Constance Langley

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Lady Constance Langley LG (also Constance of York or Constance Despenser, Lady Despenser ), (* 1374 or 1375 in Conisbrough Castle ; † November 28, 1416 ) was an English noblewoman and rebel.

origin

Constance came from a branch of the House of Plantagenet and was born in Yorkshire as the second child of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and Isabella of Castile . Her father was a younger son of King Edward III. , her mother was the daughter of King Peter the Cruel of Castile and his mistress María de Padilla .

Life

On April 16, 1378, her father was granted the right to marry his daughter to Thomas le Despenser , the underage heir of the late Edward le Despenser, 1st Baron le Despenser . The marriage took place in November 1379. Her husband became a favorite of the young King Richard II , who accepted her in the Order of the Garter in 1386 . In 1397 her husband, who bore the title of Baron le Despenser as his father's heir, was raised by the king to Earl of Gloucester , but he lost the title again after the king's overthrow in 1399. He participated in the Epihany Rising , a failed conspiracy against the new King Henry IV and was executed on January 13, 1400.

His holdings, particularly the Glamorgan dominion in Wales, were confiscated by the Crown. On February 11th, however, Constance, as his widow, received goods that earned her an annual income of £ 200, plus she was allowed to keep her personal jewels and jewelry. Eight days later she received additional goods that brought in around 1,000 marks a year, and on March 3, she became the guardian of her son Richard . One of the properties she was given back was Cardiff Castle in Glamorgan, which was conquered by the rebels during the Welsh Rebellion of Owain Glynd umr around 1404 and remained in their hands until around 1406. In January 1404, Constance applied for more goods from her former property to be returned, which she was granted. Despite this lenient treatment by Henry IV, she participated in a conspiracy against the king. On February 15, 1405 it was announced that Constance had kidnapped young Edmund Mortimer , a possible heir to the throne, and his brother Roger from Windsor Castle and was on the run with them to Cardiff. She was most likely to hand the two boys over to Sir Edmund Mortimer , Owain Glyndŵr's son-in-law and ally and uncle of the two boys. The royal troops pursuing them brought them to Cheltenham , and Constance had to answer to a large council in Westminster. There she accused her brother Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, as the originator of the conspiracy. When he denied his involvement, she demanded a judicial duel in which a champion should fight her brother. Squire William Maidstone agreed to face Edward of Norwich, and Edward of Norwich agreed to fight. Here Thomas of Lancaster intervened as Lord High Steward . He had both Constance and her brother Edward arrested. Constance was imprisoned at Kenilworth Castle and on March 12th her property and possessions were confiscated. Despite her betrayal, she was partially rehabilitated in January 1406, but as a precaution the king initially reserved the administration of her Welsh estates himself and determined that they would not be returned to her before June 1407. Her brother Edward of Norwich restored English rule in Glamorgan by 1408.

Little is known of her further life. In May 1409, she was one of the landowners who had to live in their Welsh estates in order to put down the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr once and for all. She probably died in or near Westminster and was buried at Reading Abbey in Reading , Berkshire .

Descendants

With her husband Thomas le Despenser, she had at least five children, including

In 1405 or 1406 she had an affair with Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent . From this affair she had an illegitimate daughter:

  • Eleanor de Holand (* around 1406, † after 1430) ∞ James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley of Heleigh

Since their sons had all died young, their daughter Isabel inherited their lands.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan, Vol. III - Part I: The early castles . Her Maj. Stat. Office, London, 1991, ISBN 978-0-11-300035-7 , p. 169
  2. ↑ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: III - Part 1b: Medieval Secular Monuments, the Later Castles from 1217 to the present , Her Maj. Stat. Office, London 2000, ISBN 978-1-871184-22-8 , p. 9
personal data
SURNAME Constance Langley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Constance of York; Despenser, Constance le, Lady le Despenser; Despenser, Constance le, Countess of Gloucester
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English noblewoman and rebel
DATE OF BIRTH 1374 or 1375
PLACE OF BIRTH Conisbrough Castle
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1416
Place of death uncertain: Westminster (London)