Richard III York

Notes:

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (21 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), also named Richard Plantagenet, was a leading English magnate, a great-grandson of King Edward III through his father, and a great-great-great-grandson of the same king through his mother. He inherited vast estates and served in various offices of state in Ireland, France, and England, a country he ultimately governed as Lord Protectorduring the madness of King Henry VI. His conflicts with Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou, and other members of Henry's court, as well as his competing claim on the throne, were a leading factor in the political upheaval of mid-fifteenth-century England, and a major cause of the Wars of the Roses. Richard eventually attempted to take the throne, but was dissuaded, although it was agreed that he would become king on Henry's death. But within a few weeks of securing this agreement, he died in battle. Two of his sons, Edward IV and Richard III, later ascended the throne.

Richard married Cecily Neville. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Anne Mortimer. Anne was born on 27 Dec 1390; died on 22 Sep 1411. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, was the fourth surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Like many medieval English princes, Edmund gained his nickname from his birthplace: Kings Langley Palace in Hertfordshire. He was the founder of the House of York, but it was through the marriage of his younger son, Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, to Anne de Mortimer, great-granddaughter of Edmund's elder brother Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, that the House of York made its claim to the English throne in the Wars of the Roses. The other party in the Wars of the Roses, the incumbent House of Lancaster, was formed from descendants of Edmund's elder brother John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, Edward III's third son.

EDMUND OF LANGLEY, DUKE OF YORK, fifth son of Edward III, was born at King's Langley in Hertfordshire on the 5th of June 1341. He accompanied his father on a campaign in France in 1359, was created Earl of Cambridge in 1362, and took part in expeditions to France and Spain, being present at the sack of Limoges in 1370. After marrying Isabella (d.1393), daughter of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile, he was appointed one of the English lieutenants in Brittany, whither he led an army in 1375. A second campaign in Brittany was followed in 1381 by an expedition under the earl's leadership to aid Ferdinand, King of Portugal, in his struggle with John I, King of Castile; but after a period of inaction Edmund was compelled to return to England as Ferdinand had concluded an independent peace with Castile.

Accompanying Richard II on his march into Scotland, he was created Duke of York in August 1385, and subsequently on three occasions he acted as regent of England. In this capacity he held a parliament in 1395, and he was again serving as regent when Henry of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV, landed in England in July 1399. After a feeble attempt to defend the interests of the absent king, York joined the victorious invader; but soon retired from public life, and, in the words of Froissart as translated by Lord Berners, "Jaye styll in his castell, and medled with nothynge of the busynesse of Englande." He died at King's Langley on the 1st of August 1402. York was a man who preferred pleasure to business, and during the critical events of his nephew's reign he was content to be guided by his more ambitious brothers, the Dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester.
His second wife was Joan, or Johanna (d.1434), daughter of Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, but his only children were two sons [see Richard of York, Earl of Cambridge] and a daughter, Constance (d.1416), by his first wife.

Edmund married Isabella of Castille. Isabella was born in 1355; died on 23 Dec 1392. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Edward III
The charismatic Edward III, one of the most dominant personalities of his age, was born at Windsor Castle on 13th of November, 1312 and created Earl of Chester at four days old.

Edward was aged fourteen at his ill fated father's abdication, he had accompanied his mother to France where she and her lover, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, planned his father's overthrow. Edward II was later murdered in a bestial fashion at Berkeley Castle. Although nominally King, he was in reality the puppet of Mortimer and his mother, who ruled England through him.

A tall, handsome and approachable youth, Edward drew inspiration from the popular contemporary tales of chivalry. He was married to his first cousin, Phillipa, the daughter of William the Good, Count of Hainault and Holland and Jeanne of Valois, granddaughter of Phillip III of France. The marriage, celebrated at York Minster on 24th January, 1328, was a happy one, the two became very close and produced a large family. Phillipa was kind and inclined to be generous and exercised a steadying influence on her husband. Their eldest son Edward, later known as the Black Prince, was born on 15th June 1330, when his father was eighteen. Phillipa of Hainault was a popular Queen Consort, who was widely loved and respected, and theirs was a very close marriage, despite Edward's frequent infidelities. She frequently acted as Regent in England during Edward's absences in France. Froissart describes her as being "tall and upright, wise, gay, humble, pious, liberal and courteous."

It seems Edward had been fond of his father Edward II. By the Autumn of 1330, when he reached eighteen, he strongly resented his political position and Mortimer's interference in government. Aided by his cousin, Henry, Earl of Lancaster and several of his lords, Edward lead a coup d'etat to remove Mortimer from power. The Dowager Queen's lover was arrested at Nottingham Castle. Stripped of his land and titles, Mortimer was accused of assuming Royal authority. Isabella's pleas for her son to show mercy were ignored. Without the benefit of a trial, Mortimer was sentenced to death and executed at Tyburn. Isabella herself was shut up at Castle Rising in Norfolk, where she could meddle in affairs of state no more, but she was granted an ample allowance and permitted to live in comfort. Troubled in his conscience about the part he had been made to play in his father's downfall, Edward built an impressive monument over his father's burial place at Gloucester Cathedral.

