Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge

Southampton Plot

In the Parliament of 1414, Richard was created Earl of Cambridge, a title formerly held by his elder brother, Edward, 2nd Duke of York, who had earlier ceased to be Earl of Cambridge either by resignation or deprivation of the title.

Richard's creation as Earl of Cambridge in 1414, however, brought with it no accompanying grant of lands, and according to Harriss, Cambridge was "the poorest of the earls" who were to set out on Henry V's invasion of France. As a result, he lacked the resources to equip himself properly for the expedition. Perhaps partly for this reason, Richard conspired with Lord Scrope and Sir Thomas Grey to depose Henry V of England and place his late wife Anne's brother Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, on the throne. On 31 July, Mortimer revealed the plot to the king. Later, he served on the commission that condemned Richard to death. Although Richard pleaded with the king for clemency, he was beheaded on 5 August 1415 and buried in the chapel of God's House at Southampton (now St. Julien's Church, Southampton). The fleet set sail for France a few days later, on 11 August 1415.

The Southampton Plot is dramatised in Shakespeare's Henry V, and in the anonymous play, The History of Sir John Oldcastle.

Legacy

Although Cambridge's title was forfeited, he was not attainted, and his four-year-old son Richard was his heir. Within three months, Cambridge's elder brother, Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, was slain at Agincourt, and Cambridge's four-year-old son eventually inherited his uncle's titles and estates as well as his father's.

In the parliament of 1461, Cambridge's grandson King Edward IV had the sentence that had been passed on his grandfather annulled as "irregular and unlawful".

Marriages and issue

Early in 1408 Richard married Anne de Mortimer, the eldest of the four children of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, and Eleanor Holland. Anne was a niece of Richard's stepmother Joan Holland, and the granddaughter of his first cousin, Philippa of Clarence. Thus, Richard and Anne were first cousins twice removed, yet they were close in age; Richard was only three years older than she.

The marriage took place secretly, without parental consent, and was validated on 23 May 1408 by papal dispensation. It brought Richard no financial benefit, since Anne's only income was an annuity of £50 granted for her maintenance by Henry IV in 1406.

By his first wife, Richard had two sons and a daughter:

Isabel of York (1409 – 2 October 1484), who in 1412, at three years of age, was betrothed to Sir Thomas Grey, son and heir of Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton in Norham, Northumberland, and his wife, Alice Neville, the daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by whom she had one son. Before 25 April 1426, Isabel married secondly Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, by whom she had seven sons and one daughter. This marriage was later validated by papal dispensation.

Henry of York.

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (22 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), who married Cecily Neville, the youngest daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by whom he had twelve children: Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter; Henry; King Edward IV; Edmund, Earl of Rutland; Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk; Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy; William; John; George, Duke of Clarence; Thomas; King Richard III; and Ursula.

Anne de Mortimer died on 22 September 1411 soon after the birth of her son Richard. She was buried at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, once the site of Kings Langley Palace, perhaps in the conventual church which houses the tombs of her husband's father Edmund and his first wife Isabella of Castile.

After the death of Anne de Mortimer, Richard married Maud Clifford, the divorced wife of John Neville, 6th Baron Latimer, and daughter of Thomas de Clifford, 6th Baron de Clifford, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros, of Helmsley.

After Richard's death in 1415, his second wife, Maud Clifford, is said to have lived in "great state" at Conisbrough Castle and elsewhere. She died on 26 August 1446 and was buried at Roche Abbey, Yorkshire. She left a will dated 15 August 1446 in which no mention is made of her stepchildren.

Arms

Richard bore his father's arms (those of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points, each bearing three torteaux gules), differenced by a bordure Leon.