General Notes

"RICHARD ("of York," afterwards PLANTAGENET), DUKE OF YORK, nephew and heir, being son and heir of Richard "of Conisburgh," or "of York," EARL OF CAMBRIDGE (who was and executed, 5 August 1415, whereby all his honours, but not his right to succeed his uncle, were forfeited), by his 1st wife, Anne, sister and (in her issue) heir of Edmund (DE MORTIMER), 5th EARL OF MARCH and EARL OF ULSTER (IRL], only child that left issue of Roger, 4th EARL OF MARCH and EARL OF ULSTER (IRL], who was son and heir of Edmund, 3rd Earl of March, by Philippe, suo jure Countess of Ulster [IRL], daughter and heir of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 3rd but 2nd surviving son of Edward III, which Richard, Earl of Cambridge, was younger son of the 1st Duke of York. He was born 22 September 1411 and succeeded to the Dukedom of York (only) on his paternal uncle's death, 25 October 1415. By the death, 18 January 1424/5, of his maternal uncle, Edmund (de Mortimer), 5th Earl of March, abovenamed, he became EARL OF MARCH and LORD MORTIMER (of Wigmore), as also EARL OF ULSTER [IRL], inheriting the rich lordship of Clare, as also those of Trim and Connaught, in Ireland, and becoming thus, it is probable, the most powerful subject in the realm. As Duke of York he was knighted by Henry VI on Whitsunday, 19 May 1426, at Leicester; was Constable of England for a duel (in the absence of the Duke of Bedford), 20 January 1429/30; accompanied the King to France, April 1430, and entered Paris with him, November 1431, for his Coronation at Notre Dame. For his good and unpaid service in France and England, he had livery of his lands, 12 May 1432, as fully as if his age were duly proved. K.G. 22 April 1433. His subsequent career forms the political history of England itself. He was Lieutenant General and Governor of France and Normandy, 1436-37, recovering Fécamp, in 1436, and storming Pontoise, February 1436/7; and again 2 July 1440-1447, when he acquired a high reputation by maintaining Normandy almost intact against French attacks; Chief Commissioner to treat with France, 20 May 1436 and 9 September 1442. On his return to England between September and December 1445, he appears to have resigned the Earldom of March in favour of his eldest son Edward. He became Justice in Eyre South of Trent, 14 July 1447-July 1453; Lieutenant of Ireland, 9 December 1447-March 1452/3, and again 1 December (as from 25 October) 1454 till his attainder in 1459; Steward and Warden of Rockingham Forest and Constable of Rockingham Castle, 21 Mar. 1450/1. Returning from Ireland in the autumn of 1450, he assumed the active leadership of his party against the Duke of Somerset, thus beginning the dynastic and constitutional struggle which culminated in the Wars of Lancaster and York. He was Protector of the Realm (during the King's incapacity), 3 April 1454-February 1454/5; First Commissioner to create and invest Prince Edward as Prince of Wales, 13 April 1454. Captain of Calais and Lieutenant in the Marches there, 28 July 1454-6 March 1454/5; Keeper of the King's mines in Devon and Cornwall, 19 July 1454. On Somerset's release from the Tower and restoration to power early in 1455, York took up arms against his rival and defeated him, 22 May 1455, at St. Albans, where the King was taken prisoner and Somerset slain. Thereafter he was made Constable of Carmarthen and Aberystwyth Castles, 2 June 1455, also of Careg Cennen Castle, all till April 1457; was again Protector of the Realm, 19 November 1455-25 February 1455/6; and walked with Queen Margaret in the "love-day" procession to St. Paul's, 25 March 1457/8, when the quarrel between York and Lancaster was outwardly patched up. In 1459 both sides took the field but the Yorkist army, despite an initial success at Blore Heath, 23 September, was compelled to disperse without fighting at Ludford, 12-13 October following, when confronted by the King in person. The Duke, with his son, the Earl of Rutland, withdrew into Wales and later crossed to Ireland, where he was still recognized as Lieutenant, to maintain his cause there. He and his sons were in consequence attainted in the Parliament that met at Coventry, 20 November 1459. After the success of his son, the Earl of March, and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick in seizing London, 2 July, and the defeat and capture of the King by March and Warwick at Northampton, 10 July 1460, the Duke returned to England, September, and claimed the Crown in Parliament as his right, October following, the proceedings of the Coventry Parliament of 1459 being at the same time annulled, whereby he was restored. This claim was, however, not well received and he had to be satisfied with a compromise, ratified by the King and Parliament, 31 October 1460, under which he was declared heir, after the demise of Henry VI,. to the throne, with remainder to his own heirs. He was also granted, as an appanage to support his position as heir to the Crown, the Principality of Wales, the counties of Chester and Flint, and the Dukedom of Cornwall. On 9 November following he was publicly proclaimed as such heir and he was directed by the King to suppress all rebellions in England and Wales. Leaving London, 9 December, he met Queen Margaret and the Lancastrians at Wakefield, 30 December 1460, where his army was routed and he himself slain. He married, before 18 October 1424, Cecily (then aged 9), youngest daughter of Ralph (NEVILLE), 1st EARL OF WESTMORLAND, being 5th daughter by his 2nd wife, Joan BEAUFORT, sister of the half-blood to HENRY IV, legitimated daughter of John, "of Gaunt," DUKE OF LANCASTER. He died 30 December 1460, aged 49, and was buried at Pontefract, co. York, his head, bearing a crown of paper and straw, being set up on Micklegate Bar, York, but afterwards interred with his body, the whole being exhumed, 24 July, and buried with great pomp, 30 July 1476, at Fotheringhay. M.I. His widow, who was born 3 May 1415, having survived her two last surviving sons, Edward IV and Richard III, died 31 May 1495 at her castle at Berkhampstead, aged 80, and was buried with her husband at Fotheringhay. M.I. [CP 12[2]:905-9, 14:642]


Vide the Second Edition of Cokayne's *The Complete Peerage...*, Volume I (originally published in 1910), p. 183, note (c):

"It is much to be wished that the surname "Plantagenet," which, since the time of Charles II, has been freely given to all the descendants of Geoffrey of Anjou, had some historical basis which would justify its use, for it forms a most convenient method of referring to the Edwardian kings and their numerous descendants. The fact is, however, as has been pointed out by Sir James Ramsay and other writers of our day, that the name, although a personal emblem [N.B. Latin *planta genista* = broom --- DSH] of the
aforesaid Geoffrey, was never borne by any of his descendants before Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (father of Edward IV), [N.B. and also of Richard III --- DSH] who assumed it, apparently about 1448. V.G."

"V.G." is Vicary Gibbs, one of the Editors of the Second Edition.]


SOURCES: LDS FHL Ancestral File # 8N4C-7R
AWTP:
"Stimpson Family", Cory Stimpson cbstimpson@@hotmail.com
"Dave's Database", Dave Utzinger utz@@aol.com.