The Mythology of the 'Princes in the Tower'

John Ashdown-Hill

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781445679426
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

When did the term 'Princes in the Tower' come into usage, who invented it, and to whom did it refer? To the general public the term is synonymous with the supposedly murdered boy King Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, sons of Edward IV. But were those boys genuinely held against their will in the Tower? Would their mother, Elizabeth Widville, have released her son Richard from sanctuary with her if she believed she would be putting his life in danger? The children of Edward IV were declared bastards in 1483 and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was offered the throne. But after Bosworth, in order to marry their sister Elizabeth of York, Henry VII needed to make her legitimate again. If the boys were alive at that time then Edward V would once again have become the rightful king. Following the discovery of some bones in the Tower in 1674 they were interred in a marble urn in Westminster Abbey as the remains of the two sons of Edward IV. What evidence exists, or existed at the time, to prove these indeed were the remains of two 15th-century male children? What did the 1933 urn opening reveal? John Ashdown-Hill is uniquely placed to answer these questions. By working with geneticists and scientists, and exploring the mtDNA haplogroup of the living all-female-line collateral descendant of the brothers, he questions the orthodoxy and strips away the myths.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Introduction
• 1 - Who were the so-called ‘Princes in the Tower’?
• 2 - Who invented the term ‘Princes in the Tower’, and when?
• 3 - What does the term ‘Princes in the Tower’ imply?
• 4 - What was young Edward really like?
• 5 - What was young Richard really like?
• 6 - How was young Edward brought up?
• 7 - What provisions were made for young Richard?
• 8 - When did King Edward IV die?
• 9 - Were the two boys captured in April 1483?
• 10 - What did their mother do?
• 11 - Why were the ‘princes’ declared bastards?
• 12 - What did Lord Hastings do?
• 13 - What does the Cely Note mean?
• 14 - Would Richard III have had the boys killed?
• 15 - Did ‘Edward V’ attend Richard III’s coronation?
• 16 - What was the Duke of Buckingham up to?
• 17 - Did young Edward die in 1483?
• 18 - Did young Richard survive beyond 1483?
• 19 - What did the Duke of Norfolk do in late July/August 1483?
• 20 - Would Henry VII have had the boys killed?
• 21 - What myths are told about ‘Richard of England’?
• 22 - What myths are told about ‘Richard of Eastwell’?
• 23 - When was the story of the murder of the ‘princes in the Tower’ put out?
• 24 - How and why was the story promulgated?
• 25 - How are the boys said to have been killed?
• 26 - What bones were found at the Tower of London, and when?
• 27 - What did the 1933 urn opening reveal?
• 28 - Hypodontia?
• 29 - Can DNA now reveal the truth?
• Plates
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1 - The Reign of Edward V
• Appendix 2 - Tanner
• Appendix 3 - The Meaning of the Latin Word nuper
• Appendix 4 - Leuven Reports
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements