(Vol. ii., p. 375.)
Under the head of "Descent of Edward IV.," S. A. Y. asks for information
concerning "a popular, though probably groundless tradition," by which that
prince sought to prove his title to the throne of England. S. A. Y., or his
authority, Professor Millar, is mistaken in ascribing it to Edward IV.--it
was Henry IV. who so sought to establish his claim.
"Upon Richard II.'s resignation ... Henry, Duke of Lancaster, having
then a large army in the kingdom ... it was impossible for any other
title to be asserted with safety, and he became king under the title of
Henry IV. He was, nevertheless, not admitted to the crown until he had
declared that he {121} claimed, not as a conqueror (which he was much
inclined to do), but as a successor descended by right line of the
blood royal.... And in order to this he set up a show of two titles:
the one upon the pretence of being the first of the blood royal of the
entire male line; whereas the Duke of Clarence (Lionel, elder brother
of John of Gaunt) left only one daughter, Philippa: the other, by
reviving an exploded rumour, first propagated by John of Gaunt, that
Edmond Earl of Lancaster (to whom Henry's mother was heiress) was in
reality the elder brother of King Edward I., though his parents, on
account of his personal deformity, had imposed him on the world for the
younger."--Blackstone's _Commentaries_, book i. ch. iii. p. 203. of
edit. 1787.
This Edmond, Earl of Lancaster, was succeeded by his son Thomas, who in the
fifteenth year of the reign of Edward II. was attainted of high treason. In
the first of Edward III. his attainder was reversed, and his son Henry
inherited his titles, and subsequently was created Duke of Lancaster.
Blanche, daughter of Henry, first Duke of Lancaster, subsequently became
his heir, and was second wife to John of Gaunt, and mother to Henry IV.
Edward IV.'s claim to the throne was by descent from Lionel, Duke of
Clarence, third son of Edward III., his mother being Cicely, youngest
daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland. Lionel married Elizabeth
de Burgh, an Irish heiress, who died shortly after, leaving one daughter,
Philippa. As William of Hatfield, second son of Edward III., died at an
early age, without issue, according to all our ideas of hereditary
succession Philippa, only child of Edward III.'s third son, ought to have
inherited before the son of his fourth son; and Sir Edward Coke expressly
declares, that the right of the crown was in the descent from Philippa,
daughter and heir of Lionel, Duke of Clarence. Henry IV.'s right, however,
was incontestable, being based on overwhelming might. Philippa married
Edward Mortimer, Earl of March. Roger, their son, succeeded his father in
his titles, and left one daughter, Anne, who married Richard, Earl of
Cambridge, son of Edmund Langley, Duke of York, which Edmund, Duke of York,
was the fifth son of Edward III.; and thus the line of York, though a
younger branch of the royal family, took precedence, _de jure_, of the
Lancaster line. From this union sprang Richard, Duke of York, who was
killed under the walls of Sandal Castle, and who left his titles and
pretensions to Edward, afterwards the fourth king of that name.
The above is taken from several authorities, among which are Blackstone's
_Comm._, book i. ch. iii.; and Miss Strickland's _Lives of the Queens of
England_, vols. ii. iii. iv.