I'm sure many of you will have seen or heard some reference in the news about the return of king Richard in the past few weeks. This is a good time to tell you a little about him.
Richard, the last English king to die in battle, was killed by the troops of Henry Tudor at Bosworth field in 1485, finally bringing an end to the wars of the roses. His body was stripped naked, slung over the back of a horse and taken to the Greyfriars church in Leicester. After two days of his body being on show (to prove that he was dead) he was quickly buried underneath the church. His body was presumed lost for 500 years until he was finally found under a car park in Leicester December 2012.
Richard has since been painted as an evil tyrant of a king who murdered his nephews, the princes in the tower - but did he?
Richard was always fiercely loyal to his brother king Edward the fourth. His own motto was LOYALTY ME LIE - LOYALTY BINDS ME. Edward died on April 9th 1483 leaving two sons Edward the fifth, aged 12 and Richard, Duke of York, aged 10. He left them under the protection of their uncle Richard until the young Edward came of age.
This is where the story gets interesting. Elizabeth Woodville, the princes mother planned to have Edward crowned and to rule as regent in his stead until he reached manhood. However, this was not the final wish of her late husband - he specifically willed that his brother Richard would rule as Lord protector. What was Richard to do?
He believed that the best course of action was to house the princes in the tower of London under his protection. Remember that in 1483 only a small portion of the tower was used as a prison. The rest of it was a very beautiful palace, perfectly fit to house the future king of England.
Here comes another twist in the tale.........
Around early summer 1483, the two prince's were declared illegitimate for two reasons.
* Their father already pre-contracted to marry lady Eleanor Talbot before he married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464.
*Edwards marriage to Elizabeth was clandestine (private) before very few witnesses. No banns were called and the kings ministers were not involved.
Richard was crowned king Richard the third and after around mid-July 1483 the boys were never seen again.
So did Richard kill the princes in the tower? Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More and quite a few of today's historians would have us believe so - but what was his motive? The princes had been legally declared illegitimate and Richard crowned the rightful king. The murder of his nephews would not help his cause but rather make life quite difficult for him - child murder was just as heinous a crime 500 years ago as it is now. Secondly, if Richard knew the boys were dead why wouldn't he afford them a proper burial for all of his subjects to see? After all, if the whole of England knew that the princes had passed away then there could be no question that Richard was indeed king.
There was a few other people with much bigger reason to want the boys out of the way but I'm afraid this is another story. I hope I've at least planted a small seed of doubt in your minds.
Let me now bring you back to the present day. December 2012 Richard the third, the last Plantaganet king was found buried under a council car park in the city of Leicester. His DNA was extracted from his bones and compared to his last known relative (his 16th great nephew) It was found to be an exact match. This week his remains will be lowered into a custom built tomb in Leicester cathedral. Better 500 years late than not at all in my opinion.
I hope I've taught you something new today.
Pictures - King Richards face, rebuilt from his skull. His skeleton and where it was found, and the princes in the tower. X
