Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Edward

Specialty Definition: Edward

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

There have been many Kings named Edward

Scotland

• Edward Balliol

England and the United Kingdom

• Edward the Elder
• Edward the Martyr
• Edward the Confessor
• Edward I
• Edward II
• Edward III
• Edward IV
• Edward V
• Edward VI
• Edward VII
• Edward VIII

Portugal

• Edward

Savoy

• Edward of Savoy

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward."

Top     

Edward I of England

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

King Edward I of England (June 17, 1239 - July 7, 1307), popularly known as "Longshanks" and "Hammer of the Scots", is best known as the king who conquered Wales and kept Scotland under English domination. He lived from 1239 to 1307, ascending to the throne of England on November 21, 1272 after the death of his father, King Henry III of England.

Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on June 17 or 18, 1239. He married twice. His first marriage to Eleanor of Castile produced sixteen children, and when Eleanor died in 1290, Edward was heartbroken. He displayed his grief by erecting the Eleanor crosses, one at each place where her funeral cortege stopped for the night. His second marriage to Marguerite of France, the daughter of King Philippe III of France, produced a further three children.

Edward's character greatly contrasted that of his father's, who reigned England throughout Edward's childhood and was always inclined to favour compromise with his opponents. As an adult, Edward was an impatient man, displaying considerable military prowess at defeating Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265 and treating the rebels with great savagery. He relentlessly pursued the surviving members of the de Montfort family, who were his cousins.

In 1275, pirates in Edward's pay intercepted a ship carrying Eleanor de Montfort, Simon's only daughter, from France, where her family had been in exile to Wales, where she was to marry Llywelyn the Last, then ruler of the principality. The marriage had been arranged when there was still some political advantage to be obtained from an alliance with Simon de Montfort. However, Llywelyn wanted the marriage largely to antagonise his long-standing enemy, Edward. By hijacking the ship, Edward seized Eleanor, and imprisoned her at Windsor until Llywelyn would concede his terms for peace in 1278. Unexpectedly, Llywelyn's younger brother, Dafydd (who had briefly been an ally of the English) started another rebellion in 1282. Llywelyn was killed shortly afterwards in a skirmish. Subsequently, Edward destroyed the remnants of resistance, capturing and executing Dafydd in the following year. To consolidate his conquest, he built a network of stone castles throughout the principality, of which the best known this day is Caernarfon. Wales was incorporated into England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.

To finance his war to conquer Wales, Edward I taxed the Jewish moneylenders. However, the cost of Edward's ambitions soon drained the money-lenders dry. Anti-Semitism, a long existing attitude, increased substantially and when the Jews could no longer pay, they were accused of disloyalty. Already restricted to a limited number of occupations, Edward abolished the Jews right to lend money. Like all racism, it evolved until the King decreed that the Jews were a threat to the country and were restricted as to their movements and activities. Edward decreed that all Jews must wear a yellow patch in the shape of a star attached to their outer clothing so that they could be identified in public, an idea Adolf Hitler would adopt 650 years later.

Under King Edward's persecution of the Jews, he arrested all the heads of Jewish households. Over 300 were taken to the tower of London and executed while others were murdered in their homes. Finally in 1290, the King banished all Jews from the country.

Edward then turned his attentions to Scotland and on May 10, 1291 Scottish nobles recognized the authority of Edward I. He had planned to marry off his son to the child queen, Margaret I of Scotland but when Margaret died he was invited by the Scottish nobles to select her successor from the various claimants to the throne, and he chose John Balliol over Robert Bruce (father of Robert I of Scotland. Opposition sprang up (see Wars of Scottish Independence), and Edward mercilessly executed the focus of discontent, William Wallace, in 1305, having earlier defeated him at the Battle of Falkirk (1298). His plan to unite the two countries never came to fruition, and he died at the Scottish border while on his way to wage another campaign against the Scots, who were energized by Wallace's martyrdom under the leadership of Robert the Bruce.

Edward died in 1307 at Burgh-on-Sands, Northumberland and was buried at Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded by his son, King Edward II of England.

Preceded by: Henry III

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: Edward II

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward I of England."

Top     

Edward II of England

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward II, (April 25, 1284- September 21, 1327), of Caernarvon; king of England, the fourth son of Edward I of England by his first wife Eleanor of Castile, was born at Caernarfon Castle.

The story that the king presented the newborn child to the Welsh as their future native prince is unfounded. Its earliest appearance was in the work of a 16th century Welsh "antiquary", David Powel. In fact, Edward was only made Prince of Wales in the Lincoln Parliament of February 7, 1301. Edward was, however, the first English prince to hold the title.

When Edward was a few months old, his elder brother, Alfonso, died, and he became heir to the throne. From childhood, his father, a notable military leader, made a point of training him in warfare and statecraft. The prince took part in several Scots campaigns, but "all his father's efforts could not prevent his acquiring the habits of extravagance and frivolity which he retained all through his life". The king attributed his son's defects to the bad influence of friends such as the Gascon knight Piers Gaveston, and the favourite was exiled. When Edward I died, on July 7, 1307, the first act of the prince, now Edward II, was to recall Gaveston. His next was to abandon the Scots campaign on which his father had set his heart.

The new king was physically as impressive as his father. He was, however, lacking in drive and ambition and was "the first king after the Conquest who was not a man of business" (Dr Stubbs). His main interest was in entertainment, though he also took pleasure in athletics and in the practice of mechanical crafts. He had been so dominated by his father that he had little confidence in himself, and was always in the hands of some favourite with a stronger will than his own. In the early years of his reign Gaveston held this role, acting as regent when Edward went to France, where, on January 25, 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of Philip the Fair. The marriage was doomed to failure almost from the beginning. Isabella was neglected by her husband, who appeared to prefer the company of his male favourites, and was rumoured to be homosexual. Their marriage nevertheless produced two sons, Edward, and John of Eltham, earl of Cornwall (1316-1336), and two daughters, Isabella and Joanna (1321-1362), wife of David II of Scotland.

Gaveston received the earldom of Cornwall with the hand of the king's niece, Margaret of Gloucester. The barons grew resentful of Gaveston and twice insisted on his banishment. On each occasion Edward recalled his friend, whereupon the barons, headed by the king's cousin Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, went to war against king and favourite and in 1312 assassinated Gaveston. Edward was not strong enough to avenge his loss. He stood aside, allowing the country to come under the rule of a baronial committee of twenty-one lords ordainers, who, in 1311, had drawn up a series of ordinances, which substituted ordainers for the king as the effective government of the country.

Parliament meant to the new rulers an assembly of barons just as it had done to the opponents of Edward's grandfather, Henry III, in 1258. The commons was excluded. The effect was to transform England from a monarchy to a narrow oligarchy.

During the quarrels between Edward and the "ordainers", Robert the Bruce was steadily re-conquering Scotland. His progress was so great that he had occupied all the fortresses save Stirling, which he besieged. The danger of losing Stirling shamed Edward and the barons into an attempt to retrieve their lost ground. In June 1314 Edward led a huge army into Scotland in the hope of relieving Stirling. On June 24, his ill-disciplined and badly led force was completely defeated by Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. Henceforth Bruce was sure of his position as king of Scots, and took vengeance for Edward I's activities by devastating the northern counties of England.

Edward II's disgraceful defeat made him more dependent on his barons than ever. Thomas of Lancaster now had an opportunity of saving England from the consequences of the king's incompetence. He had shown some ability as a leader of opposition, but lacked creativity. In the hope of keeping the king weak, he was suspected of having made a secret understanding with Bruce. Before long the opposition split into fiercely contending factions. Under Aymer of Valence, Earl of Pembroke, a middle party arose, which hated Lancaster so much that it supported the king. After 1318, the effect of its influence was to restore Edward to some portion of his authority. However, the king hated Pembroke almost as much as Lancaster, and now found a competent alternative adviser in Hugh le Despenser, a baron of great experience. What was more important to him, he had in Despenser's son, Hugh le Despenser the younger, a personal friend and favourite, who effectively replaced Gaveston. The fierce hatred which the barons had for the Despensers was equal to that with which they had hated his previous favourite. They were indignant at the privileges Edward lavished upon father and son, especially when the younger Despenser strove to procure for himself the earldom of Gloucester in right of his wife, Edward's niece.

In 1321, the barons met in parliament, and under Lancaster's guidance had Hugh le Despenser and his son banished. This inspired Edward to act. In 1322 he recalled the Despensers from exile, and waged war against the barons on their behalf. Lancaster, defeated at Boroughbridge, was executed at Pontefract. For the next five years the Despensers ruled England. Unlike the ordainers, they took pains to get the Commons on their side, and a parliament held at York in 1322 revoked the ordinances because they encroached upon the rights of the crown. From this time no statute was technically valid unless the Commons had agreed to it. This marks the most important step forward in Edward II's reign. But the rule of the Despensers soon became corrupt. Their first thought was for themselves, and they stirred up universal indignation. In particular, they excited the ill-will of the queen, Isabella of France.

Queen Isabella kept silence until 1325, when she went to France in company with her eldest son, Edward of Windsor, who was sent to do homage for Aquitaine to her brother, the new French king. When her business was over, Isabella declined to return to her husband as long as the Despensers remained his favourites. She formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, one of the baronial exiles, and in September 1326 landed in Essex accompanied by Mortimer and her son, declaring that she was come to avenge the murder of Lancaster, and to expel the Despensers. Edward's followers deserted him, and on October 2 he fled from London to the west, where he took refuge in the younger Despenser's estates in Glamorgan. His wife followed him, put to death both Despensers, and, after a futile effort to escape by sea, Edward was captured on November 6. He was imprisoned at Kenilworth Castle, and a parliament met at Westminster in January 1327, which chose his son to be king as Edward III. It was thought prudent to compel the captive king to resign the crown, and on January 20 Edward was forced to renounce his office before a committee of the estates.

The government of Isabella and Mortimer was so precarious that they dared not leave the deposed king alive. On April 3 he was secretly removed from Kenilworth and entrusted to the custody of two dependants of Mortimer. After various wanderings be was imprisoned at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. Every indignity was inflicted upon him, and he was systematically ill-treated in the hope that he would die of disease. When his strong constitution seemed likely to prevail he was secretly put to death on September 21. The popular legend is that his murder was by a red-hot poker thrust up his anus through a hollow tube, considered by his captors as an appropriate punishment for his homosexuality, which would show no outward signs of violence. It was announced that he had died a natural death, and he was buried in St Peter's Abbey at Gloucester, now the cathedral, where his son afterwards erected a magnificent tomb.

An alternative version of events, which has received little attention from historians, suggests that the body buried at Gloucester is not that of King Edward, but that he was allowed to escape to the Continent and survived many more years.

Following the king's death, the rule of Isabella and Mortimer did not last long. As soon as Edward III came of age, he executed Roger Mortimer, but spared his mother on condition that she leave the court. In 1330, Isabella retired from public life; she died, either at Hertford or at Castle Rising in Norfolk on August 23, 1358. updated from an old encyclopedia

Preceded by: Edward I

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: Edward III

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward II of England."

Top     

Edward III of England

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward III (November 13, 1312 - June 21, 1377) was one of the greatest English kings of medieval times. He was born at Windsor as the son of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France. Unfortunately, Edward II was a weak king and aroused ill-feeling by his dependence on favourites. The neglected queen, Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, imprisoned and murdered Edward II, taking up the reins of government themselves during the minority of the heir. Edward III was crowned on January 25, 1327 after reaching majority and was declared King of France on January 26, 1340.

As soon as Edward III reached the age of eighteen, he overthrew Mortimer and removed Isabella. He married Philippa of Hainault, and their eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, was an outstanding military leader. The reign of Edward III was marked by several important victories over France, including the battles of Crecy and Poitiers. His first major military success was the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, which he undertook in support of the new Scottish king, Edward Balliol. On the death of the French king, his own grandfather, Charles IV, in 1328, Edward claimed the French throne, declaring war on Philip VI in 1337.

Despite having an unusually happy marriage, Edward was a notorious womaniser. His mistress, Alice Perrers, became a byword for corruption. The king also founded an order of knighthood, the Order of the Garter, allegedly as a result of an incident when a lady, with whom he was dancing at a court ball, dropped an item of intimate apparel (possibly a sanitary belt, though sources describe it as being made of velvet). Gallantly picking it up to assuage her embarrassment, Edward tied it around his own leg, and remarked Honi soit qui mal y pense ('Shame on him who thinks evil of it'), which became the motto of the Order of the Garter. The woman in the case is known only as the "Countess of Salisbury". Some say it was Edward's daughter-in-law, Joan of Kent, but a more likely candidate is Joan's mother-in-law from her first marriage.

In 1346, Edward was accompanied on his French campaign by his eldest son, the Black Prince, who proved a capable military leader. Edward left much of the subsequent campaigning to the prince, himself concentrating on the Scots. However, many of his gains were short-lived. He and the prince fell out over political policy at home, and the government was left largely in the hands of a younger son, John of Gaunt.

Edward died of a stroke in 1377 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His son Edward, the Black Prince had pre-deceased him, and he was succeeded by his young grandson, King Richard II of England.

The sons of Edward III

The Wars of the Roses were a civil war among the descendants of King Edward III over the throne of England. Each branch of the family claimed to have a superior claim, because their ancestor was older, and/or because their claim was through a male line instead of a female one, and/or because their claim was through legitimate offspring instead of bastards.

• Edward III's eldest son was Edward, the Black Prince, whose only surviving child was Richard II who had no child, so once Richard was killed (and succeeded) by his cousin Henry IV, the senior line ceased to exist.
• Edward III's second son, William, died in 1337, aged about three, and is buried in York Minster.
• Edward III's third son was Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, whose heir was a female who married a Mortimer, then a Mortimer woman married a York man, so the Lionel/Mortimer line merged into the York line.
• Edward III's fourth son was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. His legitimate heirs were the Lancasters: Henry IV who usurped the throne from his cousin Richard II; Henry V; and Henry VI who had the throne usurped from him by the first York king, Edward IV; Henry VI's only child was killed in the war, so the Lancaster line became defunct. John of Gaunt's illegitimate heirs were the Beauforts, until a Beaufort woman married a Tudor man, and they became the Tudors; on the deaths of his legitimate heirs, the Beauforts/Tudors claimed to be Lancasters and, therefore, senior to the Yorks, who were descended from a younger son than John. [Note: John of Gaunt also had legitimate descendants through his daughter Catalina, a grand-daughter of King Pedro I and the mother of King Juan II, but these Castillians engaged in their own wars over the Spanish succession and did not assert any claims to the English throne in the Wars of the Roses.]
• Edward III's fifth son was Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. His descendants were the Yorks, and once they merged with the Lionel/Mortimer line, they claimed to be senior to the Lancasters, who were descended from a younger son than Lionel, and to the Tudors, who were descended from bastards debarred from the throne.
• Edward's youngest son was Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, whose heir was a female who married a Stafford, and then the Staffords became the Dukes of Buckingham. Nobody ever considered them serious contenders for the crown, at least until Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, rebelled against Richard III in 1483.

Preceded by: Edward II

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: Richard II

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward III of England."

Top     

Edward IV of England

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward IV was King of England 1461-1483, with a break of a few months in the period 1470-1471.

Edward was born in 1442, at Rouen in France, the eldest son of Richard, Duke of York, a leading claimant to the throne of England. York's challenge to the ruling family marked the beginning of the conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. When Richard was killed in 1460, at the Battle of Wakefield, pressing his claim against the Lancastrian king, Henry VI of England, Edward became his heir.

With the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick ("The Kingmaker"), Edward, already showing great promise as a leader of men, defeated the Lancastrians in a succession of battles. While Henry and his militant queen, Margaret of Anjou, were campaigning in the north, Warwick gained control of the capital and had Edward declared king in London in 1461. Edward strengthened his claim with a decisive victory at the Battle of Towton in the same year, in the course of which the Lancastrian army was virtually wiped out.

Edward was tall, strong, handsome, and popular (and his grandson Henry VIII of England was much like him in these qualities). Warwick, believing that he could continue to rule through him, pressed him to enter into a marital alliance with a major European power. Edward, who had appeared to go along with the wishes of his mentor, then alienated Warwick by secretly marrying a widow, Elizabeth Woodville (having previously married the widow Eleanor Talbot even more secretly). With Elizabeth had a large group of relatively poor but very ambitious relations, who soon became powerful at Warwick's expense. The Earl changed sides and led an army against Edward.

The king's army was defeated at the Battle of Edgecote, and Edward was captured. Warwick attempted to rule in the Edward's name, but the nobility, many of whom owed the preferments to the king, were restive. Warwick was forced to release Edward. Neither Warwick nor the king were powerful enough to subdue the other, until after a failed rebellion in 1470 Warwick was forced to flee to France. There he joined forces with the Lancastrians, invaded again, and this time Edward was forced to flee.

Henry VI was briefly restored to the throne, and Edward took refuge in Burgundy, where he raised an army to win back his kingdom. Philippe de Commines spent time with Edward while he was the guest of Louis de Bruges, sieur de la Gruthuyse, in 1470-1471. Later Commines said of King Edward:

"He had been during the last twelve years more accustomed to his ease and pleasure than any other prince who lived in his time. He had nothing in his thoughts but les dames, and of them more than was reasonable; and hunting-matches, good eating, and great care of his person. . . [I]t is not surprising that his person was as jolly as any one I ever saw. He was then young, and as handsome as any man of his age; but he has since become enormously fat."

Returning to England, he defeated Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. With Warwick dead, he eliminated the remaining Lancastrian resistance at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, in the course of which the Lancastrian heir, Edward, Prince of Wales, was killed. Edward's two younger brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III of England), who were married to Warwick's two daughters, were at loggerheads for much of the rest of his reign. Clarence was eventually imprisoned and executed in the Tower of London.

Commines explained that it was how much Edward owed them that had made Londoners eager to put him back on the throne, along with the fact that he was very popular with the women of that city, and they so nagged their husbands that the menfolk welcomed Edward back just "for the tranquility of their lives."

Edward died suddenly in 1483 and is buried in Windsor Castle. He was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Edward V of England. Although his son was quickly barred from the throne and succeeded by Richard of Gloucester, Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, later became the queen of Henry VII of England.

He left 7 legitimate children that survived to adulthood:

• Edward V
• Richard, Duke of York
• Elizabeth, queen of Henry VII
• Anne, who married Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
• Catherine, who married William Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon
• Cecily, who married first the 1st Viscount Welles, and second, Thomas Kymbe
• Bridet, who became a nun

Edward had numerous mistresses, the most well-known of whom is Jane Shore.

Was Edward illegitimate?

Questions about the paternity of Edward IV had been raised by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick in 1469 and repeated by George, Duke of Clarence shortly before his death in 1478, but with no evidence. Parliament seems to have addressed this rumour in Titulus Regius (the text of which is believed to come word-for-word from the petition presented by Buckingham to the assembly which met on June 25, 1483, to decide on the future of the monarchy). It describes Edward's brother Richard III as "the undoubted son and heir" of Richard, Duke of York and "born in this land" -- an oblique reference to his brother's birth at Rouen and baptism in circumstances which could have been considered questionable. Dominic Mancini says that Cecily Neville, King Edward's and King Richard's mother, was herself the basis for the story: When she found out about Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, in 1464, "Proud Cis" flew into a rage. One of the things she said then was that she was of a good mind to declare he was illegitimate and so have him kicked off the throne for his foolishness.

As historical novelist Sharon Kay Penman explains, paid propagandists for Henry Tudor, after he became Henry VII (and King Richard was dead), concocted out of whole cloth the story that Richard III had said his brother Edward was illegitimate: "Tudor's official historian, Polydore Vergil, . . . contend[ed] that Richard based his claim to the crown upon his brother Edward's illegitimacy. This was, of course, an out-and-out lie."

Preceded by: Henry VI

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: (Edward V)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward IV of England."

Top     

Edward Kennedy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward ("Ted") Moore Kennedy (born February 22, 1932) is a United States Senator. He is known as one of America's leading liberal politicians.

He was elected to the Senate from the state of Massachusetts in 1962 to fill the vacant seat left by his brother, John F. Kennedy, upon the latter's becoming President of the United States. Kennedy, a Democrat, has been re-elected to the seat ever since.

After a party on Chappaquiddick Island on July 18, 1969, Senator Edward Kennedy drove an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger and aide, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Kennedy did not report the incident for 10 hours.

Kennedy tried to secure the Democratic nomination for the 1980 Presidential election, but despite winning support early in his bid was ultimately unsuccesful. Many put this down to the incident at Chappaquiddick.

Kennedy is the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Senate. He also serves on the Judiciary Committee, where he is the senior Democrat on the Immigration Subcommittee, and the Armed Services Committee, where he is the senior Democrat on the Seapower Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, a founder of the Congressional Friends of Ireland, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia Law School. His home is in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and children, Curran and Caroline. He also has three grown children from his former marriage: Kara, Edward Jr, and Patrick, and four grandchildren.

External links

• Congressional biography
• Senate homepage

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward Kennedy."

Top     

Edward of Portugal

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Duarte of Portugal (Edward, in English language), the Philosopher, eleventh king of Portugal, was born in Viseu in October 31 1391 and died in Tomar in September 13 1438. He was the son of John I of Portugal by his wife, Philippa of Lancaster. Duarte succeeded his father in 1433.

As a prince, Duarte always followed his father, king João I, in the affairs of the kingdom. He was knighted in 1415, after the capture of Ceuta. Duarte was made king in 1433 and soon showed interest in internal consensus. During is short reign of five years, Duarte called the Cortes (the national assembly) no less than five times to discuss internal affairs and politics. The king also followed the politics of his father concerning the maritime exploration of Africa. His brother, prince Henry the Navigator founded the navigation school of Sagres and Gil Eanes crossed the Bojador Cape during his reign.

In 1437, his brothers, princes Henry and Fernando persuaded Duarte to launch an attack on Morocco and thus win an African base for future Atlantic exploration. The expedition was not unanimously supported: princes Pedro, duke of Coimbra and João, duke of Aveiro were against the initiative and preferred to avoid conflict with the king of Morocco. They proved to be right. The resulting attack on Tangier was successful, but with great cost of men. Duarte's youngest brother prince Fernando was captured and eventually died in captivity. Duarte died of plague soon afterwards.

Another less political side of Duarte's personality is related with culture. A reflective and scholarly prince, he wrote the treatise O Leal Conselheiro (The Loyal Counsellor) as well as other books on hunting and several poems. Duarte was in the process of revising the Portuguese law code when he died.

Duarte's marriages and descendants

• By his wife, princess Eleanor of Aragon (1402-1455)
  • João (1429)
  • Filipa (1430-1439)
  • Afonso V, king of Portugal (1432-1481)
  • Maria (1432)
  • Fernando of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (1433-1470), father of Manuel I, king of Portugal
  • Eleanor, princess of Portugal (1434-1467), married Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Duarte (1435)
  • Catarina (1436-1463)
  • Joana, princess of Portugal (1439-1475), married king Henry IV of Castile

See also: Kings of Portugal family tree

Preceded by: D. João I

List of Portuguese monarchs

Succeeded by: D. Afonso V

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward of Portugal."

Top     

Edward of Savoy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward (b. 1284 - d. 1329), surnamed the Liberal, was the Count of Savoy from 1323 to 1329.

married to Blanche (Bianca) of Burgundy and had a daughter

Joan (Giovanna), married to John III the Good, duke of Brittany

Preceded by: Amedeo V

House of Savoy

Succeeded by: Aimone

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward of Savoy."

Top     

Edward of Westminster

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward of Westminster (October 13, 1453 - May 4, 1471) was the only Prince of Wales ever to die in battle.

He was the son of King Henry VI of England and his consort, Margaret of Anjou. Their only child, he was born at the Palace of Westminster. His father was at the time suffering from mental illness, and there were widespread rumours that the prince was the result of an affair between his mother and some unnamed lover. However, there is no real evidence for this. Edward was invested as Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 1454.

When King Henry VI signed away his son's birthright by agreeing to make Richard, Duke of York his heir, Queen Margaret immediately raised an army and attempted to fight the Yorkists. She and her young son went on the run, spending some time in both Scotland and Wales, before taking refuge in France. Margaret allied herself with the renegade Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and Prince Edward was married off to Anne Neville, Warwick's younger daughter, in December 1470 -- although there is some doubt as to whether the marriage was ever solemnised.

Warwick succeeded in putting King Henry VI back on the throne. However, by the time Margaret and her son and daughter-in-law arrived back in England, a reversal of fortunes had taken place. Warwick had been defeated and killed at the Battle of Barnet, Edward IV was back on the throne, and the inexperienced prince and his mother led the remnant of their forces at the Battle of Tewkesbury with little real hope of success. The prince died either in the battle, or, according to rumour, during a later massacre of prisoners. He is buried at Tewkesbury Abbey.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward of Westminster."

Top     

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, (~1506 - 1552) was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of King Henry VIII in 1547 and Seymour's indictment in 1549. He was born in about 1506, the eldest brother of Jane Seymour, who would become King Henry's third queen. Their brother, Thomas, also gained power through their sister's advancement.

When Jane married the king in 1536, Edward was created Viscount Beauchamp and 1st Earl of Hertford. He became Warden of the Scottish Marches and continued in favoiur after his sister's death in 1537. He retained great influence over the boy king Edward VI, in whose name he ruled the country. Following his victory over the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie, his position appeared unassailable. However, the Seymour brothers had accumulated enemies and grudges during their time in royal favour, and, shortly after his brother Thomas's downfall, Edward, too, fell from power. His position was taken by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and Thomas was executed for treason in 1552.

Edward's son, Edward Seymour (1539-1621), 2nd Earl of Hertford, was the Duke of Somerset's son by his second wife. He regained his father's lost earldom in 1559, from Queen Elizabeth I, but lost it again shortly afterwards, for secretly marrying Lady Catherine Grey, sister of Lady Jane Grey. His penalty was a long term of imprisonment. His son was Edward Seymour (1561-1612), 3rd Earl of Hertford, whose son William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, was imprisoned for secretly marrying Arbella Stuart.

See also: Duke of Somerset

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset."

Top     

Edward the Confessor

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

St. Edward the Confessor

Rank:	21st
Ruled:	June 8, 1042-January 4, 1066
Predecessor:	Harthacanute
Date of Birth:	1004
Place of Birth:	Islip, Oxfordshire, England
Wife:	Edith
Buried:	Westminster Abbey
Date of Death:	January 4, 1066
Parents:	Ethelred II and Emma

Edward the Confessor (c. 1004-January, 1066) was the penultimate Saxon king of England. His reign foreshadowed the country's later connection with Normandy, whose duke William II was to supplant Edward's successor Harold as England's ruler.

The king Ethelred the Unready, Edward and his brother Alfred were taken to Normandy by their mother Emma, sister of Normandy's duke Richard II, to escape the Danish invasion of England in 1013. During his quarter-century of exile, Edward developed a familiarity with Normandy and its leaders which was to influence his later rule.

Returning to England with Alfred in an abortive attempt (1036) to displace Harold Harefoot from the throne, Edward escaped to Normandy after Alfred's capture and death. He was invited back to England in 1041, this time as co-ruler with his half-brother Harthacanute (son of Emma and Canute), on whose death on June 8, 1042, he ascended the throne. Edward was crowned at Winchester Cathedral on April 3, 1043.

Edward's sympathies for Norman favourites frustrated Saxon and Danish nobles alike, fuelling the growth of anti-Norman opinion led by Godwin, Earl of Wessex, who had become the king's father-in-law in 1045. Exiled in September 1051, Godwin returned with an armed following a year later, forcing the king to restore his title. Godwin died in 1053, but his son Harold accumulated even greater territories, and in January 1066 took the throne upon Edward's death.

Edward married Edith of Wessex on January 23, 1045. It was a platonic marriage, with Edward refusing to consummate it for religious reasons.

William of Normandy, who had visited England during Godwin's exile, claimed that the childless Edward had promised him the succession to the throne, and his successful bid for the English crown put an end to Harold's nine-month kingship following a 7000-strong Norman invasion.

Edward's reign marks a transition between the 10th century West Saxon kingship of England and the Norman monarchy which followed Harold's death. The great earldoms established under Canute grew in power, while Norman influence became a powerful factor in government and in the leadership of the Church.

Preceded by: Harthacanute

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: Harold II

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward the Confessor."

Top     

Edward the Martyr

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

St. Edward the Martyr

Rank:	14th
Ruled:	July 8, 975-March 18, 978
Predecessor:	Edgar
Date of Birth:	962
Place of Birth:	Wessex, England
Wife:	Never married
Buried:	Brookwood Cementery
Date of Death:	March 18, 978
Parents:	Edgar and Ethelfleda

King Edward the Martyr (circa 962 - March 18, 978) succeeded his father Edgar as King of England in 975, but was murdered, hence the epithet, "the Martyr". While hunting one day, Edward was murdered. He had been calling his half-brother Ethelred the Unready and his step-mother Elfrida. Elfrida offered Edward wine and while he was drinking it, two servants stabbed him on the back. Ethelred was only ten years old then, so he clearly was not implicated in the murder. Edward was buried in Dorset, and was canonised in 1001.

History of his relics

In 1001, his relics were removed from his grave and placed in an elaborate shrine in Shaftesbury Abbey. Witnesses at the time reported that the relics were fragrant. During the sixteenth century, under King Henry VIII, monasteries were dissolved and many holy places were demolished, but St. Edward's remains were hidden so as to avoid desecration. In 1931, the relics were recovered by Mr. Wilson-Claridge during an archaelogical excavation; their identity was confirmed by Dr. T.E.A. Stowell, an osteologist. In about 1982, Mr. Wilson-Claridge donated the relics to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which placed them in a church in Brookwood Cementery, in Woking, Surrey. The St. Edward Brotherhood of monks was organized there as well. The church is now named St. Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church.

More information submitted 17/11/03

King of England, son to Edgar the Peaceful, and uncle to St. Edward the Confessor; b. about 962; d. 18 March, 979. His accession to the throne on his father's death, in 975, was opposed by a party headed by his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who was bent on securing the crown for her own son Ethelred, then aged seven, in which she eventually was successful. Edward's claim, however, was supported by St. Dunstan and the clergy and by most of the nobles; and having been acknowledged by the Witan, he was crowned by St. Dunstan. Though only thirteen, the young king had already given promise of high sanctity, and during his brief reign of three years and a half won the affection of his people by his many virtues. His stepmother, who still cherished her treacherous designs, contrived at the last to bring about his death. Whilst hunting in Dorsetshire he happened (18 March, 979) to call at Corfe Castle where she lived. There, whilst drinking on horseback a glass of mead offered him at the castle gate, he was stabbed by an assassin in the bowels. He rode away, but soon fell from his horse, and being dragged by the stirrup was flung into a deep morass, where his body was revealed by a pillar of light. He was buried first at Wareham, whence three years later, his body, having been found entire, was translated to Shaftesbury Abbey by St. Dunstan and Earl Alfere of Mercia, who in Edgar's lifetime had been one of his chief opponents. Many miracles are said to have been obtained through his intercession. Elfrida, struck with repentance for her crimes, built the two monasteries of Wherwell and Ambresbury, in the first of which she ended her days in penance. The violence of St. Edward's end, joined to the fact that the party opposed to him had been that of the irreligious, whilst he himself had ever acted as defender of the Church, obtained for him the title of Martyr, which is given to him in all the old English calendars on 18 March, also in the Roman Martyrology.

Preceded by: Edgar

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: Ethelred II

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward the Martyr."

Top     

Edward V of England

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward V (November 4, 1470-1483?) was an English monarch, although never crowned.

Edward was born in sanctuary within Westminster Abbey on November 4, 1470, while his mother was taking refuge from the Lancastrians who dominated the kingdom while his father, the Yorkist King Edward IV of England, was out of power. He was created Prince of Wales in June, 1471, following his father's restoration to the throne, and appeared with his parents on state occasions. (For a brief period after his birth and before he was officially given the title, he was one of two living Princes of Wales, the other being the only son of Henry VI of England, who was killed in May, 1471.)

Edward IV, having established a Council of Wales and the Marches, duly sent his son to Ludlow Castle to be its nominal president. It was at Ludlow that the prince was staying when news came of his father's sudden death. Edward inherited the throne on April 9, 1483, at the age of twelve. His father's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was entrusted with the role of protector to his young nephews, Edward V and Richard, Duke of York. He intercepted Edward's entourage on its return journey from Wales and escorted the princes to London. Less than three months later, Richard took the throne himself. On June 25, Parliament declared his nephews illegitimate after a priest (believed to be the Bishop of Bath and Wells) presented evidence that Edward had contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Talbot before he married Elizabeth Woodville; this would have made his marriage to Elizabeth invalid. Richard's other brothers, Edmund and George, Duke of Clarence, had both died before Edward, leaving Richard next in line for the throne.

Once the two boys went into the Tower of London, they were never seen in public again. What happened to them is one of the great mysteries of history, and many books have been written on the subject. It is generally believed that they were killed, and the usual suspects are: their uncle, King Richard; Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham; and Henry Tudor, who defeated Richard and took the throne as Henry VII.

After the princes' disappearance, there was much uncertainty as to their fate. If they were killed, the secret was well kept; conversely, there was no evidence of their survival or of their having been shipped out of the country. When a pretender, Perkin Warbeck, turned up claiming to be Prince Richard, in 1495, William Stanley (younger brother of King Henry's stepfather, Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby), who, despite his Yorkist sympathies, had turned against Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field and helped King Henry win it, said that, if the young man was really the prince, he would not fight against him, thus demonstrating that some Yorkists had not given up hope of the princes being still alive.

In 1674, some workmen remodelling the Tower of London dug up a box containing two small human skeletons. They threw them on a rubbish heap, but some days or weeks later someone decided they might be the bones of the two princes, so they gathered them up and put some of them in an urn that Charles II of England ordered interred in Westminster Abbey. In 1933 the bones were taken out and examined and then replaced in the urn in the vault under the Abbey. The experts who examined them could not agree on what age the children would have been when they died or even whether they were boys or girls. (One skeleton was larger than the other, and many of the bones were missing, including part of the smaller jawbone and all of the teeth from the larger one.)

Preceded by: Edward IV

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: Richard III

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward V of England."

Top     

Edward VI of England

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward VI (October 12, 1537 - July 6, 1553) was King of England from January 28 (crowned at Westminster Abbey on February 20), 1547 to July 6,1553.

Edward VI
King of England, Ireland and France

Edward VI, the only surviving son of King Henry VIII was England's first protestant king. Though his father had broken the link between English Catholicism and Rome, it was in Edward's reign that the decisive move was made from catholicism to a form of protestantism which came to be known as Anglicanism.

Edward VI was born on October 12, 1537, the son of Jane Seymour, who died a few days later. The boy's father, Henry VIII, was delighted by his birth, but devastated by the death of his third wife. Henry had long hoped for a male heir, but the boy turned out to be sickly (in fact, Edward suffered from congenital syphilis, passed on by his father) and he was not expected to have a long life, leading Henry to re-marry quickly in the hope of fathering more healthy children.

When Edward came to the throne at age nine, his uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (1506 - 1552), became regent, consigning the boy to a purely ceremonial role. The story of Edward's reign is that of a number of nobles attempting to take over as Lord Protector. Somerset was removed from office by the efforts of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and later Duke of Northumberland. The latter took power, and Seymour was executed for treason. The other major figure of Edward's reign was Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who forged ahead with the Protestant impetus begun during the reign of Edward's father. The first prayer book in English was published in 1548 - the Book of Common Prayer.

By the time of his death, on July 6, 1553, Edward was enough the master of his own destiny to have concerns about the succession. He had been brought up a Protestant and had no wish to see England revert to Catholicism. This led him to support the claim to the throne of Northumberland's daughter-in-law and puppet, Lady Jane Grey, against his own half-sister, Mary.

King Edward VI is buried at Westminster Abbey.

He is the subject of historical fiction novel "The Prince and the Pauper"- 1881 by Mark Twain. Edward is the Prince of the title.The Pauper is Tom Canty, a look-alike of Edward born in a poor family of London on the same day as Edward: October 12, 1537. The book at first examines their parallel lives, one in poverty and one in riches, until the fatal day that the two boys meet and end up changing places for a while between January 27 and February 20 of 1547. Edward is introduced to the life of poverty and to social injustice and Tom to the thrown and the intrigues of the court. The boys change places again on the day of Edward's coronation. Tom stays by Edward's side as a favorite of the young King who now has a stronger sense of responsibility to his poor subjects for the rest of his short life.

Preceded by: Henry VIII

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: (Jane)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward VI of England."

Top     

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward VII (Albert Edward Wettin) (9 November 1841 - 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Sea and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910. He was the only British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He also has the distinction of having been heir apparent to the throne longer than anyone in English or British history.

In 1905, Edward officially recognized the office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He became the first British monarch to visit Russia (1907). Edward also played a role in the modernization of the Home Fleet and the reform of the Army Medical Services, after the Boer War.

Edward VII
King of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland

The future King Edward VII was born at Buckingham Palace, the second child and the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Christened Albert Edward at St. George's Chapel, Windsor on 25 January 1842, he was known as "Bertie" throughout his life. As the eldest son of a British Sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, and Baron Renfrew from birth. As a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Duke of Saxony. Queen Victoria created her son Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 8 December 1841. He was created Earl of Dublin and a Knight of the Garter on 9 November 1853 and a Knight of the Thistle on 24 May 1867. In 1863, he renounced his succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in favor of his younger brother, Prince Alfred, later Duke of Edinburgh.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to a model constitutional monarch. At age seven, Bertie embarked upon a rigorous educational program under the supervision of several tutors devised by the Prince Consort. However, unlike his precocious elder sister, Victoria, Princess Royal, the Prince of Wales did not excel in his studies. He was not a diligent student and his true talents were those of charm, sociability, and tact. He tried to meet the unrealistic expectations of his parents, but to no avail.

The Prince of Wales hoped to pursue a career in the British Army, but this was denied him because he was heir to the throne. He did serve briefly in the Grenadier Guards in 1861, however, this was largely a sinecure. He was advanced from the rank of lieutentant to colonel in a matter of months. In October 1859, he matriculated as an undergraduate at Christ Church, University of Oxford. In 1861, he transferred to Trinity College, Cambridge, but he never received a degree. In his youth, he gained a reputation as a playboy. In December 1861, the Prince Consort died from typhoid two weeks after visiting the Prince of Wales at Cambridge; Prince Albert had reprimanded his son after the latter's affair with an actress became the subject of newspaper gossip. The Queen, who was inconsolable and wore mourning for the rest of her life, blamed the Prince of Wales for his father's death. She regarded him as frivolous, indiscreet, and completely unsuitable to undertake any responsibility.

