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Birth:          5 Jun 1341 King's Langley, Hertfordshire, England
Death:          1 Aug 1402 Langley, Hertfordshire, England
Burial:         Church of the Dominicans, Langley, Hertfordshire, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_of_Langley,_1st_Duke_of_York
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, KG (5 June 1341 – 1 August 1402) 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.
Early years[edit]

On the death of his godfather, the Earl of Surrey, Edmund was granted the earl's lands 
north of the Trent, primarily in Yorkshire. In 1359, he joined his father King Edward III 
on an unsuccessful military expedition to France and was made a knight of the Garter 
in 1361. In 1362, at the age of twenty-one, he was created Earl of Cambridge by his 
father.[1]

Military career[edit]

Edmund took part in several military expeditions to France in the 1370s. In 1369, he 
brought a retinue of 400 men-at-arms and 400 archers to serve with John Hastings, 
2nd Earl of Pembroke, on campaigns in Brittany and Angouleme. The following year, 
he first joined Pembroke again on an expedition to relieve the fortress of Belle Perche 
and then accompanied his eldest brother Edward, the Black Prince, on a campaign 
that resulted in the siege and sack of Limoges. In 1375, he sailed with the Earl of 
March to relieve Brest, but after some initial success, a truce was declared.

In the 1370s, English envoys entered into an alliance with Fernando I of Portugal, 
where Portugal promised to attack Castille with the Lancasterian army. As a 
consequence of The Caroline War in France, the Duke of Lancaster was forced to 
postpone the invasion of Castille. In 1381, Edmund finally led an abortive expedition 
to press The Duke of Lancaster's claim to the Castile, joining with King Ferdinand of 
Portugal in attacking Castile as part of the Fernandine Wars. After months of 
indecisiveness, a peace was again declared between Castile and Portugal, and 
Edmund had to lead his malcontented troops home. [2]

Edmund was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports on 
12 June 1376 and held office until 1381. He acted as Keeper of the Realm in 1394/95 
when his nephew, King Richard II of England, campaigned in Ireland and presided 
over Parliament in 1395. He was also keeper of the realm in 1396 during the king's 
brief visit to France to collect his child-bride Isabella of Valois. The duke was left as 
Custodian of the Realm in the summer of 1399 when Richard II departed for another 
extended campaign in Ireland. In late June of that year, the exiled Henry Bolingbroke 
landed at Bridlington in Yorkshire. He raised an army to resist Bolingbroke, then 
decided instead to join him, for which he was well rewarded. He thereafter remained 
loyal to the new Lancastrian regime as Bolingbroke overthrew Richard II to become 
King Henry IV.

Later life[edit]

On 6 August 1385, Edmund was elevated to Duke of York.[3]

In Richard II's will, Edmund was highly emphasised as the king's heir despite the 
stronger claims of Henry of Bolingbroke and Edmund Mortimer. This was not due to 
any preference Richard had for Edmund, but rather a desire the king had to set 
Edmund's son, Edward, on the throne.[4] Towards the end of his life, in 1399, he was 
appointed Warden of the West March for a short period.[5]

Edmund of Langley died in his birthplace and was buried there in the church of the 
mendicant friars. His dukedom passed to his eldest son, Edward.

Marriage[edit]

Langley's first wife, Isabella, was a daughter of King Peter of Castile and María de 
Padilla. She was also the sister of the Infanta Constance of Castile, the second wife 
of Langley's brother John of Gaunt. They had two sons and a daughter:
Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (c. 1373 – 25 October 1415), killed in action at 
the Battle of Agincourt.
Constance of York (c. 1374 – 28 November 1416), great-grandmother of Queen Anne 
Neville.
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (c. 20 July 1375 – 5 August 1415), 
executed for treason by Henry V. Ancestor of Kings Edward IV, Edward V, and 
Richard III of the House of York, and all succeeding monarchs of England beginning 
with King Henry VIII, whose mother Elizabeth of York was his great-granddaughter.

After Isabella's death in 1392, Langley married his cousin Joan Holland, whose great-
grandfather Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, was the half-brother of Langley's 
grandfather Edward II; she and Langley were thus both descended from King Edward 
I. The marriage produced no children.

Shakespeare's Duke of York[edit]


 


 As a son of the sovereign, Edmund bore the arms of the sovereign, differenced by a 
label argent, on each point three torteaux.[6]
Edmund, the 1st Duke of York, is a major character in Shakespeare's Richard II. In 
the play, Edmund resigns his position as an adviser to his nephew Richard II, but is 
reluctant to betray the king. He eventually agrees to side with Henry Bolingbroke to 
help him regain the lands Richard confiscated after the death of Bolingbroke's father, 
John of Gaunt. After Bolingbroke deposes Richard and is crowned Henry IV, Edmund 
discovers a plot by his son Aumerle to assassinate the new king. Edmund exposes the 
plot, but his wife Isabella convinces Henry to pardon her son.

Parents
____ Edward III (13 Nov 1312 - 21 Jun 1377)
OF HAINAULT Philippa (24 Jun 1311 - 15 Aug 1369)

Siblings
PLANTAGENET Lionel of Antwerp (29 Nov 1338 - 17 Oct 1368)
OF GAUNT John (Mar 1340 - 3 Feb 1399)
____ Edmund "of Langley" (5 Jun 1341 - 1 Aug 1402)

Marriage To ____ Isabel (1355 - 23 Dec 1392)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
ALFONSEZ Pedro I "the Cruel" (30 Aug 1334 - 22 Mar 1369)
DE PADILLA Maria Juana (ABT 1334 - Jul 1361)

Children by ____ Isabel 1355 - 23 Dec 1392
OF YORK Constance (ABT 1374 - 28 Nov 1416)

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