heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

236 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
THE
STAFFORDS.
Our attention is called to this very family of Stafford by the second
window west of the north side of the Choir, where we find the arms ot
Stafford, Or a chevron gules, impaled with the arms of Roos, three water
bougets argent, viz.: Beatrix, the eldest daughter of this Ralph Lord
Stafford, who married ist, Maurice Fitz Thomas, son and heir of the Earl
of Desmond ;
and 2nd, Thomas Lord Ros, of Hamlake.*
Ralph Lord Stafford was created Knight of the Bath in the iyth year
of Edward II., and in the first year of the following reign accompanied
Edward III. to Scotland. He was one of his companions when, the year
following, he entered Nottingham Castle by the secret passage, and captured
Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. He distinguished himself in various
other expeditions in Scotland and France, and his administrative capacity
appears to have been equal to his skill as a military commander and
diplomatist. He commanded the van in the great English victory of
Crecy and it is to him and Sir Reginald Cobham that history owes the
;
record of the slain, which was returned by them and the three heralds
who searched the field, as eleven great princes, eighty bannerets, twelve
hundred knights, and over thirty thousand men of all arms. After this
he was accredited as ambassador to treat with the Cardinals of Naples
and Claremont, as to the conclusion of the war between Edward III. and
of France. On his return he was created a Knight
Philip de Valois, King
of the Garter.
In 1352, he was appointed on a commission at York, together with
the Bishop of Durham and Lords Percy and Neville, to settle the terms
of peace with Scotland ; on the accomplishment of which he was created
Earl of Stafford, with a grant of 1,000 marks per annum, until lands
equivalent thereto could be assigned to him.
His further services were in France and Ireland ;
and after a life spent
in the service of his king, he died 1373 (46 Ed. III.), aged 67. There is
something touching, as well as appropriate, in the following epitaph,
recorded in a contemporary MS., now in the Bodleian: "Eodem anno
" ultimo die mensis August! obiit nobilissimus Comes Staffordioe Radulphus
" nomine, apud Tunbrig, homo quondam validus, fortis, audax, bellicosus,
" in armis strenuus ; senio confectus, longo squalore maceratus."
Hugh, his only son, succeeded him, and followed in his steps. From
1360 to 1370 he was on Prince Edward's staff, and, in the next eight
years, engaged in Flanders, Brittany, and the siege of Berwick.
Having accompanied Thomas of Woodstock to Calais, he returned
to join the King in his expedition to Northumberland, accompanied by
* See coloured illustration.