Edmund "Crouchback"

Notes:

Earl of Leicester; Earl of Lancaster; Earl of Derby. Steward of England 1265; Keeper of the Isle of Lundy 1266; Warden of Sherborne Castle 1267; Lieutenant of Pothieu 1291; Lieutenant of Gascony 1296.

Nearly King of Sicily.

Summoned to Parliament by writ 24 Jun 1295; definitely far from the most interesting thing that ever happened to him.

From Wikipedia (as of 5 Dec 2023):

Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster (16 January 1245 – 5 June 1296), also known by his epithet Edmund Crouchback, was a member of the royal Plantagenet Dynasty and the founder of the first House of Lancaster. He was Earl of Leicester (1265–1296), Lancaster (1267–1296) and Derby (1269–1296) in England, and Count Palatine of Champagne (1276–1284) in France.

Named after the 9th-century saint, Edmund was the second surviving son of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence and the younger brother of King Edward I of England, to whom he was loyal as a diplomat and warrior. In 1254, the 9-year-old Edmund became involved in the "Sicilian business", in which his father accepted a papal offer granting the Kingdom of Sicily to Edmund, who made preparations to become king. However, Henry III could not provide funds for the operation, prompting the Papacy to withdraw the grant and give it to Edmund's uncle, Charles I of Anjou. The "Sicilian business" outraged the barons led by the Earl of Leicester and Edmund's uncle, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and was cited as one of the reasons for limiting Henry's power. Deterioration of relations between the barons and the king resulted in the Second Barons' War, in which the royal government, supported by Edmund, triumphed over the baronage following the death of Montfort in the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

Edmund received the lands and titles of Montfort and the defeated barons Nicholas Segrave, 1st Baron Segrave and Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby, and became Earl of Lancaster, Leicester and Derby. Primarily known as the earl of the first county, he eventually became the most powerful baron of England. Later, Edmund accompanied his elder brother Edward on his crusade in the Holy Land, where his epithet "Crouchback" originated from a corruption of 'cross back', referring to him wearing a stitched cross on his garments. Following the death of his first wife, Aveline de Forz, Edmund's aunt and Dowager Queen of France Margaret of Provence arranged his second marriage to Blanche of Artois, the recently widowed Queen Dowager of Navarre and the Countess of Champagne. With his second wife Blanche, Edmund governed Champagne as count palatine in the name of his stepdaughter Joan until she came of age. Edmund was active in supporting his family members, such as assisting Edward in conquering Wales, advocating for the claims of his aunt Margaret against his uncle Charles I of Anjou in his mother and aunt's homeland of Provence and managing Ponthieu on behalf of his sister-in-law, Eleanor of Castile.

When Edmund's stepson-in-law, King Philip IV of France, demanded Edward, who was also his vassal through Gascony, to come to Paris to answer charges of damages caused by English mariners in 1293, Edward sent Edmund to mediate the crisis to avert war. Edmund negotiated an agreement with Philip where France would occupy Gascony for 40 days, and Edward would marry Philip's half-sister, Margaret. When the 40 days were over, Philip tricked Edward and Edmund by refusing to relinquish control over Gascony, calling Edward to again answer for his charges. Edmund and Edward then renounced their homages to Philip and prepared for war against France. Edmund sailed for Gascony with his army and besieged the city of Bordeaux. Unable to pay his troops, Edmund was deserted by his army and retreated to Bayonne, where he died from illness in 1296. Edmund's body was brought back to England, where he was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1301.

Edmund married Blanche of Artois on 18 Jan 1276 in Paris, France. Blanche (daughter of Robert of France and Mahaut of Brabant) was born about 1248; died on 2 May 1302 in Paris, France; was buried in Church of the Cordeliers, Paris, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Thomas of Lancaster died on 22 Mar 1322 in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England.
2. Henry of Lancaster was born about 1280; died on 22 Sep 1345; was buried in The Newarke, Leicester Castle, Leicester, Leicestershire, England.

Henry married Eleanor of Provence, Queen Consort of England on 14 Jan 1236 in Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent, England. Eleanor (daughter of Raymond Berenger and Beatrice of Savoy) died on 24 Jun 1291 in Amesbury Priory, Wiltshire, England; was buried in Amesbury Priory, Wiltshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 25 Jun 1291, Amesbury Priory, Wiltshire, England

Notes:

"She was buried on 11 September 1291 in the Abbey of St Mary and St Melor, Amesbury on 9 December. The exact site of her grave at the abbey is unknown making her the only English queen without a marked grave. Her heart was taken to London where it was buried at the Franciscan priory." [Wikipedia]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1167

Notes:

Nicknamed "Lackland".

