The Princes in the Tower: Solving History’s Greatest Cold Case
Having tackled the mystery of the body of Richard III (1452-1485) missing from Bosworth Field (“My kingdom for a horse”), exhumed him from the carpark in Leicester, and seen him resting in peace in the cathedral there, Langley turns her skills to the Princes in the Tower. The Princes, twelve-year-old Edward V and nine-year-old Richard, Duke of York, Richard III’s nephews and sons of his elder brother Edward IV, were declared illegitimate in 1483, paving the way for Richard III to gain the crown. Kept for their safety in the Tower of London, the boys disappeared shortly after their uncle’s coronation and for centuries have been the object of pathetic paintings and dramatic portrayals, not least by Shakespeare, as having been murdered on Richard III’s bloody rampage to secure his throne.
Enter Langley, who creates what she likens to a CSI team to crack this cold case. On the whole scepter’d isle, the trail is cold indeed. Not Richard III, but his defeater at Bosworth, Henry VII the first Tudor, seems to have run an effective propaganda campaign, burning cartloads of records and condemning to death anyone who didn’t comply. Even before Richard III rose from the carpark, it did seem a strange coincidence that Henry VII’s upstart reign was troubled by not one but two rebellions, efforts to put the young sons of nobodies on his throne: Lambert Simnel, who’d been crowned in Dublin, and Perkin Warbeck, “the son of a Tournai boatman.” A sheaf of documents discovered on the Continent and included in the Appendices would suggest otherwise.
Langley’s case is bolstered by genealogical tables, timelines, and chapters written by the archivists who curate the important texts, but this leads to confusing repetitions not helped by the repetition of royal names who are sometimes kings, sometimes princes, sometimes dukes and duchesses. Watching the PBS broadcast that the author/editor hosts helped plant my feet on solid ground to continue a profitable read.
