Tower Of London Research Paper

Prisoners. Death. Murder. These things come to one’s mind when they think of the Tower of London. The fortress has been a symbol of oppression and death for almost a millennium. Many important historical figures have been prisoners of the Tower of London, including Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Sir Walter Raleigh. But two of the most famous and well-known prisoners of the Tower of London are the Edward V and Richard, Duke of York. Edward V was born in 1470, and his brother Richard, Duke of York was born three years later in 1473. They were the sons of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Their imprisonment and sudden disappearance has been one of history’s greatest secrets. No one truly knows what happened to Edward V and his brother …show more content…
When King Edward IV died suddenly in 1483, his twelve-year-old son Edward V was set to be the next King of England. His coronation for was originally set for May 4, 1483, but it was postponed to June 22, 1483 by Edward V’s uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (“Richard III”; Stolze). When Edward IV died, his brother Richard became the protector of Edward’s sons. He put them in the Tower of London, and then went to Parliament proclaiming the princes as illegitimate heirs, and that he was the rightful successor to the throne. Richard claimed that before King Edward IV married Elizabeth Woodville, he was engaged to Lady Eleanor Talbot. If his accusations were true, Richard’s marriage to Elizabeth would be illegal (Bumgardner; Barclay). On June 25, 1483, two months after King Edward IV died, Parliament declared that the engagement between Edward IV and Eleanor Talbot did indeed occur, and the princes were not legitimate heirs to the royal throne. Since the princes were now considered illegitimate heirs, their uncle and protector Richard became the King of England on July 6, 1483 (Reisman). After Richard III was crowned king, he kept the princes at the Tower of London as prisoners. The brothers were moved to the Garden Tower, now known as the Bloody Tower. The last time they were ever seen was in the late summer of 1483 when they were playing in the tower gardens (“Prisoners of the Tower”; “Richard III”). The princes in the tower were forgotten by most until “during construction work at the Tower of London in 1674, workmen unearthed a wooden chest at the base of a stairwell near the White Tower. Inside, they discovered human skulls, whole and fragmented bones, some animal bones and a few nails” (Stolze). Even though the princes were well-known prisoners of the Tower of London, no one knows for certain what happened to them, and if the remains in the chest belong to