His wife's name was Godeheut (Godehilde) de Borrell, daughter of Raymond de Borrell the Count of Barcelona and Ermensinde de Carcassonne. Roger de Toeni and Godeheut had 5 sons: Elbert (b:1025); Elinant (b:1027); Ralph (b:1029), Robert (b:1039) and Nigel (b:1040). Roger was killed in battle during the same year that Robert was born (1039) and Roger's wife must have been pregnant at the time of Roger's death in 1039 to be exact, (May 31, 1039) because Robert's younger brother Nigel was born in the year 1040.
Roger "the Spaniard" de Toeni was killed in battle in 1039 along with his two eldest sons, Elbert and Elinant by the army of Roger de Beaumont because he rebelled and protested when Robert, Duke of Normandy's illegitimate son William was named Duke of Normandy. Roger argued that a bastard had no right to inherit the position and title of Duke of Normandy. The bitter rebellion led by Roger de Toeni against his young relative William the Duke, is referred to as the Norman Civil war. The war included large battles and attempted assassinations against the young Duke. It was a very bitter battle between relatives for political control of Normandy.
The combative Roger the Spaniard de Toeni was also guilty of causing many other problems with his neighbors. He spent about 20 years in Spain fighting the Saracens, and trying to carve out a territory of Spain for himself with his sword as his distant relative Rollo the Ganger had done in France. He also tried to acquire power in Spain through marriage to Count of Barcelona's daughter Godeheut (Godehilde) Borrell. These endeavors proved to be failures, all he got for his efforts, was a nickname, "the Spaniard" which was either an empty title or a mocking insult! Roger's rebellion and other irresponsible behavior with regard to his neighbors led to his death, and the death of his two eldest sons in a battle that took place at Conches, Normandy in the year 1039. The army of Roger de Beaumont, a very close ally of Duke William, defeated and killed Roger. With the death of Roger de Toeni and his two eldest sons, the ancestral right to be the Standard Bearer of Normandy fell to his next oldest son Ralph III de Toeni Seigneur de Conches.
In 1066 Duke William of Normandy invaded England to claim the Throne of England. William had the support of Pope Alexander II in this endeavor The Pope consecrated a banner, called a Gonfanon, specifically for William to use during the invasion. (It is interesting to note that Duke William first became a Christian at the age of about 38 years in 1066; he was baptized just prior to the Norman Conquest of England!) Upon arrival in England with his invasion force, Duke William called a meeting of some of his most trusted knights, among who were his cousins, Ralph III de Toeni and Ralph's younger brothers Robert de Toeni and Nigel de Toeni. Duke William offered the honor of carrying the consecrated Papal banner into the battle of Hastings to Ralph III de Toeni, stating that the honor was Ralph's by ancestral right. But Ralph tactfully declined the honor, saying that he wanted to carry a sword into battle and fight at the side of Duke William. Duke William approved Ralph's request and gave the consecrated banner to Ralph's brother, Robert de Toeni who was next in line by ancestral right to be Duke William's Standard-bearer. Thus, Robert de Toeni became the Standard Bearer for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in the year 1066.
With young Robert de Toeni near his side, William had to make use of four horses during the battle, because three were killed from under him. After his victory at Hastings in 1066, William had to fight for several years to gain true control over all of England. As he marched through England conquering it territory by territory he established control by building a series of castles along the way: each castle was located approximately a one-day march from the other so that they could mutually support one another. He gave these castles to his most trusted and loyal officers. One such castle was Stafford Castle. It was built on a hill used earlier for a fortress by Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians and daughter of King Alfred the Great, where she established the Burh of Staithford, literally translated from old Saxon English meaning "The Fortified Landing Place at The Water Crossing". The name Staithford evolved into Stafford over time. William the Conqueror commanded young Robert de Toeni to change his name to Stafford to denote that he was the governor of the castle (or Castellan de Stafford). Thus was born the first Stafford!
