Edmund "Crounchback" (?) 1st Earl of Lancester

     Edmund "Crounchback" (?) 1st Earl of Lancester In 1254, at the age of nine, Pope Innocent VI invested him with the kingdom of Sicily and Apulia. The huge sums of money sought by the Pope and Edmund's father, Henry III, to drive Manfred out of southern Italy made this venture very unpopular with the English barons. The scheme was finally abandoned in 1263. In 1264, England was in a state of civil war. King Henry III and Prince Edward were captured by the forces of Simon De Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who was, for all practical purposes, the ruler of England. Meanwhile, Edmund and his mother, Queen Eleanor were in Paris raising an army. After the Battle of Eversham in1265, where Simon De Montfort was slain and his forces defeated by Prince Edward who had escaped from captivity, Edmund returned to England with his mother. He was one of the magnates who urged Henry III to adopt the sweeping measure of confiscation (against those barons who had supported Montfort) determined on in the parliament of Winchester, being moved, it was believed, by the desire of enriching himself. He had a large share of the spoils, being created Earl of Leicester and receiving the stewardship of the kingdom. In 1267 he was also created Earl of Lancaster. With his brother, Prince Edward, and several other magnates, Edmund took up the cross in 1268 and was with his brother at Acre in 1271-72. Returning home before Edward, he reached England in Dec 1272, shortly after his father's death, was received with rejoicing by the Londoners, and went to his mother at Windsor. His crusade, during which he is said to have accomplished little or nothing , seems to have gained him the nickname of Crouchback (or crossed back). It is said, however, to have been asserted by John of Gaunt in 1385 that the name implied deformity, that Edmund was really the elder son of Henry III, but had been passed over by his father as unfit to reign, and a desire of spreading this fable appears to have been entertained by Henry of Lancaster (Henry IV), and was perhaps implied in his challenge of the crown. By his marriage, after the death of his childless first wife, Aveline De Fortibus, to Blanche, the granddaughter of King Louis VIII of France, Edmund became Count of Champagne and Brie. From 1277 to 1296 Edmund was active in the King's service. He commanded the King's forces in South Wales, acted as Ambassador at the French court, unsuccessfully attempted to organize another crusade on behalf of the King, and, in conjunction with Roger De Mortimer, E. March, defeated and executed Llewelyn in Wales. When war broke out with France in 1294/5, Edmund was again serving as Ambassador there. Remaining loyal to King Edward, he, of course, lost all claim to his French possessions. He led armies in Brittany and Gascony. He died in Bayonne deeply mortified that he was not provided the funds needed to keep his army in the field. He was religoius, gay, and pleasant in disposition, open-handed, and a popularcommander. CP,vol.VII,pp.378-387,pp.547. He married Blanche d'Artois (?) Princess of France. Edmund "Crounchback" (?) 1st Earl of Lancester was born on 16 January 1244 at London, England. He was the son of Henry III (?) King of England and Eleanor of Provence (?). Edmund "Crounchback" (?) 1st Earl of Lancester died on 5 June 1296 at Bayonne, Pyr Atlantiques, France, at age 52.