Edward Plantagenet (1475 - 1499)

Born 25 Feb 1475 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England

Ancestors

Died 28 Nov 1499 at age 24 in Tower Hill, London, England

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Biography

Edward Plantagenet was born in Warwickshire, England.

Edward Plantagenet is a member of the House of York.

Edward Plantagenet was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Warwick Castle

Edward, 17th Earl of Warwick, the last male member of the House of Plantagenet, was, because of his blood line, a threat to the House of Lancaster, as he had a potential claim to the English crown during the reigns of both Richard III (1483–1485), his uncle, and Richard's successor, Henry VII Tudor (1485–1509).

Birth and Parentage

[1]

Edward Plantagenet was born at his maternal family's home, Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, between 21-25 February 1475. He was the son of George, Duke of Clarence of the House of York and his wife Isabel née Neville, ^[2]and the nephew of both King Edward IV, and of Richard III.^[3]He had an older sister, Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury.

His mother Isabel died when he was a baby, in 1476, and he was about three years old when his father was beheaded for High Treason on Tower Hill.^[4]He became the ward of Sir Thomas Gray, 1st Marquess of Dorset, KG KB, (brother of Elizabeth of York, and great grandfather of Lady Jane Gray.)^[5]

In the months after his father's execution, in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, in reference to family estates which would be, during his minority, put into the hands of stewards, Edward was named as

son and heir of Isabel, late the wife of George, late Duke of Clarence...^[6]

On 27 August 1479, he was styled earl of Warwick,^[6]and on 29 December 1480, the king's 'kinsman'.^[6][3]

Titles

Earl of Warwick

Earl of Salisbury^[5]

Life

[2]

In 1483, aged only 8, he was present at the coronation of his uncle Richard III ^[3] and accompanied the subsequent Royal Progress. In York, on 8 September 1483, at the investiture of Edward, the Prince of Wales, he was, notwithstanding his young age, knighted,^{[2][3] [4]}but not long afterwards, sent for safe-keeping to the Neville family's estate at Sheriff Hutton Castle, Yorks.,^[4]with Elizabeth of York, (future wife to Henry VII), and Richard's nephew and heir, Edward's 24 year old cousin John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, who would become another threat to Lancastrian hegemony.

Ruins of Sheriff Hutton Castle

Between 1535 and 1543, John Leland, Antiquary, described Sheriff Hutton Castle as having

a Base Court with Houses of Office afore the Entering of the Castle. The Castle self in the Front is not ditched, but it standeth in loco utcunque edito ("in a place where one can be constructed"). I marked in the forefront of the first Area of the Castle self 3. great and high Towers, of the which the Gate House was the Middle. In the second Area there be a 5. or 6. towers, and the stately Stair up to the Hall is very Magnificent, and so in the Hall itself, and all the residue of the House: in so much that I saw no House in the North so like a Princely Lodgings. I learned there that the Stone that the Castle was builded with was fetched from a Quarry at Terington a 2. Miles off. There is a Park by the Castle. This Castle was well maintained, by reason that the late Duke of Norfolk lay there x. Years, and since the Duke of Richmond. From Shirhuten to York vij. Miles, and in the Forest of Galtres, whereof 4. Miles or more was low Meadows and Marsh Ground full of Carres, the Residue by better Ground but not very high.^[7]

Historians describe the park around the castle, part of the ancient Forest of Galtres, where it was said that there were many old oak trees, one of which was known as the 'Warwick Oak', because it was,

according to the tradition of the neighbourhood, the limit to which the unfortunate Earl of Warwick was permitted to extend his walks during the period of his confinement... ^[8]

After the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, where Richard III was killed, the victorious Tudor King Henry VII, wary of any threat to his position, incarcerated Edward, but ten years old, in the Tower of London, where he spent the last, almost fifteen years, of his life. ^[4][3]

Death

On 21 November 1499, tried at Westminster before his peers, presided over by his great uncle John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford he was condemned to death, and executed on Tower Hill a week later on 28 November 1499, aged 24, on the grounds that he had conspired to depose Henry VII. ^[4][3]His death was King Ferdinand (Fernando) II of Aragón's condition for his daughter Catherine to marry Henry VII's first-born son Arthur, so removing all possible claimants to the throne. Catherine was said to have felt guilty about Warwick's death, as his claim was better than that of the Tudors. ^[9]

She applied these miseries and disasters to have specially happened for the death of Prince Edward Plantagenet, son of the Duke of Clarence, brother to King Edward the Fourth; whom (most innocent) Henry VII. put to death to make the kingdom more secure to his posterity, and to induce King Ferdinand to give his daughter, this Catharine, in marriage to Prince Arthur.^[10]

He was buried at Bisham Abbey, Berkshire..^[3]

His sister Margaret Pole, to whom Henry VII also became an implacable enemy, addressing the King, said of her young brother:

Edward, Most gracious Sovereign Lord, was always from his childhood, being of the age of eight years until the time of his decease, remaining and kept in ward and restrained from his liberty, as well in the Tower of London as in other places, having none experience nor knowledge of the worldly policies nor of the laws of this realm, so that if any offence were by him done concerning such matters specified in the said Act of Attainder...it was rather by innocency than of any malicious purpose. ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Baker, George., (1841)., The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, Vol. 2. J.B. Nichols and son. Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 1 Apr 2023.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Rous, John., Thys Rol was Laburd & Finished by Master John Rows of Warrewyk. (Plate 60, p. W. Pickering. (1845).,Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 2 Apr 2023.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} Richardson, Douglas., (2011)., Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition. Retrieved from Google books (Here;) Accessed 1 Apr 2023.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Dugdale, William., The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated: From Records, Leiger-books, Manuscripts, Charters, Evidences, Tombes, and Armes: Beautified with Maps, Prospects, and Portraictures, Vol. 1., (p.419)., J. Osborn and T. Longman, (1730). Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 1 Apr 2023.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Soc. Ant. London; (1883)., Archaeologia Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Vol. 47, (p.421)., Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 2 Apr 2023.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Calendar of the patent rolls preserved in the Public record office /prepared under the superintendence of the deputy keeper of the records. (pp.124-319)., H.M.S.O., (1891). Great Britain. Public Record Office. Retrieved from Babel HathiTrust (Here;) Accessed 1 Apr 2023.
7. ↑ Leland, John., The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543. Vol. 1. Retrieved from The Ex-Classics Website (Here;) Accessed 2 Apr 2023.
8. ↑ Halsted, Caroline A., (1844)., Richard III.: As Duke of Gloucester and King of England. In 2 volumes, Vol. 2. (pp.330-331)., Longman. Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 2 Apr 2023.
9. ↑ Matzat, Don., (2020)., Katherine Parr: Opportunist, Queen, Reformer: A Theological Perspective., Amberley Publishing Limited. Retrieved from Google Books (Here;) Accessed 2 Apr 2023.
10. ↑ Clifford, Henry, (fl. 1610); ed.: Estcourt, Edgar Edmund., Stevenson, Joseph., (1887)., The life of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria. London: Burns and Oates, Ltd. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 2 Apr 2023.