The House of Yorks

Izmail State Liberal Arts University

Ukrainian ministry of Higher education

The chair of English Philology

Report

The House of York

Written by

2nd year student

English-German department

Of Faculty of Foreighn

Languahes

Elena Blindirova

Izmail, 2004

House of York royal house of England, deriving its name from the creation

of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III, as duke of York in 1385. The

claims to the throne of Edmund's grandson, Richard, duke of York, in

opposition to Henry VI of the house of Lancaster (see Lancaster, house of),

resulted in the Wars of the Roses (see Roses, Wars of the), so called

because the badge of the house of York was a white rose, and a red rose was

later attributed to the house of Lancaster. Richard's claim to the throne

came not only from direct male descent from Edmund, but also through his

mother Anne Mortimer, great-granddaughter of Lionel, duke of Clarence, who

was the third son of Edward III. The royal members of the house of York

were Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III. The marriage of the Lancastrian

Henry VII to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV, united the houses of

York and Lancaster. Henry was the first of the Tudor kings.

The representatives of the House of York

The House of York

Edmund, 1st Duke of York, 1341–1402

Named Edmund of Langley after the manor where he was born, he was the

fifth son of Edward III and Queen Philippa. Created Earl of Cambridge in

1362, he joined his brother John, Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt) in his

wars against Castile. In 1372, he married his first wife, Isobel, younger

daughter of Peter, King of Castile and Lйon, while her elder sister married

John. They had three children: Edward Plantagenet, 2nd Duke of York;

Constance of York, Countess of Gloucester, and Richard, Earl of Cambridge.

Created Duke of York by Richard II in 1385, he retired from public life

after Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, seized the crown from Richard

II. After the death of Isobel in 1394, he married Joan, daughter of Thomas

Holland, Earl of Kent.

His arms were: Quarterly, France ancient and England, over all a label of

three points argent each point charged with three torteaux; and his crest

on a cap of maintenance gules turned up ermine, a lion statant guardant

crowned or, gorged with a label as in the arms; on his seal, the arms are

supported by two falcons, each holding with beak and claw a long scroll,

which extends backward over body, inscribed with the motto "None other".

Edward Plantagenet, 2nd Duke of York, 1373–1415

The elder son of Edmund of Langley, he was created Earl of Rutland in

1391. Richard II made him Lord High Admiral and Warden of the Cinque Ports

and in 1397, Duke of Albemarle. In the first year of the reign of Henry IV

he became involved in a plot to assassinate the king at a tournament at

Oxford. His father went to warn the king, but Edward forestalled him by

confessing to the king himself. He lost the dukedom but was pardoned,

becoming Duke of York on his father’s death. He was killed at the battle of

Agincourt, where he led the vanguard. He died without issue and was

succeeded by his nephew Richard.

His arms were: as Lord High Admiral, Per pale, dexter, the attributed

arms of Edward the Confessor, charged overall with a label of three points;

sinister, Quarterly, France ancient and England, over all a label of five

points argent, each charged with three torteaux. After he became Duke of

Albemarle, his arms were: Quarterly, France ancient and England, over all a

label of three points gules each charged with three castles gold. As Duke

of York, they were: Quarterly France modern and England, over all a label

of York.

Constance of York, Countess of Gloucester, 1374–1416

The only daughter of Edmund of Langley, Constance was the mistress of

Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent, by whom she had a daughter named Eleanor. She

later married Thomas le Despencer, Earl of Gloucester. Two children,

Richard, Lord le Despencer, and Elizabeth le Despencer, died without issue,

but their daughter Isabel le Despencer married twice, her second husband

being Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Their daughter, Anne Beauchamp,

married Richard Neville (The Kingmaker), who thus became Earl of Warwick.

Constance bore the arms of her father, Edmund of Langley, impaled by

those of her husband, which were: Quarterly, first and fourth, or, three

chevronels gules; second and third, Quarterly, argent and gules, a fret or,

overall a bendlet sable.

