Richard, Earl of Cambridge (d. 1415) - illegitimate??

[John Higgins]

The grandfather of King Edward IV was Richard "of Conisburgh", Earl of Cambridge, who was executed in 1415 after being implicated in a plot against King Henry V shortly before the battle of Agincourt. A recently published history of that battle, written by Juliet Barker, discusses the "Southampton plot" in which Richard was involved, and an endnote in the book mentions (rather off-handedly) that Richard was "probably illegitimate". I hadn't heard of this conjecture before, and I'm not presently able to check out the limited sources mentioned by the author. Is anyone familiar with this story - or what the basis for it is?

[Mar...@aol.com]

Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2007 17:26:44
From: "John Higgins" <jthi...@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Richard, Earl of Cambridge (d. 1415) - illegitimate??
To: "Gen-Med" _gen-m...@rootsweb.com_ (mailto:gen-me...@rootsweb.com)

____________________________________

Date: 22 Dec 2003 00:30:41
From: _bat...@hotmail.com_ (mailto:bat...@hotmail.com) (Brad Verity)
To: _GEN-ME...@rootsweb.com_ (mailto:GEN-MED...@rootsweb.com)
Subject: Re: Britain's Real Monarch

There is contemporary evidence that Duchess Cecily Neville's father-in-law
Richard of Conisburgh, Earl of Cambridge, was illegitimate, as historian T.B.
Pugh discusses. His mother's affair with John Holland was reported in
chronicles in the 1380s (when Richard was conceived and born), and Edmund of
Langley, Duke of York, curiously makes no mention or provision at all in his will
for his younger son.

[Leo van de Pas]

"Reported in chronicles in the 1380s (when Richard was conceived and born)"

I have him as born about September 1375. siblings were born 1373 and 1374
and the parents married in 1372.
There are also "stories" that Edward IV was illegitimate. To besmirch
people's reputation illegitimacy always is one that can be used. But I
believe that people in those circles, in those days always had other people
around them and that if it was true more noise would have been made.

With best wishes
Leo van de Pas

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[John Higgins]

Thanks for pointing out this post from Brad Verity in 2003 in the archives. I will look for the T. B. Pugh book which he mentions...

----- Original Message -----
From: Mar...@aol.com
To: gen-me...@rootsweb.com ; jthi...@sbcglobal.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 10:13 PM
Subject: Richard, Earl of Cambridge (d. 1415) - illegitimate??

Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2007 17:26:44
From: "John Higgins" <jthi...@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Richard, Earl of Cambridge (d. 1415) - illegitimate??

To: "Gen-Med" gen-me...@rootsweb.com

The grandfather of King Edward IV was Richard "of Conisburgh", Earl of Cambridge, who was executed in 1415 after being implicated in a plot against King Henry V shortly before the battle of Agincourt. A recently published history of that battle, written by Juliet Barker, discusses the "Southampton plot" in which Richard was involved, and an endnote in the book mentions (rather off-handedly) that Richard was "probably illegitimate". I hadn't heard of this conjecture before, and I'm not presently able to check out the limited sources mentioned by the author. Is anyone familiar with this story - or what the basis for it is?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 22 Dec 2003 00:30:41

From: bat...@hotmail.com (Brad Verity)
To: GEN-MED...@rootsweb.com