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John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford


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John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford (8 April 1435 28 March 1461) was a Lancastrian military leader
during the Wars of the Roses. The Clifford family was one of the most prominent families among the
northern English nobility of the fifteenth century; and by the marriages of his sisters John Clifford had
links to some very important families of the time, including the earls of Devon. He was orphaned at
about twenty years of age when his father was slain at the first battle of the Wars of the Roses, the Battle
of St Albans in 1455. It was probably as a result of his father's death there that Clifford became one of
the strongest supporters of Queen Margaret of Anjou, consort of King Henry VI, who ended up as
effective leader of the Lancastrian faction.

Clifford had already achieved prominence in the north where, as an ally of the son of the earl of
Northumberland, he took part in a feud against the Neville family, the Percy's natural rivals in Yorkshire.
This consisted of a series of armed raids, assaults and skirmishes, and included an ambush on one of the
younger Nevilles' wedding party in 1453. Historians have seen a direct connection between his
involvement in the local feud in the north with the Nevilles, and his involvement in the national struggle
against the duke of York, whom the Nevilles were closely allied with in the late 1450s. Although this
was supposedly a period of temporary peace between the factions, Clifford and his allies appear to have
made numerous attempts to ambush the Neville and Yorkist lords.

Armed conflict erupted again in 1459, and again Clifford was found on the side of the King and Queen.
Clifford took part in the parliament that attainted the Yorkists by now in exile and he took a share of
the profits from their lands, as well as being appointed to offices traditionally in their keeping. The
Yorkist lords returned from exile in June 1460 and subsequently defeated a royal army at Northampton.
As a result of the royalist defeat, Clifford was ordered to surrender such castles and offices as he had
from the Nevilles back to them, although it is unlikely that he did so. In fact, he and his fellow northern
Lancastrian lords merely commenced a campaign of destruction on Neville and Yorkist estates and
tenantry, to such an extent that in December 1460, the duke of York and his close ally, the earl of
Salisbury, raised an army and headed north to crush the Lancastrian rebellion. This winter campaign
culminated in the Battle of Wakefield in the last days of the year, and was a decisive victory for the
Lancastrian army, of which Clifford was by now an important commander. The battle resulted in the
deaths of both York and Salisbury, but was probably most notorious for Clifford's slaying of Edmund,
Earl of Rutland, York's seventeen-year old second son and the younger brother of the future King
Edward IV. This may have resulted in Clifford's being nicknamed 'Butcher Clifford,' although historians
disagree as to how widely used by contemporaries this term was.

Clifford accompanied the royal army on its march south early the next year, where, although wounded,
he played a leading part in the Second Battle of St Albans, and then afterwards with the Queen to the
north. The Yorkist army, now under the command of Edward of York and Richard, Earl of Warwick,
pursued the Lancastrians to Yorkshire and eventually defeated them at the Battle of Towton in April
1461. Clifford though was not present; he had been slain in a skirmish with a Yorkist advance party the
previous day. Following the coronation of the by-then victorious Edward IV, he was attainted and his
lands confiscated by the Crown.

Contents

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1 Background, youth, marriage and family


2 Early career
3 The Wars of the Roses
3.1 Death of the earl of Rutland
4 Death and attainder
5 Fictional portrayals and later reputation
6 References

Background, youth, marriage and family


The Clifford family has been described as one of the greatest
fifteenth-century families "never to receive an earldom."[2] John
Clifford was born and baptised at Conisborough Castle on 8 April
1435,[3] the son of Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron Clifford
(14141455) by his wife Joan Dacre (before 1424-before 1455).
She was the daughter of Thomas de Dacre, 6th Baron Dacre of
Gilsland and Philippa de Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st
Earl of Westmorland. One of his godparents was Maud Clifford,
Countess of Cambridge, whose dower house Coningsburgh Castle
Skipton Castle, seat of the Clifford
was. When she died in 1446, she left him numerous silver plate in
family; Craven has been described
as "wild, economically backward her will.[4] She had been the widow of Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd
and chronically lawless."[1] Earl of Cambridge, executed on 5 August 1415 for his part in the
Southampton Plot,[3][5] and she was said to have lived "in great
estate" in the castle.[6]

