Comments on William Clifford

Question

On 14 Jan 2024 Andrew Lancaster wrote on Clifford-418:

I have checked CP and RA, which we cite, and I don't find that they name the parents of William. Does anyone have a source for his parents? There is a special reason I ask which is that this man was in the same region and network as [[Clifford-1583]]. I am wondering if he might have had a second wife.

Comments

Mmm. I think they are different because they died at different times. Searching British History Online is very effective in this case. But this does not close the case because there is still the question of how we know the parents. (And also in practice I want to know more about both men, so we can improve their profiles and tell them apart better in future.)

Answer 1

DNB, 1st ed., vol. 11, p. 74, under the entry for Roger Clifford says he had two sons, the heir Thomas, and "as is said, Sir William Clifford, the governor of Berwick (d. 1419)." https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati11stepuoft/page/74/mode/2up DNB cites Whitaker, History of Craven.  Whitaker has a Clifford pedigree, following p. 208, which includes Sir William Clifford as younger son of Roger, who died 6 Henry 5 (citing IPM), who married Ann Bardolph https://archive.org/details/historyantiquiti00whit/page/n301/mode/2up.  I haven't read through Whitaker's whole section on the Cliffords, so I don't know if he provides additional proof.

Comments

Sir William Clifford's ipm states that his next heir is his nephew, John, Lord Clifford, son of his brother Thomas.  This would confirm that Sir William is the son of Roger, Lord Clifford. Presumably with Maud Beauchamp.

See Mapping the Medieval Countryside, 

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Thanks Mary and John. The practical task will be to pick one or more sources to get his connection to his family clear on the profile a couple of key IPMs might do it. It is crazy how many people in the southeastern gentry married people with a marriage connection to one of the people named Reynold Cobham in this period. I keep getting "deja vu" feelings. LOL