The Princes in the Tower, page 38
So most excellent princess, Lady and cousin, since Your Majesty has surpassed the queens of all the ages in greatness of soul, in justice, in prosperity, in achievements, and we indeed are connected by relationship and blood affinity, I pray and implore Your Majesty to show compassion for our calamities and our losses and not allow the throne of England to be tyrannously usurped by that wicked invader, in which he actually does wrong to your family as much as ours.
Be so kind as to make our case to the Most Serene King, Your Highness’s consort, so that, together with Your Excellency, he will show favour, where he can, to this man, bound to him by blood and affinity, and continuously support him with good will and aid. For if, by divine assistance, he should recover his inheritance (which with the help of the nobles of England, we hope may happen) he guarantees and promises that he shall be bound by even greater closeness, alliance, allegiance and friendship to Your Majesties and Your Kingdoms than in the past was his father King Edward, and that I assure. And that I too will most readily offer allegiance to both Your Majesties, whom may the Loving God preserve according to your prayers.
Written from my town of Dendermonde, the 8th before the calends of September [25th August], 1493.
To the Most Excellent Majesty
Cousin Margaret of England Duchess of Burgundy, Brabant etc.
Count of Flanders, Artois, Burgundy [Franche Comté], Hainaut, Holland, Zealand, Namacia [?]
[signature] Margaret
Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF), Fonds Espagnol 318, F. 83 ligne 69. Translation from Latin on behalf of The Missing Princes Project by Maria G.L. Leotta. Examined by Dr Betty Knott, 6 February 2021.
Richard Plantagenet to Queen Isabella of Spain
Most Serene and Excellent Princess, My Lady and Cousin, worthy of all honour, I commend myself most earnestly to Your Majesty.
When the first-born son of the former King [of England] of blessed memory, my lord and beloved parent, the Prince of Wales that is, had been killed in a pitiable death, and I too, being about nine years of age had been handed over to a certain lord to be killed, it pleased the Divine Mercy that that lord, taking pity on my innocence, preserved me alive and unharmed, though he first bound me by an oath taken upon the Sacred Body of Our lord, that I would not for a certain number of years reveal to anyone my name, lineage and family.
So he sent me abroad with two men who were to have the direction and custody of me. Thereafter, an orphan bereft of father and brother, kings both of them, an exile from kingdom and country, despoiled of my inheritance and all my fortune, a fugitive amidst great dangers, I lived a miserable life in fear and grief and sorrow, and for nearly eight years lurked in hiding places throughout various countries. At last one of those men who had care of me died, the other was sent back to his country and never seen again.
And so, still hardly more than a boy, alone and destitute, I stayed for time in the kingdom of Portugal. After that, I sailed to Ireland, where I was acknowledged by the illustrious lords, the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, my blood-relations. Also I was accepted with joy and honour by other chief men of the island. After that, when the King of France enticed me with many ships and provisions, promising resources and support against Henry of Richmond, the wicked usurper of the Kingdom of England, I came to the aforesaid King of France, who received me with due honour as kinsman and well-wisher. When he did not produce the promised aid, I took myself to the illustrious princess, my Lady the Duchess of Burgundy, sister of my father, and my beloved aunt.
She in accord with her courteous and virtuous nature embraced me with all kindness and honour, and at the same time for her sake the Most Serene King of the Romans and his son the Archduke of Austria, and the Duke of Saxony, all my dear blood-relations, together with the kings of Denmark and Scotland, who sent ambassadors to me offering friendship and alliance. Leading men of the Kingdom of England who abominate the arrogant and wicked tyranny of this Henry of Richmond did the same in secret.
Truly, Most Serene Princess, my Lady and my blood-kin, in accord with the claims of our kinship and of your own renowned excellence, seeing that this surpasses the other princes of the world in justice, achievement and prosperity, it is only right and proper, no less than other princes, to grieve at our situation and support us with true affection.
And so I beg and beseech Your Majesty to use your influence with your Most Serene Spouse, to the end that he, together with Your Clemency, may pity the great calamities that have befallen our family, and with influence, resources and aid support me and mine in my right, which is yours also.
For I promise that, if the Divine Grace restores me to my hereditary kingdom, I shall be more closely associated in friendship with both Your Majesties than King Edward was, also that I and my kingdom shall be ever ready to do your pleasure.
Fare well, Noble Majesties.
From the town of Dendermonde, Aug. 25, 1493
[Signed] Richard
Egerton_ms_616_f003r. Translation from Latin on behalf of The Missing Princes Project: Dr Betty Knott, 3 January 2019.
Appendix 5
Richard, Duke of York: Proof of Life, c. 1493
[Page 1]
Here we follow the Duke of York, son, and heir to king Edward the fourth, Richard, his son, delivered from the Tower of London where he has been for a while.
First of all, I remember that my dearest lady and mother, queen Elizabeth, delivered me from sanctuary of Westminster into the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other men, also from the states of the country, under commitment of certain promises made by him under oath to bring me back to the same sanctuary.
Which Archbishop brought me to my uncle of Gloucester. And so I was brought to my brother who was already there, in the Tower of London.
Item [… several knights?] and squires were waiting for us there, of whom I think I remember that John Norris was one, and William Tyrwyth another. Item on the first night, shortly after these guards were relieved, they took leave of us with great melancholy and sadness. To these guards my brother often said melancholic words. Among other things he said and prayed my uncle of Gloucester to have mercy on him, for he was just an innocent person.
And then we were delivered to Brackenbury, and then to sir James Tyrrell, and then to the Duke of Buckingham, by whose orders we were separated.
And so they ordered my lord Foriest, Hamelett Maleven and Wylliam Puche by whom I was secretly taken into a room in a place where the lions are kept. There I was for such a long time, that Lord Howard, later made Duke of Norfolk, came to me and encouraged me. [At last?], he ordered the guards – described above – to leave and then brought two other men to me. They were called, they said so themselves: Henry Parcij and Thomas Parcij. They swore by honour and oath to Duke Howard, as mentioned before, to hide me secretly until certain years were past …
[Page 2]
… and that I would be placed under supervision by them for certain years. Then they shaved my hair and put a poor and drab skirt on me. And shortly after that they left the Tower with me and went to Saint Katherine’s. There they took a boat and rowed aboard a small and narrow ship already waiting there.
And sailed to the sea and came ashore in the dunes of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
And from there we went to Paris. We stayed there for a long time. Till the moment I was noticed by English folks there. And so we travelled from there to a city called Chartres and from there to Rouen, to Dieppe and various other cities and places in France. And finally, we got to Hainaut.
From there in Brabant […?] Malines, Antwerp, Bergen for a period of certain years. And from there I went to Zeeland […?] Middelburg until Edward Brampton’s wife was ready to sail us to Portugal.
[I sailed together with the prescribed Parcij’s in a ship of their own.. ?]. To be able to tell [later?] [that they were on the same ship [with me], they knew a distinguishing feature of me, namely that I played the clavichord.]
And then we arrived in Lisbon. From there I sent the aforementioned Thomas Parcij to England, to my lady my mother with certain distinguishing features and also with certain messages. Shortly afterwards
[Page 3]
Henry Parcij became ill with the plague. During his illness, he told me that when he died, I would have to travel to Ireland to the lords of Kyldare and Desmond and also told me how I should rule the country. Then he died, may God save his soul.
Shortly afterwards I found a ship from Brittany that wanted to sail to Ireland. The master of the ship sailed me to Ireland as he himself has testified and will testify more fully – at all times – when questioned.
There I found several of my acquaintances, among them the lord of Kyldare, Garret the Great and many others. There I was recognized for who I was and treated as such.
And there I stayed for a while until my cousin the King of France contacted me and made a firm promise to assist and help me to claim my rights. However, when I arrived in France, I found the opposite. So I left, and went to my dearest aunt, the duchess of Burgundy. She recognized my rights and honesty. And by the grace of God, I received help, honour and comfort from my dear friends and servants that in a short time I will obtain my right to which I was born.
[Cover (page 4)]
A [record?] and so forth (etc) how the Duke of York, son, and heir of King Edward the fourth, was delivered from the Tower of London and where he has been since then.
Modern English translation of the transcribed text of the Gelders manuscript by Nathalie Nijman-Bliekendaal, Research Report 21 November 2020: Gelders Archief, 0510 ‘Diverse Charters en Aanwinsten [Various Charters & Acquisitions]’, nr 1549: Verhandelingen over de lotgevallen van Richard van York, ca 1500 [Treatises on the fates of Richard of York c. 1500], four written pages in total. With copy from the sixteenth century.
Appendix 6
Richard of England: Dresden MS, Signature and Royal Seal, 4 October 1493
Pledge of Payment to Duke Albert of Saxony
Chapter 14, p. 196, note 30, and Plates 25 and 26
Richard, by the grace of God, Duke of York, son and heir of our most revered lord and father, Edward IV, late King of England and France and Lord of Ireland, to each and everyone who shall see or hear this present writing, greetings.
Know that we, considering intimately the friendly and gratuitous benevolence shown and to be shown in the future many times as well to us as to other friends and those loyal to us, by the very powerful Prince Albrecht, Duke of Saxony, and lieutenant of the most excellent princes, Maximilian, King of the Romans, and his son, Philip, Archduke of Burgundy, our dearest kinsmen, as well as the supervisor and governor of all the dominions, lands, and tenements of the said Philip in these parts, are bound and by those present firmly obliged to the same Duke of Saxony to pay, or cause to be paid, the sum of thirty thousand florins, each florin being valued at twenty patards, within three months after the acquisition of our Kingdom of England.
For the said payment, we bind strictly and faithfully ourselves, our heirs, and executors, and all our goods by those present. And for greater security of the said payment, our kinsman, Lord Robert Clifford, knight, as well as William Barley, Esquire, our servant, are also obliged by their good will on our behalf in this writing.
In witness of which matter, both we, the aforementioned Duke of York, and the aforesaid Lord Robert and William, have affixed our seals, signed with our own hands, on the fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred ninety-three (4 Oct 1493).
Nathalie Nijman-Bliekendaal, Research Report, 18 February 2019.
English translation (updated): Professor Henrike Lähnemann, 18 August 2023. Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (Saxon State Archive) (SHA), Dresden, 10001, Altere Urkunden, Nr_09005.
Duke Albert of Saxony (1443–1500), deputy to King Maximilian. Known as ‘The Bold’. Leading supporter of Richard, Duke of York. Possible father figure.
Analysis: Prof. Henrike Lähnemann, 18 August 2023
The parchment with the seals is kept doubly wrapped: outside a modern archival blue cardboard folder (21st cent.), inside a blue paper wrapper with the call number 9005 which is probably from the time when the Staatsarchiv was established, i.e. 1834; glued to the front is a brown (rag) paper label which looks older – probably from the time of the 1702 established ‘Königlich geheimes Archiv’; this has a summary of the content of the charter and retains the spelling of the names: ‘Literae Ricardi, Dei Gratia Ducis Eboraci filii, et Regis Angliae hæredis, quibus profitetur, et firmiter se, suosque hæredes obligat, Albright, Duci Saxoniae, assignatisve suis, triginta millia florenorum solvere. Dat: 4 die Octobris 1493. in membrana tribus silligis appensis. Letters of Richard, by the Grace of God Duke of York, son and heir of the King of England, in which he professes and firmly binds himself and his heirs to pay thirty thousand florins to Albrecht, Duke of Saxony, or those he assigns. Given on the 4th day of October 1493, on parchment with three seals attached.’
This summary was included as the basis for the edition by Friedrich Langenn in his history of Duke Albert of Saxony (1838), p. 554. The original punctuation has been reintroduced and two transcription mistakes corrected: ‚vel’ replaced by ‚seu’; ‚florena’ instead of ‚florenus’.
www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10020114?page=566&q=clifford.
