#edmund earl of rutland

[thesunneinsuplandour]

I am reading a book about Richard Duke of York and the author claims that the Duke could not afford to send his sons to other nobles' houses for education and March and Rutland were bullied by their headmaster's children...

[tudorblogger]

Book Review - ‘Wars of the Roses: The People, Places and Battlefields of the Yorkists and Lancastrians’ by Paul Kendall

Thank you to Pen and Sword for gifting me a copy of this to review. What I do like about Paul Kendall’s books is that his books seem to each have 100 sections, whether it’s people, places, or objects. There isn’t just an image plate section in the middle, but the images are dispersed throughout the book. It gives a lovely text/image balance that you don’t always get with history books. I love…

[historyinthemakingamazingfinds]

The 12th-century Micklegate Bar in York, England. This was once the main entrance into the old walled city for people coming from the south. It served as a ceremonial entrance for monarchs: King Edward IV, Richard III Henry VII, James I, Charles I, the future James II all entered the city through here.

Often displayed on the gatehouse were the heads and other body parts of enemies. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (father of Edward IV and Richard III), Edmund, Earl of Rutland (another son of Richard) and Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, all had their severed heads displayed on this gatehouse.

The lower part of the gatehouse is 12th century, the upper parts date to later centuries.

Source: Facebook

International Man of History

[nightbringer24]

The gatehouse of Micklegate, the Micklegate Bar (Micklagate meaning ‘great street’ in Old Norse, ‘mykla gata’, from the time of the Viking rule of Jorvik, and ‘Bar’ referring to the gatehouse itself).

After the battle of Wakefield in the Wars of the Roses in 1460, the heads of the defeated Yorkist leaders; Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, were displayed above the gatehouse.

[liviasdrusillas]

“In the aftermath of Wakefield, Edward, Earl of March, nursed an intense hatred for those who had been responsible for the killing of his father, and perhaps even more on the account of his younger brother Edmund, Earl of Rutland. The two had been extremely close; only a year apart in age, from the time they were six and seven they had shared a household separate from their parents. And now Rutland was dead, killed by Clifford in what March knew to have been particularly hideous circumstances.”

- fatal colours, george goodwin

[blackboar]

Today, December 30th 1460 at Wakefield

On a snowy day in the middle of winter, Richard, duke of York, exits his castle of Sandal with a small force with his son, Edmund Earl of Rutland, and his brother-in-law Richard Neville Earl of Salisbury. They are ambushed and attacked by various Lancastrian forces taking advantage of their numerical advantages. York didn't realize the Lancastrian's successful takeover of the North and the subsequent marginalization of Yorkist influence. His son would famously be killed by Lord Clifford as revenge for his father's death at Saint-Albans six years earlier. Salisbury would live one day as a hostage before being lynched by the people of Pontefract. As for York himself, he was beheaded, and his head was shown at York with a paper crown. By claiming the throne less than two months before, he had committed treason in the eyes of the Lancastrians.

This Yorkist disaster would seal the switch of the North toward a Lancastrian stronghold, empower the Earl of Warwick's role in the subsequent conflict by the sudden inheritance from his father of Neville estates (followed by the Montagu-Despenser inheritance from his mother in 1462) and push York's eldest son to claim the throne. The War of the Roses has often been seen as a prime example of the Wheel of Fortune which spin the fate of men and propels them to triumph or disaster through fate. What better example than Richard Plantagenet's life? Merely one year ago, he was a traitor attainted for rebellion against the anointed king who had to flee abroad while his foes took his estates, wife, and children. Three months ago, through the Act of Accord, he became king in all but name through the Protectorate and the grant of the incomes of the traditional heir (Wales, Cornwall, and Chester).

The wheel of fortune from the Burana Codex; The figures are labeled "Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno, Regnabo": I reign, I reigned, I have no kingdom, I shall reign.

[artistrichardhfay]

Article "Edward IV"

The fifteenth century English civil war that became known as the "Wars of the Roses" arose out of tension between the rival houses of Lancaster and York. Both dynasties could trace their ancestry back to Edward III. Both vied for influence at the court of the Lancastrian King Henry VI. The growing enmity that existed between these two noble lineages eventually led to a pattern of political manoeuvring, backstabbing, and bloodshed that culminated in a contest for the crown and Edward of York’s seizure of the throne to become Edward IV, first Yorkist King of England.

