Note 67b — Chapter V · THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF MORTIMER’S CROSS. [67a]

Edward was Earl of March and Ulster, and Lord of Wigmore and Clare, and afterwards King Edward IV.; and, although not usually called Duke of York by historians, there does not seem to be any reason why he was not so called, between the time of his father’s death, and his accession to the throne of England. Edward was the eldest son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and Cecily his wife, and was born at Rouen, in Normandy, on the 29th of April, 1441. His claim to the throne of England was founded upon his being descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son of King Edward III. (See Pedigrees Nos. 1 and 2, in Chap. IX.) His reign commenced on the 4th of March, 1461 (see Rot. Parl. 1 Edward IV. vol. v. fo. 464 and Fabyan, fo. 218); he was crowned at Westminster on the 29th of June, 1461, and died on the 9th of April, 1483, in the forty-second year of his age, and the twenty-second of his reign.