Richard III was responsible for the murder of his brothers for centuries.
King Richard III’s involvement in one of the most famous and emotional mysteries in British history may be a step closer to confirmation after a new study by Professor Tim Thornton of the University of Huddersfield.
Richard has long been responsible for killing his nephew, Edward V, and his brother, the Duke of York, in a dispute over the succession to the throne. The couple was captured in the London Tower, but in 1483, Richard, two years after his death, took the blame and disappeared from public view.
Drawing on references to Shakespeare’s play about the doomed King of Yorkists, it has become one of the most unsolved mysteries of all, influenced by later monarchs who wanted to portray their predecessor as a monster.
Evidence suggests that Richard was guilty
Proponents of Richard III point out that there is no hard evidence to link the king to the disappearance of princes who were only 12 and 9 years old when the king ascended the throne in 1483.
However, in the film ‘More Crime’ HistoryJournal of the Historical Association, Professor Thornton, to substantiate the charges against the men who were appointed as the killers of the boys, and to substantiate them III. Richard said there was clear evidence to conclude.
The mystery of the ‘princes in the tower’ has been going on since they were last seen in 1483, after being cursed as vile and exiled from inheritance.
All of this is Sir Thomas More’s’ History of King Richard III ‘, which is the first detailed account of the princes’ deaths. Two men, Miles Forest and John Dighton, were named as the killers. Rather, they claimed to have been recruited by Sir James Tyrell by order of Richard III.
So far, many people have questioned this story as it was written long after the incident, as a ‘Tudor propaganda’ to discredit a dead king, and even claimed that the names of the alleged killers were invented by More.
Reliable sources reinforce Richard’s presence
However, Professor Thornton believes that More came to the right conclusion due to some inner knowledge. Two of the court friends of the famous politician and philosopher were the sons of Miles Forest, one of the men who were said to have killed more princes.
“It was the biggest murder mystery in British history because we couldn’t trust more about what happened – so far,” said Professor Thornton.
“But I showed that the sons of the murderer were in court in England, Henry VIII, and that they lived and worked with Sir Thomas More. He did not write about imaginary people. We now have reason to believe that More’s account of a murder is reliable. ”
The mystery surrounding the princes resonated for centuries, revived in the 1670s when the bones of two boys were rediscovered in the Tower of London, and again in the 1930s when the remains reburied at Westminster Abbey were scientifically re-examined.
The discovery of Richard III’s body under a car park in Leicester in 2012 also aroused the interest of the controversial ruler, and some historians questioned whether he deserved his fame. And the recent announcement of a new film about Richard’s discovery, written by Steve Coogan and Stephen Frears, shows that interest in the controversial monarch is as strong as ever.
Reference: “More on Crime: The Deaths of the Princes in the Tower and Historical Implications for the Regimes of Henry VII and Henry VIII,” Tim Thornton, December 28, 2020, Journal of the Union of History.
DOI: 10.1111 / 1468-229X.13100