Richard (York) of York KG (1411 - 1460)

Ancestors

Husband of Cecily (Neville) of York — married before 18 Oct 1424 in Conisbrough, West Riding, Yorkshire, England

Descendants

Died 30 Dec 1460 at age 49 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: England Project WikiTree [send private message]

Richard (York) of York KG is managed by the England Project. Join: England Project Discuss: england

Biography

Richard (York) of York KG is a member of the House of York.

Richard, 3rd Duke of York, (aka Plantagenet) was a descendant of King Edward III of England and father of King Edward IV. He can reasonably be considered the instigator of the Wars of the Roses, when he attempted to establish his right to the throne of the Lancastrian King Henry VI.

Royal Descent and Family

Richard of York descended from Edmund of Langley, 4th son of King Edward III and his wife Isabella of Castille. Edmund was created 1st Duke of York on 6 August 1385, and had two sons: Edward of York, 2nd Duke of York, who died without issue at the 1415 Battle of Agincourt; and Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, who was executed and attained on 5 August of that year. Richard of Conisburgh, with his wife Anne, daughter of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, had one son, this Richard, born 21 September 1411. Richard was the heir, not of his attainted father but his uncle Edward, succeeding as 3rd Duke of York following his death at Agincourt. ^[1]

Richard of Conisburgh was also, through his mother Anne Mortimer, descended from Philippa, daughter of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, the 2nd son of King Edward III - Philippa being the mother of Roger Mortimer. Thus, on the death of Roger Mortimer, Richard of York succeeded him as Earl of March and as Earl of Ulster, which title descended from Mortimer's mother Philippa, Countess of Ulster. As he was then a minor, four years of age, he was given in wardship, first on 9 March 1415/6 to Robert Waterton, then on 13 December 1423, his wardship was sold to Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland. The Nevilles married him by 1424 to their youngest daughter Cecily, sometimes known as the "Rose of Raby", when she was nine years of age. Cecily's mother, Neville's second wife, was Joan Beaufort, youngest of the Beaufort daughters of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and third son of King Edward III. Joan Beaufort would continue as Richard's guardian from the death of Neville in 1425 until his majority.^[1] This was the ancestry of Richard of York, with two lines of descent from King Edward III, the line through Philippa from Lionel of Antwerp being the senior.

With his wife Cecily Neville, he had attested issue: ^[2]

Anne Duchess of Exeter - b. 1439; d. 1476

Henry - b. & d. 1441

Edward Earl of March/Edward IV King of England - b. 28 April 1442; d. 9 April 1483

Edmund Earl of Rutland - b. 1443; d. 30 December 1460

Elizabeth Duchess of Suffolk - b. 1444; d. about 1503

Margaret Duchess of Burgundy - b. 1446; d. 1503

William - b. 1447; died young

John - b. 1448; died young

George Duke of Clarence - b. 1449; d. 1478

Thomas - b. 1451; died young

Richard Duke of Gooucestser/ Richard III King of England - b. 1452; d. 1483

Ursula - b. 1455; died young

Duke of York

He was knighted on 19 May 1426, and on April 1430 was one of the party escorting King Henry VI to Paris for his coronation as King of France on November 1431. He was installed as a Knight of the Garter on 22 April 1433. ^[1] At this time, John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the younger brothers of King Henry V, were the minor king's guardians and his heirs presumptive. Bedford died in 1436 as the head of English forces in France, and Richard Duke of York was given a year's term replacing him as Lieutenant-governor in Rouen Normandy, then a five-year term in 1441. The opposition party in the England court was led by the Beaufort family, who were given the title Duke of Somerset, and in 1446, York was replaced in his post at Rouen by Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, who undermined his policy. Enmity festered between York and the Beauforts, as York blamed Somerset for the eventual loss of most English possessions in France. Humphrey of Gloucester died the next year, leaving the question of the succession to the Crown unresolved. It was perhaps at this point that the idea of naming Richard of York as heir presumptive may been first considered. In 1450 Thomas Young, MP Bristol, made a formal proposal to this effect in the House of Commons - which sent him to the Tower. In 1452, at Dartford, York attempted to raise armed forces to press his case, but received no support among the lords. ^{[3][4] [5]}

