CP Correction: Richard of York, Earl of Cambridge
Brad Verity
Edmund, 1st Duke of York, born "about 1375". This never made sense to
me, as Richard married the 17-year-old Anne Mortimer in early 1408,
when he would have been about age 33, and 17 years Anne's senior. Why
would he wait until his early 30s to marry, then clandestinely wed a
woman who was not an heiress and brought him no lands?
Historian T.B. Pugh, in the 1986 article 'The Southampton Plot of
1415', (in R.A. Griffiths,James Sherborne (eds.), "Kings and Nobles in
the Later Middle Ages", p. 62-89), provides the answer.
Richard was not born until July 1385, at Conisborough Castle in
Yorkshire. "His birth at Conisborough castle probably took place a
few days before Richard II reached York on 20 July 1385, on his way
north to invade Scotland, and the king became godfather to Edmund of
Langley's second son." This makes much more sense. Richard is now a
mere 5 years older than his wife Anne, who, according to PA 1st
Edition, was born 27 Dec. 1390. Do we know the source for this
birthdate of Anne? Pugh has her aged 19 at her marriage in 1408, but
that Dec. 1390 birthdate would make her only 17. CP does not give a
date for Anne's birth, and says her parents the Earl of March and
Eleanor Holland were married "about 1388." It also explains why
Richard II did nothing toward his godson and cousin Richard of York,
save provide him with an annuity of f233 6s.8d., which he started
receiving in March 1395. This was because Richard of York was only
just age 14 in the summer of 1399 when Richard II was deposed, not age
24 as CP would have it.
Richard was significantly younger than his siblings, Edward, 2nd Duke
of York, who was born in 1373, and Constance of York, Countess of
Gloucester, who was born at some point before April 1378 (when the
marriage of Thomas le Despenser was granted to Edmund 'of Langley' so
that he could marry his daughter to him), Pugh had an intriguing
theory regarding the paternity of this godson of Richard II.
"In view of the well-known liaison [between Isabel of Castile, Duchess
of York, and John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, half-brother of Richard
II], the possibility that her lover (and not the dull and negative
Edmund of Langley) was the father of the duchess's younger (and
favourite) son, Richard of York, cannot be ignored. Perhaps it is
significant that Edmund, duke of York, who had become one of the
greatest landowners in England, preferred to leave Richard II to make
provision for his godson, and young Richard was not mentioned in Duke
Edmund's will, made on 25 November 1400."
It's an intriguing theory. Of course we know that medieval law
insured Richard of York, born during his parents' marriage, was
legally the son of his father Edmund, Duke of York -- no matter how
many liaisons his mother Isabel may have had. But if the reality was
privately known (or guessed) among the royal family, it may have led
to a chip on Richard's soldier that grew into his doomed conspiracy of
1415.
Pugh apparently followed up this article with a full 1988 book
entitled "Henry V and the Southampton Plot of 1415." Has anyone read
the full book? Are there any further insights into the matter?
Cheers, ---------Brad