Title:

Prince

First Name:

Edward

Memorial Type:

Memorial - extant memorial brass

Does the monument still exist?

Yes

Installation Date:

Non-Contemporary (1500-1899)

Inscription:

1st. Here lies Edward Prince of Wales cruelly slain while but a youth AD 1471 May 4th. Alas the savagery of man. 2nd. That the memory of Edward Prince of Wales brutally murdered in the fields close by, perish not utterly. The piety of the people of Tewkesbury had this memorial laid down in 1796. Thou art the sole light of thy mother, the last hope of thy race.

Allegiance:

Lancastrian

Condition:

Good

Condition Description:

polished on regular basis

Memorial Notes:

Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, Lancastrian, aged 17. Buried in the choir. Edward was born in 1453 , only child of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. He was disinherited in 1460 as a result of the Act of Accord. He was present at the 2nd Battle of St Albans aged 8 and allegedly gave the order for his father's custodians, William, Lord Bonville and Sir Thomas Kyriell, to be executed. Henry VI had first knighted him in the field following the battle. A few weeks later the Lancastrians were defeated at Towton and he fled with his mother to Scotland and later to France. In 1470 as part of a political alliance with Warwick and Margaret, Edward was married to Warwick’s daughter Anne to cement the agreement and secure a favourable position when Prince Edward eventually inherited the Crown. Edward returned with his mother to Weymouth on 14 April 1471 and took part in her march to Tewkesbury. On the morning of the battle he was given nominal command of the Lancastrian forces. At some point during the battle, probably in the rout, he was killed.
He was the last member of the House of Lancaster with a direct claim to the throne and the Lancastrian cause died with him. Originally a marble tomb was installed in the choir, but this was removed in the late 1700s.