On 23 April 1445, at the age of 24, Henry VI had married Margaret of Anjou, daughter of René d'Anjou. It was not until 13 October 1453 that their only son Edward of Lancaster (Edward of Westminster) was born, changing the equations over the succession. ^[2] Margaret was an indomitable leader, whose overriding interest was in securing the throne for her son. She naturally saw York as a threat. ^[5] Henry VI, on the other hand, was not only a weak leader but subject to prolonged episodes of mental dysfunction, most notably in 1453-4, during which the realm, falling into anarchy, required a regency. While York had been sent (out of the way) as Lieutenant of Ireland, as the highest ranking nobleman and (arguably) closest in blood to the king, he returned to England with a large armed retinue to a council in November 1453, where he was selected as Protector of the Realm on 27 March of the next year, bypassing the claims of the queen. However, by 1455, the king had regained his senses and retaken power, removing York and restoring Somerset, who had the queen's support. But York's successful tenure as Protector had raised his stature among the nobility, notably the powerful Neville family, then headed by his brother-in-law Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

1455 Battle of St Albans

On 22 May 1455, two armed parties encountered each other at St Albans in Hertfordshire. The larger force was headed by York and Salisbury, along with Salisbury's son Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. The smaller was headed by Somerset, although commanded by Humphrey Stafford Duke of Buckingham; the king was present. The parties settled down to negotiation, but when no resolution seemed forthcoming, Warwick attacked the unprepared Lancastrians. Somerset, Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland, Lord Clifford were killed, and Buckingham wounded. The king, slightly wounded, was taken prisoner back to London by York, who was again named Protector for another year and Constable of England. ^[6]This was the moment of no return for York. He had taken arms against the king and a charge of treason would always thereafter hang over him, should he ever lose power. Queen Margaret became the primary power behind the throne, and York's implacable enemy.

End Game: 1459 - 1460

At the beginning of 1458, in a moment of relative lucidity, King Henry pressed the rival magnates to swear peace and amity, and on 25 March they all processed together to St Paul's Cathedral, enemies walking hand in hand. ^{[1] [3]} This forced amity, however, did not last, and by the next year the factions were again in arms. While the Yorkists under Salisbury had initial success at the Battle of Blore Heath on 23 September, ^[6] a confrontation at Ludford Bridge, near Ludlow in Shropshire, on 12 October with an army led by the king himself, under his royal standard, went badly, as Yorkist forces deserted rather than fight. Following this, on 20 November, York and his sons - Edward Earl of March and Edmund Earl of Rutland - were attainted in a Lancastrian Parliament held in Coventry - to which York, Salisbury and Warwick had not been summoned. ^[7] This left him with no alternative to war.

After regrouping at Calais, the Yorkist leaders Warwick and Edward Earl of March, York's eldest son, marched in July 1460 to confront the king's army drawn up in defense at Northampton. ^[6] The Lancastrians were betrayed by Edmund Grey of Ruthin, Earl of Kent, and the Duke of Buckingham with other leaders was killed attempting to defend the king in his tent. Henry, again, was taken prisoner to London.

On 10 October, a Parliament was convened, the king being absent. York "sent for trumpeters and clarioners to bring him to London, and there he gave them banners with the whole arms of England, and commanded his sword to be borne upright before him. On reaching the king's palace at Westminster he entered, with his armed men behind him, and with great blowing of trumpets. Passing on into the great hall where parliament was assembled, he advanced to the throne, and laid his hand upon the cushion as if about to take possession." Not even his adherents supported this move. ^{[4] [5]} The Parliament at Coventry the previous year was declared invalid. On 16 October, York presented his petition to the Lords, based on his lineage and the illegitimacy of Henry's claim. In this petition and his response to the Lords' objections, he styled himself as "Richard Plantagenet." By 31 October, a compromise was reached whereby Henry would retain the throne for life, but York inherit it after him. ^[8]

1460 Battle of Wakefield

There was no chance that Queen Margaret would agree to thus cutting her son out of the succession. She gathered her forces and marched north, while York and his adherents marched to meet them at his castle of Sandal, near Wakefield. ^[6] He was outnumbered and no reinforcements were forthcoming. On 30 December 1460, he sortied from the castle and was cut down, along with his son Edmund of Rutland. The Earl of Salisbury was taken prisoner to Pontefract Castle, where he was killed by a mob. Their heads were cut off, Richard's adorned with a paper crown, and displayed over Micklegate Bar at York.

