Edmund of Langley
Duke of York
Spouse	Isabella, Duchess of York
Issue
Edward, Duke of York Richard of Conisburgh, Earl of Cambridge Constance of York
Detail Titles and styles
The Duke of York
Royal house	House of Plantagenet House of York (founder)
Father	Edward III of England
Mother	Philippa of Hainault
Born	5 June 1341(1341-06-05) Kings Langley, Hertfordshire
Died	1 August 1402 (aged 61) Kings Langley, Hertfordshire

Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (June 5, 1341 – August 1, 1402) was a younger son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, the fourth of the five sons of the Royal couple who lived to adulthood. Like so many medieval princes, Edmund gained his identifying nickname from his birthplace: Kings Langley in Hertfordshire. At the age of twenty-one, he was created Earl of Cambridge. On 6 August 1385, Edmund was created Duke of York.^[1] 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.

Marriage

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, Isabella of Castile, was the sister of Gaunt's second wife, 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.

Langley's first wife, Isabella, was a daughter of Pedro "the Cruel" 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.
• Constance of York (an ancestor of queen Anne Neville)

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.

Death

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.

Coat of arms.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Arms

As a son of the sovereign, Edmund bore the arms of the sovereign, differenced by a label argent, on each point three torteaux.^[2]

References

1. ^ "Person Page 10188". thePeerage.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-19.
2. ^ Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family

• Peggy K. Liss, "Isabel the Queen," New York: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 165
• James Reston, Jr. "Dogs of God," New York: Doubleday, p. 18.