Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
Edmund of Langley KG (born June 5, 1341 Kings Langley, Hertfordshire , † August 1, 1402 ibid) was the first person to be awarded the title of Duke of York .
origin
Edmund was the fourth son of the English King Edward III. and his wife Philippa von Hainaut , who reached adulthood. His older brothers were Edward of Woodstock , Prince of Wales, known as the “Black Prince”, Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence and John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster . His younger brother was Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester .
Act
In 1362 Edmund was made Earl of Cambridge and subsequently served in several military expeditions in Spain and France. Edward III. and his eldest son Eduard had entered into a close alliance with Peter I , the Cruel, of Castile, in order to be able to grapple with France, but disputes over the throne between Peter and his half-brother Henry II of Trastamara for England rather led to years unproductive skirmish in Castile itself.
In this context, Edmund married Isabella of Castile , the daughter of Peter I, who had been murdered by Henry II himself in 1369 out of political considerations of his family . However, Heinrich II followed his son Johann I in 1379 , who, like his father, opposed England. As early as 1371, Edmund's brother John of Gaunt had married the eldest daughter of Peter I, Constance of Castile , who had inherited her father's claims to the Castilian throne for lack of a male heir. Subsequently, Johann tried several times to win the Castilian crown, and put Edmund, who was also his brother-in-law by marriage, in place.
When Edward III. Edmund died in 1377 and was appointed to the Regency Council as one of the three surviving uncles of the new King Richard II , although, in contrast to his brothers Johann and Thomas, he hardly appeared in his own positions.
From 1376 to 1381 Edmund held the title of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports . From 1381 to 1382 he took part in a practically unsuccessful mission against John I of Castile to relieve England's ally King Ferdinand I of Portugal. In 1385 he fought against the Scots and was made Duke of York.
After Isabella's death in 1392 he married Johanna Holland, daughter of Joan of Kent from her marriage to Thomas Holland von Broughton, 1st Earl of Kent ( House of Holland ), and through her mother's second marriage, the stepdaughter of Edmund's eldest brother Eduard. Johanna Holland, like Edmund, was a great-grandchild of Edward I. This marriage remained childless.
From 1394 to 1395 he acted as regent during the Ireland campaign of his nephew Richard II and was re-appointed as regent for his second campaign against the neighboring island in 1399. The son of John of Ghent, Heinrich Bolingbroke , used the king's absence to return to England from his exile and claim the throne. His uncle Edmund offered little resistance and eventually joined him. Richard II was overthrown and Bolingbroke was crowned Henry IV.
Edmund died in 1402 at his birthplace.
Appreciation
Edmund is the only son of Edward who apparently never developed his own personal ambition. As heir to the throne in the Hundred Years War, Eduard was engaged as a military leader, Lionel of Antwerp tried to win the Scottish royal crown, John of Gaunt tried to secure the crown of Castile, and Thomas Woodstock possibly aspired to the English crown himself. In addition to these personalities, Edmund appears pale and indecisive, but unlike his brothers - who are ultimately unsuccessful in their pursuit of crowns - he has practically no lasting hostilities.
Its significance for history results from the momentous marriage of his son Richard of Conisburgh, 1st Earl of Cambridge , to Anne Mortimer , a great-granddaughter of Lionel of Antwerp. Through this relationship, the lines of the second eldest and fourth eldest son of Edward III. united, and Edmund's grandson Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York , will assert his claim to the throne against the Lancaster kings descended from John of Gaunt, which will ultimately lead to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in 1455.
progeny
From her marriage to Isabella of Castile there were three children:
- Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (* 1373, † October 25, 1415), killed in the Battle of Azincourt
- Richard of Conisburgh, 1st Earl of Cambridge (* 1375, † August 5, 1415), executed for treason shortly before Henry V's campaign against France. He was the grandfather of Edward IV and Richard III.
- Constance Langley (* around 1374, † November 29, 1416), her great-granddaughter Anne Neville was the wife of Richard III.
The marriage with Johanna Holland remained childless.
literature
- A. Tuck: Edmund, Duke of York . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 3, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-8903-4 , Sp. 1580 f.
- York, Edmund of Langley, Duke of . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 28 : Vetch - Zymotic Diseases . London 1911, p. 925 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
Web links
- Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York on thepeerage.com , accessed July 26, 2015.
Individual evidence
- ^ Powicke, Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology. Second Edition, London, 1961, p. 419
- ^ Powicke & Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology. Second Edition, London, 1961, p. 456
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| New title created |
Duke of York 1384-1402 |
Edward of Norwich |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duke of York |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 5, 1341 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kings Langley Hertfordshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 1, 1402 |
| Place of death | Kings Langley Hertfordshire |