by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Henry VI, King of England died at the Tower of London during the night of May 21, 1471, most likely murdered on the orders of Edward IV, King of England.

Henry VI, King of England

Henry VI, King of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry VI, King of England, born on December 6, 1421, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, is the youngest ever English monarch. He was the only child of Henry V, King of England and Catherine of Valois, the daughter of King Charles VI of France. Henry VI’s father, a warrior king, the victor against the French at the Battle of Agincourt, was determined to conquer France once and for all, but he succumbed to dysentery, a disease that killed more soldiers than battle, on August 31, 1422, at the age of 35, leaving a nine-month-old son to inherit his throne. On October 21, 1422, Henry VI became the titular King of France upon his grandfather Charles VI’s death in accordance with the Treaty of Troyes.

Henry VI, more interested in religion and learning than military matters, was not a successful king. He was shy, peaceful, and pious, hated bloodshed and deceit, and was not a warrior like his father. When it was time for him to marry, his advisers persuaded Henry that the way to achieve peace with France was to marry Margaret of Anjou, the niece of King Charles VII of France. Margaret was to prove as strong as Henry was weak. Henry and Margaret had one child, born eight years after their marriage: Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.

Shortly before his son was born, Henry VI had a mental breakdown. He was unable to recognize or respond to people for over a year. These attacks may have been hereditary. Henry’s maternal grandfather King Charles VI suffered from similar attacks, even thinking he was made of glass. Sometimes Henry also had hallucinations which makes some modern medical experts think he may have had a form of schizophrenia. Porphyria, which may have afflicted King George III, has also been suggested as a cause. During Henry’s incapacity, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and the next in line to the throne after Henry’s son, governed as Lord Protector.

Planting the Seeds of the Wars of the Roses: Lancaster versus York

The Red Rose of the House of Lancaster and the White Rose of the House of York; Credit – Wikipedia

Even before the birth of Henry VI’s son, factions were forming and the seeds of the Wars of the Roses were being planted. Henry VI was the great-grandson of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (third son of Edward III) and the grandson of Henry IV, the first king of the House of Lancaster who had deposed his first cousin Richard II, the childless, only surviving child of Edward III’s eldest son Edward, Prince of Wales (The Black Prince) who had predeceased his father.

Margaret believed her husband was threatened with being deposed by Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York who thought he had a better claim to the throne and would be a better king than Henry. Richard was a descendant of two sons of King Edward III. When Henry IV, the son of John of Gaunt, Edward III’s third son, deposed his cousin Richard II, the heirs of Edward III’s second son Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence were bypassed. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was the senior heir of Lionel of Antwerp. He was also the senior heir of Edward III’s fourth son Edmund of Langley, Duke of York.

Henry VI’s wife Margaret aligned herself with Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, a grandson of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. After Henry’s recovery in 1455, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was dismissed, and Margaret and the Duke of Somerset became all-powerful. Eventually, things came to a head between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, and war broke out.

The Wars of Roses in a Nutshell

Battle of Tewkesbury; Credit – Wikipedia

The Wars of the Roses, fought between 1455 and 1487, was a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

At the First Battle of St. Albans on May 22, 1455, Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset was killed. Afterward, there was a peace of sorts, but hostilities started again four years later. On July 10, 1460, Henry VI was captured at the Battle of Northampton and forced to recognize Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York as his heir instead of his own son. Margaret of Anjou rallied the Lancastrian forces and was victorious at the Battle of Wakefield on December 29, 1460. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland were both killed in the battle.

The leader of the Yorkists was now the late Duke of York’s eldest son Edward, Earl of March (later Edward IV, King of England). During the Second Battle of St. Albans on February 17, 1461, Henry VI’s freedom was secured and it is said that he laughed and sang insanely throughout the battle. The Yorkists regained the upper hand at the Battle of Towton on March 29, 1461. Edward, Earl of March defeated the Lancastrian forces in a snowstorm. Henry fled to Scotland, and England had a new king, Edward IV from the House of York.

