Brian Stapleton

Notes:

Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, 1424-26. Knight of the shire for Yorkshire, 1436-37.

He fought at Agincourt. He was subsequently in the retinue of Robert Willoughby on Henry V's second expedition into France, where he was taken prisoner and held for five years until ransomed for 3,000 marks.

Brian married Cecily Bardolf before 1408. Cecily (daughter of William Bardolf and Agnes Poynings) died on 29 Sep 1432; was buried in Ingham, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Miles Stapleton was born about 1408 in of Ingham, Norfolk, England; died on 1 Oct 1466; was buried in Ingham, Norfolk, England.
2. Brian Stapleton was born about 1410 in of Crisping's Manor, Happisburgh, Norfolk, England; died before 1467.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1355, of Ingham, Norfolk, England
• Alternate birth: 1356

Notes:

"He had letters of protection in 1381 among those sent to Portugal to renew the alliance; afterwards he was sent to Prague to negotiate the marriage of King Richard II and Princess Anne of Bohemia." [Royal Ancestry]

Miles married Ela Ufford before 1376. Ela (daughter of Edmund de Ufford and Sibyl de Pierrepont) died in 1425; was buried in Ingham Priory, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 20 Oct 1364

Notes:

Walter Rye (citation details below) gives his birth year as "circa 1300", but this has to be wrong, as he was an infant only child on his father's death in 1321. The ODNB (citation details below) says 1320, with a question mark. The ODNB also notes that "[i]t is sometimes impossible to distinguish Sir Miles Stapleton of Bedale from his first cousin, Sir Miles Stapleton of Haddlesey (c.1318–1372)."

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

It was probably he who went overseas in the king's service in September 1342, and the family's historian suggests that he was at the siege of Tournai with his younger brother Brian Stapleton, and then in Brittany. A Miles Stapleton, probably of Bedale, was singled out by the chronicler Adam Murimuth as taking the honours on the first day of a three-day tournament at Windsor which in January 1344 saw the inauguration of the order of the knights of the Round Table. He was given letters of protection to go abroad with Sir John Darcy, the king's chamberlain, in 1345, which may suggest that he was educated in Darcy's household. He was certainly present at the siege of Calais in 1346, and given his later link with the Garter, he almost certainly fought at Crécy in 1346 too. Having become associated with the royal household at about this time, he took part in three further tournaments between October 1347 and January 1348, at Bury St Edmunds, Eltham, and Windsor. An account for the great wardrobe in 1348 describes him as a knight of the chamber, and he became a founder member of the Order of the Garter, sitting on the king's side in the ninth stall.

In October 1351 Stapleton was sent abroad with William Latimer and then, for a while, the careers of both Miles Stapletons, of Bedale and of Haddlesey, sometimes coincided. In 1354 both witnessed an instrument requesting papal intervention in the Anglo-French war. Stapleton of Bedale was involved in Lancaster's march across Normandy in 1356, and in 1358 he was paid £50 for acting as a messenger to Philippe de Navarre. In 1359 he went abroad again on royal service. In June 1360 he was granted a life annuity of £100, in consideration of his 'laudable service in the king's deeds of war' (CPR, 1358–61, 429). This makes it likely that he is the Miles Stapleton who was one of the witnesses to the treaty of Brétigny in 1360. Abroad again in June 1361 and January 1362, on the latter occasion he made his brother Brian his attorney for two years. His destination in 1362 appears to have been the Baltic rather than France, since in January 1363 he was one of a group of leading English knights recorded as borrowing money from local merchants at Thorn on the Vistula. The money was to be repaid at Bruges. In March 1361 and August 1362 he served on commissions of peace with the earl of Suffolk. Miles Stapleton of Haddlesey was appointed to a commission of the peace headed by the earl of Lancaster in 1361.

In January 1364 Miles Stapleton of Bedale took out letters of attorney for three more years, but died on 20 October 1364, probably from wounds or disease after the battle of Auray (29 September 1364). […]

In May 1349 Stapleton was licensed to endow a chantry at North Morton, but following his second marriage his plans became more ambitious, and between 1355 and 1360 his chantry developed into a Trinitarian priory at Ingham, to which Ingham parish church was appropriated. Stapleton was buried in the church, and he and his descendants were commemorated there in a series of splendid brasses: Sir Miles and his second wife were shown holding hands, with the inscription 'Priez pour les almes monseur Miles de Stapleton et Dame Johanne sa femme fille de Monseur Oliver de Ingham fondeurs de cette maison qe dieu de lour almes eit pitee' ('Pray for the souls of Sir Miles Stapleton and Lady Joan his wife, daughter of Sir Oliver Ingham, founders of this house, that God may have pity on their souls'; Gough, 1/2,120). In 1799 the brasses were sold as 'old metal', but rubbings were taken of them before their destruction.

Miles married Joan de Ingham. Joan (daughter of Oliver de Ingham and Elizabeth) was born about 1320; died between 26 Jun 1360 and 12 Dec 1365; was buried in Ingham, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Walter Rye (citation details below) calls the father of Ela Ufford "Sir Edward [Norris says of Sir Ralph] Ufford".

