Edmund Crouchback (Earl Of Lancaster And Earl Of Leicester) Framed Print – Sword

Edmund Crouchback was born in London on 16 January, 1245, he was the second son of King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. After the defeat and death of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, Edmund’s father created him Earl of Leicester and Lancaster. He was further granted the lordship of Builth Wells, a title taken from Llywelyn the Last of Gwynedd. In 1271 Edmund participated in the Ninth Crusade, the last major medieval Crusade to the Holy Land, along with his older brother, then known as Lord Edward. It has been argued that he received the nickname Crouchback (meaning “cross back”), not, as was afterwards supposed, from a personal deformity, but because he was entitled to wear a cross-stitched into the back of his clothing. Their father died in England in the brother’s absence and accordingly, on their return to England, Edward was crowned King Edward I at Westminster on 19 August 1274. Edmund served his brother faithfully, participating in his wars in Scotland and Wales.

Edmund of Lancaster died at the age of fifty-one, on 5 June 1296 in Bayonne, during the siege of Bordeaux. His body remained in France six months before being returned to England when it was interred at Westminster Abbey on 24 March 1301, where his recumbent effigy, can still be seen, next to the tomb of his brother Edward I. The tomb depicts his head resting on a pillow supported by angels in a similar style to that of his first wife, Aveline de Forz and has a three gabled canopy. On the base of his tomb are the remains of a painting depicting ten knights in mail armour and surcoats, although only a few can now be discerned.