Stafford, Henry (1455-1483), second duke of Buckingham and benefactor of Magdalene College, Cambridge

Personne

Stafford, Henry (1455-1483), second duke of Buckingham and benefactor of Magdalene College, Cambridge

1455-1483

Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham succeeded to the title as a boy in 1460. He became Lord High Constable of England, and perhaps the wealthiest Duke in England. Traditionally regarded as a benefactor of the Monks’ Hostel (financing the nucleus of First Court), though it is not obvious why he should have volunteered this role, and we now prefer to speak of the ‘Buckingham Benefactor’, maybe his grandmother, the Dowager Duchess, Anne Neville. At some point in the 1470s, Monks’ Hostel became known as Buckingham College. The Duke, after turning against Richard III, was executed for treason.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Ronald Hyam