Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, 1st Earl of Cambridge, Order of the Garter, (5 June 1341 – 1 August 1402) was a younger son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, the fourth of the five sons who lived to adulthood, of this Royal couple. Like so many medieval princes, Edmund gained his identifying nickname from his birthplace of Langley, now Kings Langley in Hertfordshire. He was the founder of the House of York, but it was through the marriage of his younger son, Richard, that the Yorkist faction in the Wars of the Roses made its claim on the throne (the other party in the Wars of the Roses, the Lancasters, being the male descendants of his elder brother, John of Gaunt).
[edit]Early years

On the death of his godfather, the Earl of Surrey, Edmund was granted the Earl's lands north of the Trent, primarily in Yorkshire. In 1359 he joined his father on an unsuccessful military expedition to France with King Edward III and in 1361 was made a knight of the Garter. In 1362, at the age of twenty-one, he was created Earl of Cambridge by King Edward.

Military career

He had little aptitude for war, but took part in several military expeditions to France in the 1370s. He accompanied his eldest brother, the Black Prince, on the expedition to Spain in 1367 which gained victory at Nájera. In 1369 he brought a retinue of 400 men-at-arms and 400 archers to serve with John Hastings, earl of Pembroke, on campaign in Brittany and Angoulême. The following year he first joined Pembroke again on an expedition to relieve the fortress of Belle Perche and then accompanied the Black Prince on the campaign which resulted in the siege and sack of Limoges. In 1375 he sailed with Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, to relieve Brest, but after some initial success a truce was declared.

In 1381 he led an abortive expedition to join with the Portuguese in attacking Castile, but after months of indecisiveness a peace was again declared (between Spain and Portugal) and Edmund had to lead his malcontented troops home.

He was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports on 12 June 1376 and held office until 1381. He several times acted as Keeper of the Realm during Richard II overseas journeys and campaigns, including in 1399 when the exiled Henry Bolingbroke landed in Yorkshire. After raising an army to resist Bolingbroke, Edmund decided instead to join him, for which he was well rewarded. He thereafter remained loyal to the new Lancastrian regime as Bolingbroke overthrew Richard II to become King Henry IV..

Later life

On 6 August 1385, Edmund was elevated to Duke of York

Towards the end of his life, in 1399, he was appointed Warden of the West March for a short period.
Edmund of Langley died in his birthplace and was buried there in the church of the mendicant friars. His dukedom passed to his eldest son, Edward.

Marriage

Langley's first wife, Isabella, was a daughter of King Peter of Castile and María de Padilla. They had two sons and a daughter:
Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (killed in action at the Battle of Agincourt)
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (executed for treason by Henry V), ancestor of Kings Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III of the House of York, and all succeeding monarchs of England after King Henry VII.


After Isabella's death in 1392, Langley married his cousin Joan Holland, whose great-grandfather Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, was the half-brother of Langley's grandfather Edward II; she and Langley were thus both descended from King Edward I. The marriage produced no children.

Although marriages within the Royal Family and between Royal Families are the rule, it is interesting to note Langley's marital ties to his older brother, John of Gaunt. Langley's first wife, Infanta Isabella of Castile, was the sister of Gaunt's second wife, Infanta Constance of Castile; his second wife, Joan Holland, was the sister of Gaunt's daughter-in-law Margaret Holland, wife of Gaunt's son John Beaufort.

Edmund, the 1st Duke of York is a major character in Shakespeare's Richard II. In the play, Edmund resigns his position as an adviser to his nephew, Richard II, but is reluctant to betray the king. He eventually agrees to side with Bolingbroke to help him regain the lands Richard confiscated after the death of Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt. After Bolingbroke deposes Richard and is crowned Henry IV, Edmund discovers a plot by his son, Aumerle to assassinate the new king. Edmund exposes the plot, but his wife Isabella convinces Henry to pardon her son.
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