The Princes in the Tower
Are you ambitious, ruthless, and willing to stop at nothing to get your way? If so, you would fit in with the royal family of England in the late 1400s. The Princes in the Tower were born in 1470 and 1473. Their names were Edward, Prince of Wales and Richard, Duke of York. Though their lives were cut short and they were never crowned, the mystery surrounding their deaths is still well-known today. Two theories that proposed to solve the mystery behind the Princes in the Tower are that King Richard III had them murdered or he was framed.
Because the princes were kept secretly in the Tower, what became of them still remains a mystery. After his father Edward IV’s untimely death in 1483, the young prince Edward took the …show more content…
Author Elizabeth MacLeod wonders, “Why would Richard murder his brother’s children, especially when their deaths had no effect on his right to England’s throne?” (48). Although Richard III is known for being evil and hunchbacked, many historians believe that this was not the case. The sources about Richard III are considered unreliable because they were written by Sir Thomas More, a Tudor supporter (MacLeod 44). The Tudors would have suppressed sources that painted Richard as a good guy if they were trying to make it seem like he killed the princes. Most people base their assumptions of Richard III off of Shakespeare's play about him. Shakespeare thought that making Richard III look like a villain would win the favor of Queen Elizabeth I, who was of the Tudor line (Macleod 44). In addition to the possibility that the Tudors could have framed him, Richard’s character may prove him innocent. For example, during his coronation proceedings, Richard pardoned and gave money to the families of two men he had previously executed as traitors (Weir 142). In addition to this, Richard gave Sir Robert Brackenbury, a virtuous and trustworthy man, the position of constable of the Tower of London (141). If he planned on doing something unjust, why would he appoint a man, who was known for being noble, to a position where he could observe what was happening in the Tower? These ideas establish the thought that Richard could have been framed for the murder of the
Are you ambitious, ruthless, and willing to stop at nothing to get your way? If so, you would fit in with the royal family of England in the late 1400s. The Princes in the Tower were born in 1470 and 1473. Their names were Edward, Prince of Wales and Richard, Duke of York. Though their lives were cut short and they were never crowned, the mystery surrounding their deaths is still well-known today. Two theories that proposed to solve the mystery behind the Princes in the Tower are that King Richard III had them murdered or he was framed.
Because the princes were kept secretly in the Tower, what became of them still remains a mystery. After his father Edward IV’s untimely death in 1483, the young prince Edward took the …show more content…
Author Elizabeth MacLeod wonders, “Why would Richard murder his brother’s children, especially when their deaths had no effect on his right to England’s throne?” (48). Although Richard III is known for being evil and hunchbacked, many historians believe that this was not the case. The sources about Richard III are considered unreliable because they were written by Sir Thomas More, a Tudor supporter (MacLeod 44). The Tudors would have suppressed sources that painted Richard as a good guy if they were trying to make it seem like he killed the princes. Most people base their assumptions of Richard III off of Shakespeare's play about him. Shakespeare thought that making Richard III look like a villain would win the favor of Queen Elizabeth I, who was of the Tudor line (Macleod 44). In addition to the possibility that the Tudors could have framed him, Richard’s character may prove him innocent. For example, during his coronation proceedings, Richard pardoned and gave money to the families of two men he had previously executed as traitors (Weir 142). In addition to this, Richard gave Sir Robert Brackenbury, a virtuous and trustworthy man, the position of constable of the Tower of London (141). If he planned on doing something unjust, why would he appoint a man, who was known for being noble, to a position where he could observe what was happening in the Tower? These ideas establish the thought that Richard could have been framed for the murder of the