Born at Rouen on April 28, 1442, Edward was the eldest son of Richard, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, "The Rose of Raby". Dubbed “The Rose of Rouen” due to his fair features and place of birth, Edward sported golden hair and an athletic physique. Growing to over six feet tall, the young Earl of March developed into the conventional medieval image of a military leader, ever ready to enter the fray. Intelligent and literate, Edward could read, write, and speak English, French, and a bit of Latin. He enjoyed certain chivalric romances and histories as well as the more physical aristocratic pursuits of hunting, hawking, jousting, feasting, and wenching. Edward proved time and again to be a valiant warrior and competent commander, personally brave and at the same time capable of understanding the finer points of strategy and tactics. As king, he displayed a direct straightforwardness and lacked much of the devious cunning exhibited by some of his contemporaries.

Young Edward of March became embroiled in the dynastic struggle between the Houses of Lancaster and York while still a teen. The family feud erupted into violence for the first time on May 22, 1455, when Yorkist forces under command of the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick, and Lancastrian forces under command of the Duke of Somerset and King Henry, came to blows on the streets of St. Albans. After a disastrous debacle at Ludford Bridge on October 12, 1459, the Yorkist leaders fled for Calais and Ireland. Edward, Earl of March, was among those declared guilty of high treason by an Act of Attainder passed by Parliament on November 20.

In the summer of 1460, the Earl of March sailed from Calais to Sandwich with the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick and two-thousand men-at-arms. During Edward’s first proper taste of battle at Northampton in July of that year, he and the Duke of Norfolk co-commanded the vanguard that eventually breached the Lancastrian field fortifications, thanks in part to the traitorous actions of the Lancastrian turncoat Lord Grey of Ruthyn. After the Yorkist victory at Northampton, Edward’s father returned to England and made clear his desire to become king, but the assembled lords failed to support his claim.

With the contest between Lancaster and York still undecided, Edward was given his first independent command. He was sent to Wales to quell an uprising led by Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, while his father marched out of London to tackle the northern allies of Henry VI’s Queen Margaret of Anjou. Drawn out of Sandal Castle by the appearance of a Lancastrian army, Richard of York fell in battle outside its walls on December 30, 1460. His severed head, along with those of his younger son Edmund, the Earl of Rutland, and Richard Neville, the Earl of Salisbury, soon adorned spikes atop the city of York’s Micklegate Bar. A paper crown placed on his bloody pate mocked the Duke’s failed bid for the throne. On the site of his father's death, Edward later erected a simple memorial consisting of a cross enclosed by a picket fence.

Now Duke of York, Edward gathered an army in the Welsh marches to avenge the deaths of his father and younger brother. Having spent his boyhood in Sir Richard Croft’s castle near Wigmore, Edward was well known in the region. He made ready to march toward London to support the Earl of Warwick, but then turned north to face an enemy force led by the Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire. A strange sight greeted the anxious Yorkist troops at Mortimer's Cross that frosty dawn of February 2, 1461. Three rising suns shone in the morning sky. Quick to declare this meteorological phenomenon a positive omen, Edward announced that the Holy Trinity was watching over his army. After his victory at Mortimer’s Cross, Edward added the sunburst to his banner and badge. To make clear that the conflict had entered a more savage phase, Edward ordered the execution of Owen Tudor and nine other captured Lancastrian nobles. Tudor’s severed head went on display on the market cross at Hereford, where a mad woman combed his hair, washed his bloody face, and lit candles around the grisly memorial.

On February 17, the Earl of Warwick suffered his first defeat at the second battle St. Albans, brought about in part by treachery within his ranks. However, London refused to open its gates to Queen Margaret’s looting Lancastrian army, a force the citizens of the capital feared was full of northern savages. Reunited with King Henry, but frustrated by London’s mistrustful citizenry, the queen withdrew her forces toward York. Warwick and what troops he had left then met up with the victorious Edward at either Chipping Norton or Burford on February 22.

