Biography of Edward


Index

Edward. The name of ten kings of England. Of them, three belong to the Anglo-Saxon line. Edward I ("the Elder") son and successor of Alfred the Great, was crowned in 901 and died in 925. Edward II ("the Martyr"), was great-grandson of the former, succeeded his father Edgar in 975, and was assassinated by direction of his stepmother, Elfrida, in 979. Edward III ("the Confessor") succeeded his half-brother, Edmund Ironsides, in 1042, and died in 1066.

In the Plantagenet line there were five of the name. Edward I ("Longshanks") succeeded his father, Henry III, in 1272, and died in 1307. Edward II, his son, was born in Wales, and was the first to assume the title of Prince of Wales, since bestowed upon the heir to the throne. He succeeded his father in 1307, and was murdered by Roger de Mortimer, paramour of his queen, Isabella of France, in 1327. Edward III, his son and successor, was born in 1312 and died in 1377. Edward IV, son of Richard, Duke of York, great-great-grandson of Edward III, was born in Rouen, France, in 1441, and claimed the throne in right of his mother and as the head of the House of York, in opposition to Henry VI, king de jure, representing the House of Lancaster. The long and bloody civil "Wars of the Roses" ensued, Edward finally vanquishing his enemies. Died in 1483. Edward V, his son and successor, born in 1470, was murdered along with his younger brother in the Tower of London, 1483, by order of their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III.

In the Tudor line, there was but one of the name - Edward VI, only son of Henry VIII, by Jane Seymour, born in 1537. He succeeded his father in 1547, and died in 1553. Edward VII, son of Victoria and Albert Edward, was born in 1841 and died in 1910.