Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York
|
|
Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York and 1st Duke of Aumale (1373 - 25 October 1415) died by drowning in mud at the Battle of Agincourt, the major English casualty in that battle.
The son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his first wife, Isabella, and thus a grandson of King Edward III, he is thought to have been born in Norwich. He was close to his cousin King Richard II, and was created Earl of Rutland by him in 1390, and then Duke of Aumale in 1397. This association put him out of favour after the usurpation of King Henry IV, and he was deprived of his Dukedom. He soon got another one, however, when he succeeded his father as Duke of York in 1402. He married a widow, Philippa de Mohun, but there were no children from their marriage. On his death at Agincourt, the Dukedom did not immediately pass to his nephew, Richard Plantagenet, as Richard's father Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, had been attainted for treason, but the younger Richard was eventually restored to the Dukedom.
The Duke's death in battle is difficult to portray as an act of heroism. Along with many of the French knights, he was unable to remain upright when trampled in the fray and effectively died of suffocation under a pile of other men and horses.
As the Duke of Aumerle, he is a major character in Shakespeare's Richard II, and he is also a minor character in Henry V.
| Preceded by: Edmund of Langley | Duke of York 1402-1415 | Succeeded by: Richard Plantagenet </b>restored 1425 |
| Preceded by: New Creation | Duke of Aumale 1397-1399 1414-1415 | Succeeded by: Extinct |