YORK, EDMUND OF LANGLEY, DUKE OF

uncle of the king and regent of England in Shakespeare's Richard II. Unlike his brother John of Gaunt, York chooses expediency over tradition, abandons Richard, and switches his allegiance to Henry Bolingbroke, even to the point of denouncing his own son. Historically, Edmund was the founder of the house of York, which battled the house of Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses.