Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent

English Royalty
House of Plantagenet

Henry II Children    William, Count of Poitiers    Henry the Young King    Richard I    Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany    King John    Matilda of England    Leonora of England    Joan of England Richard I John Children    Henry III    Richard, Earl of Cornwall    Joan of England    Isabella of England    Eleanor of England Henry III Children    Edward I    Margaret of England    Beatrice of England    Edmund, Earl of Lancaster Edward I Children    Joan of England, Countess of Gloucester    Alphonso, Earl of Chester    Edward II    Thomas, Earl of Norfolk    Edmund, Earl of Kent Edward II Children    Edward III    John, Earl of Cornwall    Eleanor of England    Joan of England Edward III Children    Edward, Prince of Wales    Lionel, Duke of Clarence    John, Duke of Lancaster    Edmund, Duke of York    Thomas, Duke of Gloucester    Joan of England    Isabella of England Grandchildren     Richard II     Philippa, Countess of Ulster     Philippa of Lancaster     Elizabeth of Lancaster     Henry IV     Catherine of Lancaster     Edward, Duke of York     Richard, Earl of Cambridge     Constance of York     Anne of Gloucester Richard II

Edmund Plantagenet, or Edmund of Woodstock (August 5, 1301 – March 19, 1330) was Earl of Kent from July 28, 1321 (1st creation).

He was born at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, the son of King Edward I of England by his second Queen consort Marguerite of France. As the youngest of the six princes he enjoyed his father's favour. Woodstock was married to Margaret Wake, the daughter of Baron John Wake by Joan, sometime between October and December in 1325 at Blisworth in Northamptonshire.

He was from 1327 'after the execution and forfeiture of John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel' for the three remaining years of his life to hold the castle and honour of Arundel, although he was never formally invested with the titles appropriate to his barony. He was the father of Joan of Kent, through whom the earldom eventually passed into the Holland family.

Edmund was executed for treason, having supported his half-brother, the deposed King Edward II, by order of the 'Regents Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Queen Isabella of France', before the outer walls of Winchester Castle. It was said that he had conspired to rescue King Edward from prison. Such was public hostility to the execution that "he had to wait five hours for an executioner, because nobody wanted to do it".

Woodstock was buried on March 31 at the Church of the Dominican Friars in Winchester.

Woodstock's execution would appear a retaliation for Edward I's crushing defeat against Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and because the king had treated his rebellious cousins with such great savagery, pursuing the surviving members of the de Montfort family relentlessly.

The children of Edmund Plantagenet by Margaret Wake, Baroness Wake of Lydell, were:

• Edmund Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Kent About 1326 - Before 5 October 1331
• Margaret Plantagenet (b bfr 1327-d 1352). Married Arnaud-Amanieu VIII d'Albret, viscount of Tartas.
• Joan Plantagenet ("The Fair Maid of Kent") b 28 September 1328 - d 7 August 1385. Married Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent and Edward, the Black Prince son of Edward III
• John Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Kent 7 Apr 1330 - About 27 December 1352

Preceded by: Hugh le Despenser

Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports 1321–1323

Succeeded by: Sir John Peche

Preceded by: New Creation

Earl of Kent 1321–1323

Succeeded by: Edmund Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Kent