The Princes in the Tower: A Medieval Murder Mystery
Swords clash on a muddy battlefield, steel ringing as blades collide in a bloody collaboration of rage and duty. The coppery smell of blood hangs in the air as the shrieks of the wounded mingle with the sounds of fighting. The thundering of hooves can be felt underfoot as the enemy lunges forth, sword in hand, ready to cast a serious blow. Another bloody civil war is ripping through the Plantagenet family of the Yorkist and Lancastrian sides as they vie for the throne of England. Many were placed squarely in the middle of that conflict, but none more so than the poor, unfortunate, young princes of the Tower.
Historic Royal Palaces and Historic UK provided all of the information I gathered for this post. These are ideal resources for any piece or part of British history you may be interested in. If this post happens to raise an interest in the Wars of the Roses then they are great places to become better informed on those conflicts.
The Wars of the Roses erupted out of bitterness and jealousy in 1455, lasting until the fall of the last Plantagenet king, Richard III, in 1485. They were a series of civil wars fought between the competing sides of the Plantagenet family as they vied for England’s throne. The Plantagenets were split down the middle into two rival houses: the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The House of Lancaster was headed by Henry VI, who began as king at the start of these wars. Meanwhile his cousin, Edward IV, led the House of York. While Henry took a red rose for his house’s symbol, his cousin took a white rose. This led to the civil wars being colloquially known as the Wars of the Roses.
With Henry VI and Edward IV both directly descended from Edward III, they both firmly believed in their God-given birthright to rule England. That belief would drag many young men to war, never to come home again. Their heedless lust for absolute power would almost remind one of a Game of Thrones episode. In an era where politics resembled a blood sport laden with deception and manipulation the words of Cersei Lannister are easily recalled. ‘When you play the game of thrones you either win, or you die.’
Edward IV imprisoned his royal rival in the Tower of London in 1461, stealing the crown for himself. Serious violence would be the most notable characteristic of his reign at this time. He was continuously fighting to keep the crown he had only just won from his cousin. As a result he was always away. While away at war he would entrust the running of the country and the castle to his very capable mother, Cecily of York.
It was either spring or summer in 1464 when he finally wed his queen, the innocent and beautiful Elizabeth Woodville. The marriage was kept under wraps for months and not publicly announced until September of that year. There may have been a reason for this as it was not received well by members of the court. The couple married in secret at Elizabeth’s family chapel with only her mother, Jacquetta, Countess of Rivers, as a witness. Though Elizabeth was considered the most beautiful woman on the isle, she still lacked the standing of a future Queen of England. She came from a very respectable genteel family, but one that held no titles and lacked diplomatic allies. She was also the widow of Sir John Grey of Grosby, a firm Lancastrian supporter who died fighting for the House of Lancaster. Members of the court hardly thought her a good match for the King.
Edward’s cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, had been planning a match between him and a French princess at the time he married Elizabeth. When the Earl learned of his cousin’s ill-advised nuptials he was blinded by his rage. Incensed at the King’s decision, made behind his back, he switched sides, becoming a Lancastrian supporter almost overnight.
As though she weren’t already looked down upon at court, Elizabeth probably didn’t help matters after being crowned at her coronation. Now officially the Queen, she made sure that her family reaped the benefits of her newfound position and power. Both sons from her previous marriage were well taken care of, with one gaining a prominent place at court, and the other marrying into nobility. Edward IV had no qualms with doling out these favors, knowing that their support within his court was useful. Their elevation at his hands would make the Woodvilles ever-loyal to him, and him alone. With the Earl of Warwick and his powerful circle now firmly against him, he would need all the support he could get.
By all accounts it would seem that the relationship between Elizabeth and Edward was a success, by the standards of a royal marriage of that time anyway. The couple spent nineteen years together, only parting when Edward finally met his death. The Queen also fulfilled her royal duty of childbearing, providing the King and the kingdom with ten children. They were blessed with seven girls and three boys, with five of their daughters surviving to adulthood among the trials and tribulations of living in the late Middle Ages. Their names were Elizabeth, Cecily, Anne, Catherine, and Bridget. While Bridget would find her calling at the convent, becoming a nun, her sisters all married well and lived well. Elizabeth of York will be heard from again later on.
Everything seemed to be coming up white roses for Edward IV and the House of York until 1470. Supporters of Henry VI rallied together and freed him from his prison in the Tower. He was quickly re-crowned King in an event that went down in the histories as the ‘Readeption.’ Edward fled for his life with his closest and most-loved brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, by his side. The pair traveled quickly and quietly, eventually reaching the safety of Flanders. Meanwhile Elizabeth, a mother of three and pregnant at the time, was forced to seek sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. It was customary during times of war to seek sanctuary within abbeys and churches as no one was allowed to take you from, or kill you at these sacred, holy sites. Elizabeth, her mother, and her children all enjoyed relative safety at the Abbey for quite some time.
On November 2, 1470, at the Abbey’s adjoining house of Cheyneygates, Elizabeth gave birth to her fourth child and her first son. Her three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Cecily, were no doubt happy for the distraction of a new baby brother to play with and dote upon as they dealt with their confinement. Though they lived comfortably while they were there no one could risk stepping outside the Abbey’s door and becoming free game for the opposing side to grab. With Elizabeth now harboring her husband’s heir she needed to be particularly careful.
Edward returned from exile in early 1471, ready to take back what he saw as rightfully his. His forces defeated Henry’s at the Battle of Tewkesbury, resulting in the death of Henry’s son and heir. He found himself back inside the Tower of London, a prisoner of war in a familial conflict. In May of that year news his death would be made public, which at first raised little suspicion. In the beginning it was thought the former king had died from melancholy, but suspicions started to rise around the Duke of Gloucester, with many believing him to have ordered the death himself. This suspicion, among others, would inspire William Shakespeare in the future.
With the death of Henry VI and his heir the Lancastrian line was extinguished. With Edward’s path clear his claim was strengthened. This was only further helped by the birth of his son and namesake, Edward. In 1473 another boy would be born to the royal couple in Shrewsbury, giving them an heir and a spare. His name was Richard and at the age of just one he would be named the Duke of York, beginning a tradition. From then on out the king’s second son would take this title. At the young age of only four, Richard was contracted to marry the five-year-old Anne de Mowbray, making him Duke of Norfolk as well. While this may seem wild to us today marriage contracts for children of royal or noble houses was quite the norm in those days.
As King Edward IV was reinstated, his eldest son became the Prince of Wales. The young prince was then packed off to Ludlow Castle at the Welsh border, where his father had grown up. Joined by his mother and presumably his siblings, Prince Edward had a typical childhood for a future king of the late Medieval period. His maternal uncle, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl of Rivers, was tasked with looking after the princeling and his seeing to his education due to his renown as a scholar. He also enjoyed a position as the King’s right-hand man. The rigorous schedule laid out for the boy had been strictly dictated by his father, who took a keen interest in his son’s day-to-day activities as well as his household. A day in the life of Prince Edward began early, with a church service that was quickly followed by breakfast. The rest of his day was dedicated to schooling as he learned all he would need to know to be an effective ruler one day.
The King’s influence on the Prince’s upbringing didn’t stop there. He ordered that his son eat well everyday and sleep well every night. His household should contain only the most respectable of servants; no ‘swearers, brawlers, backbiters, common hazarders, adulterers, words of ribaldry.’ Though his studies were exhaustive the King also ordered that the Prince still be allowed time with the dogs and horses he so enjoyed. He wanted his son guided and governed by morality and religion alone to ensure his path as a righteous ruler.