Greeted by cheers, Edward and the Earl of Warwick, marched into the capital on February 26. Warwick’s brother, the Chancellor George Neville, asked the people who they wished to be King of England and France. They answered with shouts for Edward. On March 4, 1461, the Duke of York rode from Baynard’s Castle to Westminster, where the Yorkist peers and commons and merchants of London formally proclaimed him King Edward IV.

The new Yorkist king’s official coronation was postponed while he prepared to set out in pursuit of Margaret and Henry. After sending Lord Fauconberg northward at the head of the king’s footmen on the 11th, Edward marched out of the capital on the 13th. He issued orders prohibiting his army from committing robbery, sacrilege, and rape upon penalty of death. He followed the trail of pillaged towns and razed homesteads left behind by Margaret’s northern moss-troopers.

On March 22, Edward received word that his enemies had taken up position behind the River Aire. On March 28, his vanguard tangled with a Lancastrian force holding the wooden span at Ferrybridge. Outflanking the defenders by sending a part of his army across the Aire at Castleford, Edward managed to push his men across the bridge and up the Towton road.

The two armies drew up in battle order on a snowy Palm Sunday, March 29, 1461. At some point during the morning the snow shifted, blowing into the faces of the Lancastrian soldiers. Taking advantage of the favourable wind, Fauconberg ordered his archers forward. The ensuing volley initiated the biggest, bloodiest, and most decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses.

Edward displayed steadfast courage as the battle raged. The young king rode up and down the line and joined in the melee whenever the ranks appeared ready to waver. No quarter was given, for both sides wished to settle the issue once-and-for-all, and the dead piled up between the opposing men-at-arms. At times, the fighting momentarily ceased while the bodies of the slain were pulled aside to make room for continued bloodshed.

After several hours of fierce fighting, the Yorkist line began to give way. However, the arrival of the Duke of Norfolk’s reinforcements tipped the balance in the Yorkist favour, and the exhausted Lancastrian army eventually faltered and broke. Many fleeing soldiers were cut down by Yorkist prickers in an area now known as Bloody Meadow. As was allegedly his habit when victorious, Edward may have given orders to spare the commons but slay the lords. Those Lancastrian nobles that survived the slaughter, along with King Henry, Queen Margaret, and their son Prince Edward, sought sanctuary in Scotland.

Victory at Towton established the Yorkist dynasty, but over the next three years Edward’s rule still faced a series of Lancastrian-inspired rebellions. Many of these uprisings against the Yorkist crown centred on Lancastrian strongholds in Northumberland. Most of Queen Margaret’s moves in the years immediately following the battle revolved around control of various castles, with some rather dubious aid from the Scots. In 1463, Margaret was finally forced to flee to France when Warwick and his brother routed her Scottish allies at Norham. Left behind by his queen, Henry VI held state in the gloomy fortress at Bamburgh. Warwick besieged this stronghold during the summer of 1464, and it became the first English castle to succumb to cannon fire. Captured in Clitherwood twelve months later and abandoned by his queen and allies, the Lancastrian king was sent to the Tower of London. Edward's throne finally seemed secure. However, Edward next faced threat from an unexpected corner as Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, turned on the man he helped make king.

In 1464, Edward secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, a comparatively lowborn Lancastrian widow. This caused a rift to form between the king and the Earl of Warwick. Edward's in-laws began to exert a growing influence over his court. Displeased with his own waning influence, in 1469 Warwick orchestrated a rebellion in the north. Edward remained in Nottingham while his Herbert and Woodville allies suffered defeat at Edgecote on July 26, 1469. The king then fell under Warwick's protection. On March 12, 1470, Edward was able to rout the rebels at the battle of Losecote Field, a moniker that arose from the fact that many men fleeing the battle discarded their livery jackets displaying the incriminating badges of Warwick and Edward's treacherous brother, the Duke of Clarence. With their treachery made plain, Warwick and Clarence sailed to France and formed an unlikely alliance with Margaret of Anjou. When Warwick returned to England with his new Lancastrian allies, Edward the lost support of the country and fled to the Netherlands. Warwick "The Kingmaker" reinstated the Lancastrian monarch during Henry's Readeption of 1470-1.

