Person:Edmund Plantagenet (2)

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Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster and Earl of Leicester (16 January 12455 June 1296) was a member of the House of Plantagenet. He was the second surviving son of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence. In his childhood he had a claim on the Kingdom of Sicily; however, he never ruled there. He was granted all the lands of Simon de Montfort in 1265, and from 1267 he was titled Earl of Leicester. In that year he also began to rule Lancashire, but he did not take the title Earl of Lancaster until 1276. Between 1276 and 1284 he governed the counties of Champagne and Brie with his second wife, Blanche of Artois, in the name of her daughter Joan, and he was described in the English patent rolls as earl of Lancaster and Champagne.^[1] His nickname, "Crouchback", may be a corruption of 'crossback' and refer to his participation in the Ninth Crusade.

Edmund was born in London. 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. At about this time he was also made Earl of Chester. These were of little value as Conrad IV of Germany, the real King of Sicily, was still living and the Earldom of Chester was transferred to his elder brother Edward.

Edmund soon obtained, however, important possessions and dignities, for soon after the forfeiture of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester in 1265, Edmund received the Earldom of Leicester and of Lancaster and also the honour of the Stewardship of England and the lands of Nicolas de Segrave.

In 1271 he accompanied his elder brother Edward on the Ninth Crusade to Palestine. Some historians, including the authors of the Encyclopedia Britannica article on him, state that it was because of this that he received the nickname Crouchback (which they say means "cross back") indicating that he was entitled to wear a cross on his back

He was married twice, first to Aveline de Forz, Countess of Albemarle (20 January 1259 Burstwick - 10 November 1274 Stockwell), on 8 April 1269, at Westminster Abbey. She died just 4 years after the marriage, at the age of 15, at was buried at Westminster Abbey. The couple had no children, though some sources believe she may have died in childbirth or shortly after a miscarriage.

He married secondly, in Paris, on February 3, 1276, to Blanche of Artois. That same year he became the Count of Champagne and Brie in France

He died on June 5, 1296 in Bayonne, and was sealed in a coffin on July 15, 1296 at Westminster Abbey, London, England.

1.   Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2.   EDMUND “Crouchback/Gibbosus”, son of HENRY III King of England & his wife Eléonore de Provence (London 16 Jan 1245-Bayonne 5 Jun 1296, bur Westminster Abbey)., in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.
3.   Edmund 'Crouchback' Plantagenet, Earl of Leicester, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.
4.   Edmund "Crouchback" Plantagenet, in Find A Grave.
5.   The Complete Peerage, G.E.C., Eng. V, v. 7, p. 368-401, 547-48.
6.   Dict. of Nat'l Biog., Eng. Pub. A, v. 32, p. 33-35.
7.   Royal Dau of Engl, Eng. 120, v. 1, p. 60-61.
8.   Tab. Souv. Gen., France 22, Tab. 21, 46.
9.   Burke's Peerage, Eng. P, 1949, preface p. 253.
10. ↑ ^10.0 10.1 Cokayne, George Edward, and Vicary Gibbs; et al. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant [2nd ed.]. (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-59)
    Volume 4 page 203, VII pp. 378 to 387.