Henry VI returned from Scotland in 1464 and participated in an ineffective uprising. In 1465, Henry was captured and taken to the Tower of London. Margaret of Anjou, exiled in France, wanted to restore the throne to her husband. Coincidentally, King Edward IV had a falling out with his major supporters, his brother George, Duke of Clarence and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker. Margaret, Clarence, and Warwick formed an alliance at the urging of King Louis XI of France. Edward IV was forced into exile, and Henry VI was restored to the throne on October 30, 1470. However, once again, Edward IV got the upper hand. Edward IV returned to England in early 1471 and Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet. The final decisive Yorkist victory was at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where Henry’s 16-year-old son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was killed.

What happened to Henry VI?

Traditional site of Henry VI’s death in the Wakefield Tower; Credit – Wikipedia

After the Lancaster loss at the Battle of Barnet on April 14, 1471, Henry VI was taken to the Tower of London. Traditionally, Henry was said to have been imprisoned at the Wakefield Tower, the second largest tower at the Tower of London. However, the Offical Guidebook of the Tower of London says that “long before Henry VI’s imprisonment the Wakefield Tower had become a storehouse for official documents, and it is more likely that he was imprisoned in the Lanthorn Tower where the King’s lodging were.”

In mid-May 1471, Thomas Neville, Viscount Fauconberg, an illegitimate son of William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent (a grandson of John of Gaunt), made a failed attack on London with the goal of freeing Henry VI from the Tower of London. The action of Fauconberg, who was later beheaded, may have caused Edward IV to realize the danger of keeping Henry VI alive.

On May 21, 1471, King Edward IV made a triumphant entry into London led by his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the future King Richard III). During the night of May 21, 1471, the same day Edward IV had returned to London, Henry VI died at the age of 49. The official Yorkist chronicler wrote that due to his defeat and the death of his son, Henry VI died “of melancholy.” However, it is far more probable that Henry VI was murdered on the order of Edward IV. Traditionally, it has been said that Henry was murdered while praying at a small oratory in the Wakefield Tower. Apparently, there is evidence that Richard, Duke of Gloucester was in the Tower of London that night and there has been speculation that he killed Henry.

The next day, Henry VI’s body was placed in an open coffin and carried through London to Old St. Paul’s Cathedral where it was displayed for several days for the people to see that he was really dead. Henry’s coffin was then taken to the Blackfriars Monastery in London where the funeral service was conducted. The coffin was then loaded on a barge for a fifteen-mile journey up the Thames for burial in the Lady Chapel at Chertsey Abbey in Chertsey, Surrey, England. Henry’s burial site at Chertsey Abbey soon became a popular pilgrimage site. On August 12, 1484, Henry VI’s body was exhumed on the order of King Richard III, brother of King Edward IV, and moved to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. Ironically, the burial sites of King Henry VI and his rival King Edward IV lie opposite each other in eternal peace.

Tomb of Henry VI; Credit – findagrave.com

In 1910, Henry VI’s body was exhumed and examined. His skull was discovered to be in pieces, which may or may not be the result of a violent death. Some of the remaining hair was matted with a substance that looked like blood. It is possible that a blow to the head could have been the cause of death, but without further forensic examination, the exact cause of Henry VI’s death is still a matter of speculation.

Aftermath

Henry Tudor, the son of Henry VI’s half-brother and the founder of the House of Tudor; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward IV of the House of York reigned until his death in April 1483 when he was briefly succeeded by his 12-year-old son as King Edward V. Edward V and his brother Richard were sent to the Tower of London by their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester who then reigned as King Richard III. The two young princes, known as the Princes in the Tower, were seen less and less until the end of the summer of 1483 when they disappeared from public view altogether. Their fate is unknown and remains one of history’s greatest mysteries.

Henry VI had half-siblings from his mother’s second marriage to Owen Tudor, one of whom was Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond who married Lady Margaret Beaufort, niece of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. Their son Henry Tudor (the future King Henry VII), eventually was the senior male Lancastrian claimant remaining after the Wars of the Roses. In 1485, Henry Tudor won the English throne when his forces defeated the forces of King Richard III, King Edward IV’s brother, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, becoming King Henry VII by the right of conquest. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of the Yorkist King Edward IV, and founded the House of Tudor.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Dodson, Aidan. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.
• Flantzer, Susan. (2015). King Henry VI of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-henry-vi-of-england/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020].
• Henrysixth.com. (2016). KING HENRY VI. [online] Available at: http://www.henrysixth.com/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020].
• Jones, Dan. (2014). The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors. New York: Viking.
• Thurley, S., Impey, E. and Hammond, P. (2005). Official Guidebook: The Tower of London. London: Historic Royal Palaces.
• Weir, Alison. (1995). The Wars of the Roses. New York: Ballantine Books.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Richard II, King of England was deposed by his first cousin Henry of Bolingbroke who then reigned as Henry IV, King of England. Held in captivity at Pontefract Castle in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England, Richard is thought to have starved to death and died on or around February 14, 1400.

