Princes in the Tower
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The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483 by Sir John Everett Millais, 1878, part of the Royal Holloway picture collection
The Princes in the Tower, Edward V of England (November 4, 1470 â?? 1483?) and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York (17 August 1473 â?? 1483?), were two sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville.
Both princes were declared illegitimate by an Act of Parliament of 1483 known as Titulus Regius. Their uncle, Richard III of England, placed them both in the Tower of London (then a royal residence as well as a prison) in 1483. There are reports of their early presence in the courtyards etc, but there are no records of them having been seen after the summer of 1483. Their fate remains unknown, and it is presumed that they either died or were killed there. There is no record of a funeral.
In 1674, the skeletons of two children were discovered under the staircase leading to the chapel, during the course of renovations to the White Tower. At that time, these were believed to have been the remains of the two princes. On the orders of Charles II the remains were reburied in Westminster Abbey. In 1933, the grave was exhumed and found to contain both human and animal bones; however precise identification of the age and sex was not then possible[1].
Contents
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- 1 Suspects
- 2 Evidence behind the rumours
- 3 Arguments in the controversy
- 4 Literature
- 5 Popular culture
- 6 References
- 7 External links
[edit] Suspects
If the boys were indeed murdered, there are several major suspects for the crime. The evidence is ambiguous, and has led people to various conflicting conclusions.
Richard III of England had eliminated the princes from the succession. However, his hold on the monarchy was not secure, and the existence of the princes remained a threat as long as they were alive. They themselves were ostensibly not a threat, notwithstanding Edward's having been acclaimed King, but could have been used by Richard's enemies as a pretext for rebellion. Rumours of their death were in wide circulation by late 1483, but Richard never attempted to prove that they were alive by having them seen in public, which strongly suggests that they were dead by then (or at a minimum, not under his control--unlikely, since they would presumably still have been in the Tower). Rather, he remained completely silent on the matter. At the very least, it would have been in his political interest to order an investigation into the disappearance of the princes if they had simply vanished. As the brothers' protector (having obtained them as 'protectorate' from their mother), he appears to have failed to 'protect' them. Many modern historians, including David Starkey [1], Michael Hicks[2] and Alison Weir[3], regard him as the most likely culprit.
James Tyrrell was an English knight who fought for the House of York on many occasions. Tyrrell was arrested by Henry VII's forces in 1501 for supporting yet another Yorkist claimant to the throne. Shortly before his execution, Tyrrell admitted to having murdered the princes at the behest of Richard III. However, as his confession was extracted under torture, its veracity is dubious.
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham was Richard's right-hand man and sought personal advantage through the new king. Some regard Buckingham as the likeliest suspect: his execution, after he had rebelled against Richard in October 1483, might signify that he and the king had fallen out because Buckingham had taken it on himselfâ??for whatever reasonâ??to dispose of Richard's rival claimants; alternatively, he could have been acting on behalf of Henry Tudor (later to become King Henry VII). Buckingham was also a descendant of Edward III through John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and may have hoped to ascend the throne himself. Buckingham's guilt depends on the princes having already been dead by October 1483, as Buckingham was executed the following month.
Henry VII of England (Henry Tudor) following his accession, proceeded to find a legal excuse to execute some of the rival claimants to the throne. He married the princes' eldest sister, Elizabeth of York, to reinforce his hold on the throne, but her right to inherit depended on both her brothers being already dead. Realistically, Henry's only opportunity to murder the princes would have been after his accession in 1485.
John Howard, later the first Duke of Norfolk of the current creation, was a claimant to the estate of the Mowbray Dukes of Norfolk. He was given custody of the Tower of London under less than regular circumstances the night the Princes are supposed to have disappeared from the Tower[citation needed]. He had opportunity and motiveâ??Prince Richard, Duke of York, was also Duke of Norfolk in right of his deceased child bride Anne, the daughter of the last Mowbray Duke.