Edmund Crouchback

Who was Edmund Crouchback?

Edmund Crouchback was the second surviving son of King Henry III of England of the House of Plantagenet and Queen Eleanor of Provence. In his childhood he had a claim on the Kingdom of Sicily, but he never ruled there. In 1265 he was granted all the lands of Simon de Montfort and from 1267 he was titled Earl of Leicester. In that year he also began to rule Lancashire, but he did not take the title Earl of Lancaster until 1276. Between 1276 and 1284 he was also Count of Champagne and Brie, governing those counties in right of his second wife, Blanche of Artois, until her daughter from a previous marriage came of age. His nickname, "Crouchback", refers to his participation in the Ninth Crusade.