Edward II, King of Normandy

Edward II (5 November 1472 - ??) was King of Normandy and Jerusalem from 21 April 1495 until his death. Edward was the first monarch of the House of Lusignan.

Early life
Edward was born in Leon, Brittany on 5 November 1472, the son of James II de Lusignan, Duke of Cyprus and Lucy, Duchess of Cyprus. His mother Lucy, was the oldest daughter of Arthur I, King of Normandy.

His father, James, from the House of Lusignan was one of King Arthur's most trusted noble's, thanks to James' heroics during the Norman-Mamluk War of 1463. After the war James was rewarded with lands in Brittany and Cornwall. He also became a prominent member of the Kings Council and in 1469, he married Arthur's daughter, Lucy.

At the age if 13, Edward accompanied his father to the Holy Land, where James led a Norman army against the Ottoman Empire. Five years into the war, Edward was given command of a Cypriot army and he was dispatched to Spain to assist Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. After a two year siege, the Norman-Spanish army were victorious in taking Granada.

Conquest of Tunis
After the Christian victory at Granada, King Loui began plans to carve out his own territory from the Moorish Hafsid Kingdom and prepared an army. In 1492 three Norman armies under the command of King Loui, Edward and Richard de Montfort, landed on the outskirts of Tunis. Loui's army laid siege to Tunis whilst the armies of Lusignan and Montfort secured the surrounding area. Lusignan defeated a Hafsid army at the Battle of Carthage in 1493 whilst Montfort secured alliances with a number of Bedouin tribes. By the end of 1493, Tunis had been under siege for a year and Loui's army began to suffer with illness. Meanwhile Lusignan and Montfort had secured the surrounding areas.

Tunis eventually fell to the Normans in 1494, after Loui army was joined by that of James and Montfort, but a month later King Loui died of dysentey. Montfort remained in Tunis whilst James returned to Normandy with the body of the King.

Rise to power
Loui's brother Charles was crowned King of Normandy and Jerusalem in 1494, at the age of 32. Prior to this Charles had been of little importance to the Kingdom and it was never expected that he would have inherited the throne. Many nobles spoke out against the crowning of such an unlikely King and were it not for the powerful Dukes of the Kings Council, the Kingdom would have fallen into civil war.

After just a year in power, Charles had proved to be an ineffectual leader of the Kingdom and had lost the backing of the Kings Council. In 1495, Charles became the first Norman King to abdicate. With no children, the Norman crown remained undecided. Two strong claimants came forward. Edmund, Earl of Damietta, an illegitimate son of Loui I, King of Normandy and Edward, who upon his return had been made Duke of Brittany. Edward's claim was through his mother Lucy, Duchess of Cyprus, who was daughter of Arthur I, King of Normandy. Edmund received the support of the nobility of Northern Normandy, as his father, Loui, had been popular in the north, and Edward had the support of the Kings Council and the nobility of Cyprus and Jerusalem.

On the 26 April 1495, Edward went to Rouen, where he was crowned King of Normandy and Jerusalem. Edmund rallied the northern nobles and raised an army of 10,000, which arrived in Upper Normandy in June 1495. Edward raised his own army of 22,000 and met Edmund at the Battle of Havre, where Edmund's army was crushed and Edmund himself taken prisoner.

King of Normandy
After the victory at Havre, Edward travelled to northern Normandy with an even larger army, but the supporters of Edmund were quick to bow down to the new King without a fight. Edward was fair to the nobles that has supported Edmund and allowed them to keep their lands in exchange for payments to the treasury. He also allowed Edmund to go into exile in France, against the advice of the Kings Council.

Edward reformed the Kings Council, making it bigger with 40 members. He also created a head of the Kings Council which became known as the Kings Hand or Hand of the King. He made his father, James, the first Kings Hand.

Marriage to Princess Mary of England
In 1496, Edward met with Henry VII, King of England at Nonsuch Palace. Henry was looking to form an alliance with Normandy and proposed an engagement between Edward and his four year old daughter, Princess Mary of England. Edward agreed to the engagement and the wedding was arranged to take place on the twelfth birthday of Mary.

On 18 March 1504, at the age of 12, Mary married the 32-year-old King Edward at Kingston Cathedral. The city of Kingston was chosen to host the huge wedding ceremony as it was seen as the gateway between England and Normandy. The ceremony was a huge occasion with hundreds of nobles from England and Normandy attending to celebrate the union.

Italian War of 1494–98
See Italian War of 1494–98