A.D. 1415–1461
Genealogy of Richard Plantagenet.
Family of Edward III.
Richard's father was a prince of the house of York. In the course of his life he was declared heir to the crown, but he died before he attained possession of it, thus leaving it for his children. The nature of his claim to the crown, and, indeed, the general relation of the various branches of the family to each other, will be seen by the genealogical table on the next page but one.
Edward the Third, who reigned more than one hundred years before Richard the Third, and his queen Philippa, left at their decease four sons, as appears by the table.[C] They had other children besides these, but it was only these four, namely, Edward, Lionel, John, and Edmund, whose descendants were involved in the quarrels for the succession. The others either died young, or else, if they arrived at maturity, the lines descending from them soon became extinct.
Succession of heirs in the family of Edward III.
Of the four that survived, the oldest was Edward, called in history the Black Prince. A full account of his life and adventures is given in our history of Richard the Second. He died before his father, and so did not attain to the crown. He, however, left his son Richard his heir, and at Edward's death Richard became king. Richard reigned twenty years, and then, in consequence of his numerous vices and crimes, and of his general mismanagement, he was deposed, and Henry, the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Edward's third son, ascended the throne in his stead.
GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE FAMILY OF EDWARD III., SHOWING THE CONNECTION OF
THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER.
| EDWARD = Philippa | |||||||
| Edward (The Black Prince). | Lionel (Duke of Clarence). | John (Of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster). | Edmund (Duke of York). | ||||
| Richard II. | Phillippa = Edward Mortimer. | Henry IV. | Richard = Anne. | ||||
| (See second column.) | |||||||
| Roger Mortimer | Henry V. | ||||||
| (Earl of Marche). | Richard Plantagenet | ||||||
| Henry VI. | (Duke of York). | ||||||
| Anne = Richard of York. | |||||||
| (See fourth column.) | Edward | ||||||
| (Prince of Wales). | |||||||
| Edward IV. | George | Richard III. | |||||
| (Duke of Clarence). | |||||||
The character = denotes marriage; the short perpendicular line | a descent. There were many other children and descendants in the different branches of the family besides those whose names are inserted in the table. The table includes only those essential to an understanding of the history.
Now, as appears by the table, John of Gaunt was the third of the four sons, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, being the second. The descendants of Lionel would properly have come before those of John in the succession, but it happened that the only descendants of Lionel were Philippa, a daughter, and Roger, a grandchild, who was at this time an infant. Neither of these were able to assert their claims, although in theory their claims were acknowledged to be prior to those of the descendants of John. The people of England, however, were so desirous to be rid of Richard, that they were willing to submit to the reign of any member of the royal family who should prove strong enough to dispossess him. So they accepted Henry of Lancaster, who ascended the throne as Henry the Fourth, and he and his successors in the Lancastrian line, Henry the Fifth and Henry the Sixth, held the throne for many years.