Yet by 1460, Lord Stanley had begun to co-operate with the Yorkist lords who by this time had possession of the King and ruled in his name, and he rapidly consolidated his association with the new regime. His brother, Sir William Stanley, who was certainly in the Yorkist army was subsequently attainted. However, when the two armies met at the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459, though only a few miles away, Stanley kept his 2,000 men out of the fight. With the Earl of Salisbury (Stanley's father-in-law) mobilising on behalf of the House of York, Queen Margaret of Anjou at Lichfield ordered Stanley to raise forces to intercept him. In 1459, an accord between the Lancastrian and the Yorkist lords broke down, and the conflict lapped at the borders of the Stanleys' sphere of influence. After some years of weak and ineffectual government led by the Lancastrian Henry VI, a challenge from the House of York broke out into open warfare in the 1450s in the War of the Roses. The Stanleys had been among the earliest supporters of Henry Bolingbroke's bid to win the English throne for the House of Lancaster in 1399 and Stanley's great-grandfather Sir John Stanley, had been richly rewarded for his assistance. Nevertheless, in the febrile and bloodthirsty circumstances of the Wars of the Roses it was a position fraught with danger as rival claimants for the throne – successively the Houses of Lancaster and York – demanded, threatened or begged for the support of Stanley and his followers. At the same time, his father's prominence in the king's household had provided him with an early introduction to court where he was named among the squires of Henry VI in 1454. It was a formidable inheritance and gave him ample opportunity to gain experience in the leadership of men.
Among his notable close relatives were his brother Sir William Stanley and his nephews Sir John Savage and Thomas Savage, Archbishop of York.Īfter the death of his father in 1459, Stanley inherited his father's titles, including those of Baron Stanley and King of Mann as well as his extensive lands and offices in Cheshire and Lancashire. He was the last to use the style 'King of Mann', his successors opting for the safer 'Lord of Mann'. This did him no harm, however, even after Warwick was toppled from power, and in 1472, with the House of York again occupying the English throne, he married his second wife Lady Margaret Beaufort, whose son, Henry Tudor, was the leading Lancastrian claimant. His estates included what is now Tatton Park in Cheshire, Lathom House in Lancashire, and Derby House in the City of London, now the site of the College of Arms.Īlthough the king for the early part of his career, Henry VI, was head of the House of Lancaster, Stanley's marriage to Eleanor, daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (a descendant of Edward III) and sister of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick ('Warwick the Kingmaker') in the late 1450s constituted a powerful alliance with the House of York. Thomas Stanley took the side of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. He was the eldest son of Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley and Joan Goushill.Ī landed magnate of immense wealth and power, particularly across the northwest of England where his authority went almost unchallenged, Stanley managed to remain in favour with successive kings throughout the Wars of the Roses, including King Richard III of England, who took Stanley's son as a hostage. He was stepfather of King Henry VII of England. Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, KG (1435 – 29 July 1504) was an English nobleman.