Since Richard III’s birthday is next week (Tuesday,
October 2), it’s important to spread the word about all the Dicks in his life.
Last week we had Warwick the Kingmaker, previously we had Richard, duke of York
(his father), and today we’ll have his nephew.
As you astute readers no doubt suspect, little York was
one of the “princes in the Tower.” In conspiracy theories, he’s the one who
didn’t die and came back in the 1490s, bearing the name Perkin Warbeck, to
claim the throne. Perkin/Richard/whoever he was was not successful, but there
are scholars out there who contend that Perkin was the real deal.
Anyway, Richard, duke of York was the second son of
Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. He was born on 17 August 1473 (so he
probably died just before or very shortly after his tenth birthday). Richard
was made Duke of York before he was a year old, in May 1474; he was knighted in
April 1475 and made a Knight of the Garter in May 1475. Damn! That’s a lot of
honors for a kid who probably wasn’t even potty-trained.
Of course, the adults in poor Richard’s life seemed
content to put his life on the fast track to adulthood. Edward IV knew that he
needed to provide a substantial landed endowment for his second son, so that
the boy could be a great magnate and prop to his brother’s throne. Edward was
working on this endowment when an even better opportunity arrived – a rich
heiress! When her father died in January 1476, Anne Mowbray (who was all of
three going on four) was left sole heiress to the mighty pile of estates of the
Dukes of Norfolk. Negotiations for a marriage between Richard and Anne started
almost immediately; such a marriage would allow Edward to endow his son at
minimal cost to the crown (rather like what Edward did for his brothers with
the Neville lands). Richard and Anne finally married in January 1478 when the
groom was four and the bride five. Sadly, Anne Mowbray died at age nine in
November 1481, leaving her eight-year-old husband a widower.
After Edward IV died in 1483, Richard went into sanctuary
with his mother and siblings (minus his elder brother who was now king Edward
V). As was customary for medieval kings, Edward V was lodged in the Tower of London
to await his coronation. After the king had been there for several weeks, the
queen dowager was finally persuaded to release Richard from sanctuary so that
he could spend time with his brother. On 16 June 1483, Richard joined his
brother at the Tower, and (in all probability) neither boy ever left. It’s as
though the Tower swallowed them alive (or, you know, their uncle put out a hit
on them).
So that’s Richard, duke of York, younger brother of
Edward V. Given that he probably died at age nine, it’s no surprise we know so
little about him. I realize he had a life of privilege, but it’s a little sad
and a little mind boggling how accelerated his life was. He lived nine years
but he managed to “earn” a dukedom, be knighted twice, get married, and be
widowed before his premature death. That’s a lot of milestones for one so
young.
Rosemary Horrox, “Richard, duke of York and duke of Norfolk (1473–1483),” Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
[http://www.oxforddnb.com., accessed 26 Sept 2012]
 |
| Richard, duke of York, from a stained-glass window in Canterbury Cathedral |
I'm hoping that, if the DNA tests come back that those Leicester bones are Richard III, they'll do more testing on the princes' bones as well. Imagine finally solving that 500-year-old mystery!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, that would be awesome. It would also be a huge deal! Although, even if the bones were conclusively proven to be the princes', people would still claim someone else (not Richard III) murdered them. I wouldn't (I don't now), but there are definitely some people out there who would. Of course, on the off chance the bones at Westminster aren't the princes', I wonder what the abbey would do with them?
ReplyDelete