Edward IV spent his time in exile assembling an invasion fleet at Flushing and trying to woo his wayward brother back to the Yorkist cause. On March 14, 1471, Edward returned to the realm he claimed as his own, landing at Ravenspur. The Duke of Clarence promptly deserted Warwick and marched to his brother’s aid. Edward headed for London and entered the capital on April 11. Reinforced by Clarence’s troops, Edward took King Henry out of the capital and led a swelling army to face Warwick at Barnet. Edward suffered an early setback as he clashed with his one-time ally on that misty Easter morn of April 14, 1471. The Yorkist left collapsed, and the centre was slowly pushed back, but confusion caused by the obscuring fog eventually doomed Warwick's army. Warwick’s soldiers mistook the star with streams livery worn by the men of the Lancastrian Earl of Oxford for Edward’s sun with streams and loosed volleys of arrows into the approaching troops. With cries of “treason”, Oxford’s men left the field. Sensing the unease that rattled the Lancastrian ranks, Edward rallied his men and pressed the attack. Under this renewed pressure, Warwick’s army wavered and broke. The earl tried to flee the battlefield, but Yorkist soldiers pulled him from his saddle and despatched him with a knife thrust through an eye. Edward arrived on the scene too late to save Warwick from such an ignoble fate.

On May 4, Edward once more led his troops into battle, this time against Queen Margaret’s army at Tewkesbury. Margaret and her son, Prince Edward, had landed at Weymouth with a small force the same day of Edward’s victory over Warwick at Barnet. Under the leadership of the Duke of Somerset, the Lancastrian force moved toward Wales to try to join forces with Jasper Tudor. Wishing to bring Margaret’s army to battle before it crossed the Severn, Edward gave chase. He caught up with Somerset and Margaret at Tewkesbury. Though his army was slightly outnumbered, the Yorkist king once again triumphed over the Lancastrians. Margaret's son, Prince Edward, was captured and slain. Some Lancastrian fugitives, including the Duke of Somerset, tried to seek sanctuary in Tewkesbury Abbey. Dispute surrounds the exact details regarding what happened inside. Edward either granted pardons to those sheltering within the abbey walls, and then reneged on his promise, or he and his men entered the building with swords drawn. Either way, those captives that survived the slaughter were subsequently executed.

With the exception of quickly quelled Kentish and northern revolts, Edward’s triumph at Tewkesbury signalled the end of Lancastrian opposition to his reign. Margaret was captured and brought before Edward on May 12. She remained his prisoner until ransomed by King Louis XI of France. After making his formal entry into London on the 21st, Edward arranged the clandestine murder of poor King Henry VI. Edward’s brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, entered the Tower that evening. By the next morning, Henry, the potential focus of future Lancastrian resistance to Yorkist rule, was dead.

Following his final victory, Edward IV reigned over a relatively stable, peaceful, and prosperous kingdom. Once the Yorkist usurper secured his throne, he showed a ravenous appetite for the opulence of royalty and eventually became rather overweight. As king, he ordered the construction of several grand churches. He was also known as a patron of the arts. A lover of luxury and keenly aware of the political power of a majestic presence, one of Edward’s first acts a few months after his return to the throne was the expenditure of large sums of money on a magnificent new wardrobe. The other crowned heads of Europe all recognized him as legitimate King of England. His brief war with France in 1475 ended when Louis XI agreed to pay Edward an annual subsidy. By 1478 Edward had paid off the debts amassed by his one-time enemies. Unlike many of England’s medieval kings, he died solvent. He introduced several innovations to the machinery of government that the Tudors later adopted and developed. However, his second reign was not without its troubles. Woodville influence over his court caused tension between Edward and the nobility. In 1478, Edward’s in-laws manipulated him into eliminating his disgruntled brother George, the Duke of Clarence. Edward died on April 9, 1483.

Edward of York had a remarkable military career. He personally commanded and fought in five separate battles, and never lost a single one. As a leader of armed men, he often displayed daring and dash. As leader of the Yorkist cause, he exhibited a contradictory mixture of magnanimity and ruthlessness. As king, Edward IV worked to elevate the crown above the nobility and did much to restore a sound government. Unfortunately, his rash marriage bore bitter fruit, sowing the seeds of disaster for his young sons. Edwards’s death in 1483 left a minor as heir. The Duke of Gloucester was named protector of the princes Edward and Richard. Gloucester eventually had his nephews declared bastards and had himself proclaimed King Richard III. His nephews may have been murdered in the Tower, perhaps under Richard’s direct order. Faced with an invasion force led by Henry Tudor, and betrayed by his barons, Richard fell in battle at Bosworth Field. His death marked the end of the Yorkist dynasty and the ascendancy of the Tudors.