Clifford had three younger brothers and five sisters.[7] Sir Roger Clifford, who married Joan Courtenay
(born c. 1447), the eldest daughter of Thomas Courtenay, 13th Earl of Devon, by Margaret Beaufort, the
daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset. She married secondly, Sir William Knyvet of
Buckenham, Norfolk.[8] Next was Sir Robert Clifford, who eventually involved himself in the Perkin
Warbeck plot against Henry VII.John Clifford's youngest brother was Sir Thomas Clifford, and his
nearest sister was Elizabeth. She married firstly, Sir William Plumpton (14351461),[9] who was
probably slain at the Battle of Towton in 1461,[10] and secondly, John Hamerton.[5] Another sister was
Maud, who married firstly Sir John Harrington, and secondly, Sir Edmund Sutton. There was also Anne
Clifford, who married firstly, Sir William Tempest, and secondly, William Conyers, esquire. John
Clifford's youngest sisters were Joan (who married Sir Simon Musgrave) and Margaret (who married
Robert Carr).[7]

In 1454, John Clifford married Margaret Bromflete (1443 12 April 1493), who was the daughter and
heiress of Henry, Lord Vescy by his second wife Eleanor Fitz Hugh. With her, Clifford had two sons and
a daughter;[7][11][12] his heir, Henry, who would become 10th baron, a younger son Richard, and a
daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth was later wife of Sir Robert Aske (d. 21 February 1531) of Aughton,
Yorkshire.[13] Margaret Clifford survived her husband, and at some time before 14 May 1467 had
remarried, to Sir Lancelot Threlkeld.[11] Historian Henry Summerson has described his marriage, which
gained the Cliffords estates, as he put it, "in parts of the north relatively free from Neville
domination."[4]

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Early career
Little is known of Clifford's early life or career until he appears on
the records of 24 August 1453, as supporting the traditional allies of
his family, the Percy family. The Percys were at that time engaged
in a bitter feud known as the PercyNeville feud by historians
with their rivals for power in Yorkshire, the House of Neville. On
this day Clifford joined Thomas Percy, Lord Egremont and Sir
Richard Percy, sons of the earl of Northumberland, at Heworth
Moor in their attempt to ambush the returning wedding party of
Thomas Neville.[4]

Clifford's career was transformed when, on 22 May 1455, his father


was killed fighting Richard, Duke of York and York's Neville allies,
the earls of Salisbury and Warwick at the first Battle of St Albans. Arms of Clifford: Chequy or and
John Clifford was still under age at the time, and was not able to azure, a fess gules
prove his age in order to obtain livery of his lands until 16 June
1456.[3] He entered into his inheritance less than a month later, and
was appointed a Justice of the peace in Westmorland.[4] Clifford inherited the barony of Clifford, the
family seat at Skipton Castle and the hereditary office of High Sheriff of Westmorland. He was
summoned to Parliament on 30 July 1460.[3][14]

It is likely that for him, the death of his father personalised an already bitter struggle with the Nevilles.
Michael Hicks, for example, has suggested that "the heirs of the dead lords... now wanted revenge for
their fathers' deaths. They were not particular whether by constitutional trial or by assassination."
Warwick especially was held accountable.[15] King Henry VI imposed a reconciliation between the
warring factions of St Albans in early 1458, and commanded the various parties, including Clifford, to
London. Clifford arrived there, a contemporary chronicler recorded, "with a grete power,"[3] and
demanded compensation for his father's death.[3] In this, he was accompanied by the other "yong lordes
whoos fadres were sleyne at Seynt Albonys."[16] Jointly with Lord Egremont and the new earl of
Northumberland, Clifford is believed to have had an army of around 1,500 men in London in early
1458[17] where, with Egremont and the duke of Exeter, he attempted to ambush Warwick and York on
their way to Westminster.[18][19] It is likely that they had organised armed gangs for the purpose of
arresting the Yorkist lords, if not assassinating them.[20] The Mayor of London believed they came
"agaynst the peas," and excluded them from the city. Thus, Clifford and the others were forced to lodge
at Temple Bar, between the city and Westminster,[17] probably in a house of one of the various bishops
that lined the route.[21] The king, as arbitrator, resided out of London, at Berkhamsted Castle, and
Clifford visited him there on 1 March "presumably to influence the result [but] probably
unsuccessfully," says Hicks.[22] Clifford later participated in what was known ceremonially as the
'Loveday' on the 24th of the month, which saw the king arbitrate a settlement between the warring
parties. As a result of this, and as part of a general compensation package between the families of the
battle's victors and losers, Clifford was to be paid 666 by the earl of Warwick. This was to be shared
between John and his siblings.[4]

