Archbishop John Stafford

Abstract

The English bishops of the fifteenth century seldom arouse the historian's enthusiasm. They seem, like their registers, too concerned with ecclesiastical routine, too governmental and orthodox for any that might still expect to find elements of heroism in the later medieval Church. John Stafford is a fair example. He has suffered from the dislike of Thomas Gascoigne and in later times from the coolness of Bishop Stubbs. Gascoigne, who suspected his origins, charged him with begetting offspring by a nun;1 Stubbs, more anxious to be fair, concluded that ‘if he had done little good, he had done no harm.’2 Sir James Ramsay, who admitted his administrative ability, wrote of him as ‘a Beaufort partisan’,3 while Mr Kingsford was cautious and noncommittal.4 Now Stafford was one of Chichele's best lawyers and a close associate: he was also the successor strongly recommended to the pope by the archbishop, and in 1443 the succession to Canterbury was no passing matter.