Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond

Edmund Tudor
Earl of Richmond
Tomb Effigy of Edmund Tudor
Spouse(s)	Lady Margaret Beaufort
Issue Henry VII of England
Noble family	Tudor
Father	Owen Tudor
Mother	Catherine of Valois
Born	11 June 1431
Died
Buried	St David's Cathedral

Coat of arms of Edmund Tudor, first Earl of Richmond. Although a half brother of Henry VI of England, he had no right to the arms other than as a grant as he and the king shared a mother.

Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (11 June 1431 – 3 November 1456), also known as Edmund of Hadham (Welsh: Edmwnd Tudur), was the father of King Henry VII of England and a member of the Tudor family of Penmynydd, North Wales.

Birth and early life

Edmund Tudor was born either at Much Hadham Palace in Hertfordshire or at Hadham in Bedfordshire, the first son of Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois (widow of King Henry V of England). It is not known for certain whether he was born legitimately after his parents were secretly married.

In 1436, his mother retired to Bermondsey Abbey, where she died after bearing a child in 1437. Therefore, he and his brother Jasper were brought up in the care of Katherine de la Pole, abbess of Barking, with whom they remained till 1442. The abbess then brought them to their half-brother Henry VI's notice, who in turn sent them over as the charges of certain priests to be educated. When Edmund grew up, Henry kept him at his court. Edmund was knighted on 15 December 1449, summoned to parliament as Earl of Richmond on 30 January 1452, and created Earl of Richmond and premier earl on 6 March, acceding on 23 November, and Jasper was created Earl of Pembroke. In the parliament of 1453 Edmund was formally declared legitimate. Henry made him large grants, particularly in 1454.

Marriage to Lady Margaret Beaufort

In 1452 Lady Margaret Beaufort, the nine-year-old daughter of the Duke of Somerset was summoned to the court of her second cousin, King Henry VI and the following year Edmund was granted wardship. On 1 November 1455 at Bletsoe Castle, she was married to Edmund. By the end of the following November, he was dead, leaving his 12-year-old widow pregnant with the future King Henry VII.

Capture, captivity and death

File:Tomb of Edmund Tudor.JPG

Tomb of Edmund Tudor, St David's Cathedral

The Wars of the Roses had begun and Edmund (a Lancastrian) was captured by Yorkist partisan William Herbert in mid-1456. Herbert imprisoned him at Carmarthen Castle in Wales, where he died of the plague on 3 November 1456, and was buried at Carmarthen Grey Friars. His elegy was written by Lewys Glyn Cothi. His remains were, at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, removed to the choir of St David's Cathedral.

Edmund's only child, the future Henry VII, was born at Pembroke Castle, two months after his death.

References and external links

• Timeline
• Tudor history

Peerage of England
Preceded by Vacant previously held by John of Lancaster	Earl of Richmond (with Honour of Richmond) 1452–1456	Succeeded by Henry Tudor During War of the Roses Considered Forfeit by Yorkists 1461 merged into the crown under Edward IV (Honour of Richmond held by George Plantagenet 1472-1478)