Richard, Earl of Cambridge, 1376–1415

Named Richard of Coningsburgh, after the place in Yorkshire where he was

born, the younger son of Edmund of Langley was created Earl of Cambridge in

1414. In the following year, however, he conspired with Henry, Lord Scrope,

and Sir Thomas Gray to assassinate the king, Henry V. He may have been

bribed by the French king, Charles VI, or it may have been because, in the

event of his brother-in-law Edmund, Earl of March, dying without issue, his

own son would have been next in line for the throne. The Earl of March

revealed the plot to the king, and Richard was executed.

Richard’s first wife, Anne Mortimer, was sister and afterwards heiress to

the Earl of March and to the claims of her great-grandfather, Lionel, Duke

of Clarence, second son of Edward I, thus giving her Yorkist successors a

superior claim to the throne over the House of Lancaster. Richard of

Coningsburgh’s second wife was Matilda, daughter of Thomas, Lord Clifford.

His arms were: Quarterly, France first ancient, later modern, and

England, over all a label of three points argent each charged with as many

torteaux, within a bordure argent charged with lions rampant.

Anne’s arms were: Quarterly, first and fourth, barry of six, or and

azure, on a chief of the first two pallets between two base esquires of the

second, over all an escutcheon argent; second and third, or a cross gules,

impaled with those of her husband.

Isabel, Countess of Essex, 1409–1484

Isabel was the oldest child of Richard of Coningsburgh and Anne Mortimer.

Her husband Henry Bourchier, second Earl of Eu in Normandy was created

Viscount Bourchier by Henry VI and Lord Treasurer of England. William, the

eldest of their ten children, married Anne, sister of Elizabeth Woodville.

The Bourchier arms: Quarterly, first and fourth, argent, a cross

engrailed gules, between four water bougets sable; second and third, gules,

billety and a fess or, and their crest A man’s head in profile with sable

hair and beard, ducally crowned or, with a pointed cap gules.

Richard, 3rd Duke of York, 1411–1460

Richard was the only son of Richard of Coningsburgh, and the only male,

apart from Henry IV, with an unbroken male descent from Henry III. Although

his father had been executed for treason, Henry VI restored to him the

titles Duke of York, Earl of Cambridge and Rutland. An honorable man, his

superior claim to the throne and obvious capability compared with the weak

and mentally afflicted Henry VI earned him the hatred of the Queen,

Margaret of Anjou. His wise and just rule in Ireland during 1449–1450 laid

the foundation for an Irish–Yorkist alliance which survived until after the

defeat of Richard III at Bosworth.

Made Protector of England in 1454 during Henry’s temporary insanity, he

defeated an attempt by the Queen and the Earl of Somerset to regain control

when, in 1455, along with the earls of Warwick and Salisbury, he defeated

the king’s forces at St Albans. He was made Constable of England, but the

Queen’s party regained power the following year. In 1459 the Queen felt

strong enough to to crush the Yorkist party and in October the Yorkist

forces, surrounded at Ludlow, were forced to flee. The Duke and his second

son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, fled to Ireland while Warwick and his party

went to Calais. Within a year, Warwick was back in England and in control

of London. The Duke of York returned and on October 10 laid his hand on the

empty throne in the chamber of the Lords in parliament, claiming the crown.

His bid for the throne was premature, but the Duke was eventually

recognized as heir to the throne, Prince of Wales and Protector of England.

The Queen’s party rallied once again, however, and on 30 December 1460

the Duke’s forces, issuing from Sandal Castle clashed with the Lancastrians

at Wakefield. The Duke was killed, along with his son Edmund, and their

heads were exposed on the walls of York. They were later buried at

Pontefract and then at Fotheringhay.

His arms were: Quarterly, France modern and England, over all a label of

three points each charged with three torteaux, and upon his helmet his

crest was On a chapeau gules doubled ermine, a lion statant guardant

crowned or, gorged with a label as in the arms.; the badge with which he is

particularly associated is the silver falcon and gold fetterlock, the

fetterlock open to symbolise the release of the falcon and the aspiring

hopes of gaining the crown.

Cicely Neville, Duchess of York, 1415–1495

The wife of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, Cicely Neville was the daughter of

Joan Beaufort, the youngest child of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford.

Her father was Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland. Known in her youth as

the Rose of Raby, after her birthplace, Raby Castle, she was a staunch

supporter of her husband, spending as much time with him as was possible in

that troubled age. They had eight sons and four daughters, of whom four

sons and one daughter died young.

After the tragic death of her husband and second son, Edmund, in 1460,

Cicely shortly witnessed the triumph of her eldest son Edward. She is

reported to have been outraged by his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville.

Further tragedy followed when, in 1478, Edward tired of the treacherous

behaviour of his brother Clarence and the latter died, or was killed, in

the Tower. In 1483, Edward died, and then, in 1485 her last surviving son

Richard III was killed at Bosworth. Outliving all her sons, the unfortunate

duchess lived to see many of their progeny murdered by Henry VII and the

House of York destroyed. In 1480, she became a Benedictine nun at

Berkhamsted, where she lived until her death.

Her arms were: a falcon rising, ducally gorged, bearing on its breast a

shield of arms, Per pale, dexter, Quarterly, France modern and England;

sinister, gules, a saltire argent, supported by Dexter, an antelope gorged

with a coronet; sinister a lion.

Children of Richard, Duke of York and Cicely Neville

Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, 1439–1476

Eldest daughter of Richard, Duke of York, she was first married to the

Lancastrian Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter and Lord High Admiral. She

divorced her Lancastrian husband in 1472 and married Sir Thomas St Leger,

K.G., by whom she had a daughter, Anne, whose descendants became the earls

and later dukes of Rutland.

Her arms were: Per pale, dexter, Quarterly, France modern and England;

sinister, per fess, de Burgh and Mortimer.

Edmund of York, Earl of Rutland, 1443–1460

Edmund was born in Rouen, France, while his father was serving as

Lieutenant of France. At the age of seven, Edmund received his education at

Ludlow Castle, along with his brother Edward. When his father’s Yorkist

party fell out of favor in 1459, Edmund accompanied his father to Ireland,

where he was created Earl of Cork.

After the Yorkist victory at Northampton September 1460, he returned to

England and headed north to Sandal Castle with his father to help quell

disturbances there. Edmund was killed at the battle of Wakefield on 30

December 1460, by Lord Clifford, whose father had been killed at the battle

of St Albans. As he struck the fatal blow, Clifford allegedly cried ‘By

God’s blood, thy father slew mine and so will I do thee and all thy kin.

His arms were: Quarterly, first, Quarterly France modern and England, a

label of five points argent the two dexter points charged with lions

rampant purpure and the three sinister points each with three torteaux;

second and third, Burgh; fourth, Mortimer.

Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk, 1444–1503

The second daughter of Richard, Duke of York, and Cicely Neville married

John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, whose father, William, had arranged the

marriage between Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. John de la Pole, whose

mother, Alice, was the grand-daughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, took

little part in politics. The couple had seven sons, of whom the eldest was

also named John (see below). Edmund de la Pole was beheaded by Henry VIII

and the last de la Pole heir, Richard, was killed at the battle of Pavia in

1524, fighting for the French.

The arms of John de la Pole were: Quarterly, first and fourth, azure a

fess between three leopards’ faces or; second and third, argent, a chief

gules, over all a lion rampant double queued or; and his crest was An old

man’s head gules, beard and hair gold, with a jewelled fillet about the

brows.

John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln 1464?-1487

The eldest son of Elizabeth and John, Duke and Duchess of Suffolk, was

created Earl of Lincoln in 1468. He was also made a Knight of the Bath in

1475 and attended his uncle Edward IV’s funeral in April 1483. He bore the

orb at the coronation of another uncle, Richard III, in July 1483 and

became the president of the Council of the North. He was declared heir to

the throne by Richard III in the event of the death of his own son, Prince

Edward. At this time, he was also created Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and

was given the reversion to the estates of Lady Margaret Beaufort, subject

to the life interest of her third husband, Lord Stanley.

A staunch supporter of Richard III, he fought at Bosworth and survived.

The new king, Henry VII, had no wish to alienate the de la Pole family and

appointed John a justice of oyer and terminer the following year. In 1487,

he fled to Brabant and then to Ireland, where he joined the army of the

pretender Lambert Simnel. He was killed at the Battle of Stoke in June

1487. Shortly afterward, he was attainted.

He was married twice: (1) Margaret Fitzalan, daughter of Thomas, twelfth

Earl of Arundel; and (2) the daugher and heiress of Sir John Golafre. He

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