Edward of York was born on April 28, 1442, at Rouen, France (in the Chateau de Rouen), the second son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (who had a strong genealogical claim to the throne of England) and Cecily Neville daughter of Ralph Neville and Joan Beaufort, a granddaughter of Edward III. Edward of York was the eldest of the four sons who survived to adulthood. The Duke of York's assertion of his claim to the crown in 1460 was the key escalation of the conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. When his father was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, Edward inherited his claim. However, it was rumoured that Edward was in fact the son of an archer named Blaybourne, with whom his mother Cecily Neville had had an affair in Rouen.