, until King Edward came to his relief, and forced the enemy toraise the siege. After this, joining his troops with the army of KingEdward, he had a principal command in the van of the English at theglorious battle of Cressy. On the termination of this great conflict, hislordship being sent with Sir Reginald Cobham and three heralds to viewthe slain, reported the number to be 11 great princes, 80 banneret, 1,200knights, and more than 30,000 common soldiers. He was afterwards, whenCalais surrendered, appointed, together with Sir Walter Manny, and theEarl of Warwick, to take possession of that place for the king; andsubsequently his lordship was one of the ambassadors deputed to thecardinals of Naples and Claremont, to treat of peace between King Edwardand Philip de Valois, then assuming the title of King of France. The nextyear he had license to make castles of his manor houses at Stafford andNadeley; as also a grant from the king of £573, for his expenses inforeign service. About this time his lordship was elected a knight of theGarter, being one of the original members of that noble order. In the24th Edward III [1351], he was in commission with the bishop of Durham,and the Lords Percy and Nevill, to treat with the nobles of Scotland, atYork, for a firm and final peace between the two realms; for all whicheminent services he was created, 5 March, 1351, Earl of Stafford, andconstituted lieutenant and captain-general of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Hislordship m. Margaret, only dau. and heiress of Hugh de Audley, BaronAudley, and in right of his wife, Earl of Gloucester, by which alliancehe acquired a considerable inheritance, and the Barony of Audeley ispresumed to have merged in that of Stafford. He had issue, Ralph, who m.Maud, dau. of Henry, Earl of Derby, Duke of Lancaster, but d.v.p., s.p.;Hugh, his successor; Beatrice, m. 1st, Maurice, son and heir of Maurice,Earl of Desmond, 2ndly, Thomas, Lord Ros, of Hamlake, and 3rdly, SirRichard Burley, Knt.; Joane, m. to John, son and heir of John Cherlton,Lord Powis; Elizabeth, m. to Fulke le Strange; and Margaret, m. to SirJohn Stafford, Knt. His lordship d. 31 August, 1372, was buried atTunbridge, and was s. by his only surviving son, Hugh de Stafford. [SirBernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke'sPeerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 499, Stafford, Barons Stafford, Earls ofStafford, &c.]

Weis, Ancestral Roots, 7th ed., line 55-34.

1st Earl of Stafford.  He was a founder Knight of the Garter, April 23, 1349.  He was summoned to Parliament from November 29, 1336, to November 25, 1350, as "Radulpho Baroni de Stafford."  In 1336 and 1337 he served in Scotland.  On June 23, 1340, he was at the battle of Sluys.  By February 10, 1340/41, he had become steward of the King's household.  In  1342 he sailed to Brittany and took part in the siege of Vannes, where he was captures.  In 1343 he was sent with others to Scotland to raise the siege of Lochmaben castle.  On February 23, 1344/45, he was appointed seneschal of Aquitaine or Gascony, holding office until March 15, 1345/46. 

On July 6, 1336, a commission was appointed to inquire into a complaint by Hugh de Audley, lord Audley, that Ralph de Stafford and others (mostly relatives) had broken in to his close at Thaxted, Essex, carried away his goods, abducted Margaret, his daughter and heiress, and married her against her will.  Margaret was then about twelve years old. 

King Edward III intervened to protect Ralph, and, after making his peace, Ralph and Margaret received the reversion to a large part of the Gloucester inheritance.  He was created earl of Stafford on March 5, 1350/51.  In October, 1355, he was among the leaders of the King's new expedition to France.  In October, 1360, he was in the vanguard of the army under the duke of Lancaster, and was joint marshal with the earl of Warwick.

http://84.1911encyclopedia.org/S/ST/STAFFORD_FAMILY_.htm
STAFFORD (FAMILY). This famous English house was founded in England by Robert, a younger brother of Raif de Tosny (Toeni), of a noble Norman house, who was standardbearer of the duchy. Robert received, like his elder brother, at the Conquest a great fief which extended into seven Counties and became known as Robert de Stafford from his residence at Stafford Castle. The military service due from the fief was no less than sixty knights, as is proved by his grandson Roberts return in 1166. With this Roberts son the male line became extinct, and his sisters husband, Hervey Bagot, one of his knightly tenants, succeeded to the fief in her right (1194): their descendant Edmund de Stafford (that surname having been assumed) was summoned as a baron in 1299. His son, Ralph, a warrior like his father, attained fame in the French wars. He conducted the brilliant defence of Aiguillon against the host of France, fought at Crecy and in the siege of Calais. Chosen. a Knight of the Garter at the foundation of the order, he was further created earl of Stafford in 1351.
His son Hugh, who succeeded as 2nd earl in 1372, served in the French wars. From 1376 he became prominent in politics, probably through his marriage to a daughter of the earl of Warwick, being one of the four lords on the committee in the Good Parliament, and also serving on the committee that controlled Richard II., 1378-1380. He was friendly, however, with that king, and was with him on his Scottish expedition in 1385. He died next year on pilgrimage at Rhodes. The marriage of his son, Thomas, the 3rd earl, in 1392 to the daughter and eventual heiress of Thomas, duke of Buckingham (son of Edward III.), by a coheiress of the great house of Bohun, proved a decisive turning-point in the history of the Staffords; for, although he died childless, this great lady, styled countess of Stafford, Buckingham, Hereford and Northampton in her will, married in 1398 his brother Edmund, the 5th earl, who obtained, in addition to her great possessions, her ancestors office of lord high constable in 1403, but was slain the same year at Shrewsbury, commanding the van of the kings host. Their son, Humphrey (1402-1460), the first Stafford duke of Buckingham, was placed by his descent and his possessions in the front rank of the English nobility.