shooting and playing in the Tower garden. According to another account, by the French spy Dominic Mancini, they were seen less and less frequently that summer, at windows and behind bars, ‘till at length they ceased to appear altogether.’ The two accounts contradict one another and it is not possible to be sure what happened. It is usually assumed that the boys were murdered that autumn in the Tower, in secret, much as Shakespeare portrays it, but it is possible that something altogether different happened.
Certainly the boys were fully and completely in the power of their uncle Richard, the aspiring new king, and it is important to explore what sort of man he was. The main difficulty is that most of what we think about him comes to us by way of Shakespeare’s play. Playwrights taking historical subjects often bend history to make a better play, and Shakespeare certainly ‘improved’ the case against Richard. The historical Richard, as opposed to the character in the play, was born on 2 October 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle near Peterborough. As far as the outside world was concerned, he was the fourth son of Richard, Duke of York, who himself had a strong claim to the throne of Henry VI, and his wife, Cecily Neville. Within the family it was an open but unspoken secret that his older brother Edward was illegitimate; his low-key christening ceremony was an admission that his birth was not altogether welcomed. Once that older brother became king, as Edward IV, it became a very dangerous secret.
During the turbulent period of the Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists were sometimes in great danger. In February 1461, their mother sent the nine year old Richard and his brother George overseas, to Utrecht, for safety. It was thought to be too dangerous for them to remain in England. The political situation was constantly changing; they were brought back a month later and at the coronation of Edward IV, Richard was created duke of Gloucester.
Richard’s father was killed when Richard was still a boy, and after that he was taken into the care of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’. Warwick was strongly implicated in turning Henry VI off the throne and replacing him with Richard’s oldest brother (or rather half-brother) Edward, as Edward IV, and therefore indirectly responsible for making Richard king, too.
Richard started to become a player of consequence in 1469, when at the age of seventeen he supported his brother Edward against Warwick, shared his exile and took part in his triumphant return. He fought loyally and effectively on his family’s behalf, the Yorkist cause, in battle after battle in the Wars of the Roses.
During his brother’s reign, Richard worked with steadfast loyalty, using his great skills as a military commander to support his half-brother the king, and was rewarded with huge estates in the north of England and the title Duke of Gloucester. He thus became the richest and most powerful nobleman in England. The other surviving brother, George, Duke of Clarence, was by contrast disloyal to Edward IV, who had him executed for treason. Shakespeare has Richard responsible for murdering Clarence, but the truth is that Edward had him executed in secret; the drowning in a butt of Malmsey was true, but it was Clarence’s requested mode of despatch. Richard had nothing to do with it. It is possible that George tried to use his knowledge of Edward’s illegitimacy as a justification for leading a full-scale revolt in an attempt to supplant him. Edward saw him as too dangerous and had him removed. Richard, meanwhile, showed patience. He played a more intelligent game, showing his older half-brother nothing but loyalty.
After the Battle of Tewkesbury, which the Yorkists won, Richard married Prince Edward’s widow, Anne Neville. It was Richard and his brother George who in cold blood stabbed Prince Edward to death after the battle. Richard was also in the Tower of London shortly
Certainly the boys were fully and completely in the power of their uncle Richard, the aspiring new king, and it is important to explore what sort of man he was. The main difficulty is that most of what we think about him comes to us by way of Shakespeare’s play. Playwrights taking historical subjects often bend history to make a better play, and Shakespeare certainly ‘improved’ the case against Richard. The historical Richard, as opposed to the character in the play, was born on 2 October 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle near Peterborough. As far as the outside world was concerned, he was the fourth son of Richard, Duke of York, who himself had a strong claim to the throne of Henry VI, and his wife, Cecily Neville. Within the family it was an open but unspoken secret that his older brother Edward was illegitimate; his low-key christening ceremony was an admission that his birth was not altogether welcomed. Once that older brother became king, as Edward IV, it became a very dangerous secret.
During the turbulent period of the Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists were sometimes in great danger. In February 1461, their mother sent the nine year old Richard and his brother George overseas, to Utrecht, for safety. It was thought to be too dangerous for them to remain in England. The political situation was constantly changing; they were brought back a month later and at the coronation of Edward IV, Richard was created duke of Gloucester.
Richard’s father was killed when Richard was still a boy, and after that he was taken into the care of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’. Warwick was strongly implicated in turning Henry VI off the throne and replacing him with Richard’s oldest brother (or rather half-brother) Edward, as Edward IV, and therefore indirectly responsible for making Richard king, too.
Richard started to become a player of consequence in 1469, when at the age of seventeen he supported his brother Edward against Warwick, shared his exile and took part in his triumphant return. He fought loyally and effectively on his family’s behalf, the Yorkist cause, in battle after battle in the Wars of the Roses.
During his brother’s reign, Richard worked with steadfast loyalty, using his great skills as a military commander to support his half-brother the king, and was rewarded with huge estates in the north of England and the title Duke of Gloucester. He thus became the richest and most powerful nobleman in England. The other surviving brother, George, Duke of Clarence, was by contrast disloyal to Edward IV, who had him executed for treason. Shakespeare has Richard responsible for murdering Clarence, but the truth is that Edward had him executed in secret; the drowning in a butt of Malmsey was true, but it was Clarence’s requested mode of despatch. Richard had nothing to do with it. It is possible that George tried to use his knowledge of Edward’s illegitimacy as a justification for leading a full-scale revolt in an attempt to supplant him. Edward saw him as too dangerous and had him removed. Richard, meanwhile, showed patience. He played a more intelligent game, showing his older half-brother nothing but loyalty.
After the Battle of Tewkesbury, which the Yorkists won, Richard married Prince Edward’s widow, Anne Neville. It was Richard and his brother George who in cold blood stabbed Prince Edward to death after the battle. Richard was also in the Tower of London shortly
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