Margaret de Stafford ★

Born Abt in England. She died June 9, 1396.

Family Background

Margaret de Stafford was born around 1364, eldest daughter of Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford, and Philippa de Beauchamp, granddaughter of Thomas Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick. Her siblings included Thomas, who became 3rd Earl of Stafford; Edmund, who became 5th Earl; Ralph, murdered in 1385; Katherine, who married Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk; and Joan, who married Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey.

Marriage to Ralph Neville

Margaret married Ralph Neville, later 1st Earl of Westmorland, uniting two of the great noble houses of England. The marriage produced eight children, two sons and six daughters, including John Neville, whose own son became 2nd Earl of Westmorland, and Ralph, who married his stepsister Mary Ferrers; her daughters Maud, Alice, Philippa, Elizabeth, Anne, and Margaret all married into other noble families.

Death and Legacy

Margaret died June 9, 1396, and was buried at Brancepeth in County Durham. Soon after, Ralph married Joan Beaufort, a legitimated daughter of John of Gaunt, with whom he had fourteen further children — setting up the rivalry between Margaret's and Joan's descendants that would later split the Neville family during the Wars of the Roses.