As King Edward IV saw to all things concerning his heir’s upbringing and future, he also saw to his marriage contract in 1480, when the princeling was only ten years old. He selected who thought to be a worthy future Queen of England while also making a valuable alliance with Francis II, Duke of Brittany, at the same time. Prince Edward was contracted to marry the Duke’s then four-year-old daughter, Anne of Brittany. Despite their young ages the children’s futures were planned out in great detail, right down to the time in which they might start having children. With one the heir to Brittany, and the other the heir to the English throne this kind of planning was seen as paramount to their success. Their match would unite Brittany with the Crown, which presented much potential for the homelands of both Francis II and Edward IV. The military and political value of their union made Anne of Brittany a natural choice to betroth to the Prince of Wales. Anne never would become the Queen of England, though, going on to marry Maximillian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Edward IV reigned for twelve successful years before dying unexpectedly at the age of forty-one. On April 9, 1483, suffering from what was likely either pneumonia or typhoid, he breathed his last ragged breaths. Though the beginning of his first reign was marked by the violence of trying to keep his crown, his second reign was far different. Without a Lancastrian opposition he was able to rule over a peaceful and prosperous land, going out a much-loved King of the people. In his forty-one years he had secured the crown on his head and gained a fortune, both of which was meant to be passed down to his son and heir.
Prince Edward, now slated to become King Edward V at the age of just twelve, was still living at Ludlow Castle when news of his father’s passing reached him. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was in the north of England when he lost his closest brother. News of his loss wouldn’t reach him for three days as the Woodvilles scrambled to have the Prince crowned before the devious Duke had a chance to maneuver. The royal counsel, mostly made up of Woodvilles, convened on the matter. With their positions and titles all up in the air they wanted to make sure that the Prince of Wales was instated before the formation of a new court under the Lord Protector, the Duke of Gloucester.
Edward IV had been methodical and fastidious throughout his reign. Even on his deathbed this was his policy. As the good King’s death quickly approached he entrusted his son’s care as well as that of England with his dear brother, the Duke. While Edward truly thought that he could trust him, the Prince would soon learn in the worst of ways that the new Lord Protector could not be trusted. Though the dying King could not have known it, his brother harbored insidious ambitions of absolute power.
Arrangements were being made for Edward V’s coronation when the Duke was finally informed of his brother’s death. The Woodvilles hoped that their swift movements would get Richard out of the way as Lord Protector so they could rule in his stead until he came of age. The Woodvilles actually would’ve been the better option between the two considering how things played out with the Duke of Gloucester in charge. As they prepared to send the young Prince to London to be crowned King, Richard swooped in, duping his brother’s in-laws with a facade of loyalty. He wanted to meet his nephew’s traveling party on the way to London and join the escort. His ill intentions were well hidden behind a mask fealty for his favorite brother’s son and heir. Elizabeth and her family never could’ve expected the Duke’s complete betrayal when they made arrangements for Edward V’s party to meet Richard before continuing on to London.
As plans were being laid for the boy King’s coronation and his meeting with the Lord Protector another meeting was being arranged. Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl of Rivers, was organizing a meeting with the Duke that would be attended by himself and Edward V’s older half-brother, Richard Grey. When the pair arrived they were feted before receiving the first of many rude awakenings to come. They morning after their feast the Duke of Gloucester, already relishing his role as Lord Protector, had Elizabeth Woodville’s brother and son arrested and hauled to northern England. Right alongside them was Edward IV’s chamberlain, Thomas Vaughan. Richard Grey’s titles and land was seized, being redistributed to those the Duke found worthy of them. Two months later, in June 1483, Anthony Woodville and Richard Grey were executed at Pontefract Castle, much to Edward V’s horror.
When the young king-to-be met with his uncle on the road to London he railed against what had been done to his mother’s family. Simply dismissing the rest of his entourage, the Duke took it upon himself to escort him the rest of the way. When they reached the city in which his coronation would take place Edward V was immediately taken to the Tower of London for what was supposed to have been his own protection. At first nothing seemed amiss despite the location of the Prince. His coronation was scheduled for June 22, 1483. Much preparation went into this day, such as the minting of new coins. With so much being done the Woodvilles had no reason to worry that the coronation wouldn’t take place. It would seem that this was only meant to buy the Duke some time while he discredited his nephew’s claim.
Edward V remained in the Tower as his family went on believing he would soon be crowned King. Traditionally coronation processions started at the Tower of London and it was customary for the new monarch to spend the night there before his ceremony. When the Duke requested that Edward’s little brother, the nine-year-old Richard, Duke of York join him in London he claimed that he only wanted to make sure that he was present at the coronation.
Elizabeth was clearly starting to smell something in the air. For the second time in her life she was packing up her family along with many of her belongings to seek sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. It’s been said that she brought so much with her that an entire wall had be broken down just to get it all in. Considering the fact that her goal was to seal herself, her family, and her servants up and away from harm this is unlikely. She received the Duke’s request to send young Richard to London after arriving at the Abbey and was reasonably resistant. Finally forced to give in, she held her son tightly before sending him away to never be seen again. The obvious distress this caused her would lead one to believe she was already harboring suspicions of the Duke. Though her family seemed confident that Edward would soon be King, Elizabeth was starting to sense something sinister in the Duke of Gloucester.
Due to the boys’ heightened positions it seemed perfectly reasonable to hide them away in the Tower until the elder could be crowned. While Edward V was about to be King of England, his little brother was the heir presumptive. Placed under heavy guard, it’s hard to know what was going through their heads at that time. As months fell away from the calendar the outward preparations for the coronation shielded the court’s eyes from what was happening behind the scenes. Just out of the view of the court the Duke of Gloucester was working hard to prove his nephews illegitimate. By mid-June he succeeded in discrediting their claim and usurping the throne. Parliament declared the union between Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville illegitimate due to the fact that the King was contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler at the time he married Elizabeth. Since their marriage was seen as illegitimate, so were their children.
The Lord Protector maneuvered his way onto the throne by betraying his dead brother and his wishes while tossing his nephews to the side. On July 6, 1483, he was crowned King, becoming Richard III, the final Plantagenet King to rule England. The northern army at his back only strengthened his claim, but it didn’t earn him any allies at court. In record time he managed to accrue a whole host of enemies within his own court, leading to an intense fear of being usurped. His unpopularity was no secret to him. He was well aware of the way he was viewed, lending him a heightened sense of paranoia that seems to be well-deserved. It’s due to this fear and paranoia that Richard III remains suspect number one in this Medieval murder mystery.
The last reference we have to the young Princes comes on June 16, 1483, just days before Edward V should’ve been crowned. The boys were seen shooting arrows in the Tower’s garden as they were said to have done often up until that time. After that day they were moved further into the confines of the Tower, likely with little explanation.
Dominic Mancini was an Italian chronicler who had also been a major diplomat within Edward IV’s court between 1482 and 1483. It was not only common, but customary for such individuals to write their accounts and retellings of court life, reporting all that they saw and heard. Still lingering around after the Princes’ captivity, Mancini commented on his suspicions and concerns as he noted their gradual withdrawal from daily court life. He next notes their complete removal, commenting on their move to the White Tower from ‘Bloody Tower,’ where the gardens were located. The White Tower was commonly used to house royal captives during that time. His alarm was obvious as he reported on the situation. Though he never comes out and says it, one can easily see that he suspected Richard III of acting nefariously against his own nephews.
To this day, 641 years later, the topic of what happened next is still up for hot debate. The most common belief is that Richard III had the Princes quietly killed sometime in the autumn of 1483. His intense paranoia and fear of being usurped gives him the best motive. Those boys were a threat to his throne as long as they drew breath. No matter what he did to discredit their birthright there would likely always be those who wanted to see Edward V take his crown. Politics of the Middle Ages were more like a polite battlefield, where those taking part hid their intentions behind civility and chivalry. Only when the target turned their back or let their guard down was the blade revealed. It’s not out of the way to believe that these boys were killed to secure the crown on Richard’s head.
