Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/20

 Ufford able French force (, p. 368). Suffolk was one of those who advised Edward to select the field of Crecy as his battle-ground (, v. 27). In the great victory he fought in the second ‘battle,’ stationed on the left wing. Next morning, 27 Aug., he took part in Northampton's reconnaissance that resulted in a sharp fight with the unbroken remnant of the French army ( in, p. 369, speaks of the Earl of Norfolk, but there was no such earl at the time, and Suffolk is probably meant).

Suffolk's diplomatic activity still continued. He was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with France on 25 Sept. 1348 (Fœdera, iii. 173), and with Flanders on 11 Oct. (ib. iii. 175). The negotiations were conducted at Calais. On 10 March 1349 (ib. iii. 182), and again on 15 May 1350 (ib. iii. 196), he had similar commissions. On 29 Aug. 1350 he fought in the famous naval victory over the Spaniards off Winchelsea (, v. 258, 266). In May 1351 and in June 1352 he was chief commissioner of array in Norfolk and Suffolk.

In September 1355 Suffolk sailed with the Black Prince, Edward, prince of Wales (1330–1376) [q. v.], to Aquitaine. Between October and December he was engaged in the prince's raid through Languedoc to Narbonne, where he commanded the rear-guard, William de Montacute, second earl of Salisbury [q. v.], son of his old companion in arms, serving with him. After his return he was quartered at Saint-Emilion, his followers being stationed round Libourne (, p. 44). Thence in January 1356 he led another foray, that lasted over twelve days, towards Rocamadour (‘Notre-Dame de Rochemade,’ in, p. 449). Suffolk also shared in the Black Prince's northern foray of 1356, and in the battle of Poitiers which resulted from it, where he commanded, jointly with Salisbury, the third ‘battle’ or the rearward (, p. 143). The reversal of the position of the host, caused by Edward's attempted retreat over the Miausson, threw the brunt of the first fighting upon Suffolk and Salisbury, who had singlehanded to withstand the French assault (, Art of War in the Middle Ages, pp. 623–5). Suffolk distinguished himself greatly, running from line to line, checking the imprudent ardour of the young soldiers, and posting the archers in the best positions (, p. 148;, i. 282). On the march back to Bordeaux he led the vanguard. He drew three thousand florins as his share of the ransom of the Count of Auxerre (, Issue Rolls of the Exchequer, p. 167). Poitiers was his last great exploit, and even there he was a little effaced by Salisbury. He was fifty-eight years old, and his hair was grey (, p. 57). He still, however, took part in the expedition into Champagne in 1359 (, vi. 224, 231). After that he was employed only in embassies, the last of those on which he served being that commissioned on 8 Feb. 1362 to treat of the proposed marriage of Edmund of Langley to the daughter of the Count of Flanders (Fœdera, iii. 636).

In his declining years Suffolk devoted himself to the removal of the abbey of Leiston, near Saxmundham, to a new site somewhat more inland. This convent was a house of Premonstratensian canons, founded in 1182 by Ranulf de Glanville [q. v.], and now become decayed. In 1363 it was transferred to its new home, where its picturesque ruins still remain, though they are mostly of more recent date than the buildings which Suffolk set up.

Suffolk died on 4 Nov. 1369. His will, dated 29 June 1368, is given in Nicolas's ‘Testamenta Vetusta’ (i. 73–4; cf., Complete Peerage, vii. 302). In it he directed that his body should be buried at the priory of Campsey, or Ash, under the arch, between the chapel of St. Nicholas and the high altar. Campsey was a house of Austin canonesses, of which the Uffords were patrons, and where Suffolk's wife had been buried in 1368, and his brother, Sir Ralph de Ufford, the justice of Ireland, in 1346 (Monasticon, vi. 584). To Ralph's widow, Maud, ‘the lady of Ulster,’ Suffolk left twenty marks towards the rebuilding at Bruisyard, Suffolk, of a chantry-college for five secular priests, which she had originally founded at Campsey, but which she now transferred to a new site (ib. vi. 1468), where it was afterwards handed over to Minorite nuns (ib. vi. 1555). A summary of Ufford's extensive fiefs in Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and London is given in ‘Calendarium Inquisitionum post mortem’ (ii. 300). The possession of the castles of Framlingham, Eye, and Orford with extensive estates in Central Suffolk, gave him an exceptionally strong position in that county.

It has generally been said that Suffolk had two wives, but there is no evidence of the existence of his alleged first wife, Eleanor. In 1324 he married Margaret, daughter of Sir Walter de Norwich [q. v.] and widow of Thomas de Cailey (Cal. Close Rolls, 1323–7, pp. 147, 236, show that the date was between 2 July and 13 Nov. 1324). Margaret had promised a fine of 20l. to the crown for license