The
Princes in the Tower of London |
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The
mystery of what happened to the two princes in the Tower of London has
puzzled historians and the academic world for over five hundred years.
The English poet
and playwright William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) created
his ‘Richard III’ play in the early 1590’s portraying Richard III as
a wicked hunchback king who killed the Princes in the Tower, but did
Richard III murder these two children?
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Sir Thomas
More (7 February 1478- 6 July 1535) an English lawyer and councillor
to Henry VII and Lord Chancellor from October 1529-16 May 1532, worked
on a History of King Richard III, which he never finished and was published
after his death had a similar opinion to Shakespeare, presenting Richard
as, the shadowy King Richard an outstanding archetypal tyrant. A view
supported by a contemporary of Thomas More, Polydore Vergil (1470- 18
April 1555) an Italian humanist scholar, historian and priest who was
commissioned by Henry VII to write an "official" History of
England in 1505.
The
opinion of these three well-known persons is not accepted by all academics,
historians, and those researching this period of the Dark Ages of English
history. Through archaeology a different interpretation King Richard
III as has come to light by the recent discovery of Leicester city’s
King in the Car Park and the knowledge and understanding of deoxyribonucleic
acid more commonly known as “DNA”
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The
‘Princess in the Tower’ were the sons of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville,
Edward V and his younger brother. Elizabeth Woodville had sought sanctuary
at Westminster Abby from the Lancastrians who deposed his father, the
Yorkist King during the course of the War of the Roses. It was in the
abbey that Edward V was born on 2nd November 1470. He was only 12 when
his father died, on 9th April 1483. In his father’s will he appointed
his son's uncle Richard the Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector of
the young King Edward V. In
his role as Protector to Edward V, it was claimed that the Duke of Buckingham
met Richard at Northampton with an armed escort. Elizabeth’s brother
Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, and others were accused of planning
to assassinate Richard, they were arrested, and taken to Pontefract
Castle where they were later executed without trial after appearing
before a tribunal led by Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. Baron
Hastings had advised Richard to arrange for Edward V to stay in the
Kings quarters in the Tower of London, which he did. Edward’s younger
brother the nine year old Richard, Duke of York was moved there as well,
which his mother Elizabeth was reluctant to allow but the nine year
old joined his brother in the Tower of London on 16th June 1483. The
princes were not seen in public after August 1483, which resulted in
accusations that the boys had been murdered giving rise to the legend
of ‘The Princes in the Tower’.
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King
Edward IV was known to have a number of mistresses, included Elizabeth
“Jane” Shore (1445-1527) whom Edward described as "the merriest,
the wiliest, and the holiest harlots" in his realm. She also became
a concubine to other noblemen, including Edward's stepson, Thomas Grey,
1st Marquess of Dorset, and William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, his
close friend and adviser.
Also
mistress was Elizabeth Lucy, which the 18th century antiquarian John
Anstis in The Register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (London,
1724) identified her with "Elizabeth Wayte", the daughter
of Thomas Wayte of Southampton, saying she was the mother of Arthur
Plantagenet. Elizabeth Wayte, was the long-standing mistress of King
Edward IV of England, and probable mother of several children by him,
including Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, (died 3 March 1542)
was an illegitimate son of King Edward IV, half-brother of Queen Elizabeth
of York, and thus an uncle of King Henry VIII, at whose court he was
a prominent figure and by whom he was appointed Lord Deputy of Calais
(1533–40).
Another
one of Edward’s mistresses was the daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl
of Shrewsbury, Lady Eleanor Talbot (1436- 30 June 1468) also known by
her married name ‘Eleanor Butler’. The 13-year-old Eleanor married Sir
Thomas Butler (or Boteler), son of Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley In 1449,
Thomas died at an unknown date before Edward IV of England's overthrow
of the House of Lancaster on 4 March 1461, According to the French chronicler
Philippe de Commines, Richard the Lord Protector proclaimed that the
two princes in the tower were illegitimate due to the declaration of
Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells. Commines wrote, regarding
Edward IV marriage to Lady Eleanor Talbot ‘The bishop discovered to
the Duke of Gloucester that his brother king Edward had been formerly
in love with a beautiful young lady and had promised her marriage upon
condition that he might lie with her; the lady consented, and, as the
bishop affirmed, he married them when nobody was present but they two
and himself. His fortune depending on the court, he did not discover
it, and persuaded the lady likewise to conceal it, which she did, and
the matter remained a secret.’ The marriage was claimed to have taken
place some years before Edward VI married Elizabeth Woodville, in 1464,
as a result of which the two princes were illegitimate, Elizabeth Woodville’s
sons had no rightful claim to his throne.
