Sunday 4 July 2004
The Dukes of York - Part I
Since medieval times, Duke of York has been the traditional title for the
sovereign’s second son. It is odd that the title has always been available for
this purpose. If people give the subject any thought at all, they might think the
title is like the titles given to the sovereign’s eldest son, Prince of Wales and
Duke of Cornwall, in that it will reunite with the Crown, or they might think that it is
like the eldest daughter’s title of Princess Royal in that it cannot be
inherited. Neither is true. Duke of York is an inheritable noble title that
simply has not reached a second generation since 1460. Six of the eleven holders of
the title since then have become king themselves, while the other five did not have
sons. Only one, King George VI, both became king and had no son. The following
are brief biographical sketches of the Dukes of York from the medieval York dynasty. Next
month I will discuss the later dukes.
Edmund, Duke of York (1341-1402) The first creation was the only time
that the title of Duke of York was inherited and also the only time it was granted to
someone other than the sovereign’s second son. Edmund of Langley was the fourth
son of King Edward III and the ancestor of the House of York, which competed with the
House of Lancaster for the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He married Isabel,
daughter of Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile. He served his nephew, King Richard II,
as a soldier and administrator. After Henry IV deposed Richard, York retired from
court.
Edward, Duke of York (1373?-1415) Edward was the elder son of Edmund,
Duke of York. Before his father’s death he gained and lost another
dukedom. His cousin Richard II granted him the dukedom of Albemarle in 1397 for his
help in opposing the rebellious lords appellant, but early in Henry IV’s reign he was
accused of conspiracy in the murder of the Duke of Gloucester and lost his dukedom.
He remained Earl of Rutland and Earl of Cork. When his father died in 1402 he became
Duke of York. He was killed at the battle of Agincourt and succeeded in the title by
his nephew Richard.
Richard, Duke of York (1411-60) Richard was a wealthy orphan who was
descended from Edward III through his mother as well as his father. He was brought
up at the court of Henry VI, and served the king in governing France, then an English
possession. His wife was Cecily Nevile, daughter of the earl of Westmoreland.
When the death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1447 made York heir presumptive to the
throne, he was made lord lieutenant of Ireland to keep him safely away from the temptation
to take the throne from the weak king. He largely ignored this, going to Ireland
only in 1449 and returning in 1450. When Queen Margaret gave birth to a son in 1453,
York lost his position as heir presumptive. However, the king had become insane, and
York declared himself the de facto ruler as “protector” in 1454. When the
king recovered his sanity, York refused to relinquish power. The Wars of the Roses
began in 1455, and York fought for the throne for the remaining five years of his life,
dying at the battle of Wakefield in 1460.
Edward, Duke of York (1442-83) After Richard’s death, his eldest son
Edward became Duke of York and continued his father’s fight for the throne. He
won the crown only a year later. The king angered his relatives and supporters among
the aristocracy by secretly marrying a beautiful widow, Elizabeth Woodville, and further
angered them by favoring her family over his. His brother the Duke of Clarence and
his cousin the Earl of Warwick rebelled against him and formed an alliance with the
Lancastrians. They returned Henry VI to the throne in 1470, but in 1471 the Yorkists
defeated the Lancastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury and killed Henry VI’s heir,
Edward, Prince of Wales. Henry VI died in the Tower of London later that year, and
is widely assumed to have been murdered. The remainder of Edward’s reign was
peaceful and prosperous.
Richard, Duke of York The younger son of King Edward IV and his Queen,
Elizabeth Woodville, Richard was the younger of the two “Princes in the Tower,”
who were apparently murdered so that someone else could take the throne. Their
murderer was long believed to be their uncle, King Richard III, but suspicion has also
fallen upon the ultimate winner of the throne, King Henry VII. Richard was the first
Duke of York to be the second son of the sovereign.
Henry, Duke of York Few people realize that the future King Henry VIII
was Duke of York at one point. He was Henry VII’s second son and only became
heir to the throne upon the death of his elder brother, Arthur, in 1502. His parents
intended that he should become a priest, and he was educated accordingly. In 1494 he
was given the title of Duke of York. It is interesting that Henry VII was willing to
continue the tradition of using the title of Duke of York for the sovereign’s second
son, considering that he was the Lancastrian claimant to the throne and had fought the
Yorkists. It may have been a considerate gesture towards his wife, Elizabeth of
York, the daughter of King Edward IV. No doubt Henry VIII would have loved to
continue the tradition, but he had to go to a great deal of trouble to have one son to
succeed him, and did not manage to have a second.
Next month we continue with the Stuart, Hanoverian, and Windsor
dukes.
-
Margaret Weatherford
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