Edmund married Sibyl de Pierrepont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Walkingham, Yorkshire, England
• Alternate death: Bef 23 Jun 1324

Gilbert married Agnes Fitz Alan before 15 Dec 1317. Agnes (daughter of Brian Fitz Alan and Maud) was born about 1298; died before 3 Nov 1348. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 30 Jan 1344

Notes:

Steward of Gascony; Seneschal of Aquitaine; Justice of Chester; Warden of Devizes and Marlborough castles.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (citation details below):

A household knight of Edward II, Ingham was the recipient of many royal grants, including the custody of the castle of Ellesmere, Shropshire, in June 1321. During the disturbances of the early 1320s, he served Edward II against the baronial rebels led by Thomas, earl of Lancaster (d. 1322), subsequently receiving grants of offices in Wiltshire and Shropshire and becoming keeper of Chester and Flint. As a knight-banneret, he served in Scotland with the king in August 1322. In 1324 he was appointed adviser to the king's half-brother Edmund, earl of Kent (d. 1330), who represented Edward as lieutenant in Aquitaine. Anglo-French tensions had led to the outbreak of war with France, and Ingham, dispatched to Aquitaine with a force of Spanish and other mercenary troops, conducted a successful campaign against the French in the Agenais.

As a trusted lieutenant of both the king and the Despensers, Ingham was appointed seneschal of Aquitaine on 7 October 1325, and in April 1326 extensive powers were granted him over the financial administration of the duchy. He appears to have gained the confidence of many members of the Gascon nobility, but the terms of an agreement made with the French in 1327 led to his temporary banishment from Aquitaine. Although he had been an associate of the Despensers, Ingham largely escaped the recriminations unleashed in England against the latter and their clients following the crises of 1326–7. Having become an adherent of Roger Mortimer, earl of March, he was summoned to parliament between June 1328 and September 1330, and was a partisan judge in the trial of the conspirators who attempted to overthrow Mortimer in February 1329. In October 1330, when Mortimer was toppled from power, Ingham was seized by the young Edward III at Nottingham and sent for trial to London. On 22 October his lands and goods were declared forfeit.

Nevertheless, Ingham was pardoned on 8 December 1330 because the young king acknowledged his loyal service to Edward II. His property was restored to him, with the important exception of grants from the crown. From this time onwards he was to serve the king in Aquitaine, and rarely returned to England until his death. On 29 June 1331 he was reappointed as seneschal in Aquitaine, an office he was to hold for twelve years—an unusually long tour of duty. Ingham was responsible for the peace, order, and defence of the duchy during a period of crisis in Anglo-French relations which led to the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War in 1337. By August 1336 the duchy was on a war footing and Ingham was ordered to forbid all Gascon men-at-arms to leave the land without licence, and to ensure that all major strongholds were properly garrisoned, equipped, and victualled.

Philippe VI of France confiscated Aquitaine on 24 May 1337. It fell to Ingham, as seneschal, to receive the French commissioners appointed to take possession of the duchy. He met them at Libourne, but refused to surrender his charge. Like their predecessors in 1294, the French envoys departed, proclaiming the duchy's confiscation. Ingham's services in Aquitaine were acknowledged on 15 July 1337, when his and his ancestors' debts were written off. Relieved of this burden, Ingham began military operations in Aquitaine, generally confined to the Agenais, but, despite the loss of Penne and Bourg, he successfully defended Bonnegarde, Montlaur, and other strongholds. He fought off a French attack on Bordeaux in 1339 and, financial stringency notwithstanding, retained substantial companies of Gascon nobles in his service.

In January 1342 Ingham was summoned to a council in England in order to report upon the state of affairs in Aquitaine, and on 6 April 1343 he was relieved of his post as seneschal. He died, probably at Ingham, on 29 January 1344. […]

His tomb survives, a masterly and unusual monument, in which Ingham lies upon a bed of stones, in a twisted posture, one hand grasping his sword as if to do battle with the Devil for possession of his soul. The significance of the bed of stones is unclear, but it may refer either to a cult of penitence or to Ingham's essentially martial qualities. A huge, publicly displayed, recumbent figure of a river-god on a bed of stones at Rome was popularly regarded as a statue of Mars during the middle ages, and the allusion to the god of war may have been reinforced by wall-paintings (now lost) above and behind Ingham's effigy which depicted hunting scenes and, perhaps, astrological references to the month of March (Mars). Whatever the case, Ingham's tomb is one of the finer examples of the monumental sculpture of the period.

Oliver married Elizabeth. Elizabeth died on 11 Oct 1350; was buried in Ingham, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Said, without proof, to be the daughter of one of the Lords Zouche. Said with equal lack of proof to have been Elizabeth Marshall.

Notes:

Killed at the battle of Bannockburn.

Thomas married Eve de Clavering. Eve (daughter of John fitz Robert and Hawise de Tibetot) was born in of Langley, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Ela de Calthorpe. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]