On 22
June 1483, a sermon was preached outside Old St. Paul's Cathedral declaring
Edward's children bastards and Richard the rightful king. Shortly after,
the citizens of London, both nobles and commons, convened and drew up
a petition asking Richard to assume the throne. He accepted on 26 June
and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 July 1483. His title to the
throne was confirmed by Parliament in January 1484 by the document Titulus
Regius.
In the
summer of 1483 servents attending Edward V and his younger brother Richard
were dismissed, the two boys were taken into the "inner apartments
of the Tower" and then were seen less and less until they disappeared
altogether. Dominic Mancini, an Italian friar who visited England in
the 1480s and who was in London in the spring and summer of 1483, records
that during this period Edward was regularly visited by a doctor, who
reported that Edward, "like a victim prepared for sacrifice, sought
remission of his sins by daily confession and penance, because he believed
that death was facing him." Was the young Edward seemed to be in
poor health, which is why he was regularly visited by a doctor? In which
case he could well have been unwell as it was summer and London was
not a healthy place to live at the time and he could have died.
Rumours
began as to what happened to the two princes in the Tower after they
was last seen playing in the grounds of the Tower of London in late
June early July 1783. There has been speculation that a failed attempt
was made to rescue the two princes from the Tower of London around 29th
July 1783, which may have resulted in Richard being forced into taking
certain actions.
There
was a rumour that Edward V’s brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of
York, was not murdered but escaped to Flanders and had been made to
swear an oath to his rescuers not to reveal his true identity for "a
certain number of years". He was recognized as Richard of Shrewsbury
by Margaret of York, the sister of Edward IV and was raised by her,
in the ways of the Yorkist court, living under the name of Perkin Warbeck.
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After a few years he
declared his was the younger prince in the Tower, who went claimed
to be a pretender to the throne. His father, Jehan de Werbecque, he
claimed was in truth Edward IV of England, and his mother, Katherine
de Faro, was claimed to be Elizabeth Woodville.
On 3 July 1495, funded
by Margaret of Burgundy, Warbeck landed at Deal in Kent, Warbeck's
small army was routed and 150 of the pretender’s troops were killed
without Warbeck even disembarking. He retreated to Ireland. and found
support from Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond, and laid siege
to Waterford, but, meeting resistance, he fled to Scotland, and was
well received by James IV of Scotland who realised that his presence
gave him international leverage. Warbeck was permitted to marry James's
distant cousin, Lady Catherine Gordon, a daughter of George Gordon,
2nd Earl of Huntly. In September 1496, James IV prepared to invade
England with Warbeck. A red, gold and silver banner was made for Warbeck
as the Duke of York; James's armour was gilded and painted, and the
royal artillery was prepared. John Ramsay of Balmain (who called himself
Lord Bothwell) described the events for Henry VII. He saw Roderic
de Lalanne, a Flemish knight, arrive with two little ships and 60
German soldiers and meet James IV and talk to Warbeck. In Edinburgh
Castle Ramsay saw two great French guns called 'curtalds,' 10 falconets
or little serpentines, and 30 iron breech loading 'cart guns' with
16 close-carts or wagons for the munitions. He estimated the invasion
force would last only 4 to 5 days in England before it ran out of
provisions. He suggested, from the safety of Berwick upon Tweed, that
the Scots could be vanquished by a modest English force attacking
from north and south in a pincer movement.
The Scottish host assembled
near Edinburgh and James IV and Warbeck offered prayers at Holyrood
Abbey on the 14 September and on the next day at St Triduana's Chapel
and Our Lady Kirk of Restalrig. On 19 September the Scottish army
was at Ellem and on 21 September 1496 they crossed the River Tweed
at Coldstream. Miners set to work to demolish the tower of Hetoune
(Castle Heaton) on 24 September, but the army quickly retreated when
resources were expended, and hoped-for support for Perkin Warbeck
in Northumberland failed to materialise. According to an English record,
the Scots penetrated four miles into England with royal banner displayed,
and destroyed 3 or 4 little towers (or Bastle houses). They left on
25 September 1496 when an English army commanded by Lord Neville approached
from Newcastle. Later, wishing to be rid of Warbeck, James IV provided
a ship called ‘the Cuckoo’, and a hired crew under a Breton captain
which returned Perkin to Waterford in shame in July 1497. James IV
made peace with England by signing the Treaty of Ayton at St Dionysius's
Church in Ayton in Berwickshire. Once again Perkin attempted to lay
siege to Waterford, but this time his effort lasted only eleven days
before he was forced to flee Ireland, chased by four English ships.
