Earl of Richmond and away from any attempts of the French crown to acquire it and the related properties. From 1414 to 1435 the earldom of Richmond was held by John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford. In 1453 it was conferred on Edmund Tudor, half-brother to King Henry VI. When Edmund's son Henry ascended the throne as Henry VII in 1485, the earldom of Richmond merged in the crown, and for the next forty years there was no further grant of the title. After Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became King Henry VII of England, the title Duke of Richmond was created by the
Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford to his second wife and her parents. Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford Ralph de Stafford, 2nd Baron Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, KG (24 September 1301 – 31 August 1372) was an English nobleman and notable soldier during the Hundred Years War against France. Ralph was born on 24 September 1301, the son of Edmund de Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford and Margaret Basset. Having lost his father at the age of seven, Ralph grew up in the midlands with his mother's relatives, including her second husband Thomas Pipe. He had his first experience of royal service, along with