Sir Michael Stanhope - Family

Family

The Stanhopes were 'an ancient Nottinghamshire family'. Michael Stanhope, born before 1508, was the second son of Sir Edward Stanhope (d. 6 June 1511) of Rampton by his first wife, Adelina Clifton, the daughter of Sir Gervase Clifton, of Clifton, Nottinghamshire. Sir Edward Stanhope fought in 1487 at the Battle of Stoke and in 1497 at the Battle of Blackheath, where he was knighted on the field for his valour. He was a Knight of the Body and Constable of Sandal Castle.

By his father's first marriage, Michael Stanhope had an elder brother, Richard Stanhope (d. 21 January 1529). Richard Stanhope married Anne Strelley (d. 12 October 1554), the daughter of John Strelley (1448 – 22 January 1502), esquire, and Sanchia Willoughby (1457–1533), by whom he had an only daughter, Sanchia Stanhope, who married John Babington, a younger son of Sir Anthony Babington of Dethick, Derbyshire. After Richard Stanhope's death, his widow, Anne, married Sir John Markham, Lieutenant of the Tower of London.

Michael Stanhope's father, Sir Edward Stanhope, married secondly, as her third husband, Elizabeth Bourchier (before 1473 – 8 August 1557), a descendant of King Edward III, the daughter of Fulk Bourchier, 10th Baron FitzWarin, and grand-daughter of William Bourchier, 9th Baron FitzWarin, by whom he had a daughter, Anne Stanhope, who married, as his second wife, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. After the death of Sir Edward Stanhope, his widow, Elizabeth, married Sir Richard Page, by whom she had a daughter, Elizabeth Page, who married Sir William Skipwith. Elizabeth Bourchier died 8 August 1557, and was buried at Clerkenwell, as noted in Machyn's diary.