aid Ferdinand, king of Portugal, in his struggle with John I., king of Castile, but after a period of inaction Edmund was compelled to return to England as Ferdinand had concluded an independent peace with Castile. Accompanying Richard II. on his march into Scotland, he was created duke of York in August 1385, and subsequently on three occasions he acted as regent of England. In this capacity he held a parliament in 1395, and he was again serving as regent when Henry of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV., landed in England in July 1399. After a feeble attempt to defend the interests of the absent king, York joined the victorious invader, but soon retired from public life, and, in the words of Froissart as translated by Lord Berners, “laye styll in his castell, and medled with nothynge of the busyness of Englande.” He died at King’s Langley on the 1st of August 1402. York was a man who preferred pleasure to business, and during the critical events of his nephew’s reign he was content to be guided by his more ambitious brothers, the dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester. His second wife was Joan, or Johanna (d. 1434), daughter of Thomas Holland, earl of Kent, but his only children were two sons and a daughter, Constance (d. 1416), by his first wife.
YORK, EDWARD, Duke of (c. 1373–1415), elder son of the preceding, was created earl of Rutland in 1390. Being an intimate friend of his cousin, Richard II., he received several important appointments, including those of admiral of the fleet, constable of the tower of London and warden of the Cinque Ports. He accompanied the king to Ireland in 1394 and was made earl of Cork; arranged Richard’s marriage with Isabella, daughter of Charles VI. of France; and was one of the king’s most active helpers in the proceedings against the “lords appellant” in 1397. As a reward he secured the office of constable of England and the lands in Holderness which had previously belonged to his murdered uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, together with other estates and the title of duke of Aumerle or Albemarle. He appears to have deserted Richard in 1399, but only at the last moment; and in Henry IV.’s first parliament he was vigorously denounced as the murderer of Gloucester. After declaring that his part in the proceedings of 1397 had been performed under constraint, his life was spared, but he was reduced to his former rank as earl of Rutland, and deprived of his recent acquisitions of land. It is uncertain what share Rutland had in the conspiracy against Henry IV. in January 1400, but his complete acquittal by parliament in 1401, and the confidence subsequently reposed in him by the king, point to the conclusion that he was not seriously involved. Serving as the royal lieutenant in Aquitaine and in Wales, Rutland, who became duke of York on his father’s death in 1402, was, like all Henry’s servants, hampered by want of money, and perhaps began to feel some irritation against the king. At all events he was concerned in the scheme, concocted in 1405 by his sister, Constance, widow of Thomas le Despencer, earl of Gloucester, for seizing the young earl of March, and his brother Roger Mortimer, and carrying them into Wales. On her trial Constance asserted that her brother had instigated the plot, which also included the murder of the king, and York was imprisoned in Pevensey castle. Released a few months later, he was restored to the privy council and regained his estates, after which he again served Henry in Wales and in France. York led one division of the English army at Agincourt, where, on the 25th of October 1415, he was killed by “much hete and thronggid.” He was buried in Fotheringhay church. The duke left no children and was succeeded as duke of York by his nephew, Richard.
York compiled the Maystre of the Game, a treatise on hunting which is largely a translation of the Livre de Chasse of Gaston Phochus, count of Foix. This has been edited by W. A. and F. Baillie-Grohman (1904).
YORK, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, Duke of (1763–1827), second son of George III., was born at St James’s Palace on the 16 of August 1763. At the age of six months his father secured his election to the rich bishopric of Osnabrück. He was invested a knight of the Bath in 1767, a K.G. in 1771, and was gazetted colonel in 1780. From 1781 to 1787 he lived in Germany, where he attended the manoeuvres of the Austrian and Prussian armies. He was appointed colonel of the 2nd horse grenadier guards (now 2nd Life Guards) in 1782, and promoted major-general and appointed colonel of the Coldstream Guards in 1784. He was created duke of York and Albany and earl of Ulster in 1784, but retained the bishopric of Osnabrück until 1803. On his return to England he look his seat in the House of Lords, where, on December 15 1758, he opposed Pitt’s Regency Bill in a speech which was supposed to have been inspired by the prince of Wales. A duel fought on Wimbledon Common with Colonel Lennox, afterwards duke of Richmond, served to increase the duke of York’s popularity, his acceptance of the challenge itself and his perfect coolness appealing strongly to the public taste. In 1791 he married Princess Frederica Charlotte Ulrica Catherina (b. 1767), daughter of Frederick William II. of Prussia. The princess was enthusiastically received in London, but the marriage was not happy, and a separation soon took place. The princess retired to Oatlands Park, Weybridge, where she died on the 6th of August 1820.
In 1793 the duke of York was sent to Flanders in command of the English contingent of Coburg’s army destined for the invasion of France (see French Revolutionary Wars). On his return in 1795 the king promoted him field-marshal, and on April 3rd, 1798, appointed him commander-in-chief. His second command was with the army sent to invade Holland in conjunction with a Russian corps d’armée in 1799. Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell in charge of the vanguard had succeeded in capturing the Dutch ships in the Helder, but from time of the duke’s arrival with the main body of the army disaster followed disaster until, on the 17th of October, the duke signed the convention of Alkmaar, by which the allied expedition withdrew after giving up its prisoners. Although thus unsuccessful as commander of a field army the duke was well fitted to carry out reforms in the army at home, and to this task he devoted himself with the greatest vigour and success until his enforced retirement from the office of commander-in-chief on the 18th of March 1809, in consequence of his relations with Mary Ann Clarke (1776–1852), who was convicted of profiting by her intimacy with the duke to extract money from officers by promising to recommend them for promotion. A select committee was appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into the matter, and the duke was acquitted of having received bribes himself by 278 votes to 196. Two years later, in May 1811, he was again placed at the head of the army by the prince regent, and rendered valuable services in this position. He died on the 5th of January 1827 and was buried at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
A firm friendship seems to have existed between the duke and his elder brother, afterwards George IV., and he is also said to have been his father’s favourite son. He was very popular, thanks to his amiable disposition and a keen love of sport, but it is as the organizing and administrative head of the army that he has left his mark. He was untiring in his efforts to raise the tone of the army, restore discipline, weed out the undesirables, and suppress bribery and favouritism. He founded the Duke of York’s School for the sons of soldiers at Chelsea, and his name is also commemorated by the Duke of York’s column in Waterloo Place.
YORK, RICHARD, Duke of (1411–1460), was born on the 21st of September 1411, the son of Richard, earl of Cambridge, second son of Edmund of Langley, duke of York. By the death of his uncle Edward, at Agincourt he became duke of York, and on the death of Edmund Mortimer in 1425 he succeeded to his claims as representing in the female line the elder branch of the royal family. He had been kindly treated by Henry V., and his name appears at the head of the knights made by the little Henry VI. at Leicester on the 19th of May 1426. York’s first service was in France during 1430 and 1431. In 1432 he obtained livery of his lands and afterwards went over to Ireland to take possession of his estates there. In January 1436 he was appointed lieutenant-general of France and Normandy, but did not enter on his command till June. He showed vigour and capacity, and recovered Fécamp and some other places in
