Research unearths more ‘Princes in the Tower’ mystery evidence for documentary
The University of Huddersfield’s Professor Tim Thornton has unearthed evidence that sheds new light on ‘The Princes in the Tower’, one of the most notorious and controversial missing persons mysteries in British history.
The princes in question were King Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, who disappeared, never to be seen again shortly after entering the Tower of London in 1483.
Their fate has remained unknown, but stories that circulated afterwards, including in one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, have said that they were murdered on the command of King Richard III, their uncle who had claimed the throne after declaring that the 12- and nine-year old brothers were illegitimate.
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Arguments over Richard III’s guilt or innocence have raged for centuries, with the discovery of Richard’s body under a Leicester car park in 2012 adding fuel to the fire. Richard III has many defenders who claim his reputation has been deliberately blackened by the enemies who overthrew him at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.
Will states ownership of Edward V's chain
Now Professor Thornton has discovered documents linking one of the boy-king Edward V’s most important personal possessions to powerful figures widely thought to be implicated with Richard III in the death of the brothers.
His findings feature in a new documentary ’Princes in the Tower: A Damning Discovery’, which features actor and keen historian Jason Watkins and Tracy Borman, historian and Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces. The documentary airs on Channel 5 at 21:00 GMT on 3 December and will also be available to stream.
The research also features in The Journal of the Historical Association.
Key to the findings is the will, drawn up 33 years after the princes were last seen, of one wealthy London widow Margaret Capell.
The will shows that she and her husband, Sir William Capell, owned Edward V’s chain which would have been a valuable item strongly identified with the missing prince. Margaret was the sister-in-law of Sir James Tyrell, who allegedly confessed to organising the murders of the princes on the orders of Richard III. That confession has been widely challenged by the many historians and members of the public who believe Richard has been wrongly accused of the princes’ deaths.
New development in enduring mystery
With an implication that such a personal item would not have been given up voluntarily and may have been kept as proof that the deed had been carried out, Professor Thornton says this is an exciting development in the study of this notorious case.
“The identification of the chain is significant as powerful men of that time wore collars or chains made out of precious metals as expressions of their identities. These chains would have carried symbols or badges of their associations and loyalties and of who they were, so this is a very personal possession of the King, clearly identified as his and it is in the hands of Margaret Capell.
“There are various possible reasons for the chain passing into the hands of the Capell family. Some are neutral or benign, perhaps part of a process of dispersing the goods of the princes once their status had changed. But the connection with Sir James Tyrell adds to the probability that the two boys had died in the way that has traditionally been described.”
Professor Thornton scoured the National Archives at Kew for connections to Sir James Tyrell, whose wife Anne was the sister of Margaret Capell. Margeret’s will listed the chain of Edward V, raising the possibility that it had come into her possession through her family connection to Tyrell.
Further linking the chain and the Capells to the traditional story of Richard’s guilt in the princes’ murder is that William Capell’s lawyer was John More, whose son Sir Thomas More wrote the first account to pin the disappearance and deaths of the boys on Richard III, Tyrell and other accomplices.
Paul Delaroche’s painting of the Princes in the Tower, ‘The Children of Edward’, held in The Louvre.Professor Thornton’s earlier research discovered that Sir Thomas More knew the sons of one of Tyrell’s alleged accomplices, and now he has shown that More’s family was strongly linked to the family possessing the only known memento of the disappeared boy king.
More links back to Richard III - but not a 'smoking gun'
“None of this is conclusive, it is not a ‘smoking gun’, but it adds considerably to the evidence that connects Sir James Tyrell and the story told by Sir Thomas More about the fate of the princes – and through a physical object that would have been in the Tower at the time of these terrible events.”
The reference to the chain in Margaret Capell’s will is a significant development, although Professor Thornton suggests that the debate over Richard III’s role will continue.
“Historians do not work to the principle of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, because we have inevitably limited evidence. We cannot interview suspects or conduct forensic investigations at crime scenes, so we have to work on the balance of probabilities. There are still good arguments in favour of Richard III, but the balance is shifting towards his guilt.”