King Henry's attempts at peacekeeping, however, came to little; indeed, it was around this time that
Henry's forcible wife, Margaret of Anjou, became more involved in the partisan politics of the day and
increasingly influential in government. Summerson has noted how Clifford's youth and energy "made
him an increasingly important supporter of the Lancastrian cause."[4] Likewise, a pro-Lancastrian poem,

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using a favoured contemporary metaphor for government, the ship of State, referred to Clifford as a
"well good sayl" of it.[23] A few months later he was appointed to the Kings Bench for the West Riding
of Yorkshire,[4] but when a great council was summoned for October 1458, it seems that Clifford along
with other anti-York peers such as the dukes of Somerset and Exeter were excluded from it.[24]

The Wars of the Roses


The next point at which Clifford appears to have been fully
involved in national politics was attending the parliament
summoned to Coventry in November 1459. By this time the civil
wars had broken out again in earnest: the Neville earl of
Salisbury had defeated an attempted Lancastrian ambush of him
at the Battle of Blore Heath that September, and had joined with
the duke of York at the latter's castle in Ludlow. There, however,
they had been forced into exile by superior crown forces, and as
a result a parliament had been called to attend to the Yorkists'
attainders. This was the Parliament of Devils, and here Clifford
swore allegiance to the new heir to the throne, Edward of
Westminster, Prince of Wales, on 11 December. As a result of the
exiled Yorkists' attainders, their estates were available for
redistribution by the crown to those who had remained loyal to
it, and Clifford was granted the Honour of Penrith and the
Penrith Castle, which had formerly been held by Salisbury. This
The Murder of Rutland by Lord Clifford was close enough to their own estates Westmorland
by Charles Robert Leslie, 1815 particularly their caput of Brougham Castle, near Penrith that
it has been suggested that it had been a particular bone of
contention between the two families.[4] In April the following
year he was appointed warden of the western marches,[25] an important position in the defence of the
Anglo-Scottish border. It was also a traditional office of the Nevilles, and had most recently been held
jointly by the earls of Salisbury and Warwick; now Clifford was ordered to raise a force to resist the
Yorkists.[4]

In June 1460 the exiled Yorkists successfully invaded England, and on 10 July they defeated a royal
army at the Battle of Northampton, and captured the king. As a result, Clifford was now ordered to
surrender Penrith castle and Honour back to the earl of Salisbury.[4] But although the now-Yorkist
government repeatedly sent messages, orders and instructions to Clifford in the north, he did not
acknowledge them, and with Northumberland and Lord Roos, remained in control of most of the
region.[26] In October 1460, the duke of York claimed the throne, and a parliament was summoned to
discuss this. The result of its deliberations was the Act of Accord, which disinherited the Prince of
Wales in favour of York and his heirs. This, it has been said, was 'repugnant' to Clifford and his
colleagues and strengthened their support for the queen.[18] It seems that, although Clifford was
summoned to attend, he stayed away, and probably met with Queen Margaret in Kingston upon Hull,[27]
where she was gathering Lancastrian lords and their retainers to her. Together, they had soon gathered a
fighting force of thousands.[28] Clifford was one of these lords who was subsequently accused of
'systematically' pillaging and looting the Yorkshire estates and tenants of York and Salisbury.[19] In
response to these attacks, York, Salisbury, and the latter's son Thomas led an army to the north.
Encamped at York's castle at Sandal, on 30 December 1460, the two armies met at the Battle of
Wakefield,[4] where Clifford commanded one of the wings of the Lancastrian army.[18] The Yorkist army

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was routed, and all three Yorkist lords were killed. Clifford was knighted by the Lancastrian
commander, Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset prior to the battle commencing.[4]