According to some sources, by this time he was left with only 120
men on two ships.
On 7
September 1497, Warbeck landed at Whitesand Bay, 2 miles north of Land's
End, in Cornwall hoping to capitalise on the Cornish people's resentment
in the aftermath of their uprising only three months earlier. Warbeck
proclaimed that he could put a stop to extortionate taxes levied to
help fight a war against Scotland and was warmly welcomed. He was declared
"Richard IV" on Bodmin Moor and his Cornish army some 6000
strong entered Exeter before advancing on Taunton. Henry VII sent his
chief general, Giles Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney, to attack the Cornish
and when Warbeck heard that the King's scouts were at Glastonbury he
panicked and deserted his army. Warbeck was captured at Beaulieu Abbey
in Hampshire where he surrendered. Henry VII reached Taunton on 4 October
1497, where he received the surrender of the remaining Cornish army.
The ringleaders were executed and others fined. Warbeck was imprisoned,
first at Taunton, then at the Tower of London, where he was "paraded
through the streets on horseback amid much hooting and derision of the
citizens". Warbeck was initially treated well by Henry. As soon
as he confessed to being an impostor, he was released from the Tower
of London. He was, however, kept under guard and was not allowed to
sleep with his wife, who was living under the protection of the queen.
After eighteen months at court, Warbeck tried to escape. He was quickly
recaptured. He was then held in the Tower, initially in solitary confinement,
and later alongside Edward, Earl of Warwick; the two tried to escape
in 1499. Captured once again, on 23 November 1499, Warbeck was drawn
on a hurdle from the Tower to Tyburn, London, where he read out a confession
and was hanged. (Extract taken from Wikipedia.org)
Click
here for “Richard Plantagenet”
the Kentish myth?
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The most popular version
of the “Princes in the Tower” is told by William Shakespeare in his
play, Richard III Act IV, scene 3.
Edward V. and his brother, the Duke
of York, were smothered in the Tower of London on August 17, 1483, by
order of their uncle, who succeeded to the throne as Richard III.
Enter TYRREL.
The tyrannous and bloody deed is done.
The most arch act of piteous massacre
That ever yet this land was guilty of.
Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborn,
To do this ruthless piece of butchery
Although they were fleshed villains, bloody dogs
Melting with tenderness and kind compassion.
Wept like two children in their deaths’ sad stories.
‘Lo, thus,’ quoth Dighton, ‘lay those tender babes:’
‘Thus, thus,’ quoth Forrest, ‘girdling one another
Within their innocent alabaster arms:
Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
Which in their summer beauty kissed each other.
A book of prayers on their pillow lay;
Which once,’ quoth Forrest, ‘almost changed my mind;
But O! the devil’—there the villain stopp’d;
Whilst Dighton thus told on: ‘We smothered
The most replenished sweet work of nature,
That from the prime creation e’er she framed.’
Thus both are gone with conscience and remorse;
They could not speak; and so I left them both,
To bring this tidings to the bloody king.
And here he comes.
William
Shakespeare’s ‘Tyrrell’, is Sir James Tyrrell (1455 – 6 May 1502) James
Tyrrell an English knight, a trusted servant of King Richard III of
England fought on the Yorkist side at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4
May 1471. James was the eldest son of William Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk,
and Margaret Darcy, the daughter of Robert Darcy of Maldon, Essex. Tyrrell's
father was beheaded on Tower Hill on 23 February 1462, together with
Sir Thomas Tuddenham and John Montgomery. John de Vere, 12th Earl of
Oxford, and his eldest son and heir, Aubrey, were beheaded on 26 February
and 20 February, respectively, after the discovery of an alleged plot
to murder Edward IV.
