Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales

Edward of Middleham
Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Salisbury
Edward, Prince of Wales, son of King Richard III and his Queen consort, Anne Neville. From the contemporary Rous Roll in the Heralds' College.
Born	December 1473 Middleham, Wensleydale
Died	9 April 1484 (aged 10) Middleham, Wensleydale
Burial	after 9 April 1484
Full name English: Edward of Middleham Welsh: Iorwerth chan Middleham
House	York
Father	Richard III of England
Mother	Anne Neville
Religion	Roman Catholic

Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, 1st Earl of Salisbury (December 1473 – 9 April 1484), was the only child of King Richard III of England and his queen consort, Anne Neville. He was Richard's only legitimate child and died aged ten.

In 1485 Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth and the throne of England passed to the Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, a descendant of Edward III of England through his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort.

Birth and titles

Edward was allegedly born in December 1473 at Middleham Castle, a stronghold close to York that became Richard and Anne's principal base in northern England. The date of 1473 is, however, not universally accepted; Professor Charles Ross wrote that the date 1473 "lacks authority. In fact, he was probably not born until 1476." The act of Parliament that settled the dispute between George of Clarence and Richard over Anne Beauchamp's inheritance just as if the Countess of Warwick "was naturally dead" was dated May 1474. The doubts cast by Clarence on the validity of Richard and Anne's marriage were addressed by a clause protecting their rights in the event they were divorced (i.e. of their marriage being declared null and void by the Church) and then legally remarried to each other, and also protected Richard's rights while waiting for such a valid second marriage with Anne. There were no provisions, however, for their heirs in case of this said divorce, which seems to confirm Richard and Anne had no children as of 1474. But such provision was the provence of the ruling king for those of royal blood so would have been moot.

Edward was mostly kept at Middleham, and was known to be a sickly child.

On 26 June 1483, his father became King of England, following a sermon preached outside St Paul's Cathedral which declared the late King Edward IV's children illegitimate and his brother, Richard, the rightful king. After the citizens of London, nobles, and commons convened, a petition was drawn up that asked Richard to assume the throne. He accepted and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 July 1483, along with his wife. His title to the throne was later confirmed by Parliament in January 1484 by the document Titulus Regius.

Edward did not attend his parents' coronation, likely due to illness. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in a splendid ceremony in York Minster on 8 September 1483, following his parents' Royal Progress across England.

Death

The reasons of his sudden death are unknown. The Croyland Chronicle reads:

However, in a short time after, it was fully seen how vain are the thoughts of a man who desires to establish his interests without the aid of God. For, in the following month of April, on a day not very far distant from the anniversary of king Edward, this only son of his, in whom all the hopes of the royal succession, fortified with so many oaths, were centred, was seized with an illness of but short duration, and died at Middleham Castle, in the year of our Lord, 1484, being the first of the reign of the said king Richard. On hearing the news of this, at Nottingham, where they were then residing, you might have seen his father and mother in a state almost bordering on madness, by reason of their sudden grief.

Edward's sudden death left Richard without a legitimate child and heir. Contemporary historian John Rous recorded that Richard declared his nephew Edward, Earl of Warwick, his heir in his place, but there is no other evidence of this. Similarly, John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln also seemed to have been designated as Richard's new heir, but was never publicly proclaimed as such.

Richard's enemies were inclined to believe that Edward's sudden death was divine retribution for Richard's involvement in the usurpation and subsequent disappearance of the sons of Edward IV, Edward V of England and Richard, Duke of York.

Burial

Cenotaph at Sheriff Hutton Church long believed to represent Edward of Middleham, but now thought to be an earlier work.

The location of Edward's burial is unknown. A mutilated white alabaster cenotaph ("empty tomb") in the church at Sheriff Hutton with an effigy of a child was long believed to represent Edward of Middleham, but is now thought to be an earlier work depicting one of the Neville family.

It is perhaps most probable that Edward, having died in Middleham Castle, was buried in the nearby parish church of Saints Mary and Alkelda in Middleham, where his father had intended to found a college. However evidence for this suggestion is lacking.

In fiction

Edward of Middleham appeared in Sharon Penman's The Sunne in Splendour and in Sandra Worth's The Rose of York series. In the latter series, it is implied that Edward was poisoned at the behest of Margaret Beaufort as part of her efforts to secure the throne for her son, the eventual Henry VII.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles

• 15 February 1478 onwards: The Earl of Salisbury
• 26 June 1483 onwards: The Duke of Cornwall
• 19 July 1483 onwards: Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
• 24 August 1483 onwards: The Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester

Arms

Since 1483, Edward used the arms of his father; debruised with a label of three points Argent.

Ancestry

Family of Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales

16. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York               8. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge                       17. Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York               4. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York                             18. Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March               9. Anne de Mortimer                       19. Alianore Holland               2. Richard III of England                                   20. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby               10=24. Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland                       21. Maud Percy               5. Cecily Neville                             22. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster               11=25. Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland                       23. Katherine Swynford               1. Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales                                         24=10. Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland               12. Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury                       25=11. Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland               6. Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick                             26. Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury               13. Alice Neville, 5th Countess of Salisbury                       27. Lady Eleanor Holland               3. Anne Neville                                   28. Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick               14. Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick                       29. Lady Margaret Ferrers               7. Anne Neville, 16th Countess of Warwick                             30. Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester               15. Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester and Warwick                       31 Constance of York

External links

• Edward of Middleham at Find a Grave

Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales House of York Cadet branch of the House of Plantagenet Born: December 1473 Died: 9 April 1484
English royalty
Vacant Title last held by Edward of the Sanctuary	Prince of Wales 24 August 1483 – 9 April 1484	Vacant Title next held by Arthur Tudor
Peerage of England
Vacant Title last held by Edward of the Sanctuary	Duke of Cornwall 26 June 1483 – 9 April 1484	Vacant Title next held by Arthur Tudor
	Earl of Chester 24 August 1483 – 9 April 1484
Vacant Title last held by George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Bedford	Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 19 July 1483 – 9 April 1484	Vacant Title next held by Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis