Friday, May 25, 2007

Strange history theory of the day...

In the Telegraph:
One of the so-called Princes in the Tower allegedly murdered by Richard III actually survived and ended life as a bricklayer, according to an historian.
David Baldwin, who lectures at the University of Leicester, believes that Edward, the elder prince, died of natural causes and that Richard, the younger Prince, was secretly sent to live with his mother.
After their father, King Edward IV, died, the princes - aged 12 and nine - were placed in the Tower of London in 1483 for their own protection by their uncle, Richard III.
He then had them declared illegitimate and claimed the throne.
The skeletons of two children discovered in the Tower in 1674 fuelled the belief that Richard III had them murdered. But in his book, The Lost Prince: The Survival of Richard of York, Mr Baldwin argues that after Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth, the prince was taken to St John's Abbey in Colchester, where he worked as a bricklayer.
There, he kept his identity a secret for fear of reprisals from Henry VII and he died in 1550.
"There are several pieces of circumstantial evidence to suggest they were not killed," said Mr Baldwin.
"When Henry VII became king, he visited Colchester no less than four times during his reign, which he didn't do for other regions.
"The impression is that there was something going on there behind the scenes."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

+JMJ+

I'd believe it. ;)

Anonymous said...

Many years ago, Jeremy Potter's mystery _A Trail of Blood_ suggested a similar scenario.