"With regard to the birthdate of John, there have been disagreements as to the exact date and year, because of discrepancies in the sources. This was recently discussed in detail in Lewis (2002), where the conclusion was reached that 1166 was more likely than 1167. A statement in the early thirteenth century that John received that name because he was born about the time of the feast of St. John (27 December) would, if true, indicate that date as a plausible date of birth [Ex chronico anonymi canonici, ut videtur, Laudensis, RHF 13, 678-9]. However, that source only indicates a birth on about that date ('circa festum S. Johannis natus fuit'), not on it." [Stewart Baldwin, The Henry Project]

For at least part of his upbringing, he was raised in the remarkable household of his father Henry II's justiciar Ranulph de Glanville, along with, among others, the Walter brothers, nephews of Glanville's wife Bertha de Valognes. Theobald Walter would become, under John, chief butler of England and Ireland and the founder of enduring lordships in Munster and Leinster. Hubert Walter would become archbishop of Canterbury, Ranulph de Glanville's successor as justiciar of England, and then, in John's kingship, chancellor of England. Also raised and educated in the same household was Geoffrey fitz Peter, who would become John's justiciar.

John married Isabel of Angoulême, Queen Consort of England on 24 Aug 1200 in Bordeaux, Gironde, France. Isabel (daughter of Adémar and Alix de Courtenay) died on 31 May 1246; was buried in Fontévrault Abbey, near Chinon, Anjou, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 3 Jun 1246
• Alternate death: 4 Jun 1246, Fontévrault Abbey, near Chinon, Anjou, France

Notes:

Countess of Angoulême. Crowned Queen of England on 8 Oct 1200.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1198

Notes:

Count of Provence & Forcalquier, 1209-45.

Raymond married Beatrice of Savoy on 5 Dec 1220. Beatrice (daughter of Tomaso I and Margaret of Geneva) died in Dec 1266. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 4 Mar 1133, Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays-de-la-Loire, France

Notes:

Also called Henry Fitz Empress; Henry Fitz Geoffrey.

Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Consort of France; Queen Consort of England on 18 May 1152 in Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, Gironde, France. Eleanor (daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aénor de Châtellerault) was born in 1122; died on 1 Apr 1204; was buried in Fontévrault Abbey, near Chinon, Anjou, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1124
• Alternate death: 31 Mar 1204, Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France

Notes:

Also called Alienor, Helienordis. Duchess of Aquitaine.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 16 Jun 1202, Limoges, Haut-Vienne, France
• Alternate death: 1218, Limoges, Haut-Vienne, France

Notes:

Count of Angoulême.

Also called Aymer; Adhemar; Adomar. Also called "Taillefer."

Adémar married Alix de Courtenay before 1191. Alix (daughter of Pierre of France and Elisabeth de Courtenay) was born about 1160; died about 1218. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Aalis, Aalez, Alaidis, Adelaidis.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 11 Sep 1209 and 30 Nov 1209, Palermo, Sicily

Notes:

Count of Provence.

Alfonso married Garsenda of Sabran in 1193. Garsenda (daughter of Rainou de Sabran dit du Cayler and Garsenda of Forcalquier) was born about 1180. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Garsenda of Forcalquier, Gersenda of Sabran, Garsenda de Proensa, Garsenda de Proença.

From Wikipedia (accessed 25 July 2021): She "was the Countess of Provence as the wife of Alfonso II from 1193 and the Countess of Forcalquier in her own right from 1209. She brought Forcalquier to the House of Barcelona and united it to Provence. She was also a patron of Occitan literature, especially the troubadours, and herself wrote some lyric poetry and is counted among the trobairitz as Garsenda de Proensa. She was, in the words of her most recent editors, 'one of the most powerful women in Occitan history'."

She retired to the monastery of La Celle in the mid-1220s, but in 1242 she visited her newborn great-granddaughter Beatrice of England and Beatrice's parents, granddaughter Eleanor of Provence and her husband King Henry III of England, in Bordeaux. Henry was pursuing a war in France at that time and Garsenda brought 60 knights to his service. Her date of death is unknown, but she may have lived as late as 1257.

Matt Baker of usefulcharts.com has pointed out that if this Garsenda were to be regarded as the founder of a matrilineal dynasty, and if that dynasty operated by rules paralleling that of patrilineal dynasties (i.e., male descendants are only considered members of the House if their mother was a member; having a grandmother as a member doesn't convey membership in the House), then the putative "House of Garsenda" would be the greatest royal dynasty in the history of Europe, containing within itself:

6 Queens Regnant
38 Queens Consort
27 Kings
7 Holy Roman Emperors
5 Holy Roman Empresses
3 Empresses Consort
1 Prince Consort (Prince Philip of Great Britain)
1 Kaiser (Wilhelm II)
1 Empress Regnant (Catherine the Great)
1 queen mother (Helene of Romania)

Video: Europe's Hidden Matrilineal Dynasty: House of Garsenda. Chart here.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1178, Aiguebelle, Savoy
• Alternate birth: 20 May 1178
• Alternate death: 1 Mar 1233, Moncalieri, Piedmont, Italy

Notes:

Count of Savoy. He was named after Thomas Becket.

Tomaso married Margaret of Geneva in May 1195. Margaret (daughter of William I of Geneva and Beatrice de Faucigny) died on 13 Apr 1236. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1256
• Alternate death: 8 Sep 1257

Notes:

Also called Beatrice of Geneva.