The Poleaxe of Edward IV

Being a fierce fighter as well as a skilled commander, Edward was said to be especially proficient with that uniquely knightly pole arm, the poleaxe. A magnificently decorated example currently residing in the Musee de l’Armee in Paris, France, has been ascribed to that most aristocratic of medieval monarchs. The connection to Edward IV is dubious, but this beautiful weapon certainly belonged to some extremely wealthy French, Dutch, or English nobleman of the late fifteenth century. Any consummate warrior and lover of luxury such as Edward of York would certainly have appreciated how the weapon’s combination of fine fighting qualities and rich ornamentation.

Having more reach than a sword, the poleaxe was often the preferred weapon when men of rank fought on foot. Topped by a spike, the axe head was backed by either a hammer or a quadrilateral beak. Mounted on a haft about six feet long and wielded in both hands, the poleaxe could cut, bludgeon, and stab. Even though the example attributed to Edward’s ownership sports fine decorative elements, it still exhibits all the qualities of a functional weapon. A pronged hammer backs a slightly curved axe blade. A wickedly sharp, stout spike thrusts out of the hexagonal central socket. A sturdy rondel acts as a hand-guard.

The lordly embellishments of the Edward IV poleaxe set it apart from simpler period examples. It is profusely decorated with chiselled gilt bronze. The iron components emerge from the throats of stylized beasts. The socket is further decorated with engraved foliage, a knot of flowers, and a cluster of fiery clouds. The rondel takes the form of a full-blown heraldic rose. The assumption that this weapon once belonged to Edward IV arose from the fact that it exhibits the symbols of rose and flame, but such ornamentation was common in the fifteenth century. Still, this imagery does echo the white rose en soliel device Edward used on his banner and badge, so it may just be a weapon once wielded by that accomplished Yorkist warrior.

Sources

Arms and Armour from the 9th to the 17th Century by Paul Martin

Arms and Armour of the Western World by Bruno Thomas

Battle of Tewkesbury 4th May 1471 by P.W. Hammond, H.G. Shearring, and G. Wheeler

Battles in Britain and Their Political Background:1066-1746 by William Seymour

The Book of the Medieval Knight by Stephen Turnbull

Campaign 66: Bosworth 1485: Last Charge of the Plantagenets by Christopher Gravett

Campaign 120: Towton 1461: England's Bloodiest Battle by Christopher Gravett

Campaign 131: Tewkesbury 1471: The Last Yorkist Victory by Christopher Gravett

Men-at-Arms 145: The Wars of the Roses by Terence Wise

The Military Campaigns of the Wars of the Roses by Philip A. Haigh

Who's Who in Late Medieval England by Michael Hicks

[pastedpast]

Image of Cecily Neville in the Neville Book of Hours (c. 1445).

Somehow this lady has escaped my history detection radar until now, which is surprising because she was the mother of Edward IV and Richard III, and wife of Richard (Plantagenet), Duke of York.

Some ten years [CHECK] before he became king, Cecily's youngest son, Richard, married Anne Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, one of the leading peers and military commanders of his generation. Neville was also Cecily's nephew, which meant Anne was her great-niece as well as her future daughter-in-law.

It is important to note that prior to her marriage to Richard, Anne was wed briefly to Edward of Westminster aka Edward of Lancaster, the only son of Henry VI of England and Margaret of Anjou. He was killed aged seventeen at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Used simply as a pawn in the business of arranged marriages and political alliances, Anne was passed from one house (Yorkist) to the another (Lancastrian). Anne's life was cut short at the age of 28, when she died, probably [CHECK] of tuberculosis. Meanwhile, Cecily outlived her and all her sons, and survived to the age of 80.

Slowly but surely in my studies, I am unravelling the story of the Wars of the Roses. As usual, I'm far more interested in what the women's lives were like, rather than those of the men!

