Anne of Gloucester, Countess of Stafford (30 April 1383 – 16 October 1438) was the eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (the fifth surviving son and youngest child of King Edward III), by his wife Eleanor de Bohun, one of the two daughters and co-heiresses of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, 6th Earl of Essex (1341–1373) of Pleshey Castle in Essex.

Anne of Gloucester
Countess of Stafford
Countess of Eu
Born30 April 1383
Died16 October 1438(1438-10-16) (aged 55)
Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1390; died 1392)
(m. 1398; died 1403)
(m. 1405; died 1420)
IssueHumphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham
Anne Stafford, Countess of March
Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex
Eleanor Mowbray, Duchess of Norfolk
William Bourchier, 9th Baron FitzWarin
Cardinal Thomas Bourchier
John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners
HousePlantagenet
FatherThomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
MotherEleanor de Bohun

Family

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Anne was born on 30 April 1383 and was baptised at Pleshey, Essex, sometime before 6 May. Her uncle, John of Gaunt (third son of King Edward III), ordered several payments to be made in regards to the event.[2]

Her father was the youngest son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Her mother was Eleanor de Bohun, the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, and Joan Fitzalan. Her mother was also a great-great-granddaughter of Edward I.

Sole heiress and Countess of Buckingham

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At the death of her brother Humphrey, 2nd Earl of Buckingham, in 1399, Anne was the co-heiress together with her two sisters Joan and Isabel, to his estates and titles.[3][4] Anne became the sole heiress of the family's estate and titles in 1400, as one of her sisters, Joan, having died on 16 August 1400, and the other, Isabel, having become a nun.[5]

She was subsequently recognized (and thereafter succeeded) as suo jure Countess of Buckingham, Hereford and Northampton as well as succeeding to the titles of Lady of Brecknock and Holderness.[6][7]

Anne did, however, not use these titles, and instead styled herself as Countess of Stafford.[8]

On Anne's death, in 1438, the title of Buckingham (as well as her other titles) passed to her son Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford, who in 1444 was created Duke of Buckingham. This title remained in the Stafford family until the attainder and execution of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, in 1521.

Marriage with Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford

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Anne married three times. Her first marriage was to Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford (1368 – 4 July 1392), and took place around 1390. The couple had no children. After her husband's death, Anne married his younger brother Edmund.

Issue of Anne and Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford

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On 28 June 1398, Anne married Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford (2 March 1378 – 21 July 1403). They had three children together:

Issue of Anne and William Bourchier, Count of Eu

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In about 1405, Anne married William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu (d. 1420), son of Sir William Bourchier and Eleanor of Louvain, by whom she had the following children:

Anne died on 16 October 1438 and was buried in Llanthony Secunda Priory, Gloucester.[9]

Ancestry

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, p.355 [1] The de Bohun family were patrons of Llanthony Secunda Priory, near Gloucester Castle, founded by their ancestor Miles of Gloucester in 1136 as a secondary house to Llanthony Priory in Monmouthshire.
  2. ^ The Complete Peerage, sourced from Camden, 3rd series, Vol.57, pp.258-260 (1937)
  3. ^ 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, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 388.
  4. ^ Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, UK: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 116.
  5. ^ Cokayne, G. E., The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, Volume 5, page 137
  6. ^ Douglas Richardson & Kimball G. Everingham, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families 2nd Edition, 2011, page 354
  7. ^ Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 2004).
  8. ^ Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, UK: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 97.
  9. ^ Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, p.355 [2] The de Bohun family were patrons of Llanthony Secunda Priory, near Gloucester Castle, founded by their ancestor Miles of Gloucester in 1136 as a secondary house to Llanthony Priory in Monmouthshire.

References

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  • Rawcliffe, Carole (2008). "Anne of Woodstock, countess of Stafford (c. 1382–1438), noblewoman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online) (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54430. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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