Richard II, King of England

Painting at Westminster Abbey by an unknown artist, circa 1394; Credit – Wikipedia

King Richard II of England was born in the Archbishop’s Palace in Bordeaux, then in the English-held Duchy of Aquitaine (now in France) on January 6, 1367. He was the second son and second of the two children of Edward, Prince of Wales (known as the Black Prince), eldest son and heir of King Edward III of England, and Joan of Kent, 4th Countess of Kent in her own right. Joan was a grandchild of King Edward I of England. Richard’s elder brother died young of the plague.

Nine-year-old Richard’s life changed when his father died at the age of 45 on June 8, 1376. Richard was now the heir to his grandfather’s throne. Because it was feared that Richard’s uncle John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster might usurp his place in the succession, Richard was quickly invested as Prince of Wales and given his father’s other titles. On June 21, 1377, King Edward III died and his ten-year-old grandson was then King Richard II.

King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia; Credit: Wikipedia

When Richard was fifteen, he married another fifteen-year-old, Anne of Bohemia, the eldest child of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. Richard and Anne had no children and Anne died of the plague when she was 28-years-old. Four years later, Richard married seven-year-old Isabella of Valois, daughter of King Charles VI of France. The marriage was never consummated due to Isabella’s young age.

• Unofficial Royalty: Richard II, King of England

Henry versus Richard

Henry of Bolingbroke, later King Henry IV of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Many had thought the succession of ten-year-old Richard II, a child king whose father had not been the king, was controversial. Some believed that one of King Edward III’s younger sons – there were three still alive: John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester – should be king. Parliament, which was in a dispute with John of Gaunt at that time, supported Richard’s accession to the throne. John of Gaunt and his two brothers were excluded from the councils which ruled during Richard’s minority but as the uncles of the king, they still held great informal influence over the business of government. Richard II was childless. Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence had been the second son of King Edward III so his heirs had a superior genealogical claim to the throne over that of Edward III’s third son John of Gaunt. Despite the fact that Richard II officially recognized the claim of Lionel’s grandson Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, the claim was unlikely to remain uncontested.

In 1387, Henry of Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gaunt and the future King Henry IV, participated in the rebellion of the Lords Appellant, a group of nobles who wanted to restrain some of King Richard II’s favorites from the power they held. The Lords Appellant were successful for a time until John of Gaunt, Richard’s uncle, threw his support behind Richard who was able to rebuild his power gradually. Richard never forgave the Lords Appellant and many of them paid a price. His uncle Thomas of Woodstock, Duke Gloucester was murdered in captivity in Calais, France, probably on Richard’s orders. Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel was beheaded. Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick lost his title and his lands and was imprisoned on the Isle of Man until Richard was overthrown by Henry of Bolingbroke.

In 1398, Henry of Bolingbroke quarreled with Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who accused him of treason. The two men planned to duel, but instead, King Richard II banished them from England. In addition, Richard revoked the permission he had given them to sue for any inheritance that fell due, as it did in relation to Mowbray’s grandmother and, more significantly, of Henry’s father, John of Gaunt. The actions Richard took against his first cousin would ultimately result in his downfall.

Henry went to France, and on a visit to the court of Brittany, he met his future second wife Joan of Navarre, the widow of Jean V, Duke of Brittany. When John of Gaunt died on February 3, 1399, Richard did not consider pardoning his cousin Henry instead, he confiscated the estates of his uncle and much of what Henry would have inherited was given away to his favorites. This caused Henry to make plans for a return to England so he could claim his rights to the Duchy of Lancaster and the properties of his father.