Anne Neville ADD DETAILS

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Cecily's sons:

Edward IV (died age 40, cause of death widely speculated but unknown);

Edmund, Earl of Rutland (died age 17 circa Battle of Wakefield);

George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (executed age 28 upon the order of the king, his brother Edward);

Richard III (died age 32 at the Battle of Bosworth Field).

[richmond-rex]

there's not much we actually know about him, but a very curious what-if to me is if Edmund of York had survived, especially since he and his elder brother Edward IV seemed thick as thieves in their youth - that letter where they complain about annoying members of their household always makes me laugh. This isn't really related but is there any account of the reaction of Richard Duke of York's family when they heard of his execution?

Hi! I don't think we really know much about Edmund of Rutland but I agree, Edward and Edmund seemed to have been close (at least when writing to their father). Perhaps he would have turned out to be the full-loyal brother Edward IV needed during and after his reign. I don't know of any report about Edward IV's or Cecily Neville's reaction to the news of Edmund's death, but I might simply be ignorant of it (feel free to correct me please). But Edward IV did honour his brother along with their father with a re-interment in the York family mausoleum in Fotheringhay in 1476 which by all accounts was a grand solemn occasion. Some reports say that when, at the beginning of the ceremony, Edward IV saw the coffins of his father and brother (they only mention his father's but we know Edmund's was also there), he cried—fifteen years after their death.

[the-romantic-lady]

Can you talk more about Edmund? I always wanted to know more about him than I know.

YES, I CAN. I love that boy. His death is so incredibly tragic but we have some interesting tidbits from his life too. First, we know that his parents were head over heels for him. When he was born, his father literally booked Rouen Cathedral and the font that was used to baptize Rollo the Viking for the service. I mean come on...Getting christened in this:

That's what I call privilege. It was a very lavish affair and some historians think that his father was setting him up to be a French lord of sorts. He grew up basically like a twin to Edward. They always did everything together. He was also closely raised with his sister Elizabeth. I wonder if the Duke of York was doing that to compensate for the fact that he was separated from his sister and never had a brother. He seemed to learn from his experiences to better it for his children (I love that man honestly). Anne, Edward, Edmund and Elizabeth had a French nanny. When he was king, Edward was known to speak very good French and I am sure Edmund would have been similar. The boys were essentially French.

When he was 8, his father made him the Chancellor of Ireland which ummm... ok. He was present at all councils which makes me laugh. Imagine an 8 year old just sitting there confused lol. To me, it seems that Richard, Duke of York was trying hard to find some land and power for Edmund. Richard Duke of York had lands in France that he intended for Edmund but once Somerset lost France, there was no chance of that so he turned to Ireland where he was Governor.

At 8, Edward and Edmund were also put into knightly training in Ludlow Castle under Richard Croft. Its always interesting to me how Richard, Duke of York never send any of his children to other noble households. He raised his children himself which was rare. I digress. My favorite thing from this time are the two letters that Edmund and Edward wrote to their father. It is so incredibly sweet and just reminds us of how human they were. If you are interested in the letters, I have copies of both and would love to share and discuss them.

By 1459, when all hell had broken loose, Edmund pretty stuck with his father. Also in October 1459, he properly met his younger siblings for the first time, which is so odd to me lol. But yes, he fled to Ireland with his father. When his father made the claim to the throne, Edmund was present but I would love to know what his reaction was. He seems absent in the sources. There is a source that says that Edward was told to tell his father to negotiate with the council instead of planning his coronation. Edmund was never mentioned.

Unfortunately, in December 1460, he was killed and his body treated with so much cruelty. I will never understand why any of that was necessary but of well. I sometimes wonder how Edward must have felt. That was his literal companion of 17 years just dead. I would have lost it. Edward must have channeled his anger into more important things and managed to destroy the Lancasters. Edmund was reburied with his father 1476. Edward cried when he saw his father's effigy but I wonder how much of those tears were for Edmund. A brother and companion he was never able to bury. I will never understand why he had to be killed. We don't know the exact circumstances but if the Clifford story is true then why Edmund? York was the criminal so he should have bore the consequences. Poor Edmund was fleeing. Ugh, it makes my blood boil. Some sources say that when he was dead, his arm was reaching out for the chapel. Meaning he was still attempting to reach it and save himself. How tragic :(.