Though no one in his court dared to accuse him outright, everyone suspected him of regicide even then. Gossip ripped through the castle, but none of it included the feral new King’s name. While everyone suspected the worst, Elizabeth was forced to plaster a smile on her face and reconcile with him despite what she may have felt at the time. She had been vulnerable since the death of her husband. Now that his power-hungry brother had usurped the throne she was left in an even more precarious position. She had seen multiple members of her family executed and it was quite likely that this man had killed her two young sons for his own security. The only way she could finally leave the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey was to bend and conform to his will.
The first account of the Princes’ disappearance wasn’t written until thirty years later during the reign of Henry VIII. Between 1513 and 1518, the King’s Chancellor Sir Thomas More wrote the account in an unfinished biography. Though More was just a child at the time, he wrote on the event as though he had been present to witness every awful moment of the story. It’s important to note that the Chancellor had a job to do in writing this account. This so-called retelling was meant to lend validity to the Tudors while casting the Plantagenets in a dark, villainous shadow of greed and ambition.
None was portrayed more unfavorably than Richard III, though. Cast as a cruel, twisted monster, he was said to have ordered the death of his nephews at the hands of two of his servants. He described the boys being held down and suffocated in their beds as though he he’d witnessed the act first hand. He even recalled conversations had between members of the court in such a way you would think he’d been eavesdropping. The fact is nothing he wrote in that account can be taken with more than a grain of salt considering that he wrote it only to please Henry VIII. More would’ve been nowhere near the court of London in his childhood, so he didn’t witness anything. Nevertheless his rendering of Richard III would go on to inspire William Shakespeare’s play by the same name.
Referencing Richard III’s curved spine, he referred to the former King as a small man in stature as he painted his features in monstrous tones. Every bit of this description was meant to make him seem more like the kind of villain that would kill children for a crown. The corrupt, crooked fiend he created for his account likely wasn’t too far off the mark, but there’s no way for us to know today if he actually ordered the murder of his nephews.
Though Richard III remains suspect number one to this day, we cannot ignore the fact that there were others that would’ve benefited greatly from the boys’ demise. The King became increasingly paranoid during his short two-year reign as enemies continued to accumulate. His brother’s sons were another threat making him increasingly fearful. The intense paranoia he experienced even led him to execute his close friend and ally, Lord Hastings, at the Tower of London. His motive may have been the strongest, but that doesn’t mean in this world of blood politics that he was the only one with something to gain.
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, was Richard III’s right-hand man. Ever-reaching for the top and always overly eager to please his King, there are many who subscribe to the theory that he ordered the boys’ deaths. His motive was nothing more than to curry favor with the King. If this is true then the loss of the young Princes becomes even more senseless as the 2nd Duke of Buckingham eventually fell out of favor. Charged with treason, he was executed for his crime before the end of Richard’s reign.
Another good theory is that Richard had kept the boys alive, but imprisoned under heavy guard in the Tower to protect his claim. When Henry VII defeated him and took his crown in 1485, he had all rival claimants executed by order of the new King. This would’ve most certainly included the Princes if they were found to still be alive in the Tower. Henry VII married Edward V’s older sister, Elizabeth of York, after taking the throne. As long as her brothers were dead, she was set to inherit whatever would’ve been their’s, which would’ve gone straight to her husband. So it seems that he had two good motives to murder the boys.
John Howard was a close friend of Richard III’s and another good suspect in the Princelings’ disappearance. He held custody of the Tower of London during the time the boys were imprisoned there. He even took over the young Duke of Norfolk’s estate and title after he and his older brother vanished behind the Tower’s impenetrable walls. Was this possibly a reward for handling the King’s rival claimants?
