Richard of Conisburgh

1385 – 1415 · Generation XVIII · House of Plantagenet

Richard of Conisburgh (1385–1415). Married Anne Mortimer in 1408. Executed for plotting against Henry V; his son would claim the throne for York. Born at Conisbrough Castle, the younger son of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, and Isabella of Castile, he had Richard II as godfather — yet was left out of the wills of both his father and his elder brother, which one historian has read as doubt about his paternity. Royal annuities, paid fitfully once Henry IV took the throne, were his only income. He defended Herefordshire against Owain Glyndŵr in 1403–04, and in 1406 helped escort Princess Philippa to Denmark. His secret marriage to Anne Mortimer brought him no money. Created Earl of Cambridge in 1414 but given no lands to sustain the title, he joined Lord Scrope and Sir Thomas Grey in the Southampton Plot to crown his brother-in-law Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March — who revealed it to the king. Because he was beheaded without attainder, his young son could inherit.

Place in the family

Richard of Conisburgh was a great-great-grandfather of King Henry VIII.
The archive records 122 of his descendants, across 22 generations.

One of 26 people of House of Plantagenet (1126–1485) in this archive. The longest-reigning English house, counting its Angevin beginning and the rival Lancaster and York branches that fought the Wars of the Roses.

Line of descent: King William I The Conqueror → King Henry I → Matilda the Empress → King Henry II → King John → King Henry III → King Edward I Longshanks → King Edward II → King Edward III → Edmund of Langley → Richard of Conisburgh.

Parents

Edmund of Langley (1341 – 1402)
Isabella of Castile (1355 – 1392)

Partners

Married Anne Mortimer (1388 – 1411) in 1408 — one child together

Children

Richard of York (1411 – 1460)

Life

1385 — Born
1408 — Married Anne Mortimer
1415 — Died