Margaret de Audley, 2nd Baroness Audley

Margaret de Audley
2nd Baroness Audley Countess of Stafford
Spouse(s)	Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford
Issue Sir Ralph de Stafford Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford Elizabeth de Stafford Beatrice de Stafford Joan de Stafford Katherine de Stafford
Father	Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Mother	Margaret de Clare
Born	1318
Died	between 1347 and 1351
Buried	Tonbridge Priory

Margaret de Audley, suo jure 2nd Baroness Audley and Countess of Stafford (1318 – between 1347 and 1351^[1]) was an English noblewoman. She was the only daughter of Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester by his wife Lady Margaret de Clare.^[2] Her mother was the daughter of Joan of Acre, Princess of England; thus making Margaret a great-granddaughter of King Edward I by his first consort, Eleanor of Castile. As the only daughter and heiress of her father, she succeeded to the title of 2nd Baroness Audley [E., 1317] on 10 November 1347.^[1]

Marriage and issue

Margaret was abducted by Ralph, Lord Stafford, who had helped Edward III take the throne. At the time, her worth was at least £2314 a year, which was more than ten times Stafford's own estates. (However, he eventually rose to Earl of Stafford in 1350.) After the abduction, her parents filed a complaint with the king, but Edward supported Stafford. In compensation, the king appeased Hugh and Margaret by creating Hugh the 1st Earl of Gloucester.

Margaret de Audley and Stafford married before 6 July 1336. They subsequently had two sons and four daughters:

• Sir Ralph de Stafford (d. 1347), married Maud of Lancaster, daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Isabel of Beaumont in 1344.^[3]
• Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford, born circa 1336 in Staffordshire, England, married Philippa de Beauchamp; they were the ancestors of the Dukes of Buckingham (1444 creation).^[3]
• Elizabeth de Stafford, born circa 1340 in Staffordshire, England, died 7 August 1376, married firstly Fulk le Strange;^[3] married secondly, John de Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Chartley; married thirdly Reginald de Cobham, 2nd Baron Cobham.^[4]
• Beatrice de Stafford, born circa 1341 in Staffordshire, England, died 1415, married firstly, in 1350, Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond (d. June 1358); married secondly, Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros, of Helmsley; married thirdly Sir Richard Burley, Knt.^[3]
• Joan de Stafford, born in 1344 in Staffordshire, England, died 1397, married firstly, John Charleton, 3rd Baron Cherleton;^[3] married secondly Gilbert Talbot, 3rd Baron Talbot.^[5]
• Katherine de Stafford, born circa 1348 in Staffordshire, England and died in December 1361. Married on 25 December 1357 Sir John de Sutton III (1339 – c. 1370 or 1376), Knight, Master of Dudley Castle, Staffordshire. They were parents of Sir John de Sutton IV, hence grandparents of Sir John de Sutton V.^[6]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Margaret de Audley, 2nd Baroness Audley

16. Henry De Audley               8. James de Audley                       17. Bertred Mainwaring               4. Hugh de Audley                             18. William II Longespée               9. Ela Longspee                       19. Idoine de Camville               2. Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester                                   20.               10. Sir Edmund de Mortimer, 1st Lord Mortimer                       21.               5. Isolde de Mortimer                             22. Sir William de Fiennes               11. Margaret de Fiennes                       23.               1. Margaret de Audley                                         24. Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford               12. Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford                       25. Isabel Marshal               6. Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford                             26. John de Lacy, 1st Earl of Lincoln               13. Maud de Lacy                       27. Margaret de Quincy               3. Margaret de Clare                                   28. Henry III of England               14. Edward I of England                       29. Eleanor of Provence               7. Joan of Acre                             30. Ferdinand III of Castile               15. Eleanor of Castile                       31. Joan, Countess of Ponthieu

References

1. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 346.
2. The Peerage http://thepeerage.com/p987.htm Accessed 1 November 2009.
3. A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland and Scotland, extinct, dormant and in abeyance by John Burke. Publisher Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831. pg 488. From Google books, checked 30 March 2011.
4. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 353.
5. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 161.
6. Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1191.