Edmund of Langley duke of York

Edmund of Langley York, duke of 1341-1402, fifth son of Edward III of England. He was made (1362) earl of Cambridge, served on expeditions to Spain and France, and married (1372) Isabel, daughter of Peter the Cruel, king of Castile. He became (1377) a member of the council of regency for his nephew Richard II and in 1381-82 made a fruitless expedition to help Ferdinand I of Portugal against John I of Castile. He served against the Scots in 1385, and in that year he was created duke of York. He acted as regent when Richard II went to Ireland in 1394-95 and again in 1399. When Henry of Lancaster landed in England in 1399, to claim the throne, Edmund opposed him halfheartedly and finally veered to his support. After Henry's coronation as Henry IV, York retired from court. The royal house of York takes its name from his creation as duke of York.

York, Edmund of Langley, 1st duke of (1342–1402). Edmund, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, was endowed with lands in Yorkshire in 1347 and created earl of Cambridge in 1362. Negotiations had then begun for his marriage to the count of Flanders's heiress; they foundered when the pro-French pope refused a dispensation. Edmund's marriage in 1372 to the dowerless second daughter of Peter the Cruel was arranged to protect John of Gaunt's Castilian aspirations. He was frequently engaged in military operations from 1359 onward, always in a junior role save in an abortive expedition to Portugal in 1381–2. In English politics he was likewise overshadowed by his brothers Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock, although Richard II appointed him regent in his absences and he was created duke in 1385. In 1399 York was unable to raise an army against Henry ( IV) and joined the Lancastrian bandwagon.

R. L. Storey

York, house of 15th‐cent. royal dynasty. Historians from the Tudor period onward viewed the Wars of the Roses as a dynastic contest between the houses of Lancaster and York. This interpretation appears in the papal dispensation for the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, in 1486.

The title was first created in 1385 for Edmund of Langley duke of York, 4th surviving son of Edward III, and descended to his son Edward, duke of York in 1402. His heir was Richard of York, son of his brother Richard of Conisborough. A hereditary right to the throne by York was inferior to that of the Lancastrians descended from John of Gaunt, Edward III's third son to reach maturity. In 1460 Richard claimed the crown as heir to Lionel, Edward's second surviving son. By this date there had been intermittent hostilities since 1455, and this was the second time victory in battle by York and his allies had won control of Henry VI's government. After York's death in 1460, his friends recognized his son as King Edward IV. His claim was confirmed by battles in 1461 and again in 1471, when the main Lancastrian dynasty was extinguished.

The Yorkist monarchy was destroyed by Richard III's usurpation. Courtiers of Edward, believing Richard had murdered Edward's sons Edward V and Richard, agreed to accept Henry Tudor as king if he married their sister. Lancastrian recovery was achieved at Bosworth in 1485.