Henry VII’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, would’ve done quite literally anything to ensure her son ascended the throne of England. Even if it meant using her large network of spies and lackeys to have two young Princes killed to remove any further rivals. The Lancastrian matriarch wanted nothing more than to see her Tudor son crowned King. With many loyal men at her disposal, Margaret could’ve ordered their deaths with a mere wave of her hand and an uttering of words from hundreds of miles away.
Margaret Beaufort would see her dream realized when her son defeated Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. Just two years into Richard’s reign the Wars of the Roses would finally end with his bloody death. Henry VII was immediately crowned, thus beginning the Tudor dynasty. If Richard III had in fact killed his nephews for a crown then he had done it for nothing. He not only saw his own life ended by the Tudors, but his family’s entire dynasty wiped out of existence.
With the last Plantagenet monarch dead and buried you would think that this would be the end of the story, but it is not. In 1491 a man named Perkin Warbeck emerged from absolutely nowhere, claiming to be Richard, Duke of York. He said that he had managed to escape the Tower and lived his life on the run ever since. For six years after his emergence Warbeck traversed Europe as he convinced many notable figures of the time that he was in fact the missing Duke of York. Among those to buy into his farce was the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximillian I, King James IV of Scotland, and even the Princes’ own aunt, Margaret of York. Calling him ‘Richard IV of England,’ they accepted his story as fact. In 1497 Warbeck attempted to invade England and failed miserably before being thrown in the Tower to await execution. Before he was put to death he finally admitted his lie and gave his real name.
No one painted Richard III in a worse light than William Shakespeare. When writing the play that he named after the infamous King he portrayed him more monstrously than Sir Thomas More had in his unfinished biography. The play was written specifically for Elizabeth I, whose great-gandfather was Henry VII. He wanted to depict her great-grandfather’s arch nemesis in a way that would please her. In the play he has Richard III ordering the deaths of his nephews, executing his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, and stabbing Henry VI as he prayed in the Wakefield Tower while imprisoned under Edward IV. While we cannot know for sure if any of this ever actually happened it speaks volumes that even years after his death people still suspected him of many atrocious acts. Given the acts we know he committed and the ones he suspected of, he couldn’t have been a very virtuous person.
Nearly 200 years after the innocent young Princes disappeared from site at court a grim discovery was made. In 1647 King Charles II ordered the Tower of London’s royal palace within the White Tower demolished. Here there laid a turret that had at one point contained a privy staircase, leading directly inside St. John’s Chapel. About ten feet underneath that old staircase a wooden chest was found. When it was pulled from the rubble and opened those gathered around it were shocked. Two skeletons laid inside the chest, small enough to be determined children. Many to this day believe that these were the remains of the Yorkist Princes, though that has never been proved.
For the next four years these skeletons would attract crowds of tourists as they sat on display. The attraction was a hit during a time when public executions were like a night out at the movies. After four years of be gawked at by travelers, Charles II finally had the bones properly interred at Westminster Abbey, where they remain to this day.
The bones were forensically examined in 1933, 490 years after the Princes’ supposed deaths. It’s said that the bones were determined to have been that of two boys, aged around ten and twelve. It’s also been reported that this examination yielded no conclusive results, which is more likely given that it was performed in the 30s. No further testing has been done to this day, even with the advancements made in DNA testing over the last thirty years. An English monarch has to give permission for the remains to be exhumed and it doesn’t seem that this will ever be done.
Edward V is recognized as the monarch with the shortest reign in history. Though he was never crowned, with his father dead he was technically King for two months before his uncle usurped the throne. No matter how he and the nine-year-old Duke of York met their end there’s no doubt that it was lonely. The fear and hopelessness undoubtedly felt by those boys as they remained locked away in the Tower must have been palpable. Confined and kept from their mother as members of their family were executed, all they had left was each other. Though we’ll never know exactly what happened, or when within the domineering Tower’s walls, we do know that the young Princes perished there. Whether this was in 1483, or later remains one of the world’s oldest mysteries.