Robert de Ufford (1279–1316), and of his wife, Cicely de Valognes.
His grandfather, Robert de Ufford (d. 1298), was the founder of the greatness of the family. A younger son of a Suffolk landowner, John de Peyton, Robert assumed his surname from his lordship of Ufford in Suffolk, and attended Edward I on his crusade. Between 1276 and 1281 he acted as justice of Ireland. He was instructed by Edward I to introduce English laws into Ireland (Fœdera, i. 540), and practised skilfully but unscrupulously the policy of sowing dissension among the different Irish septs (Gilbert, Viceroys of Ireland, pp. 108–10). He also built the castle of Roscommon ‘at countless cost’ (Cal. Documents, Ireland, 1302–7, p. 137). On 21 Nov. 1281 Stephen de Fulburn, bishop of Waterford, was appointed justice in his place, since Ufford ‘by reason of his infirmities could not perform his duties’ (Cal. Patent Rolls, 1281–92, p. 1). He died in 1298. His son Robert, who was born on 11 June 1279, further increased the family possessions and importance by his marriage to the heiress Cicely de Valognes. He was summoned to parliament as a baron between 1308 and 1311, and died in 1316. Of his six sons, William, the eldest, died without issue before his father. The fifth son, Sir Ralph de Ufford (d. 1346), became justice of Ireland like his grandfather, having married Maud, daughter of Henry, earl of Lancaster [q. v.], and widow of William de Burgh, earl of Ulster. Appointed justice in February 1344, Ralph held office until his death on Palm Sunday, 9 April 1346. He had the reputation of a vigorous and energetic but not very popular ruler (Gilbert, pp. 197–204). The youngest son, Sir Edmund de Ufford, was also a man of some note. The suggestion sometimes made that John de Offord or Ufford [q. v.], archbishop-elect of Canterbury, and his brother, Andrew de Offord [q. v.], were also sons of this Robert de Ufford, is highly improbable. In all probability these latter were of an entirely different family, which derived its name from Offord Darcy, Huntingdonshire.
The second but eldest surviving son, Robert, was born about 10 Aug. 1298, and succeeded to his father's estates. On 19 May 1318 he received livery of his father's Suffolk lands, which are enumerated in ‘Calendarium Inquisitionum post mortem,’ i. 146 (cf. Cal. Close Rolls, 1313–18, p. 542). He was knighted and received some subordinate employments, being occupied, for example, in 1326 in levying ships for the royal use in Suffolk (ib. 1323–7, p. 644), and serving in November 1327 on a commission of the peace in the eastern counties under the statute of Winchester (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327–30, p. 214). In May and June 1329 he attended the young Edward III on his journey to Amiens, receiving letters of protection on 10 May (ib. p. 388). He was employed on state affairs down to the end of the rule of Isabella and Mortimer, and on 1 May 1330 received ‘for his better maintenance in the king's service’ a grant for life of the royal castle and town of Orford, Suffolk, which had been previously held by his father (ib. p. 522; Cal. Inquis. post mortem, i. 146). He also obtained grants of other lands in special tail, including the manors of Gravesend, Kent, Costessy and Burgh, Norfolk (Dugdale, ii. 48). On 28 July he was appointed to array and command the levies of Norfolk and Suffolk summoned to fight ‘against the king's rebels.’ Nevertheless in October he associated himself with William de Montacute (afterwards first Earl of Salisbury) [q. v.] in the attack on Mortimer at Nottingham. He took personal part in the capture of Mortimer in Nottingham Castle, and was so far implicated in the deaths of Sir Hugh de Turplington and Richard de Monmouth that occurred during the scuffle that on 12 Feb. 1331 he received a special pardon for the homicide (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1330–4, p. 74). He was rewarded by the grant of the manors of Cawston and Fakenham in Norfolk, and also of some houses in Cripplegate that had belonged to Mortimer's associate, John Maltravers [q. v.] (ib. pp. 73, 106). He also succeeded Maltravers as keeper of the forests south of Trent and as justice in eyre of the forests in Wiltshire, receiving on 3 Feb. 1331 a similar appointment for Hampshire (ib. pp. 66, 69). He was summoned as a baron to parliament on 27 Jan. 1332. Henceforth he was one of the most trusted warriors, counsellors, and diplomatists in Edward III's service.
On 1 Nov. 1335 Ufford was appointed a member of an embassy empowered to treat with the Scots (Fœdera, ii. 925). He served against the Scots and was made warden of Bothwell Castle (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 288). On 14 Jan. 1337 he was made admiral of the king's northern fleet jointly with Sir John Ros (Fœdera, ii. 956; Ufford ceased to hold this office after 11 Aug.) On 16 March he was created Earl of Suffolk (cf. Lords' Reports on the Dignity of a Peer, v. 31; Rot. Parl. ii. 56; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1334–8, p. 418). On 18 March he received ‘for the better support of his dignity’ letters patent conferring on him and his heirs male lands and rents worth a thousand marks a year (Cal. Rot. Pat. 1334–8, pp. 418, 479, 496; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1338–40, pp.
