Our common ancestors - English Royal family - Contents

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (see here),
born 1411.
Descendant of Aoife Mac Murrough.
He mar Cecily Neville [born 1415, descendant of Edward III and of Aoife Mac Murrough].
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland 1447-1453.
The Wars of the Roses began in 1455. Struggle between House of York and House of Lancaster for the English throne.
The Duke of York was killed at Battle of Wakefield 1460.
The phrase "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" refers to him.
They had issue:

1. Anne of York,
   born 10 August 1439.
   She mar 2ndly to Sir Thomas St.Leger and had issue.

   
   

2. Edward IV.
   He deposed Henry VI 1461.
   Reigned 1461-1470.
   He mar 1464 to Elizabeth Woodville.
   He was deposed 1470.
   He reigned again 1471-1483.
   They had issue:
   1. Elizabeth Plantagenet, born 1466.
      She mar 1486 to Henry VII and had issue [House of Tudor].

   2. Edward V, born 1470.
      Reigned 1483. Murdered 1483.

   3. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, born 1473.
      Murdered 1483.
      It was him who Perkin Warbeck claimed to be in the Yorkist opposition to Henry VII from 1491. Warbeck was executed in 1499.

   
   

3. Richard III.
   The play Richard III by Shakespeare spans 1477-1485.
   He reigned 1483-1485.
   He is assumed to have had his two nephews killed in 1483. They are known as the "Princes in the Tower".
   He was killed by Henry VII at Battle of Bosworth 1485.
   Crown taken by House of Tudor.
   Shakespeare in Act 5, Scene 4 gave him the line: "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!"
   See Cultural depictions of Richard III.
   See discovery of his remains in 2012, 527 years after his death.

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York.
Window at Church of St. John the Baptist, Cirencester.
From here. Also here.

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York.
Window at St. Laurence's Church, Ludlow, Shropshire.
From here. See more photos.

  
(Left) Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York. From here.
(Right) Cecily Neville. From here.

The "Princes in the Tower" depicted in an 1878 painting by John Everett Millais.
From here.

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• The nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" may refer to Richard III, although there are many other theories.

• The discovery of the body of Richard III
  • When identifying the newly discovered body of Richard III in 2012-13, researchers compared his DNA with two female-female line descendants of his sister. They were found to have the same mitochondrial DNA as Richard III. See their amazing female-female descents (from here). See tree by Ed Mann.
  • My wife also descends from Richard III's sister, but not in the female-female line.
  • Male-male line descendants of Plantagenet exist in the family of the Dukes of Beaufort. These should have the same Y-chromosome as Richard III, but do not, indicating one of them has been cuckolded.
  • A group of descendants of Richard III's siblings made headlines in 2013 when they issued a statement calling for his re-burial in York: "we are and will remain his Majesty's representatives and voice". But Richard III's siblings have maybe 1 million descendants. There is nothing special about this self-appointed group.