In the days and weeks following the coronation of Richard III, Edward and the Duke of York were steadily seen less and less until they completely disappeared from public view, sometime in August or September, 1483.
What happened to the so-called Princes in the Tower after that is uncertain. It is generally accepted by historians that they were killed. There is much uncertainty surrounding the question of who killed Edward and the Duke of York, but the three most likely suspects are Richard III, Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, and Henry Tudor. All three men are suspected of having their own reasons for wanting Edward out of the way.
The Suspects in the Mystery of the Princes in the Tower
Richard III
Even though Richard III had successfully removed Edward from the line of succession, his hold on the crown was not secure. So long as Edward and the Duke of York remained alive, they were a threat to Richard’s rule. While they were too young to actively plot against Richard themselves, Edward’s imprisonment could have been used by Richard’s enemies as a pretext for rebellion.
Rumours of the deaths of Edward and the Duke of York are known to have been circulating in England by the end of 1483. However, Richard never seems to have attempted to dispel these rumours by allowing Edward to be seen in public. This suggests that Edward and the Duke of York were dead by then or not under Richard’s control, which is unlikely, as they were held in the Tower of London. Instead Richard remained totally silent and did not even order an investigation into the disappearance of Edward and his brother. As a result, many modern historians regard Richard as the most likely suspect.
The Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, was one of Richard’s closest supporters and sought to gain personal advantage through his rule. Some modern historians regard the Duke of Buckingham as the most like suspect in the murder of the Princes in the Tower. The King and the Duke are known to have had a falling out that led to a rebellion against Richard’s rule, in October 1483, and his eventual execution a month later.
Historians speculate that the uprising was a result of the Duke’s decision to dispose of Richard’s enemies on his own initiative. It has also been suggested that the Duke of Buckingham was working with Henry Tudor, serving to clear Henry’s path to the throne. At the same time, it has also been suggested that the Duke of Buckingham was acting under Richard’s orders and that the rebellion occurred afterward, when the Duke of Buckingham became dissatisfied with his position in Richard’s court.
Additionally, the Duke of Buckingham was descended from Edward III through John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. It is possible that the Duke of Buckingham had his own designs on the throne. In any case the guilt or innocence of the Duke of Buckingham depends on the princes having died before October, 1483, as the Duke of Buckingham was put to death in November.
Henry VII
Following his coronation, Henry VII proceeded to find a legal excuse to execute a number his enemies. He also married Edward’s older sister, Elizabeth of York, in order to strengthen his hold on the crown. However, Henry’s plan required both Edward and his brother to be dead. Henry has been ruled out as a suspect in the murder of the Princes in the Tower, as he would not have had access to the Tower of London until after his coronation in 1485. As a result historians are uncertain why Richard did not produce Edward, or his killer, when he was accused of arranging the deaths of the Princes in the Tower.
Primary Source Evidence in the Disappearance of Edward V
Following the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower, a number of pretenders came forward claiming to be Richard, the Duke of York. Curiously, there were no pretenders claiming to be Edward, however, as the Prince of Wales and the nominal King of England, Edward would have been much harder impersonate.
According to the primary sources, the rumours of Edward’s death were wide-spread in England by the end of 1483. When summarizing the events of that year, Philippe de Commines stated categorically that Richard had arranged the murder of the Princes in the Tower. However, it should be noted that neither of the other related primary sources, the Croyland Chronicle, and the writings of Dominic Mancini, suggest a possible suspect.
Additionally, only the writings of Dominic Mancini are contemporary to the time period during which the princes are thought to have disappeared, while the other related sources were written three and seven years after the fact. The mystery of the Princes in the Tower is made further confused by the Great London Chronicle, which is based on municipal records from the City of London. It makes the claim that the rumours of Edward’s death did not begin circulating in England until sometime around Easter, 1484. Based on these sources, some historians have speculated that the rumour of the deaths of the Princes in the Tower was spread by Henry Tudor and the Duke of Buckingham in an attempt to topple Richard III, in 1483.
In 1502, Sir James Tyrell, a supporter of Richard III, gave an alleged confession in which he claimed to have killed Edward and the Duke of York. While writing his History of Richard III, in 1513, Sir Thomas More, then a supporter of the House of Tudor and later the Chancellor to Henry VIII, identified Tyrell as Edward’s killer and claimed that Tyrell was acting under Richard’s orders. Both the Great Chronicle of London and the Anglica Historia, which were written around the same time as More’s History of Richard III identified Tyrell as Edward’s killer.
According to More, Edward and the Duke of York were smothered in their beds by agents of Tyrell, Miles Forest and John Dighton. Sir Thomas More wrote that the bodies of the princes were then buried at the foot of a staircase in the Tower of London. They were later disinterred and reburied in a secret location. During the reign of Henry VIII, Miles Forest received the favour of the King. "After the Dissolution, the Manor of Morborne, with the house and grange of Ogerston…was granted in 1540 with all appurtenaces, to Miles Forest, bailiff of the Abbot of Peterbourough." In 1534, More had a falling out with Henry VIII, when he refused to acknowledge the King as the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
The Mystery of the Princes in the Tower Today
In 1674, workman renovating the Tower of London uncovered a wood box containing the skeletons of two children. The bones were found at the bottom of a staircase that closely matched the one described by Sir Thomas More. The two skeletons were said to have been found with "pieces of rag and velvet," which indicated that they had been young aristocrats.
The bones were collected up, placed in an urn and interred in Westminster Abbey on the orders of Charles II. In 1933, the bones were examined and photographed by forensic experts, who determined that the two children had most likely been between the ages of seven and thirteen when they died, which would have been the approximate ages of Edward and the Duke of York at the time of their deaths. However, there was not enough skeletal evidence remaining determine the gender of the two children. To date, the bones have not been undergone genetic testing and remain on display in their original urn, in Westminster Abbey.
Sources
Cawthorne, Nigel. Kings and Queens of England. New York: Metro Books
Weir, Alison. The Princes in the Tower. 1992, New York: Random House
Terry Long - I hold degrees in history and journalism. In addition to my contributions to Suite 101, I have also written for the Brampton Bulletin, the ...
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