Richard’s surrender to Henry at Flint Castle from the illuminated manuscript of Jean Creton’s La Prinse et Mort du roy Richart (“The Capture and Death of King Richard”), early 1400s; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard II had been on a military campaign in Ireland and left in May 1399 to deal with the unrest his cousin Henry might cause. On July 4, 1399, Henry arrived by boat in Yorkshire with a small army. As Henry made his way south, his army grew larger. King Richard II was eventually abandoned by his supporters and was forced to surrender to Henry at Flint Castle in Flint, Flintshire, Wales on August 16, 1399. He was then taken to London where he was held at the Tower of London.

Henry used the precedent established when King Edward II was forced to abdicate by Parliament in favor of his son King Edward III. However, Henry had a complication that his grandfather Edward III did not have. Henry was descended from Edward III’s third son and so, unlike Edward III, he was not the direct heir. Because Richard II was childless, the heir presumptive was eight-year-old Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, the great-grandson of King Edward III’s second son Lionel of Antwerp. Because Edmund was a young child, Parliament saw no benefit in his succession and agreed Henry should succeed. On September 29, 1399, Richard was forced by Parliament to abdicate the crown to his cousin Henry. King Henry IV was crowned in Westminster Abbey on October 13, 1399.

What happened to Richard II?

Painting in Pontefract Museum of Pontefract Castle in the early 17th century by Alexander Keirincx; Credit – Wikipedia

Sometime before Christmas of 1399, Richard was moved to Pontefract Castle in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England which had been the personal residence of his uncle John of Gaunt and was now the possession of John’s son King Henry IV. In January 1400, some supporters of Richard plotted a failed rebellion against Henry IV called the Epiphany Rising. Henry realized that left alive, Richard would remain a threat and it is probable that the deposed king was left at Pontefract Castle to starve to death.

Richard II’s body is brought to St Paul’s Cathedral to let everyone see that he is dead – engraving from A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 – A.D. 1485 by James William Edmund Doyle (1864); Credit – Wikipedia

Although Henry IV has often been suspected of having Richard murdered, there is no substantial evidence to prove that claim. It can be positively said that Richard did not suffer a violent death. After his death, Richard’s body was put on public display for three days at Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, both to prove to his supporters that he was truly dead and also to prove that he had not suffered a violent death. Whether Richard did indeed starve himself or whether that starvation was forced upon him is still up for speculation.

Henry IV had Richard quietly buried in the King’s Langley Priory Church in King’s Langley, Hertfordshire, England. In 1413, King Henry V of England, son of King Henry IV, to atone for his father’s actions and to silence the rumors of Richard’s survival, had Richard’s remains moved to Westminster Abbey in London, England where they were placed in an elaborate tomb Richard had constructed for himself and his first wife Anne of Bohemia.

Tomb of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia at Westminster Abbey; Credit – westminsterabbey.org

The tomb, with bronze effigies of Richard and Anne, is in the Chapel of Saint Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, at the foot of the tomb of Richard’s grandfather King Edward III. On October 13, 2018, this writer had the experience of attending the National Pilgrimage Day, which celebrates the life of Saint Edward the Confessor, King of England. The Chapel of Saint Edward the Confessor is usually not open to tourists but it is open on the National Pilgrimage Day and this writer had the awe-inspiring experience of seeing Edward the Confessor’s shrine surrounded by the tombs of kings and queens, including the tomb of King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia.

Embed from Getty Images 
The shrine of Edward the Confessor in the middle, Richard and Anne’s tomb is on the right

The Aftermath

The Red Rose of the House of Lancaster and the White Rose of the House of York; Credit – Wikipedia

The Wars of the Roses, fought between 1455 and 1487, was a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival cadet branches of the  House of Plantagenet, the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The House of Lancaster and the House of York have their roots in the sons of Edward III. The House of Lancaster descended from Edward III’s son John of Gaunt, and the House of York descended from two of Edward III’s sons, Lionel of Antwerp and Edmund of Langley. Previously, for the most part, the sons of English kings had married foreign princesses. The sons of King Edward III married into the English nobility, and their descendants later battled for the English throne in the Wars of the Roses. The usurpation by Henry IV, the first of the House of Lancaster, of the throne of his first cousin Richard II, was the first step toward the Wars of the Roses.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ashley, M. and Lock, J. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.
• Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London, p.Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd.
• En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Richard II of England. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_of_England [Accessed 28 Dec. 2019].
• Flantzer, Susan. (2016). King Richard II of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-richard-ii-of-england/ [Accessed 28 Dec. 2019].
• Williamson, D. (1996). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

On August 2, 1100, William II Rufus, King of England rode out from Winchester Castle on a hunting expedition to the New Forest, accompanied by his brother Henry and several nobles. During the hunt, an arrow hit William Rufus in his chest, puncturing his lungs, and killing him.

William II Rufus, King of England

William II Rufus, King of England; Credit – Wikipedia

King William II Rufus of England was born in the Duchy of Normandy, now in France, between 1056 and 1060. He was the third of the four sons of King William I of England (the Conqueror) and Matilda of Flanders. At the time of William Rufus’ birth, his father was the Duke of Normandy. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy invaded England and defeated the last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. The Duke of Normandy was then also King William I of England.

In 1087, King William I divided his lands between his two eldest surviving sons. The eldest son Robert Curthose was to receive the Duchy of Normandy and William Rufus, the second surviving son was to receive the Kingdom of England. William I’s other surviving son Henry (the future King Henry I of England) was to receive 5,000 pounds of silver and his mother’s English estates.

King William I of England died on September 9, 1087. Robert Curthose became Robert II Curthose, Duke of Normandy and William Rufus became King William II Rufus of England. Henry received the money, but no land. William Rufus never married and had no children.

In 1096, Robert Curthose left for the Holy Land on the First Crusade. To raise money for the crusade, he mortgaged the Duchy of Normandy to his brother King William II Rufus. The two older brothers made a pact stating that if one died without heirs, both Normandy and England would be reunited under the surviving brother. William then ruled Normandy as regent in Robert’s absence. Robert did not return until September 1100, one month after William Rufus’ death.

• Unofficial Royalty: King William II Rufus of England

The Death of William Rufus

Death of William Rufus, 1895 lithograph; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 2, 1100, King William II Rufus rode out from Winchester Castle in Winchester, England on a hunting expedition to the New Forest, accompanied by his brother Henry and several nobles. His elder brother Richard and his nephew Richard, the illegitimate son of his brother Robert Curthose, had both been killed in hunting accidents in the New Forest.

According to most contemporary accounts, the hunting party spread out as they chased their prey. William Rufus, in the company of William Tirel, a noble, became separated from the others as he chased after a stag. William Rufus shot an arrow but missed the stag. He then called out to Tirel to shoot, which he did, but the arrow hit the king in his chest, puncturing his lungs, and killing him.

The Aftermath

Fearing reprisals, Walter Tirel immediately jumped on his horse and fled to France where he took refuge in one of his French castles. The other nobles who had been with William Rufus abandoned his body and fled to their Norman and English lands to secure their possessions following the king’s death.

The next day, William Rufus’ body was found by a group of local farmers. The farmers loaded the king’s body on a cart and brought it to Winchester Cathedral where he was buried under a plain flat marble stone below the tower with little ceremony.

In 1107, the tower at Winchester Cathedral near William Rufus’ grave collapsed and the presence of William Rufus’ remains was considered the cause. Around 1525, the royal remains in Winchester Cathedral were rearranged. William Rufus’ remains were transferred to one of the mortuary chests next to the mortuary chest of King Cnut the Great atop the stone wall around the high altar.

In 1642, Winchester Cathedral was sacked by Parliamentary Troops during the English Civil War. The remains in the mortuary chests were scattered around the cathedral. Later the remains were returned to the mortuary chests in no particular order. In 2015, a project to record and analyze the contents of the mortuary chests began.

Mortuary chest in Winchester Cathedral; Credit – www.findagrave.com

In the New Forest, a memorial stone, known as the Rufus Stone, claims to mark the spot where William Rufus died.

Rufus Stone; Credit – Wikipedia

Was there a conspiracy to assassinate William Rufus?

Walter Tirel was an excellent archer but he badly missed his shot. He vigorously denied killing William Rufus several times under oath to Abbot Suger of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, the principal minister of King Louis VI of France. There was no investigation into William Rufus’ death because it was thought that his death was an accident and not a deliberate act. Tirel was not subjected to any punishment or loss of land.

However, William Rufus’ younger brother Henry was among the hunting party that day and would have benefited directly from his death. Henry was among the nobles who abandoned William Rufus’ body in the New Forest. William Rufus’ elder brother Robert Curthose was still on crusade, so Henry was able to seize the crown of England for himself despite the pact his two elder brothers had made stating that if one of them died without heirs, both Normandy and England would be reunited under the surviving brother.

Henry hurried to Winchester to secure the royal treasury. The day after William Rufus’ funeral at Winchester, Henry was elected king by the nobles. Henry then left for London where he was crowned King Henry I of England three days after William Rufus’ death by the Bishop of London. Henry did not wait for the Archbishop of Canterbury to arrive. If William Rufus’ death was a conspiracy, the new King Henry I could have easily squelched any investigation and kept Walter Tirel free from any consequences. Some modern historians find the assassination theory credible. Others say that hunting accidents were common as evidenced by William Rufus’ brother and nephew dying in hunting accidents and there is not enough hard evidence to prove murder.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ashley, M. and Lock, J. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.
• Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London, p.Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd.
• En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Walter Tirel. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Tirel [Accessed 28 Dec. 2019].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2019). William II of England. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_II_of_England [Accessed 28 Dec. 2019].
• Flantzer, Susan. (2016). King William II Rufus of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-william-ii-rufus-of-england/ [Accessed 28 Dec. 2019].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Gautier II Tirel. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautier_II_Tirel [Accessed 28 Dec. 2019].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Guillaume le Roux. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_le_Roux [Accessed 28 Dec. 2019].
• Williamson, D. (1996). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2020

On March 18, 978, 16-year-old Saint Edward the Martyr, King of the English was stabbed in the back while mounted on his horse. He fell off, but his foot caught in the stirrup and he was dragged to his death.

Saint Edward the Martyr, King of the English

Credit – Wikipedia

Edward the Martyr was the eldest son of Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English. He was born around 962 to Æthelflæd who possibly was a nun at Wilton Abbey, a Benedictine abbey in Wiltshire, England, whom Edgar seduced. It is unclear whether Æthelflæd and Edgar married.

In 975, King Edgar died and leaving his two surviving sons: Edward around 13 years of age and Edward’s half- brother Æthelred around 7 years old, the son of Edgar’s wife Ælfthryth. Both boys were too young to have played any significant role in the political maneuvering, and so it was the brothers’ supporters who were responsible for the turmoil which accompanied the choice of a successor to the throne. In the end, Edward’s supporters, mainly Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury and Oswald of Worcester, Archbishop of York, proved more powerful and persuasive, and he was crowned king before the year was out. The teenaged Edward was famous for temper tantrums and insulting influential people due to his lack of diplomatic behavior.

The Assassination

The texts in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle say that Edward was “killed” or “martyred” and that “no worse deed for the English race was done than this was.” It appears that Edward’s stepmother Ælfthryth may have been linked to his murder. Ælfthryth, the first woman known to have been crowned and anointed as Queen of England, was a powerful political figure. The legality of her marriage to King Edgar the Peaceful was not in doubt and she was the mother of the future Æthelred II the Unready, King of the English. However, Ælfthryth had a previous marriage.

Ælfthryth’s father was Ordgar, son of an ealdorman, who owned much land in Somerset. King Edgar decided to marry Ordgar’s daughter Ælfthryth and sent Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia to make the arrangements. Æthelwald instead took Ælfthryth for his own wife and reported back to King Edgar that she was unsuitable.

Æthelwald died in 962 and there are two versions of the story of his death. One version has King Edgar being told of Æthelwald’s deception and then killing him during a hunt. The second version comes from Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. Dunstan believed that Æthelwald was murdered by his wife Ælfthryth who then seduced King Edgar. Whatever the circumstances of Æthelwald’s death, Ælfthryth married King Edgar and by 964, her father Ordgar had been created Ealdorman of Devon. Apparently, Ordgar was one of King Edgar’s closest advisors because from 964 until his death in 971, he was a witness on almost all the charters Edgar issued.

A Victorian-era depiction of Ælfthryth putting her plan of murdering Edward the Martyr into motion; Credit – Wikipedia

It is reasonable to assume that Ælfthryth was not happy that her son Æthelred, born of a legal marriage, was not king. Furthermore, it is also reasonable to assume she might plot against Edward. On March 18, 978, 16-year-old Edward arrived at a hunting lodge probably at or near the mound on which the ruins of Corfe Castle in Dorset, England now stand. Aelfthryth had invited her stepson there and she arranged for him to be welcomed with a cup of wine. As Edward drank the wine, he was stabbed in the back while still mounted on his horse. He fell off, but his foot caught in the stirrup and he was dragged to his death.

Edward’s ten-year-old half-brother succeeded to the throne as Æthelred II the Unready, King of the English. Although Æthelred was not personally suspected of participation, it appears that the murder was committed by his supporters, and the specter of his half-brother’s murder hung over him for the rest of his life.

The Aftermath

Ælfthryth served as regent for her son Æthelred until he came of age in 984. Her reputation was tarnished because she was implicated in Edward’s murder. She founded the Benedictine Wherwell Abbey in Hampshire, England, and retired there to do penance for her part in the murders of her first husband Æthelwald and of her stepson Edward.

Edward was first buried at St. Mary’s Church in Wareham, Dorset, England. Soon people were saying miracles occurred at his burial place and he was declared a saint and a martyr. Edward is recognized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Church, and is known as Saint Edward the Martyr.

In 981, Edward’s remains were moved to Shaftesbury Abbey, a convent founded by his great-great-grandfather Alfred the Great, and were buried there with great pomp under the supervision of Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. Many miracles were claimed to occur at the tomb of Saint Edward the Martyr, including the healing of lepers and the blind. The abbey became the wealthiest Benedictine convent in England and a major pilgrimage site.

In 1539, Edward’s remains were hidden to avoid desecration during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1931, some remains were recovered by J.E. Wilson-Claridge during an archaeological excavation of Shaftesbury Abbey. Their identity was confirmed by Dr. T.E.A. Stowell, an osteologist, who said the remains were those of a young man of about 20 who had injuries that corresponded to a person being dragged backward over the pommel of a saddle and having their leg twisted in a stirrup.

In 1970, another examination performed on the remains suggested that death had been caused by the manner in which Edward supposedly had died. However, a later examination showed the remains to be from the same time period as Edward but that they belonged to a man in his late twenties or early thirties rather than a youth in his mid-teens. Nevertheless, Wilson-Claridge donated the remains to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which interred them as King Edward the Martyr in a shrine at St. Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church in Woking, Surrey, England.

Shrine of St Edward the Martyr in St. Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
• Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Clarke, J. (2019). St Edward the Martyr. [online] John-clarke.co.uk. Available at: https://www.john-clarke.co.uk/st_edward_the_martyr.html [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].
• Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
• En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86lfthryth,_wife_of_Edgar [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edward the Martyr. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Martyr [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].
• Flantzer, Susan. (2019). Edward the Martyr, King of the English. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/edward-the-martyr-king-of-the-english/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Édouard le Martyr. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_le_Martyr [Accessed 21 Feb. 2019].
• Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

On May 26, 946, Edmund I, King of the English was stabbed to death at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury. Recent research indicates that Edmund may have been the victim of political assassination.

Edmund I, King of the English

Edmund I, King of the English; Credit – Wikipedia

Edmund I, King of the English was born in 921, the elder of the two sons and the eldest of the three children of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and his third wife Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent. He was also a grandson of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, King of the Anglo-Saxons.

Edmund was just three years old when his father died on July 24, 924. His 30-year-old half-brother Æthelstan, King of the English. succeeded their father. When the unmarried Æthelstan died in 939, he was succeeded by his 18-year-old half-brother Edmund I, King of the English. Edmund was the first Anglo-Saxon monarch, whose dominion extended over the whole of England at the time of his accession.

Edmund married Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury around 940. They had two sons who both became King of England: Eadwig and Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English. In 944, after Ælfgifu’s death, Edmund married Æthelflæd of Damerham but the couple had no children.

• For more information, see Unofficial Royalty: Edmund I, King of the English

The Assassination

An 18th-century engraving of the murder

On May 26, 946, Edmund I, King of the English was celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. During the celebrations, twenty-four-year-old Edmund was stabbed to death. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his brother Eadred. Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. His tomb was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII.

The story usually told is from The Chronicle of John of Worcester: “While the glorious Edmund, king of the English, was at the royal township called Pucklechurch in English, in seeking to rescue his steward from the hands of Leofa, a most wicked thief, lest he be killed, was himself killed by the same man on the feast of St Augustine, teacher of the English, on Tuesday, 26 May, in the fourth indiction, having completed five years and seven months of his reign.”

Edmund seizing Leofa by the hair, from The Comic History of England, circa 1860

William of Malmesbury described the murder a bit differently in his chronicle Gesta Regum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Kings): “A thief named Leof, whom he had banished for his robberies, returned after six years, and on the festival of St Augustine, archbishop of Canterbury, at Pucklechurch, unexpectedly took his seat among the royal guests. It was the day when the English were accustomed to holding a festival dinner in memory of him who had preached the Gospel to them, and as it happened he was sitting next to the thegn whom the king had condescended to make his guest at dinner. The king alone noticed this, for all the rest were aflame with wine; and in sudden anger, carried away by fate, he leaped up from the table, seized him by the hair, and flung him to the ground. The man drew a dagger in stealth from its sheaf, and as the king lay on him plunged it with all his force into his chest. The wound was fatal and gave an opening for rumors about his death that spread all over England. The robber too, as the servants soon came running up, was torn limb from limb, but not before he had wounded several of them.”

A Victim of Political Association?

Recent research indicates that Edmund may have been the victim of political assassination and suggests that later chroniclers fabricated the characterization of Edmund’s killer as a thief to counter rumors that the king had been the victim of a political assassination. Kevin Halloran published a paper in 2015, A Murder at Pucklechurch: The Death of King Edmund, 26 May 946, explaining such a possibility.

In 944, Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, the mother of Edmund’s two sons, Eadwig (born circa 940) and Edgar (born circa 943) died. She may not have been legally married to Edmund. No marriage record exists and she may not have been officially recognized as queen. Ælfgifu was styled as concubina regis (royal concubine) in a charter. In two later chronicles, she was styled as queen but this may be the result of her higher status after death as a saint and the mother of two kings. Possibly, the lack of a legal marriage between their parents could have questioned the succession rights of Eadwig and Edgar. Edmund’s brother Eadred appears to have been acknowledged as Edmund’s successor throughout his reign but if Edmund reigned until his sons reached maturity, the likelihood that Eadred would succeed to the throne would diminish. Edmund’s long absence away from court in 945 while on a military campaign in the north could have given Eadred the time to contemplate the situation and come up with a plan.

Halloran theorized that it is probable that Edmund’s killer was not apprehended or identified and so no motive for the murder could be established. Edmund’s killer was not named in any chronicles for more than 100 years after Edmund’s death and the name that eventually appeared was probably chosen on purpose because its meaning was understood all too well. In Old English leof(a) meant “beloved” and so the use of the name Leofa for an assassin seems quite ironic.

William of Malmesbury says in his chronicle that “…rumours about his death…spread all over England.” Some of these rumors may have blamed the person who had the most to gain from Edmund’s death – his brother Eadred. It is odd that a thief returned from an exile of six years and decided to attend a royal feast, uninvited, and that he did not hide in the back of the hall but sat next to a special guest. Furthermore, none of the guests recognized him but after his body was hacked, he was positively identified. It is also odd that King Edmund recognized the uninvited guest and attacked him.

Halloran says that the accounts of John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury, who were both monks, are “improbable and conflicting” and that they “may have been written deliberately to counter any suggestion that the king’s death resulted from a politically motivated conspiracy.” He further suggests that prior accounts of the murder that suggested a conspiracy were revised and that Leofa was invented with two storylines – the thief who returned from exile intent upon killing the king or the thief who wanted to kill the king’s unnamed steward. Halloran says that the purpose of John of Worcester’s and William of Malmesbury’s stories about King Edmund’s death was to protect the reputation of the monarchy and the church which greatly benefited from kings.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ashley, Mike. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
• Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
• En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edmund I. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_I [Accessed 14 Feb. 2019].
• Flantzer, S. (2019). Edmund I, King of the English. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/edmund-i-king-of-the-english/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2019].
• Halloran, Kevin. (2015). The Murder of King Edmund 26 May 946. [online] academia.edu. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/799350/The_murder_of_King_Edmund_26_May_946 [Accessed 10 Dec. 2019].
• Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.