The Stafford Family Connects With Hervey Bagot
We do not yet have the means
of showing how the Baggot/Bagget family connects with the Bagot family
in England on this site, but we do know that the family descended from
that lineage. You will find the connection in England on other sites.
At the time Nicholas Baggett III made his will in 1761, the family reverted
to the original spelling the name Baggot. That is the way the name is spelled
in the will of Nicholas Baggot III. The descendants of Nicholas III
spelled the name Baggot for at least another century, when they reverted
to the spelling Nicholas Baggot III's father, the old Nicholas Baggett,
used in his will. In the mid-nineteenth century practicually all the family
began spelling the name, Baggett.
Wago, Bago, or Bagod, de Arras held Bromley in Stafford in 1086 from Robert de Toesni, Baron of Stafford. His son, Rodbert Bagod, witnessed a charter of Geva, daughter of Hugh Lupus, which in effect established Canwell Priory in circa 1140.
The family of Bagot (descended from Bagod) held Bramshall in Staffordshire from Robert de Stafford at the time of the Domesday survey in A.D. 1086. The Bagod family became very close to the Stafford family at that time. Bagod de Arras, or possibly his son of the same name, was living in 1120. His son, Hervey Fitz Bagod, succeeded his father in about 1130, and was living in 1160 and 1166 when he held three knight's fees of old feoffment, including Bramshall.
His son Hervey
Bagod held three fees from Robert de Stafford. Hervey's son Richard,
in the time of King Henry II, had: (1) Simon Bagod, Lord of Bromley, lineal
ancestor of the Lords Bagot, and this line of the family continued to live
at Bagots Bromley until Ralph Bagot married Elizabeth Blithfield and then
moved to Blithfield. This name is spelled at the present time, Blythfield,
in many places in England. (2) Hervey Bagod, the second son of Richard,
had a grandson Hervey who became Baron of Stafford when he married Millicent
de [Toesni]. Millicent became heir of her two brothers' inheritance before
1193. Both her brothers, Nicholas and Robert de Stafford, had died without
heirs. Here is the Stafford Coat of Arms:
The son of Hervey Bagod, who married Millicent Toesni, daughter of his feudal overlord, Robert de Stafford, became heir of his mother. Their son, Hervey, assumed the name De Stafford, and was ancestor of the Earls and Dukes of Buckingham.
The family name Stafford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "Stat," meaning a town, and "ford," meaning a ford. These two words joined together produce the name Statford, which through a simple transition was finally spelled Stafford, the name of a town in England, which was originally built by Ethelfleda, daughter of King Alfred, about 910-915 A.D. It is located on the Sow River, near its junction with the Penk River. It is located about 130 miles north of London, and, in 1921, it had a population of approximately 30,000.
The famous English House of Stafford was founded by Robert, a younger brother of Ralph de Toesni, of a noble Norman House, who was standard bearer of the Dutchy. Robert received at the conquest of England a great feif extending into seven counties and became known as Robert de Stafford from his residence at Stafford Castle. His sons, Nicholas and Robert Toesni, died before they could inherit their father's estate and the male line became extinct. As stated above, HERVEY BAGOT, one of knightly tenants and husband of Nicholas and Robert's sister Millicent, succeeded to her right in 1194.
Their descendant Edward de Stafford was summoned as a baron in 1299. His son Ralph conducted the brilliant defense of Aiguillon against the host of France; fought at Crecy and in the siege of Calais; and was chosen Knight of the Garter at the foundation of the Order. He was created Earl of Stafford in 1351.
Edward's son, Hugh, who succeeded as (2) Earl in 1372, served in the French Wars. From 1376 he became prominent in politics, probably through his marriage to a daughter of Warwick, being one of the four Lords of the comittee in the Good Parliament, and also serving on the committee that controlled Richard II (1378-80), whom he accompanied on his Scottish expedition in 1385. He died the next year on a pilgrimage to Rhodes.
