LANCASTER. 5 Earldom. f t Edmund Plantagenet, styled " Crotjciirack " I. 12G7 [" Oiihotux"], 4th and yst. but 2d HOT. s. of King Henry III., by 1 Eleanor, da. and coheir of Raymond Berenger, Count ok Provence, , 0 „» was //. 16 Jan. 124 5/6, ( a ) in London, and was, in his 8th year, invested ,0, by the Pope's legate, 18 Oct 1251, as King of Sicih/, a kingdom of which he never obtained possession. He was cr., 26 Oct. 1265, EARL OF LEICESTER and Seneschal or lliijh Steward of England (on the forfeiture of Simon de Montfort) which dignities with all the (other) honours of Simon (the late Earl), were confirmed to him by a charter of Ed. I. in 1274. ( b ) Having, also, on the final forfeiture of Hubert Ferrers, late Earl of Derby, been granted 12 July 1266, his vast estates, which included the honour of Derby, lie is accordingly sometimes spoken of us EARL OK DERBY. See vol. iii. p. 6", tub " Derby," as to this theory. F'iually, 30 June 1267, he had a charter of the honour/') county, castle, and town of Lancaster to him and the heirs of his body, in which charter, however, " he is not styled EARL OF' LANCASTER tho' probably he was [so] cr. at the same time by the girding of the sword, being sum. to Pari, as harl of Lancaster from 12 Dec. (5 Ed. I.), 1276 "( d ) In right of his second wife (whom he M. in or before 1276) he was styled COUNT OK CiiAMi'.uiNK a Nil BrIB in France. He was joint Ambassador to France in 1279 ; served in the Scotch, Welsh, and French wars ; ami had lie. in 1292 to castellate his house called "The Savoy "( e ) in Westminster. He m, firstly 6 April 1269 (or 8 April 1270), Avelina, who may be considered MM jure Countess ok Albemarle (see that dignity.) She made proof of her age in 1273 but d, s.p. 1271 and was bar. in VVestm. Abbey. fifa. 12 March 1274:5. He m. secondly, in or before 1276, Blanche,( r ) Dow. Queen ok Navarre, da. of Robert, Count ok Artois (s. of Louis VIII, Kino ok FraKCk), by Matilda, da. of Henry, Dl'KK OF Brabant, lie d. 5 June 1296, in his 50th year, at Bayoune (while besieging Bourdeaux), and was bur. in Westm. Abbey. His widow d. 2 May 1302. IT. 1296, 8, Thomas (Plantagenet, ttyled " of Lancaster "),(e) to F:.rl ok Lancaster and Earl ok Leicester High Steward of England, 1322. s. and b., by second wife, b. about 1278 ; sac. to the peerage, 5 June 1296, having livery of his lands S Sep. 1298. He was constantly engaged in the Scotch Wars, and was bearer of the " curlana " (sword) at the corou. of Ed. It, 25 Feb. 130S. He is styled on one of his seals,( b ) 12 Feb. 1301, " Earl of ( a ) There was a tradition that this Edmund was oltier than his brother King Edward I. (who in point of fact was six and a half years his senior, having been b. 17 June 1239), but that he was postponed to his said brother on account of his deformity. On this pretest John " of Gaunt," Duke of Lancaster, moved in Pari. (1395-96), 19 Ric. 11., that his own son Henry (afterwards King Henry IV.) who was, in right of his mother, heir of line to the said Edmund " might be adjudged heir to the Kingdom of England." (See '• Sandford," Book iv, p. 252), a motion which treated the then King and his predecessors, the three Edwards, as usurpers. ( B ) See " Courthope," sni " Leicester." ( c ) " The honor of Lancaster at that time extended into the counties of Lancaster, Norfolk, Sullblk, Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, York, Rutland and Stafford" — " within these possessions the Earls, and subsequently the Dukes, of Lancaster, enjoyed, by grants from the Crown, certain Jura Jlegalia and such high prerogative rights as were communicable to a subject." [30th Report of the D.K. of the Pub. Records (1869), p. iv.] ( d ) See ,: Courthope," sub " Lancaster." (°) This remains as part of the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster to the present period. ( f ) Vincent (in his eagerness to contradict Brooke), " against the authority of Reusuerus, Heninges, Albitius, l'avianus, and others would prove this Queen of Navarre's name to be Eliannr, only depending upon the authority of one record for the same ; but with the current of so many authors I have seen above half a dozen records that plainly prove her name to be Blanch and not Iiliauor." [Sandford.~ V s ) His surname was that of the title of his father's peerage as was not unusual at that period ; so also the sons of the Earls of Arundel were styled "' Arundel," &c. ( h ) In the circumscription on another seal engraved iu " Sandford " there is no mention of "Derby" (or "Ferrers"), the words being " Sigillum Thame Comilis Lancastrie et Leiccstric, Sencschalli Anglic."