Appendix 7
Trois Enseignes Naturelz, 27 November–12 December 1493
by Zoë Maula, Dutch Research Group
In gaining the support of Yorkists and royalty alike, Richard, Duke of York, was aided by the existence of three distinguishing physical features. Maximilian I appears to have been convinced by these ‘trois enseignes naturelz’. This becomes clear from a document uncovered in the Österreichische Staatsarchiv (Austria State Archive) and dated between 27 November to 12 December 1493.1 This reads (in extract):
… for the king has found through truthful enquiries, made in several family trees, that my lord the duke of York, who is with him at the moment, is the true legitimate son and heir of the said late King Edward. And my lord the Duke of York offers to present himself in England before King Henry and all the princes and subjects of the realm and show several signs by which those who knew him in his youth would recognize him, and especially three natural marks which he has on his body and which cannot be counterfeited, that is: his mouth, one of his eyes and a mark he has on his thigh. And if it is found that he is not at all [what he says he is] he is content that justice be done on him as it should be done in such a case, by way of hostages who will be held hostage on his behalf. If it happens that he is found [to be] son and heir as he claims, he will be received as king, or at least no harm will be done to him. In that case he will no doubt be able to return to where he came from or [go] wherever it pleases him. [Emphasis added.]2
The document appears to be a first draft for an instruction3 to unnamed Burgundian envoys going to Henry VII to mediate between Henry and the Duke of York. However, as an actual letter or record of these envoys being received by King Henry is yet to be found, it is not known whether such an embassy took place.
More significantly, this document presents the earliest documentary evidence of Richard of York’s three physical marks. Until now, English sources often vaguely refer to them as ‘natural marks’ by citing Heinrich Ulmann’s book Kaiser Maximilian I,4 or more explicitly, as ‘mark under his eye’, ‘slightly raised or prominent upper lip’ and ‘a mark on his breast’, as stated in the later Setúbal Testimonies.5
According to historian Ann Wroe, Maximilian’s letter, which Ulmann cites, might have said more if it had not been lost. It is highly certain that this document is Maximilian’s letter, which Ulmann discovered, making this the first record of Richard, Duke of York’s claim to the English throne through his three physical marks. Namely, his mouth, one of his eyes and a mark on his thigh.
For Margaret of York’s verification of her nephew’s physical marks (signs) and her own recognition of them from his childhood, see Margaret’s letter to Queen Isabella of Spain of August 1493, Appendix 4: The Dendermonde Letters. Also, Chapter 14, note 84 and Chapter 17, note 250.
Zoë Maula, TMPP Research Report, 14.12.2020: Österreichische Staatarchiv – AT-OeStA/HHStA RK Maximiliana 41-3-2. Translation thanks to Dr Livia Visser-Fuchs.
Appendix 8
Maximilian I
Legal Supplication to Pope Alexander VI on Behalf of Richard, Duke of York,22 September 1495 (Modernised)
Most Holy Father, most Reverend Lord
Whereas of late years, after the invasion and slaughter of Richard King of England, Henry of Richmond occupied that kingdom, and having espoused the daughter of Edward, the late King, brother of said Richard, causing it to be believed that said Edward had left no male progeny, obtained from your Holiness’s predecessor, Innocent VIII., of pious memory, letters confirming him in the possession of his kingdom, and purposing that all persons disputing the said Henry’s right to his kingdom, or waging war on him, were to be excommunicated; therefore the most illustrious Lady Margaret, sister of the aforesaid Edward and Richard, and wife of the late most illustrious Charles Duke of Burgundy, our father-in-law (perceiving that she as well as Richard, her brother Edward’s son, – who, lest he should be put to death by the occupiers of the kingdom, has hitherto often hidden himself, wandering over the world as an unknown exile, – were without cause violently injured and aggrieved, being excluded from their right), our very dear mother-in-law did appeal forthwith against those confirmatory letters, in the name of herself and of her nephew, the aforesaid Richard Duke of York, and of all others whom it might concern.
