Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick

Edward Plantagenet
Shield of the Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick
Predecessor	Anne Neville
House	House of York
Father	George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence
Mother	Isabella Neville
Born	25 February 1475(1475-02-25) Warwick, Warwickshire
Died	28 November 1499(1499-11-28) (aged 24) Tower of London, London

Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick (25 February 1475 – 28 November 1499) was the son of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and a potential claimant to the English throne during the reigns of both Richard III (1483–1485) and his successor, Henry VII (1485–1509). He was also a younger brother of Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury.

Life

He was born on 25 February 1475, at Warwick, the family home of his mother, the Duchess of Clarence, formerly Lady Isabella Neville, elder daughter of the 16th Earl of Warwick ("Warwick the Kingmaker"). He was created Earl of Warwick in 1478, shortly after the attainder and execution of his father for treason. His potential claim to the throne following the deposition of his cousin, Edward V, in 1483, was overlooked because of the argument that 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 of Middleham, Prince of Wales) in 1484, the 10-year-old Warwick was named heir to the throne - possibly thanks to the influence of Queen Anne, his aunt, who had adopted him and his sister Margaret following their parents' deaths. However, as soon as the Queen died, the King named his sister Elizabeth's son, the adult John 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." King 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.

Execution

After King Richard's death in 1485, Warwick was kept a prisoner in the Tower of London by Henry VII. His claim, albeit tarnished, remained a potential threat to Henry, particularly after the appearance of the pretender Lambert Simnel in 1487. In 1490, he was confirmed in his title of Earl of Warwick despite his father's attainder (his claim to the earldom of Warwick being through his mother). But he remained a prisoner until 1499, when the pretender Perkin Warbeck appeared. A plot between Warwick and Warbeck for Warwick's escape was alleged, and Warwick was beheaded for treason. It was thought at the time that Warwick was executed in response to pressure from Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, whose daughter, Catherine of Aragon, was to marry Henry's heir, Arthur. Catherine was said to feel very guilty about Warwick's death, and that her trials in later life were punishment for it.

Upon Warwick's death, the House of Plantagenet became extinct in legitimate male line.

External links

• thepeerage.com page

Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick House of York Cadet branch of the House of Plantagenet Born: 25 February 1475 Died: 28 November 1499
Peerage of England
Preceded by Anne Neville	Earl of Warwick 1492–1499	Forfeit