User:Smonson/Dorothy, Lady Stafford

Dorothy Stafford was the youngest daughter of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford. She was born, probably at Stafford Castle, in 1526 (according to the age given on her tombstone), though some sources give the date as 1532.

She was somewhere in the middle of fourteen children borne to Lord Stafford by his wife, Ursula Pole, daughter of Sir Richard Pole and Margaret, Countess of Salisbury and sister of Cardinal Reginald Pole. Since the family fortunes had fallen in 1521 with the execution of Dorothy’s paternal grandfather, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, the family had very little money. They lived mostly at Stafford Castle, though between ___ and ___ the family lived at ___ in order that Lord Stafford could be closer to his duties in London. While there, many of the children fell ill of a fever, and one of them died.

Marriage
At an unknown date in the late 1540s, Lord Stafford arranged a marriage between Dorothy and her sixth cousin once removed, Sir William Stafford of Blatherwycke. It is possible that Sir William became known to Lord Stafford when he became a Member of Parliament in 1547.

Children
The couple had at least five children, with a possible sixth child that did not survive.
 * Sir Edward Stafford (1552-1605)
 * William Stafford (1554-1612)
 * Elizabeth Stafford (d.1599)
 * Ursula Stafford
 * Sir John Stafford of Marlwood (1556-1624)

Marian Exile
When Mary I came to the throne, Sir William, who was a confirmed Protestant, took his family abroad to Geneva, where they settled. They became members of the newly-formed English Church of Geneva, and their youngest child John was born there, the first child to be baptized in the English Church and godson of John Calvin. Five months later, Sir William died of an ague, at age 43.

Lady Stafford wished at this time to return to England, but Calvin would not permit her to take his godson back to a Catholic country. Dorothy sent for help to her late husband’s brother Sir Robert Stafford, then in Paris, who came to her assistance. By threats, he succeeded in persuading the Genevan Council of Syndics to allow Dorothy to leave, though she was not permitted to go either to England or to France. In 1557, she removed with her children and servants to Basel, where she joined the English community and became a burger of the city, living next door to John Knox.

Upon Mary’s death, Lady Stafford resigned her burgerrecht in Basel and took her household to Paris, where she contacted Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, the English Ambassador to France. He arranged for her to take a position as lady-in-waiting to the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth I.

Life at Court
In the fall of 1559, Dorothy took up her position as Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. She soon became one of Elizabeth’s favorites, and received many gifts from her. She often attended the queen at night, sleeping on a pallet in the queen’s bedchamber. In 1575 she became Mistress of the Robes, a high-ranking post among the ladies-in-waiting. She was reported by Bernardino de Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador, to have been the sole attendant on the queen when she met privately with the French Ambassador, a witness perhaps of her ability to speak French.

Dorothy’s children followed her into the queen’s service; both her sons Edward and John became Gentlemen Pensioners (members of the queen’s personal guard), and her daughter Elizabeth became one of the queen’s favorite maids of honor. Edward Stafford was heavily involved as an envoy in the negotiations for the marriage between Elizabeth and François, Duke of Anjou, and was appointed Ambassador to France and knighted in 1583.

Lady Stafford remained in the queen’s service for the rest of her life, retiring only after Elizabeth’s death. She received an annuity of £200 from King James I on her retirement in 1603. She did not long survive her royal mistress, dying on September 22, 1604.

Monument
Dorothy Stafford is buried in the Church of St. Margaret's, Westminster, where her monument may still be seen on the west wall, opposite that of her fellow lady-in-waiting, Blanche Parry.

The monumental inscription reads as follows:

Here lyeth the Lady Dorothy Stafford, wife and widow of Sir William Stafford, Knight, daughter to Henry Lord Stafford, the only son of Edward the last Duke of Buckingham. Her mother was Ursula, daughter to the Countess of Salisbury, the only daughter to George Duke of Clarence, brother to King Edward the 4th. She continued a true widow from the age of 27 till her death. She served Queen Elizabeth 40 years, lying in the bed-chamber; esteemed of her, loved of all, doing good all she could to every body, never hurted any, a continual remembrancer of the suits of the poor. As she lived a religious life in great reputation of honor and virtue in the world, so she ended in continual fervent meditations and hearty prayer to God: at which instant (as all her life), so after her death she gave liberally to the poor, and died aged 78, Sept. 22, 1604. In whose memory Sir Edward Stafford her son hath caused this memorial of her to be in the same form and place as she herself long since required him.