Burial

The bodies of Richard Duke of York and his son Edmund Earl of Rutland were interred at the Black Friary in Pontefract, along with others of the slain from the Battle of Wakefield. ^[9] In 1461, after the victory of his son Edward IV at the Battle of Towton, his head was removed from the gate to be buried with him.

In 1476, the bodies of Richard and Edmund of York were disinterred and removed in a stately procession to the York seat of Fotheringhay Castle, where they were reburied in the choir of the collegiate church in a ceremony befitting a king, thus declaring the right of their descendants to the throne. ^[10]

The following year, the duke's anniversary masses were sung at St. Paul's in London. The same year Edward refounded the Yorkist collegiate church at Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire, founded in 1398, and extended the chantry dedication in include his father, brother and Richard II, the last reflecting Yorkist claims that the Lancastrian kings had usurped the crown.

On 21 June 1476 Edward IV had the bodies of the Duke of York and Earl of Rutland exhumed and placed in hearses installed in the choir of Pontefract priory church. York's coffin was draped in cloth of gold with a white cross and had an image of the Duke dressed in a dark blue mantle and purple cap. The coffin-carriages proceeded to Fotheringhay accompanied by the duke's son Richard of Gloucester and other lords and arrived there on 29 July. York's coffin and effigy were installed in the choir and Rutland's coffin similarly arranged in the Lady Chapel. In 1496 York's wife, Cicely Neville, was buried beside him as instructed by her will made the same year.

Following Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, the choir turned to ruins. In 1573, Queen Elizabeth seeing the condition of the tombs of her ancestors, the choir was demolished, and the Yorkist remains reinterred beneath neo-classical monuments at the east end of the old nave of the parish church of St Mary and All Saints. Richard, Duke of York and Cicely Neville lie north of the high altar, with Edmund, Earl of Rutland and Edward, Duke of York to the south. ^[11]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

3rd Duke of York

6th Earl of March

4th Earl of Cambridge

7th Earl of Ulster

Orders: Knight of the Garter

• Coronet of a male line great-grandson of a Sovereign

• Escutcheon: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, quarterly, France moderne, and England, overall a label pf three points each charged with three torteaux Gules, 2nd, quarterly, Castile and Leon, 3rd, quarterly, Mortimer and de Burgh, and overall and inescutcheon Gules, three passant guardant Or, a bordure Argent. These arms were inherited from his grandfather, Edmund of Langley, differentiated by a three-pointed label argent, each bearing three torteaux gules. ^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Cokayne, GE. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. XII part 2: Tracton to Zouche, 2nd edition. (London, 1959). p. 905 ff. p. 905
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Weir, Alison. Britain's Royal Families: the Complete Genealogy, pp. 133-135. Vintage Books, 2008.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Crawford, Anne. The Yorkists, pp. 1-19. Continuum Books, 2007.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 48/ Richard (1411-1460) by James Gairdner DNB
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Ross, Charles D. Edward IV, pp. 11-30. Yale University Press, 1997.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} Dupuy & Dupuy, The Encyclopedia of Military History, p. 420. New YOrk: Harper & Row, 1970.
7. ↑ "Henry VI: November 1459." Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. Eds. Chris Given-Wilson, Paul Brand, Seymour Phillips, Mark Ormrod, Geoffrey Martin, Anne Curry, and Rosemary Horrox. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005. British History Online. Web. 21 February 2024. Coventry #20
8. ↑ "Henry VI: October 1460." Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. Eds. Chris Given-Wilson, Paul Brand, Seymour Phillips, Mark Ormrod, Geoffrey Martin, Anne Curry, and Rosemary Horrox. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005. British History Online. Web. 21 February 2024. Westminster
9. ↑ "Friaries: Black friars of Pontefract." A History of the County of York: Volume 3. Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1974. 271-273. British History Online. Web. 21 February 2024. Burials
10. ↑ Horspool, David. Richard III, pp. 117-119. London: Bloomsbury, 2015.
11. ↑ Fotheringhay - The Mausoleum of the House of York Mausoleum
12. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edmund_of_Langley_Arms.svg

See Also:

• Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2013), Vol IV page 129.
• Royal Ancestry D. Richardson 2013 Vol. V p. 452-460
• Royal Tombs of Medieval England M. Duffy 2003 p. 241-242