Edward renewed his granddfather, Edward I's war with Scotland and repudiated the Treaty of Northampton, that had been negotiated during the regency of his mother and Roger Mortimer. This resulted in the Second War of Scottish Independence. he regained the border town of Berwick and won a decisive victory over the Scots at Halidon Hill in 1333, placing Edward Balliol on the throne of Scotland. By 1337, however, most of Scotland had been recovered by David II, the son of Robert the Bruce, leaving only a few castles in English hands

The Capetian dynasty of France, from whom King Edward III descended through his mother, Isabella of France, (the daughter of Phillip IV, 'the Fair') became extinct in the male line. The French succession was governed by the Salic Law, which prohibited inheritance through a female.

Edward's maternal grandfather, Phillip IV died in 1314 and was suceeded by his three sons Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV in succession. The eldest of these, Louis X, died in 1316, leaving only his posthumous son John, who was born and died that same year, and a daughter Joan, whose paternity was suspect. On the death of the youngest of Phillip's sons, Charles IV, the French throne therefore descended to the Capetian Charles IV's Valois cousin, who became Phillip VI.

As the grandson and nephew of the last Capetian kings, Edward considered himself to be a far nearer relative than a cousin. He quartered the lilies of France with the lions of England in his coat-of-arms and formally claimed the French throne through right of his mother. By doing so Edward began what later came to be known as the Hundred Years War. The conflict was to last for 116 years from 1337 to 1453.

The French were utterly defeated in a naval battle at Sluys on 24th June, 1340, which safeguarded England's trade routes to Flanders. This was followed up by an extraordinary land victory over Phillip VI at Crécy-en-Ponthieu, a small town in Picardy about mid-way between Paris and Calais. The Battle of Crecy was fought on 26th August, 1346, where a heavily outnumbered English army of around 15,000, defeated a French force estimated to number around 30,000 to 40,000. French losses were enormous and it was at Crecy that the King's eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, otherwise known as the Black Prince, so named for the colour of his armour, famously won his spurs.

Edward then laid siege to the port of Calais in September, which, after a long drawn out siege, eventually fell into English hands in the following August. Edward was determined to make an example of the unfortunate burghers of Calais, but the gentle Queen Phillipa, heavily pregnant, interceded with her husband, pleading for their lives. Calais was to remain in English hands for over two hundred years, until it was lost to the French in 1558, during the reign of the Tudor queen, Mary I.

The war with Scotland was resumed. Robert the Bruce was long dead, but his successor, David II, seized the chance to attack England while Edward III's attention was engaged in France. The Scots were defeated at the Battle of Neville's Cross by a force led by William Zouche, Archbishop of York and the Scot's king, David II, taken prisoner to England, where he was housed in the Tower of London. After spending eleven years a prisoner in the Tower, he was released and allowed to return to Scotland for the huge ransom ransom of 100,000 Marks

The Black Prince covered himself in glory when he vanquished the French yet again at Poiters in 1356. Where the French king, John II, was captured. A ransom was demanded for his return which ammounted to the equivalent of twice the country's yearly income. King John was accorded royal privileges whilst a prisoner of the English and was allowed to return to France in attempt to collect the huge ransom. Claiming to be unable to raise the ammount, he voluntarily re-submitted himself to English custody and died a few months later. Peace was then negotiated and by the Treaty of Bretigny of 1360 England retained the whole of Aquitaine, Ponthieu and Calais, in return Edward relinquished his claim to the French throne.

Edward III was responsible for founding England's most famous order of chivalry, the The Order of the Garter. Legend has it that while dancing with the King at a ball, a Lady (said by some sources to be the Countess of Shrewsbury) was embarrassed to have dropped her garter. The King chivalrously retrieved it for her, picking it up, he tied it around his own leg, gallantly stating "Honi soit qui mal y pense."(evil to him who evil thinks). This became the motto of the order, a society of gartered knights based at St.George's Hall, Windsor Castle.

Disaster struck England in Edward III's reign, in the form of bubonic plague, or the Black Death, which cut a scythe across Europe in the fourteenth century, killing a third of it's population. It first reached England in 1348 and spread rapidly. In most cases the plague was lethal. Infected persons developed black swellings in the armpit and groin, these were followed by black blotches on the skin, caused by internal bleeding. These symptoms were accompanied by fever and spitting of blood. Contemporary medicine was useless in the face of bubonic plague, it's remorseless advance struck terror into the hearts of the medieval population of Europe, many in that superstitious age saw it as the vengeance of God. The population of England was decimated. King Edward III's daughter, Joanna, died of the plague whilst on her way to Bordeaux to marry Pedro of Castille.

In the aftermath of the Black Death there was inevitable social upheaval. Parliament tried to legislate on the problem by introducing the Statute of Laborers in 1351, which attempted to fix prices and wages.

Queen Phillipa died in August, 1369, of an illness similar to dropsy. The last years of Edward III's reign saw him degenerate to become a pale shadow of the ostentatious and debonair young man who had first set foot in France to claim its throne. His heir, Edward, the Black Prince, the flower of English chivalry, was stricken with illness and died before his father in June, 1376.

