Stafford Arms
Thomas de Aylesbury only had daughters, and it was the marriage of one of these, Eleanor, to Humphrey Stafford in 1436 which gave control of the estate to the Stafford family. The Staffords held extensive lands in middle England and thus Milton Keynes was at that stage only a small cog in a very big machine. Thomas Chaworth married the other daughter of Thomas de Aylesbury, and it is thought that he put up the money to dedicate the chantry chapel at the church to the memory of the Aylesbury family.
The Staffords continued to hold the estate through until 1677 apart from brief periods when the lands were granted to others. The second Humphrey Stafford made the mistake of supporting Richard III at the battle of Bosworth and was executed for treason at Tyburn in 1486. Henry VII granted the Manor of Milton Keynes to Sir Edward Poynings in1488, but the estate was returned to another Humphrey Stafford in 1521. John Stafford had two sons, and it appears that the younger one William (of Blatherwyke in Northamptonshire) took the Milton Keynes estate. His successors continued to hold the land until it was sold in 1677 to Heneage Finch, Lord Chancellor of England and his son, Daniel.