Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby

Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby ( * 1435, † July 29, 1504 ) was an English statesman, first Earl of Derby and ruler of the Isle of Man.

Life

Stanley came from the old English noble family of Stanley. He was the son of Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley and Joan Gousell and a descendant of King Edward I of England. As a squire of the English King Henry VI. He married Eleanor Neville, sister of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, the leader of the Yorkist. His political position was unclear. He took no active part in Wars of the Roses, but was accused several times of betrayal. In 1460 he fought Henry side in the battle of Northampton. However, the victorious Yorkists hired him as chief justice of Chester and Flint, and he was a counselor to King Edward IV, Stanley married in 1482 Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the future King Henry VII. Having this had landed in England, Stanley remained neutral, although Richard III. had taken his eldest son, George, as a hostage, while his younger brother William fought at the side of the Tudor troops. It is narrated that he should have the crown Richards salvaged after the Battle of Bosworth Field ( 1485 ) from the battlefield and Henry put on his head; he was rewarded on 27 October 1485 the title Earl of Derby. Stanley was rewarded by Henry VII for further assistance with land holdings in Lancashire and was christened on August 2, 1490 the right of the king to secure this property by building the fortress Greenhalgh Castle in Garstang.

Thomas Stanley survived his eldest son and heir George by a few months so that succeeded him his eldest son, his grandson Thomas as Earl of Derby. Another younger son of Thomas Stanley was James Stanley, Bishop of Ely.

Thomas was the last, who led the designation King of the Isle of Man ( King of Man ) - his descendants called themselves only Lord of the Isle of Man ( Lord of man).