Death of the earl of Rutland

One modern historian has noted, however, that although Rutland's death brought Clifford "considerable
notoriety, much of it [was] first reported only several decades after the event."[4] Henry Summerson
dates the first published description of 'Butcher Clifford' as being not until the 1540s, by John Leland in
his Itinerary, when he wrote that "for killing of men at this bataill [Clifford] was caullid the
boucher."[29] The annalist William Worcester, writing contemporaneously says that Clifford killed
Rutland on Wakefield Bridge, whilst the latter fled the battle. In the sixteenth century this report was
expanded by Edward Hall, which became the source of Shakespeare's account. This included the
addition of various confirmed historical inaccuracies, such as describing Rutland as being aged twelve
rather than seventeen,[4] and that Clifford also beheaded York after the battle, whereas the duke almost
certainly fell in the fighting.[3] Historian J.R. Lander has said that most of the later descriptions of
Clifford at Wakefield "appear too late to be worthy of much credence."[30]

Death and attainder


Following the victory at Wakefield, Clifford and other Lancastrian lords in the north attended Queen
Margaret's Royal council in January;[31] they soon led their army south. Gregory's Chronicle reports that
everyone wore the Prince of Wales' cognizance, the ostrich feather badge.[26] On 17 February 1461 they
encountered a Yorkist army, led by Warwick and his brother John Neville, at St Albans. This resulted in
another resounding victory for the Lancastrians, and Henry VI was captured from Warwick and returned
to his wife and son. It is possible that this reunion occurred in John Clifford's own tent after the battle.[4]
Instead of marching on London however, the royal army retreated to the north, Clifford with it, and a
Yorkist force slowly trailing them from London. On 28 March 1461 portions of the two armies clashed
whilst attempting to cross the River Aire at Ferrybridge. The Lancastrian force, under Clifford, captured
the bridge, but the Yorkists had forded the river upstream and flank-attacked Clifford's men.
Traditionally, Clifford was killed at Dittingdale, possibly by a headless arrow in the throat, and buried in
a common burial pit, along with the rest of the dead from that encounter.[4][32] Despite being only a few
miles away, the main Lancastrian army held its position and either did not or could not come to his
aid.[33]

The day after Clifford's death the bulk of the Yorkist and Lancastrian armies faced each other at the
Battle of Towton. After what is now considered the biggest and possibly bloodiest battle ever to take
place on English soil, the Lancastrians were routed, and the son of the duke of York was crowned King
Edward IV.[34] On 4 November 1461, at Edward's first parliament, Clifford was attainted and his estates
and barony forfeited to the king;[35][36] a large portion were later granted to the earl of Warwick. The
story which would later be repeated by George Edward Cokayne in his Complete Peerage[11] of how
Clifford's widow, fearing her son, Henry, would be slain in retaliation for Rutland's death, sent him into
hiding as a shepherd, is almost certainly a folklore.[14][37] As Dr James Ross has pointed out, the young
Henry Clifford was pardoned in 1472, and as early as 1466 was named publicly as receiving a bequest,
although Ross does suggest that Henry may well have gone into hiding for a time from his father's
enemies.[38]

Fictional portrayals and later reputation

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According to Shakespeare's play Henry VI, Part 3, following Hall's Chronicle and Holinshed's
Chronicles, John Clifford, after the Battle of Wakefield, slew in cold blood the young Edmund, Earl of
Rutland, son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, cutting off his head, crowning it with a paper crown, and
sending it to Henry VI's Queen, Margaret of Anjou, However, later authorities state that Rutland was
slain during the battle.[3]

Clifford is depicted in Sharon Kay Penman's historical novel, The Sunne in Splendour.

