Edmund, Earl of Rutland

Edmund of York
Earl of Rutland
Born	17 May 1443 Rouen, Normandy
Died	30 December 1460 (aged 17) Wakefield, Yorkshire
House	York
Father	Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Mother	Cecily Neville

Edmund, Earl of Rutland (17 May 1443 – 30 December 1460) was the fifth child and second surviving son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. He was born in Rouen.

He was created Earl of Rutland by Henry VI probably some time before 1454. No record of the creation has been preserved; Edmund and his older brother Edward, then the Earl of March, signed a letter to their father on 14 June 1454 as "E. Rutland" and "E. Marche".^[1]

Lord Chancellor of Ireland

In 1451, Edmund's father, who held the title of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, appointed Edmund as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. As Edmund was underage, the duties of the position were held by Deputy Chancellors. His first Deputy Chancellor was Edmund Oldhall, Bishop of Meath. His brother Sir William Oldhall was Chamberlain to the Duke of York and was likely behind that appointment. He acted as de facto Chancellor until 1454.

Olldhall was replaced by John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, who also held the office of Lord High Steward of Ireland. He would continue serving as the de facto Chancellor until his death at the Battle of Northampton (10 July 1460).

His appointment and those of his Deputies were acknowledged by the Parliament of Ireland which at this time first asserted its independence. The Parliament declared that Ireland held separate legislature from the Kingdom of England and its subjects were only subject to the laws and statutes of "the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Ireland, freely admitted and accepted in their Parliaments and Great Councils".

According to Parliamentary decisions during his term, the Irish subjects were only bound to answer writs by the Great Seal of Ireland, held by the Lord Chancellors. Any officer attempting to enforce the rule of decrees from England would lose all of his property in Ireland and be subject to a fine.

The House of York in Ireland had won the support of Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare, and James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond. Several allies of the FitzGeralds followed them in their loyalties. On the other hand the House of Lancaster found its main Irish supporter in the person of James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormonde.^[2]

Death

The Murder of Rutland by Lord Clifford by Charles Robert Leslie

Edmund died at the age of seventeen after the Battle of Wakefield (30 December 1460) during the Wars of the Roses. He had fought in the battle at the side of his father.

By the account given by Roderick O'Flanagan in his 1870 biography of Edmund:

Urged by his tutor, a priest named Robert Aspell, he was no sooner aware that the field was lost than he sought safety by flight. Their movements were intercepted by the Lancastrians, and Lord Clifford made him prisoner, but did not then know his rank. Struck with the richness of his armour and equipment, Lord Clifford demanded his name. "Save him", implored the Chaplain; "for he is the Prince's son, and peradventure may do you good hereafter."

This was an impolitic appeal, for it denoted hopes of the House of York being again in the ascendant, which the Lancastrians, flushed with recent victory, regarded as impossible. The ruthless noble swore a solemn oath: "Thy father", said he, "slew mine; and so will I do thee and all thy kin;" and with these words he rushed on the hapless youth, and drove his dagger to the hilt in his heart. Thus fell, at the early age of seventeen, Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland, Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

Edmund was thus executed on the orders of the Lancastrian Lord Clifford, or by some accounts, by Lord Clifford himself. His head was displayed on the gates of York, England, along with those of his father and of his uncle, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.^[3]

In Shakespeare's play, Henry VI, Part 3, Rutland is portrayed as a young boy who is brutally murdered by Clifford after pleading for his life; the source appears to be Hall's 1548 history, which says Rutland is "scarce of the age of twelve years" at his death.

In the children's history book Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall, Rutland is also a young boy, but is named as one of Richard's sons, rather than the Earl of Rutland. He is escaping with his tutor when caught by a "rough soldier".

Edmund and his father were buried at Pontefract Priory. The bodies were reburied, with great pomp, in the family vault at Fotheringhay Castle on 29–30 July 1476.^[4]

Lord Clifford would himself be slain in March 1461 at the Battle of Dintingdale

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Arms of Edmund, Earl of Rutland

Notes Edmund of York used the arms of the kingdom, differentiated by a label argent per pale lions purpure (for his paternal great-grandmother, Isabel of Castile and León) and torteaux (presumably three each) gules (for York).[5] Adopted c.1454 Escutcheon Quarterly, 1st, quarterly, 1st and 4th, France ancien, 2nd and 3rd England, with a label of five points Argent the two dexter points charged with lions rampant purpure and three sinister points each with three torteaux, 2nd and 3rd de Burgh, 4th Mortimer.[6][7] Symbolism Both Edward (later King Edward IV) and Edmund quartered the arms of de Burgh and Mortimer, emphasising their descent from Lionel of Antwerp, on which Edward's Yorkist claim to the throne was based. These quarterings were used by his niece Catherine of York, Countess of Devon, and can be seen sculpted on the south porch of Tiverton Church in Devon.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Edmund, Earl of Rutland

16. Edward III of England               8. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York                       17. Philippa of Hainault               4. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge                             18. Peter of Castile               9. Infanta Isabella of Castile                       19. María de Padilla               2. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York                                   20. Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March               10. Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March                       21. Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster               5. Anne de Mortimer                             22. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent               11. Alianore de Holland                       23. Alice FitzAlan               1. Edmund, Earl of Rutland                                         24. Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby               12. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby                       25. Alice de Audley               6. Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland                             26. Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy               13. Maud Percy                       27. Idoine de Clifford               3. Cecily Neville                                   28. = 16. Edward III of England               14. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster                       29. = 17. Philippa of Hainault               7. Joan Beaufort                             30. Paen de Roet               15. Katherine Swynford

References

1. Edward IV by Charles Ross (U. of California Press, 1974) ISBN 0-520-02781-7, p 14
2. Weir, Alison, "Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy", Bodley Head 2002, p 134
3. http://www.thepeerage.com/p10164.htm#i101636
4. Charles Ross, Edward IV, p. 271
5. Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family
6. Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974), The Royal Heraldry of England, Heraldry Today, Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press, ISBN 0-900455-25-X
7. http://www.richard111.com/house_of_york.htm

External links

• The lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of Ireland, from the earliest times to the reign of Queen Victoria, London 1870