Expert: Joseph Logue - 3/28/2004

Question
Do you have any good information about Richard III concerning his innocence in the case of the princes in the tower?

Answer
Hi Zak,

There are many good Web sites Richard III, with varying degree of coverage of his relationship with, and putative role in the deaths of, his young nephews.  If you google "richard III" (use quotation marks) you will get all sorts of results.  That's a start.

Richard has been the subject of innumerable mock trials (I played Richard in college and we got him off).  I have deep suspicions about Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who became, by right of conquest, Henry VII.  I am a big fan of Shakespeare's Richard, crook and murderer though he is.  Amazon has a number of titles that can help you get a clearer picture and help make up your own mind.

I believe that Richard's guilt has entered the popular imagination due to the machinations of the early Tudors to vilify Richard.  Henry Tudor's claim to the throne was tenuous at best.  Henry was also a superb propagandist.  It wasn't enough for him to make a villain out of Richard, but he sought to legitimize his own dynasty by what are brilliant marketing techniques:  He named his first son Arthur so that Britain would once again have a King Arthur (though he died before he could come to the throne).  He had Arthur baptized at Winchester, ancient seat of kings.  Henry, as one of the last of the Lancasters, married the daughter of Edward IV, one of the last kings of the House of York who was the father of the little princes and the older brother of Richard III.

I hope this helps, Zak.  Though I do think that Richard has gotten a bad rap, I don't believe he is guilt-free either.  Something happened in the Tower, and I find it hard to believe that Richard knew nothing about the murders.  But I also think that he would have wanted his nephews to continue the Yorkist claim to the throne.

As always, your local library will have many titles on the subject.  Ask a reference librarian for guidance.


Regards,
Joseph Logue