Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland

On this day in 1443: The Birth of Edmund, Earl of Rutland.
Rutland was the second son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville and born in France while his father was Lord Lieutenant.
Sadly, this young boys life can be viewed through that of the last years of his fathers, that is the events following Ludford Bridge, Ireland and in France. He was with the Duke of York in early December quashing Lancastrian unrest in the north of the country and by the end of that month at Wakefield where the poor boy met his death along with his father.
Forever in his father's wake, Edmund has no real story of his own, his early death gave him no chance to shine as two brothers Edward and Richard did, or to make a fool of himself like George.
Edmund, as you can see in this painting by Charles Robert Leslie is depicted as a child, when in fact, he was actually seventeen when he died. The Victorian artists liked to romanticise everything, a result of a shift from themes focused on the industrial revolution and fashion towards that of the medieval era. This one is my favourite - a very dramatic painting don't you think - the murder of an innocent child by a dastardly John Clifford!

Links:

• The Peerage
• Geneall
• Find A Grave
• Wikipedia

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Profile-painting -""The Murder of Rutland by Lord Clifford"