Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (c. July 1385 – August 5, 1415) was the second son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and Isabella of Castile. He was beheaded for his part in the Southampton Plot, a conspiracy against King Henry V. He was the father of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and the grandfather of King Edward IV and King Richard III.
Early life[]
Richard of York was born about July 20, 1385[1] at Conisbrough Castle, Yorkshire, the second son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his first wife, Isabella of Castille. On his father's side, he was the grandson of King Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, and on his mother's side, the grandson of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile and Leon, and his favorite mistress, María de Padilla (died 1361). His godfather was King Richard II. There is no record of his birth or baptism and others put his birth in about 1375. Richard II was at York on July 20, 1385, and in 1375 the future king was only eight years old; it was unlikely he would have been a godfather at that age, and with his father still alive.
Richard was twelve years younger than his brother, Edward. Strangely, Richard received no lands from his father and was mentioned neither in his father's will nor his brother's will. This circumstance has been taken by G.L. Harriss as an indication that Richard's father and brother did not recognize him as a full blood relative, and that he may have been the child of an illicit liaison between his mother and the King's half-brother John Holland.
Although Edmund of Langley made no provision for Richard in his will of November 25, 1400, his mother Isabella named King Richard II as her heir before her death on December 23, 1392 and requested him to grant her younger son an annuity of 500 marks. The King complied. On February 3, 1393, he provided his godson with an annuity of £100 from the revenues in Yorkshire that Isabella had formerly received, and on March 16, 1393, he provided him with a further annuity of 350 marks (£233 6s 8d) from the Exchequer. According to T. B. Pugh, further largess from the King might have been expected when Richard came of age, however Richard II was deposed in 1399. According to G. L. Harriss, Richard of York 'received no favors from the new king, Henry IV. After Henry IV's accession, Richard's annuities, his sole source of income, were either paid irregularly, or not paid at all.
Southampton Plot[]
In the Parliament of 1414, Richard was created Earl of Cambridge, a title formerly held by his elder brother, Edward, 2nd Duke of York, who had earlier ceased to be Earl of Cambridge either by resignation or deprivation of the title.[2]
Richard's creation as Earl of Cambridge in 1414, however, brought with it no accompanying grant of lands, and according to Harriss, Cambridge was 'the poorest of the earls' who were to set out on Henry V's invasion of France. As a result, he lacked the resources to equip himself properly for the expedition.[3] Perhaps partly for this reason, Cambridge conspired with Lord Scrope and Sir Thomas Grey to depose King Henry and place his late wife Anne's brother Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, on the throne. On 31 July, Mortimer revealed the plot to the king. Later, he served on the commission that condemned Cambridge to death. Although Cambridge pleaded with the king for clemency, he was beheaded on 5 August 1415 and buried in the chapel of God's House at Southampton. The fleet set sail for France a few days later, on 11 August 1415.
The Southampton Plot is dramatized in Shakespeare's Henry V, and in the anonymous play, The History of Sir John Oldcastle.
Legacy[]
Although Cambridge's title was forfeited, he was not attainted, and his four-year-old son Richard was his heir. Within three months, Cambridge's elder brother, Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, was slain at Agincourt, and Cambridge's four-year-old son eventually inherited his uncle's titles and estates as well as his father's.[3]
In the parliament of 1461, King Edward IV had the sentence that had been passed on his grandfather, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, annulled as 'irregular and unlawful'.[4]
Marriages and issue[]
Early in 1408 Richard married Anne de Mortimer, the eldest of the four children of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, and Eleanor Holland. Anne was a niece of Richard's stepmother Joan Holland.[5]
The marriage took place secretly, without parental consent, and was validated on 23 May 1408 by papal dispensation. It brought Richard no financial benefit, since Anne's only income was an annuity of £50 granted for her maintenance by Henry IV in 1406.[6]
By his first wife, Cambridge had two sons and a daughter:[7]
- Isabel of York (1409 – 2 October 1484), who in 1412, at three years of age, was betrothed to Sir Thomas Grey, son and heir of Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton in Norham, Northumberland, and his wife, Alice Neville, the daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by whom she had one son.[8] Before 25 April 1426, Isabel married secondly Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, by whom she had seven sons and one daughter.[9] This marriage was later validated by papal dispensation.
- Henry of York.[10]
- Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (21 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), who married Cecily Neville, the youngest daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by whom he had twelve children: Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter; Henry; King Edward IV; Edmund, Earl of Rutland; Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk; Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy; William; John; George, Duke of Clarence; Thomas; King Richard III; and Ursula.[11]
Anne de Mortimer died on 21 September 1411 soon after the birth of her son Richard. She was buried at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, once the site of Kings Langley Palace, perhaps in the conventual church which houses the tombs of her husband's father Edmund and his first wife Isabella of Castile.[12]
After the death of Anne de Mortimer, Cambridge married Maud Clifford, the divorced wife of John Neville, 6th Baron Latimer, and daughter of Thomas de Clifford, 6th Baron de Clifford, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros, of Helmsley.[13]
After Cambridge's death in 1415, his second wife, Maud Clifford, is said to have lived in 'great state' at Conisbrough Castle and elsewhere.[14] She died on 26 August 1446 and was buried at Roche Abbey, Yorkshire.[15] She left a will dated 15 August 1446 in which no mention is made of her stepchildren.[16]
Arms[]
Arms of Richard, Earl of Cambridge
Richard bore his father's arms (those of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points, each bearing three torteaux gules), differenced by a bordure Leon.[17][18]
References[]
- ↑ Cokayne states he was born about 1375.
- ↑ Cokayne 1912, p. 494.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Harriss 2004.
- ↑ Harriss 2004; Cokayne 1932, p. 495.
- ↑ Pugh 1988, p. 94.
- ↑ Cokayne 1912, p. 494; Pugh 1988, p. 94; Richardson IV 2011, p. 400; Harriss 2004.
- ↑ Richardson IV 2011, pp. 400–5.
- ↑ Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999 Page: 15, 1222.
- ↑ Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.
- ↑ Henry is not mentioned by Pugh.
- ↑ Richardson IV 2011, pp. 403–11.
- ↑ Richardson IV 2011, pp. 400, 404; Harriss 2004.
- ↑ Richardson I 2011, p. 507; Richardson III 2011, p. 245; Richardson IV 2011, p. 400.
- ↑ Cokayne 1932, p. 495.
- ↑ Richardson IV 2011, p. 401.
- ↑ Surtees Society 1855, pp. 118–24.
- ↑ Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family
- ↑ Fox-Davies 1909, pp. 188, 189, 493.