Hugh's son Thomas, (3rd) Earl, married in 1392 Anne, the daughter and heiress of Thomas, Duke of Buckingham (son of King Edward III). Anne, after her husband Thomas' death (1392) and his brother, William, the (4th) Earl's death (1395), Anne married (1398) their brother Edmund Stafford (5th) Earl. After Anne's brother Humphrey's death (who had inherited the title of Earl of Buckingham), their son Humphrey Stafford (1402-1460), (1st) Duke of Buckingham, was placed by his descent and his possessions in the front rank of the English Nobility.
Henry, (2nd) Duke, attained in 1483, but because of the triumph of Henry VII, in 1486, Edward (3rd) Duke (1478-1521), regained the title and the estates, and recovered the ancestral office of Lord High Constable in 1509. He was accused of treason and after a nominal trial by his peers was beheaded on 17 May 1521. A subsequent Act (1523) confirming his attainder.
Henry (1501-1563), the son of the last duke, was granted by the Crown some of his father's manors for his support, and, espousing the Prostestant cause (though married to a daughter of Margaret, Countess of Salesbury and sister of Cardinal Pole) was restored in blood on Edward VI's accession and declared Lord Stafford, a new creation, by Act of Parliament.
His second surviving son Thomas evidently assumed the Royal Arms, sailed from Dieppe with two ships on April 1557, landed in Scarborough, seized the castle and proclaimed himself protector. He was captured and executed for high treason. His father's new barony, in 1637, passed to a cadet in humble circumstances who was called on, as a pauper, to surrender to the King, which he did (illegally it is now held) in 1639. The King therefore bestowed on Mary Stafford (the Heir general of the line) and her husband, William Howard, in whose descendants it is now vested.
Roger, who had surrendered the title (died 1640), the last male heir, was apparently of the main line of this historic house. (Ref: (1) Dugdale Baronage (1675) Vol. i. (2) G. E. Cokayne, Complete Peerage. (3) Wrottealey, History of the Family of Bagot 1908 and Crecy and Calais. (4) Harconti, His Grace the Steward and the Trial of the Peers (1907). Episcopal Registers, diocese Exeter, (1395-1409.)
Edmond Stafford was Bishop of Exeter. King Henry IV, by his Letters Patent had granted License to the Ekerdon and Edmond Elyot, clerks, and to Robert Gray enabling them to convey to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter the Manors of Wynterborn Wast, Bokhamton and Swanwych, in the County of Dorset and the Avowson of the Church of Wynterborn, to find three chaplins to celebrate daily in the Catholic Church for the King himself and his sons in life, and for their souls after death, and kinsmen and for all the faithful departed.
Subsequently, the said William Ekerdon, Edmond Elyot and Robert Grey, conveyed the said estates accordingly; and the Bishop proceeded to the ordinance--which provided (1) that the Dean priests to be called the Annivellarii of Edmond Stafford, Bishop, who should at the alter of St. John Evangelist, adjoining the Lady--Chapel, for the Bishop himself, and for Sir Humphrey de Stafford and Elizabeth, his wife; also Sir Richard de Stafford, knight, and Isabella Stafford, the Bishop's father and mother, and his uncle Ralph de Stafford, and lastly for King Henry IV--for all these whether living or departed and for the faithful departed. (Ref: Book 5107, E8A3, Vol. 3, Cong. Lib. Dr. G. M. G.)
Stafford states in Stafford Genealogy: "There was only one Stafford family in England, no matter how lowly in worldly goods or station a man might be who bore that name, it was definitely known that he was a member of that great parent family designated by it. The Staffords are Norman descent through Robert de Tonei, a knight who came over to England in the retinue of William the Conqueror and became the progenitor of the extensive family now known by the name of Stafford. His Royal Master appointed him Governor of the Castle of Stafford. From the title of the Castle, Robert de Tonei and his descendants assumed the name of Stafford."
Edmond, fifth Earl of Stafford, married Lady Ann Plantagenet, eldest daughter of Thomas, Duke of Buckingham, youngest son of King Edward III, by whom he had only one son, Humphrey, sixth Earl of Stafford, who in consequence of his near alliance to the Crown, was created in 1444 Duke of Buckingham. Consequently all of the descendants of Edmond, fifth Earl of Stafford, were in line of direct descent from the House of Plantagenet.
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