History would have been so different if he had lived. I often think that he would have been the mediator in the York brothers. George would be less ambitious and he likely had no deference to Edward. He could be blunt without being jealous like George or having a hero complex like Richard. Someone Edward really needed. And I really hope that his father never found out that his son had died in such a cruel way because of him. That is a very sad way to leave the world.

Also, an interesting tidbit about Edmund's appearance:

"While this battaill was in fightyng, a prieste called sir Robert Aspall, chappelain and schole master to the yong erle of Rutland ii. sonne to the aboue named duke of Yorke, scace of y age of. xii. yeres, a faire getlema, and a maydenlike person…."

He was apparently very soft and feminine looking. Although it must be said that the quote is from Edward Hall who definitely never met or saw Edmund and even gets his age wrong. However, he might have heard about him when he questioned around. He is also the source that desrcibes Edmund’s mother, Cecily, being a woman small of stature but high of honour. This also says something of Edmund's appearance and character:

"By the side of the Duke fought his second son, the young Chancellor of Ireland, whose years had not past their teens, but who, under a fair and almost effeminate appearance, carried a brave and intrepid spirit."

This is from the historian Hume who studied Irish archives and likely Hall too and he gets Edmund's age right! So we might assume that this was said about Edmund. Which makes him even more vulnerable in my mind. Poor boy. Gosh, I tear up just thinking of him.

Anyway, this is way too long! I hope I didn't bore you :D and you learned something new about Edmund. Let me know about your thoughts and opinions.

[eddyofwestminster-blog]

Edward Earl of March and Edmund Earl of Rutland

There was an age difference of just thirteen months between York’s two elder sons. Both had been born at Rouen in France. They might almost have been twins. Much of Edward’s childhood had probably been spent overseas in Normandy or Ireland, but by 1452 he and his younger brother Edmund were living at Ludlow Castle, Shropshire.The boys would’ve been familiar with Ludlow’s broad marketplace, it’s churches, it’s wide main streets and it’s network of narrow back lanes. Letters written jointly by them have survived from these times, thanking their father for gifts of clothes and promising him they would be diligent in their studies. The boys, both earls, formally signed themselves E.March and E.Rutland.

- Edward IV, Jeffrey James.

[tudorqueen6]

30 December 1460: The Debt is Paid

On the 30th of December 1460, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and his forces were caught by surprise by the Queen’s forces at Sandal Castle near Wakefield where they had been stationed for over two weeks. Richard knew the battle was lost and that he would likely die so he sent his son (Edmund, Earl of [��] https://tudorsandotherhistories.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/30-december-1460-the-debt-is-paid/

[bookworm19]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman Rating: Explicit Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Edward IV of England/Edmund Plantagenet Earl of Rutland Characters: Edmund Plantagenet Earl of Rutland, Marguerite d'Anjou | Margaret of Anjou, Lord Clifford Additional Tags: Tragedy: Death of a Brother, Battle of Wakefield, Angst, Unhappy musings, York vs Lancaster Summary:

The battle of Wakefield would always have been memorable. Margaret doesn't realise just how memorable will be!

[thefreelancehistorywriter]

St Mary the Virgin and All Saints Church in Fotheringhay

The medieval Church in Fotheringhay is associated with the House of York and the War of the Roses

St Mary the Virgin and All Saints Church in Fotheringhay, Northampton, England (Photo by the author)

While visiting Fotheringhay Castle, the site of the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, we took a short walk down the road to St Mary the Virgin and All Saints Church in the village of Fotheringhay. While I knew the church was connected with the castle and the House of York, the building contained…

[fotheringhay]

HELP I THINK I'M IN LOVE WITH THE PLANTAGENET BOYS IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW ALREADY

Edmund: Don't worry, Cousin, it will all be ok.

Edward: My brother knows nothing.

THESE SILLY LITTLE IDIOTS AND THEN EDMUND HAS TO GO AND DIE.

[themoonoversoho]

I've got Edmund, Earl of Rutland emotions that I didn't need or want but here we are.

Damn you, Sharon Penman. You wonderful woman.