The King began to lean heavily on his grasping and avaricious mistress, Alice Perrers. Government of the kingdom passed to Edward's ambitious third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. In September 1376 the king was unwell and was said to be suffering from an abscess. He made a brief recovery but, in a fragile condition, suffered a stroke at Sheen on 12th June, 1377. It was said that Alice Perrers stripped the rings from his fingers before he was even cold. He was buried in Westminster Abbey and was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II, the eldest surviving son of the Black Prince.

Edward married Phillipe de Hainault. Phillipe was born on 24 Jun 1310; died on 15 Aug 1369. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Medieval Showdown: The King vs The She-Wolf

On the 25th of January 1308, 12 year old Isabella of France married 23 year old Edward II. She was the daughter of Philip IV and Joan of Navarre. He was the crown prince of England, son of Edward ‘Longshanks’, the Hammer of the Scots. It should have been a match made in mediaeval heaven, however Isabella would spend most of her marriage fighting for the attention of her husband from other men. A month after their wedding the pair were crowned king and queen of England. In the beginning, Edward didn’t take much notice of his young wife. He was preoccupied with a young nobleman by the name of Piers Gaveston. The pair had been together for many years and Isabella was unlikely to come between them. Much to Isabella’s horror, Edward even gave Gaveston jewels he’d received as a wedding gift. He made Gaveston Earl of Cornwall and arranged a prestigious marriage for him. Edward also appointed Gaveston regnant when he was out of the country. Edward’s clear favouritism towards his companion didn’t just upset his queen, it created friction between the king and some of his barons. His behaviour also caught the attention of his father in law, King Philip IV of France. Philip was annoyed with Edward’s treatment of Isabella. Seeing how precarious things were becoming, Edward was forced to exile Gaveston to France. Through careful politicking, Edward was able to appease his barons and Gaveston was allowed back in the country. The king’s relationship with Gaveston continued for several years but by 1312, the barons were once again upset over Gaveston’s influence over the king. This time they didn’t wait for the king to send his lover away. Instead, they had him assassinated. By this time, Isabella was pregnant with their first child, the future Edward III. Without Gaveston in their lives, Edward and Isabella’s relationship flourished and they had three more children. Despite there being other ‘favourites’ (both male and female), the marital bliss between Isabella and Edward lasted around 10 years. By all accounts the couple were infatuated with each other. One particular night Edward saved his wife’s life when a fire broke out in their tent. The king was seen carrying Isabella to safety, both completely nude. Unfortunately, the love affair wasn’t to last. By 1322 Edward had another lover, Hugh Despenser the Younger. Unlike Piers Gaveston, Despenser actively positioned himself between the king and queen, diminishing Isabella’s influence on Edward. It wasn’t just the queen who felt pushed aside for Despenser, the barons were once again feeling left out. After war with France, which resulted in Edward confiscating Isabella’s lands, she was sent to negotiate a peace deal with her brother, Charles IV. While there, an unhappy Isabella convinced Edward to send their son, Edward of Windsor, to join her. Once the queen had control of their son she used him to try to force Edward to see reason. Isabella demanded that her husband get rid of Despenser, return her lands and agree to continue their relationship as husband and wife. Under the influence of Dispenser, Edward refused. This decision would prove to be a huge mistake. A few years before, Isabella had met Roger Mortimer when he was locked up in the Tower of London. He eventually escaped and fled to France where the two once again ran into each other. Although their relationship started out platonic they eventually became lovers. Mortimer had a longstanding grudge against Hugh Despenser and was willing to help the queen get rid of him, even if that meant removing Edward from his throne. Isabella and Mortimer arrived in England and chased the king and Despenser out of London. The barons played their part by rising up against Edward and his lover. Despenser was caught and executed and Edward was forced to abdicate, handing the throne over to his 14 year old son. Since Edward III was still underage, Isabella and Mortimer effectively ruled England for him. However, their greed made them just as unpopular as the previous king. Isabella was given the respect due to a queen and was sent to live under house arrest, giving up most of her exorbitant income. Roger Mortimer didn’t fare so well. In November 1330, Mortimer was hanged. Edward II lived out his days away from court. His cause of death and even the date is unknown. For centuries it was believed that Edward died a gruesome death, ordered by his wife. It was said that a horn was shoved up his backside and a red hot poker inserted, burning out his insides. However, there are accounts of his activities long after he was meant to have died. As far as Isabella’s part in his death, she was known to have sent him gifts shortly before his supposed murder, hardly the behaviour of someone plotting the death of her husband. All Isabella had wanted was a real relationship with her husband and to rule beside him as a true queen. Even after suffering the humiliation of having to share Edward with other men, she still only asked to be allowed to live with him as his wife. Blinded by the influence of Gaveston and then Despenser, he had refused and it had cost him his throne. As a scorned woman, the She-Wolf of France defeated a king.

http://www.portaseum.co.uk/medieval-showdown-the-king-vs-the-she-wolf/

Edward married Isabella of France. Isabella was born in 1295; died on 22 Aug 1358. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]