Robert de Stafford

A few sources [9] say Robert de Stafford married Adelisa de Savona, by whom he had a daughter Adelisa de Toeni, who married Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk. Yet the Adelisa de Tosny who married Roger Bigod of Norfolk (father of Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk), is known to have been the heiress of Belvoir Castle in Rutland, and thus clearly the daughter of Robert de Tosny, Lord of Belvoir, by his wife Adeliza fitzOsulf du Plessis, through whom Belvoir had been inherited, since the Feudal barony of Belvoir then passed to Cecily Bigod, the daughter of Roger Bigod by his wife Adelisa.[10]

Robert de Stafford apparently married Avice de Clare,[11] daughter of Richard fitz Gilbert (de Clare) son of Gilbert, Count of Brionne,[12][3][2] by whom he had sons, variously listed as:

• Nicholas I de Stafford[2][13] (d.circa 1138), eldest son and heir, 2nd feudal baron of Stafford. For descent from him see feudal barony of Stafford.[14]
• Alan de Stafford[2]
• Roger de Stafford[2]
• Jordan de Stafford[2]
• Nigel de Stafford[13]
• Robert de Stafford[13]

The Gresley family of Drakelow, baronets, were descendants of the de Tosny family through their de Stafford ancestors, including Robert.[20]

As Cleveland (d.1901) relates in her Battle Roll:

One remaining branch of the royal Toenis still flourishes in the male line. Nigel de Toeni or De Stafford, a younger brother of the standard bearer's, held Drakelow, Gresley, and some other manors in Derbyshire and Staffordshire at the date of Domesday ; the former " by the service of rendering a bow without a string ; a quiver of Tutesbit (?) twelve fleched and one unfeathered arrow," sometimes called a buzon. Castle-Gresley took its name from his castle; and Church-Gresley marks the site of an Augustinian priory founded by his son William in the time of Henry I. Roger, the next heir, first bore the name of Gresley, that has been carried down to our own time by a long and honourable line of descent. His successors continued at Drakelow, and since the time of the first Edward have at various periods served as knights of the shire and High Sheriffs of their native county. Sir Geoffrey, in 1330, claimed the right of having a gallows at Drakelow and Gresley; Sir Nicholas, during the same reign, married a great heiress, Thomasin de Wasteneys ; Sir William served Henry VIII. in his French wars, and dying issueless, was succeeded by his brother George, who was installed a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Anne Boleyn. Two others. Sir William and Sir Thomas, one Sheriff of Stafford, the other of Derby, were knighted by Queen Elizabeth ; and the next in succession, George, received a baronetcy in 1611. " He was an active officer in the Parliamentary service during the Civil War, and was Lieut. -Colonel to Sir William Gell." — Lysons. In the beginning of the present century Sir Roger Gresley alienated much of the property ; and, having no children, parcelled out the remainder in such a manner that, by annual sales, it should last him his life ; but he died a comparatively young man, and Drakelow, " the only estate remaining in the county that has continued in the same family from the time of Domesday," is now held by his representative, Sir Robert Gresley.