Sir Thomas More wrote,
that Tyrrell was charged with treason, and that during his examination
Tyrrell confessed to the murders of King Edward V of England and his
brother Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. According to More,
he also implicated two other men but was unable to say where the bodies
were, claiming that they had been moved. Tyrrell was tried and convicted
of treason at the Guildhall in London on 2 May 1502 and executed four
days later, on 6 May, together with one of his accomplices. On 21st
March 2015, the historian David Starkey announced on a television
programme his discovery in royal records that both Henry VII and his
wife Elizabeth, the sister of Edward V and Richard Duke of York, were
present throughout Tyrrell's trial. He claimed that it was extraordinary
that the King should do this, but of even greater significance is
the Queen's presence. Starkey presents this as validating More's account
of Tyrrell's confession "99.9%". And argues that it finally
confirms him as the man who oversaw the murder of the Queen's brothers,
and that this, in turn, places the guilt for ordering their murder
squarely at the feet of Richard III, Tyrrell's overlord. However,
the programme ended without any other explanation or rebuttal being
offered for Starkey's conclusion. Extract taken from
Wikipedia.org.
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Another
rumour was that the Princes were murdered by Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke
of Buckingham, The Most Noble Order of the Garter (4 September 1455
– 2 November 1483) Buckingham played a major role in King Richard III's
rise and fall, and changed sides from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian,
and took part in making Henry king.
Richard
III is alleged to have consolidated his power by eliminating his brother's
children, who could even after their bastardisation serve as figureheads
or incentives to rebellions. However, there is some question about Buckingham's
involvement in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower. If Richard
was responsible for killing the Princes in the Tower, the murders may
have caused Buckingham to change sides.
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On the other hand,
Buckingham himself had motives to kill the Princes, having a claim
of his own to the throne stronger than that of Henry Tudor, depending
on one's view of the legitimacy of the Beaufort line. According to
a manuscript discovered in the early 1980s in the College of Arms
collection, the Princes were murdered "be [by] the vise"
of the Duke of Buckingham. There is some argument over whether "vise"
means "advice" or "devise". According to this
perspective, if Buckingham killed the Princes and blamed Richard,
he could form a rebellion, putting the throne into play with only
Henry Tudor as a rival. Indeed, he was one of the leaders of a rebellion,
ostensibly in favour of Henry Tudor, in October 1483. However, the
rebellion was quickly crushed and Buckingham executed. Henry Tudor
would succeed in defeating Richard III two years later.
Extract taken from Wikipedia.org
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In
the reign of King Charles II, a discovery was made in 1674 by workmen
rebuilding a stairway in the Tower of London of some bones said to belong
to two children were discovered in 1674 by workmen rebuilding a stairway
in the Tower. On the orders of King Charles II, these were subsequently
placed in Westminster Abbey, in an urn bearing the names of Edward and
Richard.
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"Below here lie interred
the remains of Edward V , King of England, and of Richard, Duke of York.
Their uncle, Richard, who usurped the crown, imprisoned them in the
Tower of London, smothered them with pillows, and ordered them to be
dishonourably and secretly buried. Their long desired and much sought
after bones were identified by most certain indications when, after
an interval of over a hundred and ninety years, found deeply buried
under the rubbish of the stairs that led up into the chapel of the White
Tower, on the 17th July, 1674 A.D. Charles II, most merciful prince,
having compassion on their unhappy fate, performed the funeral rites
of these unfortunate princes among the tombs of their ancestors, A.D.
1678, the thirtieth year of his reign".
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In
1933 the bones were re-examined, it was discovered that the skeletons
were incomplete and had been interred with animal bones, it is possible
that the bones did not belong to the princes and were buried before the
reconstruction of that part of the Tower of London, Today with the advances
in DNA a subsequent examination of the bones will establish if these bones
are the remains are of Edward V and his brother Richard, but this request
for another examination of the remains has been refused.
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Edward
VI and Elizabeth Woodville are buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor,
while workman were carrying out repairs in 1789, they accidently broke
into the vault of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville and rediscovered adjoining
this was another vault containing the coffins of two children. This tomb
was inscribed with the names of two of Edward IV’s children: George, 1st
Duke of Bedford, who had died at the age of two, and Mary of York who
had died at the age of 14. Both had predeceased the King, however the
remains of these two children were later found elsewhere in the chapel,
leaving the occupants of these children’s coffins within the tomb unknown,
could they be the Princes of the Tower of London?
In order to carryout
DNA analysis on the children’s bones at Westminster Abbey or at St
George’s Chapel will require Royal consent to open any royal tomb.
In 2012 with the discovery of the remains of Richard III, prompted
renewed interest in re-excavating the alleged remains of the “two
princes”, but Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has not granted the approval
required for any such testing of an interred royal. So this medieval
mystery of what happened to the “Princes in the Tower” will remain
unsolved.
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Hit the Trail - tour the
Tower of London
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