page_title: Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Monument to Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (1470–99) in St Peter's parish church, Lowick, Northamptonshire
context_page_description: Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire was an English nobleman.
context_section_description: Stafford's father died 8 May 1473, and Stafford succeeded to the earldom at the age of three. He was made a Knight of the Bath on 18 April 1475, and on 16 March and 1 June of that year Sir Ralph Hastings was appointed steward of his lands during his minority, while his 'governance and tuition' were entrusted to his grandmother, Anne, Duchess of Buckingham.
  On 6 July 1483 Stafford bore the Queen's crown at the coronation of King Richard III, and on 24 August of that year he was present at the creation of the King's, son, Edward, as Prince of Wales.
  On 30 June 1484, at the age of fourteen, Stafford had licence to enter on his lands. On 25 November 1487 he attended the coronation of King Henry VII's Queen, Elizabeth of York. He was with the forces which fought against the Cornish rebels at Blackheath on 17 June 1497, and on 11 September 1498 entertained the King at Drayton.
  Stafford died at Drayton on 24 March 1499 at the age of 28, and was buried at Lowick.  His widow, Margaret, died between 8 August 1500 and 9 September 1504.
  Stafford left a will dated 21 March 1499, summarized by Harris in Testamenta Vetusta, requesting burial in St. Peter's Church, Lowick:
  My body to be buried in the Church of St. Peter of Lufwyke, in the County of Northampton, in Our Lady's aisle, by my grandfather Greene; and I will that my executors make a convenient tomb there for me.
caption: Tomb of Edward Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, in St Peter's Church, Lowick
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