Robert I de Stafford was given a garrison of 60 knights to serve him at the castle. This hastily built crude earthen and timber castle, which served both as a fortress and a residence, was completed in the year 1066. In 1069, the Battle of Stafford was fought, wherein Robert I de Stafford, with the help of King William, held off and defeated invading Welshmen who had allied themselves with rebellious Staffordshire residents who were still loyal to their former Anglo Saxon leaders.
King William I the Conqueror was very generous to his loyal cousin Robert I de Stafford, because the original fief granted to Robert extended into 7 counties, holding 131 manors, and thus 131 Lordships or estates, located in Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, etc. In the 1086 Survey of England, called the Domesday survey, Robert I de Stafford was listed as a major land holder. Robert was still alive during the reign of King Henry I, which was from the year 1100 to 1135. He founded an Augustinian Priory at Stone in Staffordshire, upon the spot where Enysan de Waltone had killed 2 nuns and a priest. Robert was buried at Priory Stone in Staffordshire.
After the death of his first wife, Ralph led an armed raid on the Audley's house at Thaxted and abducted the young Margaret. Far from disapproving of Ralph's second matrimonial venture, King Edward seems to have intervened to protect him from Hugh Audley's wrath. Edward III and Ralph knew each other well through many years campaigning together and fighting together in France. With an income twenty times greater than his own this affected a massive coup on the part of the Staffords, rewarding them with lands and property worth a reputed £2,314 a year. By 1343, nine years later, Hugh Audley was sufficiently reconciled enough to settle all his wife's property on Ralph. No sooner had this been done than the Castle and Lordship of Caus in Shropshire worth £265 a year passed to him from his grandmother Alice Corbet.
When Ralph died in 1372 he was a wealthy man, the inquisition post mortem seems to have valued him at £1,432 per annum. However, from 1351 onwards he appears to have been worth twice this sum, the Audley and Corbet estates coming to £3,350 a year between them. From his parents he inherited a further £200 a year and received an annuity of 1,000 marks a Earl of Stafford. His two sons, Ralph and Hugh, made successful marriages to Matilda of Lancaster (daughter of Henry of Grosmont, successively Earl of Derby and Duke of Lancaster) and Philippa Beachamp (daughter of Thomas Beachamp, Earl of Warwick). Hugh, who enjoyed great popularity throughout his life and received many rewards under Richard II, eventually succeeded him. He died on his return from pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1386, one year after the death of his eldest son Ralph in a brawl with the Earl of Huntingdon, during the Scottish campaign of 1385.
Knight of the Garter. Constable of England. He played a major role in Richard III's rise and fall. He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance (and presumed murder) of the Princes in the Tower.
His father, Humphrey, Earl Stafford, a Lancastrian, was killed at the first Battle of St Albans in 1455 when Henry was an infant, and his grandfather, the First Duke of Buckingham, another leading Lancastrian, was killed five years later, in 1460. The new Duke eventually became a ward of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, consort of Edward IV. He was recognized as Duke of Buckingham in 1465 and married the next year to the Queen's sister Catherine Woodville - she was 24, and he was 12. He never forgave Elizabeth for forcing him into that marriage, and he resented his wife and the other Woodvilles, as well. When Edward IV died in 1483, and the showdown came between the Woodvilles and Edward's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, over who was going to be in charge of Edward V until he came of age, Buckingham was on Richard's side at first.
Then Parliament declared Edward V illegitimate and offered Richard the throne, and he accepted it and became Richard III. After dithering between them for a short while, Buckingham started working with John Morton, Bishop of Ely, in the interests of Buckingham's second-cousin Henry Tudor and against those of King Richard, even though it meant being on the same side with his in-laws, the Woodvilles.
When Henry Tudor tried to invade England to take the throne from Richard in Oct 1483, Buckingham raised an army in Wales and started marching east to support Henry. By a combination of luck and skill, Richard put down the rebellion: Henry's ships ran into a storm and had to go back to Brittany, and Buckingham's army was greatly troubled by the same storm and deserted when Richard's forces came against them. Buckingham tried to escape in disguise but was turned in for the bounty Richard had put on his head, and he was convicted of treason and beheaded in Salisbury on 2 Nov. Following Buckingham's execution, his widow, Catherine, married Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford.