From Chester Wiki

Contents 1 The Coming of the Royal Earls 1.1 Edmund Crouchback 1.2 Edward (Hammer of the Scots) - was "Lord of Chester" (and never Earl) 1.3 Simon de Montfort (First Earl - fourth creation) 1.4 Alphonso (Earl of Chester?) 1.5 Edward (Of hot poker fame) 1.6 Later Earls 1.7 sources

[edit] The Coming of the Royal Earls

If John Canmore had a son, that son (whose mother would have been Elen ferch Llywelyn, herself daughter of Llywelyn the Great), or possibly a grandson, would have had a legitimate claim to the throne of Scotland as well as the Earldom of Chester - and very good Welsh connections. Had the Earldom of Chester continued in this manner, Edward I would have faced serious problems in both his attempts to conquer Wales and his wars with Scotland.

However, since the death of John Canmore the Earldom has (mostly) stayed with the Royals. It was briefly promoted to a principality in 1398 by King Richard II, but was reduced to an Earldom again in 1399 by King Henry IV. The Sovereign's eldest son is born Duke of Cornwall but must be made or created Earl of Chester (and Prince of Wales; see the Prince Henry's Charter Case (1611) 1 Bulst 133; 80 ER 827). Prince Charles was created Earl of Chester on 26th July 1958 (when he was also made Prince of Wales and Earl of Carrick). Of the 26 English kings since Edward III, 12 had not previously been Earl of Chester. And, of the Earls of Chester since Edward III, 12 did not (or have not) yet become king. The "unsuccessful" Earls are listed below:

[edit] Edmund Crouchback

(Kings: Henry III) (his father)

Edmund Plantagenet (Edmund Crouchback) was born in London in 1245 (and, in case anyone is interested, died June 5, 1296). He was a younger brother of Edward I of England, Margaret of England, and Beatrice of England, and an older brother of Katherine of England. In 1253 he was invested by Pope Innocent IV in the Kingdom of Sicily and Apulia. According to some sources, at about this time he was also made Earl of Chester. These honours were of little value as Conrad IV of Germany, the real King of Sicily, was still living and the Earldom of Chester (or the style of "Lord of Chester") was soon transferred to his elder brother Edward (the Annals of Chester record it as happening in 1253 - Et eodem anno dedit Eadwardo filio suo comitatum Cestrie Gasconiam Walliam Hiberniam et plures alias terras in Anglia). Edmund also became the wonderfully named "Count of Champagne and Brie".

The name "Edmund Crouchback" does not imply a hump, but suggests that her was entitled to wear the Crusader cross (he accompanied his elder brother Edward on the Ninth Crusade to Palestine). However, when a later duke of Lancaster deposed Richard II (briefly imprisoned at Chester Castle) he claimed the kingdom (as Henry IV) by virtue of his descent from Henry III and added a hump. Henry IV's claim rested upon the supposition that Edmund of Lancaster (Earl of Chester), and not Edward I (Lord of Chester), was the eldest son of Henry III. This story had gone about, even in the days of John of Gaunt, who, if we may trust the rhymer John Hardyng had got it inserted in chronicles deposited in various monasteries. Interestingly the Annals of Chester record the following:

• Natus est Edmund filius Henrici regis. Item roboria facta est a clericis.

• Edmund, son of king Henry, was born. Also a robbery was committed by clerks.

According to the story, Edmunds Crouchback was really hump-backed, and set aside in favour of his younger brother Edward on account of his deformity . No chronicle, however, is known to exist which actually states that Edmund Crouchback was thus set aside; he appears to have no deformity at all and Edward was six years his senior. Hardyng's testimony is, moreover, suspicious as reflecting the prejudices of the Percys after they had turned against Henry IV. - Hardyng himself expressly says that the earl of Northumberland was the source of his information. Given this known fiddling with the records it is possible that Edmund never became Earl of Chester at all and this was just a "robbery by clerks" of his elder brother's title.

The fictional Edmund Plantagenet (who would have come along over a century later) is well known to students of alternative history, and (unfortunately) never became Earl of Chester.

• "Edmund Earl of Leicester & Chester"

[edit] Edward (Hammer of the Scots) - was "Lord of Chester" (and never Earl)

(Kings: Henry III) (his father)

Henry III (king from 1216 - 1272) was influenced by the religious cult of the Anglo-Saxon saint, king Edward the Confessor (who had been canonised in 1161). Henry followed his lead, took to wearing only the simplest of robes and had a mural of the saint painted in his bedchamber for inspiration before and after sleep. He even named his eldest son Edward, although Edward I was to become Lord of Chester and one of the least saintly English Kings.

Henry III's reign was marked by civil strife as the English barons, led by Simon de Montfort, demanded more say in the running of the kingdom. De Montfort became leader of those who wanted the king to surrender more power to the baronial council. In 1258, seven leading barons forced Henry to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, which effectively abolished the absolutist Anglo-Norman monarchy, giving power to a council of fifteen barons to deal with the business of government and providing for a thrice-yearly meeting of parliament to monitor their performance. Henry obtained a papal bull in 1262 exempting him from his oath and both sides began to raise armies. The Royalists were led by Prince Edward, Lord of Chester and Henry's eldest son. Civil war, known as the Second Barons' War, followed - at the Battle of Lewes on 14 May 1264, Henry was defeated and taken prisoner by de Montfort's army. Henry was reduced to being a figurehead king under house arrest together with his son Edward, later to become Edward "Hammer of the Scots".

[edit] Simon de Montfort (First Earl - fourth creation)

(Kings: Henry III)

The de Montforts were one of the families who first came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. In January 1238 Simon de Montfort married Eleanor of England, daughter of King John and Isabella of Angouleme and sister of Henry III. Although the marriage took place with Henry III's approval, the ceremony was performed secretly with no involvement of the great barons. Eleanor had previously been married to William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and (the aged 16) had sworn a vow of chastity upon his death. Despite Simon making a pilgrimage to Rome to seek papal approval for their union, Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, condemned the new marriage. However, in February 1239 de Montfort was invested with the Earldom of Leicester. He also acted as the King's counsellor and was one of the nine godfathers of Henry's eldest son, Prince Edward (later Edward I).

Soon after Prince Edward's birth, it was discovered that Simon de Montfort owed a large sum of money to Thomas II of Savoy (uncle of Henry III's queen) and had named Henry III as security for his repayment. Henry had not been told of this and became enraged. On August 9, 1239 Henry confronted de Montfort, calling him an excommunicant and threatening to imprison him in the Tower of London. Henry is supposed to have said - "You seduced my sister, and when I discovered this, I gave her to you, against my will, to avoid scandal". Simon and Eleanor fled to France to escape Henry's anger.

Having announced his intention to go on crusade two years previously, de Montfort now raised funds and set out east in the summer of 1240. He arrived in Jerusalem by June 1241, when the citizens asked him to be their governor, but does not seem to have ever faced combat in the east. In the autumn of 1241 he left Syria and joined Henry III's campaign in Poitou. The campaign was a failure, and an exasperated de Montfort declared that Henry III ought to be locked up like Charles the Simple.

In 1248 de Montfort again planned a crusade, intending to follow Louis IX of France to Egypt, but gave up to act as governor of Duchy of Gascony. Complaints about his administration led to a formal inquiry but he was formally acquitted on the charges of oppression, but his financial accounts were disputed, and he retired in disgust to France in 1252. The nobles of France offered him the regency of the kingdom, vacant by the death of the Queen-mother Blanche of Castile, but he preferred to make his peace with Henry III which he did in 1253

At the "Mad Parliament" of Oxford (1258) de Montfort appeared side by side with the Earl of Gloucester at the head of the opposition - his name appears in the list of the fifteen councillors would would rule the country. In 1261, when Henry revoked his assent to the Provisions of Oxford, de Montfort again left the country in despair. He returned in 1263, at the invitation of the barons, who were now convinced of the king's hostility to all reform; and raised a rebellion - the Second Baron's War - with the object of restoring the form of government which the Provisions of Oxford had ordained. Though merely supported by the towns and a few of the younger barons, he triumphed by superior generalship at the Battle of Lewes (May 14, 1264) where Henry III, Prince Edward, and Richard of Cornwall fell into his hands.

In 1264, de Montfort became earl of Chester - given that the King and his son were in captivity at the time it would appear that the earldom was not given freely. The Annals of Chester record it as follows:

• Post festum Omnium Sanctorum Henricus rex Anglie et Edwardus primogenitus ejus concesserunt Simoni de Monteforti, Comiti Leycestric et heredibus suis Cestriam cum toto comitatu et castellum. Novum castellum-sub-lima. Et castellum de Peck cum omnibus honoribus et pertinentiis Jure perpetuo possidenda pro aliis terris quas Simon comes in diversis Anglie locis predicto Edwardo in excambium dedit.

• After the feast of All Saints [November 1], Henry, king of England, and Edward, his eldest son, granted to Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, and his heirs, Chester, with the whole county and the castle, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and the Peak castle [in Derbyshire] with all their honours and appurtenances, to be held in perpetuity for other lands in different parts of England, which the aforesaid earl Simon gave in exchange to the aforesaid Edward.

Matthew of Westminster put it as follows:

• There was but little mention made for a year of the deliverance of Edward, the king's eldest son, until he himself, as the price of his release, gave his palatine county of Chester to the aforesaid earl of Leicester, and thus he purchased his liberation from the imprisonment and custody of the knights, his enemies.

The reaction against his government was baronial rather than popular; and the Welsh Marcher Lords particularly resented Montfort's alliance with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales. Many other barons who had initially supported him now started to feel that Montfort's reforms were going too far, and his many enemies turned his triumph into disaster. In May 1265 Edward I escaped captivity and raised an army which defeated de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham. de Montfort was cut down in the battle and his body was mutilated (his head, hands, feet and testicles were cut off - but not perhaps in that order). Following this victory further savage retribution was exacted on the rebels and authority was restored to Henry III.

The Chester Annals tell the local part of the story:

• Dominus autem Eadwardus apud Herford die Jovis in Septimana Pentecostes de custodia Domini Simonis de monteforti evasit. Quo audito Jacobus de Audethlegio et V.de Sancto Petro, Sabbato sequenti castrum de Beuston nomine domini Edwardi ceperuntetdie Sancte Trinitatis Cestriam venientes de consilio civium, Lucam de Taney cum suis complicibus infra castrum Cestrie obsederunt per decem Septimanas continuas nec tamen illud obtinuerunt propter optimam inclusorum defencionem. Jacobus de Audethlegio factus est Justiciarius. Dominus vero Eadwardus interim associatis sibi Gilberto de Clare et aliis commarchionibus suis Simonem de Monte forti Henricum filium ejus Hugonem Disspenser, Petrum de Monte forti, Radulfum Basset et eorum complices sæpius [d]ebellavit et tandem eos apud Evsham ij. non. Maii (fn. 13) in bello campestri prostravit: Winfridum de Bon, Henricum de Hasting, Guydonem de Monte forti in ipso bello captos apud castrum de D.(?) Beuston secum ducendo captivos. Audiens autem Lucas de Taney dominum Edwardum apud Beston venisse ij vigilias Asumpcionis castrum Cestrie reddidit eidem se suosque gratie sue subjiciendo.

• But the lord Edward escaped from the custody of Simon de Montfort at Hereford on the Thursday in Whit Week. When this was known James de Audley and Urian de Saint Pierre on the following Saturday seized the castle of Beeston in the name of the lord Edward, and coming to Chester on Trinity Sunday, they besieged Lucas de Taney and his accomplices in the castle of Chester for ten consecutive weeks, but did not succeed in taking it, on account of the excellent defence made by the besieged. James de Audley was made justiciary of Chester. In the meantime the lord Edward, Gilbert de Clare and others his fellow marchers being joined with him, made frequent attacks upon Simon de Montfort, Henry his son, Hugo Despencer, Peter de Montfort, Ralph Basset, and their accomplices, and at length completely overthrew them on the battlefield of Evesham on May 6. Humphrey de Bohun, Henry de Hastings, and Guy de Montfort, who were captured in this battle, Edward took with him as prisoners to Beeston castle. When Lucas de Taney heard that the lord Edward had come to Beeston, he surrendered the castle of Chester on the day before the eve of the Assumption, submitting himself and his companions to Edward's grace.

[edit] Alphonso (Earl of Chester?)

(Kings: Edward I)

The next male heir to the throne to live beyond early childhood was Alphonso (24 November 1273 – 19 August 1284) ninth child of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. The other contenders would have been:

• John, born at either Windsor or Kenilworth Castle June or 10 July 1266, died 1 August or 3 1271 at Wallingford, in the custody of his great uncle, Richard, Earl of Cornwall.

• Henry, born on 13 July 1268 at Windsor Castle, died 14 October 1274 either at Merton, Surrey, or at Guildford Castle.

While Alphonso may have become Earl there is no hard evidence. Indeed his death is mentioned in the Annals of Chester but not as Earl:

• Eodem anno die Sabbati post festum Assumptionis beate Marie virginis xvj kal. Septembris mortuus est Dominus Alfonsus filius regis E pro cujus morte publice est dolendum per totam Angliam et pro vita Regis Edwardi supplicandum.

• In the same year on the Saturday after the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 17, died the lord Alfonso, son of king Edward, on account of whose death there had to be a public mourning through the whole of England, and prayers had to be made for the life of king Edward.

[edit] Edward (Of hot poker fame)

(Kings: Edward I)

The next certain Earl was Edward II, nowadays mostly remembered for his murder with a red-hot poker (whether that actually happened or not is the subject of much discussion here), although there are those who try to salvage his reputation. Edward was the fourteenth child of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. The inscription on a sculpture at the Town Hall reads "Edward Price of Wales Receiving Homage: First Royal Earl Of Chester AD 1254". This presents something of a problem: King Henry III passed the Lordship of Chester, but not the title of Earl, to his son the Lord Edward in 1254, and as King Edward I he in turn conferred the title and the lands of the Earldom on son, Edward (later Edward II - who was only born in 1284), and who was made the first English Prince of Wales in 1301.

There is a further Chester connection with Edward II via the Dunheved brothers, Thomas (a friar and possibly Edward's confessor) and Stephen who made several attempts to free Edward. After an unsuccessful attempt to release Edward from Kenilworth in March 1327, the plotters vanished for a few weeks, before showed up in Chester in early June. On 8 June 1327, Richard Damory, Justice of Chester (elder brother of Edward II's former "favourite" Roger Damory) was ordered by royal mandate to arrest and imprison Stephen and Thomas Dunheved, along with William Beaumard and John Sabant, and:

"other malefactors who have assembled within the city of Chester and parts adjacent and perpetrated homicide and other crimes, and to enquire by jury of those parts who were their accomplices, and to keep them in prison till further orders."

By 27th July Thomas, Lord Berkeley is writing to the Chancellor, John de Hothum:-

• de lor venir aforceement devers le chastel de Berkel', d'avoir ravi le pere nostre seignor le roi hors de nostre garde et le dit chastel robbe felenousement encountre la pees

• "They came with an armed force towards the castle of Berkeley, seized the father of our lord the King from our guard and feloniously plundered the said castle, against the peace"

- suggesting that Edward had been rescued as part of a plot possible hatched in Chester. The "Fieschi Letter" (reproduced here) has also been suggested as evidence that Edward did escape. He then supposedly crossed to the Low Countries and travelled to Italy, visiting and being sheltered by the Pope (John XXII) in Avignon on his way through France, to live out the rest of his life in monastic hermitages near Milan. In the Italian town of Cecima, (75 km from Milan), in the abbey of Sant'Alberto di Butrio, in the small closter, a sign over an empty tomb reads:

• "here is the tomb where was buried Edward II King of England, who married Isabelle of France and whose successor was Edward III, son of him".

The "traditional" tale has this Earl of Chester suffering a much worse fate before being buried in Gloucester Cathedral. The only contemporary account of Edward's death was the work of Adam of Murimuth who simply says that the king was suffocated by Thomas Gourney and John Mautravers and dates the deed to the 22nd September. However the more colourful version, the one that everybody believes, first appeared in the set of chronicles known as The Brut and states that:

• when that night the king had gone to bed and was asleep, the traitors, against their homage and their fealty, went quietly into his chamber and laid a large table on his stomach and with other men's help pressed him down. At this he woke and in fear of his life, turned himself upside down. The tyrants, false traitors, then took a horn and put it into his fundament as deep as they could, and took a pit of burning copper, and put it through the horn into his body, and oftentimes rolled therewith his bowels, and so they killed their lord and nothing was perceived.

Higden's Polychronicon (circa 1350) also repeats the tale of death which Trevisa translated into English as:

• "a hoote broche putte thro the secret place posteriale."

[edit] Later Earls

Since Henry III just over half of the Earl's of Chester have been crowned king - the exceptions (not mentioned above) being:

• Edward of Woodstock,(15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), popularly known as the Black Prince he died aged 46 and missed the throne by a year.
• Edward of Lancaster taken prisoner by Richard, Duke of Gloucester and brought before Edward IV. When the young (17 year old) Edward insulted the Yorkist king, Edward IV ordered his immediate murder.
• Edward later (Edward V) - murdered before coronation possibly by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded him as Richard III.
• Edward of Middleham the only son of King Richard III of England and his wife Anne Neville. He managed a decade of life and then died.
• Arthur, younger brother to Henry VIII and the fhe first Tudor Prince of Wales. Arthur, was born to Henry VII and his Queen, Elizabeth of York. He was named after the legendary King Arthur of the Round Table.W hen Arthur was two years old, a marriage with the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon (Catalina de Aragón) was arranged for him as part of the Treaty of Medina del Campo. The auburn-haired Catherine was the youngest daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand. It has been suggested that after their marriage the ardent Catherine's passions were what brought the sickly Arthur to his early grave.
• Henry Frederick Stuart, eldest son of James IV/I who died from typhoid fever at the age of 18 (before he could become Henry IX) and was replaced by his younger brother Charles I. Charles never expected to be king as was not really very good at it.
• Prince Frederick eldest son of George II - not only Earl of Chester but also Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh - of whom it is often wrongly said that the was killed by a cricket ball, although he did do a lot for cricket, which is surprising seeing that he was a German.
• Edward (later Edward VIII) - abdicated before being crowned.
• Prince Charles (who has not become King yet).

Conversely the following became kings without being Earl of Chester:

• Edward I
• Henry IV
• Henry VI
• Edward IV
• Richard III
• Henry VII
• James I
• James II
• William III
• George I
• William IV
• George VI

[edit] sources

• Edward II at everything2.com
• Information on Pontenizza