Once widowed, Queen Victoria effectively withdrew from public life, but shortly after the Prince Consort's death, she arranged for her son to marry Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the stunningly beautiful elder daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and his wife, the former Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. The couple wed at St. George's Chapel, Windsor on 10 March 1862. There was disapproval in certain circles, because most of Victoria's relations were German, and Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories of Schleswig and Holstein, and Victoria herself was in two minds as to whether it was a suitable match. After the couple's marriage, she expressed anxiety about their lifestyle, and attempted to dictate to them on various matters, including the names of their children. The Prince and Princess of Wales had three sons and three daughters in all:

• HRH Prince Albert Victor (8 January1864-14 January 1892), created Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone, 20 May 1890.
• HRH Prince George, (3 June 1865-20 January 1936, created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, and Baron Killarney, 24 May 1892, afterwards Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, and then King George V, m. HSH Princess Victoria Mary ("May") of Teck and had issue.
• HRH Princess Louise (20 February 1867-4 January 1931, declared Princess Royal, 9 November 1905, m. Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife; and had issue.
• HRH Princess Victoria (6 July 1868-3 December 1935).
• HRH Princess Maud (26 November 1869-20 November 1938) m. HRH Prince Carl of Denmark, afterwards King Haakon VII of Norway, and had issue.
• HRH Prince John (6 April-6 April 1871).

Even as a married man and a father, however, Bertie was not allowed by his mother to have an active role in the running of the country. He continued to keep mistresses (among them, actress Lillie Langtry and society matron Alice Keppel) and reportedly spawned a number of out-of-wedlock children (his reputed natural children included Surrealist art patron Edward James and noted beauty Donna Olga Caracciolo, later wife of society photographer Baron de Meyer). He also enthusiastically indulged in pursuits such as gambling and country sports. The Prince and Princess of Wales established Sandringham House in Norfolk as their country retreat and entertained on a lavish scale. Marlborough House was their London residence. Several incidents -- including a court appearance in a notorious divorce case -- brought Bertie a bad press and caused him to be regarded as unsuitable material for a future monarch. Nontheless, during Victoria's widowhood, he represented her at public gatherings. The Prince of Wales was also a patron of the arts and sciences and helped found the Royal College of Music.

When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Bertie became king. At the age of 59, he was the oldest man to ascend to the throne in British history. To the surprise of many, he chose to reign under the name Edward VII instead of Albert Edward I. The new King chose the name Edward since it had been borne by six of his predecessors and no English or British Sovereign had ever reigned under a double name. Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were crowned at Westminster Abbey on 9 August 1902.

Edward's main interests lay in the fields of foreign affairs, naval and military matters. Fluent in French and German, he made a number of visits abroad. One of his most important foreign trips was an official visit to France in spring 1903 as the guest of President Emilé Loubet. This visit helped create the atmosphere for the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale, an informal agreement delineating British and French colonies in North Africa. Signed by the French foreign minister, Theophile Delcassé, and the British foreign secretary, the Marquess of Lansdowne on 8 April 1904, the Entente marked the end of centuries of Anglo-French rivalry and Britain's "spendid isolation" from continental affairs.

Edward VII was related to nearly every other European monarch and came to known as the "uncle of Europe." The German Emperor Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, King Alphonso XIII of Spain, and Carl Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha were Edward's nephews; King Haakon VII of Norway was his son-in-law; King George I of the Hellenes and King Frederick VIII of Denmark were his brothers-in-law; and King Albert I of Belgium, Manuel II of Portugal, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and Prince Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, were his cousins. Edward's volatile relationship with his nephew, Wilhelm II, exacerbated the tensions between Germany and Britain in the decade before World War I.

In the last year of his life, Edward became embroiled in a constitutional crisis when the Conservative majority in the House of Lords refused to pass the "People's Budget" proposed by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. The King died before the Liberal victory in the 1910 general election resolved the situation.

As king, Edward VII proved a greater success than anyone had expected, but he was already an old man and had little time left to learn the trade of kingship. He ensured that his own heir, who would become George V of the United Kingdom, was better prepared to take the throne. Edward VII is buried at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.

Preceded by: Victoria

List of British monarchs

Succeeded by: George V

Edward's life was dramatized in the 1975 British television series Edward the Seventh, also known as Edward the King or The Royal Victorians, and starring Charles Sturridge as the adolescent Edward, Timothy West as the adult Edward and Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward VII of the United Kingdom."

Top     

Edward, Duke of York

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward, Duke of York (1373 - October 25, 1415) was the same Duke of York who died at the Battle of Agincourt, the major English casualty in that battle.

The son of Edmund of Langley and his first wife, Isabella, and thus a grandson of King Edward III of England, he is thought to have been born in Norwich. He was close to his cousin Richard II, and was created by him Earl of Rutland (1390), and then Duke of Albemarle (1397). This association put him out of favor after the usurpation of 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, as Richard's father Richard, 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.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward, Duke of York."

Top     

Edward, Earl of Warwick

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Edward (Plantagenet), Earl of Warwick, (1475-1499) was the son of George, Duke of Clarence, and a potential claimant to the throne during the reigns of both King Richard III of England (1483 - 1485) and his successor, Henry VII of England (1485 - 1509). He was born in February, 1475, at Warwick, the family home of his mother, Isabel Neville, elder daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker. From his birth he inherited the title of Earl of Warwick through his mother, and, on her death in 1476, he also inherited the earldom of Salisbury. His potential claim to the throne following the deposition of his cousin, King Edward V of England in 1483, was overlooked because the attainder of his father also barred Warwick from the succession (although that could have been reversed by an act of Parliament).

After the death of King Richard's son Edward (1484), the 10-year-old Warwick was named heir to the throne, possibly thanks to the influence of the queen, his aunt Anne Neville, who had adopted him and his sister Margaret following his parents' deaths. However, as soon as Queen Anne died, Richard named his sister Elizabeth's son, the adult John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, his heir in place of Warwick. As the American historian Paul Murray Kendall put it (in 1955), "Warwick . . . appears to have been what in the present age would be called a retarded child." British historian Jeremy Potter mentioned (in 1983) some of the contemporary evidence upon which historians based that conclusion: "Warwick . . . may have been simple-minded: later he was said not to be able to tell a goose from a capon." Richard is believed to have named him his heir as a temporary measure only to please his dying queen, who survived her own son's death by less than a year.

After King Richard's death in 1485, Warwick was kept a prisoner by Henry VII because his claim, albeit tarnished, could become a threat to the new king -- particularly after the appearance of the pretender, Lambert Simnel, in 1487. Although, in 1490, he was confirmed in his title of Earl of Warwick despite his (father's) attainder, he remained in the Tower of London until the arrival of another pretender, Perkin Warbeck, in 1499. An unsuccessful escape attempt resulted in the execution for treason of both men.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Edward, Earl of Warwick."

Top     

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

HRH The Duke of Kent (Prince Edward George Nicholas Patrick) (born October 9 1935), is a member of the British Royal Family. He is a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and a first cousin once-removed of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. He is the elder brother of Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy and Prince Michael of Kent.

His Royal Highness Field Marshal Prince Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick, KG, GCMG, GCVO, 2nd Duke of Kent, Earl of St. Andrews, and Baron Downpatrick, was born at 3 Belgrave Square, London, the first child of Prince George, Duke of Kent and his wife Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. His father was the fourth son of King George V of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and his consort, Queen Mary. Princess Marina was the daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia. Originally styled Prince Edward of Kent, he succeeded to the dukedom of Kent on 25 August 1942, when his father was killed in airplane crash in Scotland (although he did not take his seat in the House of Lords until 1959).

The new Duke of Kent attended Eton and then Institute Le Rosey in Rolle/Gstaad Switzerland, before the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst. After graduating from Sandhurst in 1959, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Scots Greys. His army career spanned twenty-one years. He retired in 1976 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Duke of Kent was subsequently promoted to the honorary ranks of major general in 1983 and field marshal in 1993. Each year, the Duke carries out an extensive round of official engagements in support of the Queen. He succeeded his late mother, Princess Marina, as the president of the Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. He is the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge Freemasons, England and has served Grand Master of the Order of St. Michael and St. George since 1967. Following his retirement from active military service, he served as vice chairman of British Trade International (formerly the British Overseas Trade Board). He relinquished this post to the Queen's second son (and his first cousin once removed), the Duke of York, in 2001.

The Duke of Kent was married at York Minster on 8 June 1961 to Katharine Worsley. Despite the Duchess of Kent's later conversion to Catholicism, the Duke of Kent did not lose his place in the line of succession due to a loophole in the 1701 Act of Settlement (The Duke married a fellow member of the Church of England in 1961, who only subsequently converted to Roman Catholicism). The Duke and Duchess of Kent reside at Kensington Palace in London.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent have three children, none of whom carry out royal duties:

• Earl of St. Andrews (George Philip Nicholas Windsor), born 26 June 1962 at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire. He has has held the courtesy title Earl of St. Andrews from birth and will eventually succeed to his father's peerages. He was married at Leith on 9 January 1988 to Sylvana Palma, daugther of Maximilian Karl Tomaselli. Through marriage to a Roman Catholic, however, the Lord St. Andrews lost his succession rights to the throne, under the terms of the Act of Settlement. The Earl and Countess of St. Andrews have three children: (1) Edward Windsor, styled Baron Downpatrick, born 2 December 1988, (2) Lady Marina Windsor, born 30 September 1992, and (3) Lady Amelia Windsor, born 24 August 1995. Lord Downpatrick was received into the Roman Catholic Church in May 2003, and consequently lost his place in the line of succession.

• The Lady Helen Taylor, born 28 April 1964 at Coppins, Iver, Buck., and styled Lady Helen Windsor until marriage. On 18 July 1992, she married Timothy Taylor, the eldest son of Commander Michael Taylor, RN, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Lady Helen Taylor and Timothy Taylor have three children: (1) Columbus Taylor, born 6 August 1994; (2) Cassius Edward Taylor, born 26 December 1996; and 3) Eloise Taylor, born 2 March 2003]].

• The Lord Nicholas Windsor, born 25 July 1970 at University College Hospital, London. Lord Nicholas was received into the Roman Catholic Church in a private ceremony in 2002. Consequently, he lost his place in the line of succession.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Prince Edward, Duke of Kent."

Top     

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

HRH The Earl of Wessex (Edward Anthony Richard Louis Mountbatten-Windsor) (born March 10, 1964), is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. On his marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones on June 19, 1999, he was created the Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn. Formerly styled HRH The Prince Edward his proper style is now His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex KCVO.

Edward attempted to follow family tradition by going into the Royal Marines, but the life proved not to suit him, and he withdrew from the service after a short time. He then announced that he was going into the media, and started his own production company, Ardent, in 1991. (Its success has been limited.) Rumours that he might be gay were quieted when he announced his engagement to Sophie Rhys-Jones.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex had their first child, a girl named Louise, on November 8, 2003. The Earl and Countess have been in the news for alleged gaffes in the course of their attempt to combine royal duties with their business careers.

It was announced at the time of his wedding that the Earl of Wessex would eventually receive the title Duke of Edinburgh. However, he will not inherit the title from his father. Like any normal dukedom, the present Dukedom of Edinburgh passes to the heirs-male of the first Duke. That means that when the present Duke dies, the dukedom will be inherited by his eldest son, The Prince of Wales. If the Prince of Wales is not yet king when this occurs, he will be Duke of Edinburgh until he ascends the throne, at which point the title will merge with the crown. Only at that point would the title be available for regrant to the Earl of Wessex.

See also: British Royal Family

External link

• History of this old title, not seen since 1066.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex."

Top     

Top     

Top     

Modern Usage: Edward

Top     

Commercial Usage: Edward

Top     

Image Slideshow: Edward

Photos: Edward More pictures...

Illustrations: Edward More pictures...

Computer Images: Edward More pictures...

Top     

Photo Album: Edward

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Senator Richard Schweiker, Dr. Roslyn Robinson, and Senator Edward Kennedy in CDC Maximum Containment Lab during Senate Hearing on Legionnaires' Disease, CDC, 11/9/77. Credit: CDC.		Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman, at Senate Hearing on Legionnaires' Disease held at CDC on 11/9/77. Credit: CDC.
	Astronaut Edward White Ready For Gemini IV Liftoff. Credit: NASA.		Edward B. Brown. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.
	Hydrographic survey of Santa Barbara Channel, California Surveyed under the direction of Assistant Edward Cordell, 1869 Hydrographic Survey H-1041. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.		"The great ice barrier - looking east from Cape Crozier." In: "Scott's Last Expedition ....", 1913. Dodd, Mead, and Company. New York. Volume I. Page 51. Watercolor by Edward A. Wilson. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.
	Edward A. Wilson, B. A., M. B. In: "Scott's Last Expedition ....", 1913. Dodd, Mead, and Company. New York. Volume II. Frontispiece. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.		The trawler EDWARD L. MOORE tied up at the Portland Marine Trade Center. Credit: Fisheries.
	Frontispiece to : "Natural History of the European Seas" by Edward Forbes ( posthumously) and edited by Robert Godwin-Austen. Forbes' initials are in the lower right of this whimsical cartoon depicting deep sea dredging for marine fauna. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.		End page of Edward Forbes' paper in which he challenges the scientific community to seek new knowledge of the sea and lays the groundwork for government support of oceanography. In: The Annual Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for the year 1843. NOAA Central Library Journal collection. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Top     

Digital Photo Gallery: Edward
 

"Berkeley Castle" by Paul Sloane Commentary: "Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England. It was here that King Edward II was murdered in 1327."

Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

Top     

Familiar Quotations: Edward

Top     

Use in Literature: Edward

Top     

Non-Fiction Usage: Edward

Top     

Usage Frequency: Edward

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top     

Name Usage Frequency: Edward

Top     

Derived & Related Names: Edward

Top     

Usage in Company Names: Edward

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

Top     

Cities: Edward

INDEX

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.