References
1. Dockray, K. R., 'Richard III and the Yorkshire Gentry', in P. W. Hammond (ed.), Richard III:
Lordship, Loyalty and Law (Gloucester, 1986), 48.
2. Given-Wilson, C., The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages (Trowbridge, 1996), 64.
3. Cockayne, G.E. & V.E. Gibbs (ed.), The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland and the
United Kingdom Extant Extinct or Dormant (https://play.google.com/store/books
/details?id=Pw8DAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-Pw8DAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1) III (2nd ed, London, 1913),
293.
4. "John Clifford" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5654). www.oxforddnb.com. Retrieved
27 May 2017.
5. Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families I, eds
Kimball G. Everingham (2nd ed., Salt Lake City, 2011), 508.
6. Cokayne, G.E., Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United
Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant II, ed. V.Gibbs (2nd ed., London, 1912), 495 n.
7. Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families I, eds
Kimball G. Everingham (2nd ed., Salt Lake City, 2011), 5089.
8. Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families IV, eds
Kimball G. Everingham (2nd ed., Salt Lake City, 2011), 412.
9. Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families IV, eds
Kimball G. Everingham (2nd ed., Salt Lake City, 2011), 41.
10. "William Plumpton" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22398). www.oxforddnb.com.
Retrieved 27 May 2017. (Subscription required (help)).
11. Cockayne, G.E. & V.E. Gibbs (ed.), The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland and the
United Kingdom Extant Extinct or Dormant III (2nd ed, London, 1913), 294.
12. Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families IV, eds
Kimball G. Everingham (2nd ed., Salt Lake City, 2011), 978.
13. Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families I, eds
Kimball G. Everingham (2nd ed., Salt Lake City, 2011), 52, 509.
14. Richardson, D., Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families I, eds
Kimball G. Everingham (2nd ed., Salt Lake City, 2011), 509.
15. Hicks, M.A., Warwick the Kingmaker (Oxford, 1998), 129.
16. Davies, J.S. (ed.) An English Chronicle of the Reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry
VI Written Before the Year 1471 (Camden Society, London, 1856), 77.
17. Hicks, M.A., Warwick the Kingmaker (Oxford, 1998), 132.
18. Cox, H., The Battle of Wakefield Revisited (York, 2010), 69.
19. Johnson, P.A., Duke Richard of York (Oxford, 1988), 222.
20. Goodwin, G., Fatal Colours: Towton 1461 (London, 2011), 92.
21. Maurer, H.E., Margaret of Anjou: Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England (Woodbridge,
2003), 154.
22. Hicks, M.A., Warwick the Kingmaker (Oxford, 1998), 133.
23. Robbins, R.H. (ed.), Historical Poems of the XIVth and XVth Centuries (New York, 1959), 1923.

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24. Maurer, H.E., Margaret of Anjou: Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England (Woodbridge,
2003), 161.
25. Harriss, G.L., Shaping the Nation: England 13601461 (Oxford, 2005), 439.
26. Gillingham, J., The Wars of the Roses (London (repr.) 1993), 127.
27. Goodman, A., The Wars of the Roses: Military Activity and English Society, 145297 (USA 1981),
43.
28. Lander, J.R., Government & Community: England 14501509 (London, 1980), 212.
29. Leland, J., The Itinerary of John Leland I (ed. T. Hearne), (Eton, 1748), 43.
30. Lander, JR., 'Attainder and Forfeiture, 14531509', The Historical Journal, 4 (1961), 134 n.55.
31. Hicks, M.A., Warwick the Kingmaker (Oxford, 1998), 235.
32. Cockayne, G.E. & V.E. Gibbs (ed.), The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland and the
United Kingdom Extant Extinct or Dormant III (2nd ed, London, 1913), 2934.
33. Haigh, P.A., The Battle of Wakefield 1460 (Stroud, 1996), 65.
34. Thomas Penn (12 March 2013). Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England
(https://books.google.com/books?id=IxAbaRP7xjYC&pg=PA2). Simon and Schuster. p. 2.
ISBN 978-1-4391-9157-6.
35. Cockayne, G.E. & V.E. Gibbs (ed.), The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland and the
United Kingdom Extant Extinct or Dormant III (2nd ed, London, 1913), 2934.
36. Jacob, E.F., The 15th Century', 13991485 (Oxford, 1969), 539.
37. Cockayne, G.E. & V.E. Gibbs (ed.), The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland and the
United Kingdom Extant Extinct or Dormant III (2nd ed, London, 1913), 294
38. Ross, J., 'The Treatment of Traitors' Children and Edward IV's Clemency in the 1460s', The
Fifteenth Century: Essays Presented to Michael Hicks (Woodbridge, 2015), 139.

Peerage of England

Preceded by Baron de Clifford Succeeded by


Thomas Clifford 14551461 Henry Clifford

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