Murder most foul (The Princes in the Tower - Alison Weir)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	The Princes in the Tower - Alison Weir
Date:	07/05/09 (98 review reads)
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Although I'm obsessed with the Tudor period I have to admit I'm quite blissfully ignorant of other historical times. I had heard about the two Princes who were allegedly murdered in the Tower just as I had heard about Richard III who may or may not have had a hunchback and was defeated at Bosworth by Henry VII but my knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the two Princes was scant.

Alison Weir is a very well known historical author who writes factual books based on evidence from the time and evidence that has emerged since. In this book she presents the evidence about the Princes and tries to prove that Richard III was indeed responsible for their murder.

There is much debate about whether the Princes were actually murdered and if they were was it at the command of Richard III who needed them dead so he could claim the throne or Henry VII who also needed them dead as his claim to the throne was tenuous at best?

The book starts by describing the situation around the Princes. We begin when their father Edward IV is still alive and this is to introduce the characters pertinent to the story. The two Princes were of course Edward (Prince of Wales) who would have been Edward V if he'd made it to his coronation (he is still known as Edward V even though he didn't) and Richard (Duke of York) his younger brother who was second in line to the throne.

Most of the evidence is in the form of reports written at the time (1480s) by a variety of sources but the most detailed and accurate seems to have been written by Thomas More. Other evidence is gathered from the centuries after the event such as the discovery of two sets of bones buried at the foot of the steps in the Tower which are presumed to be the Princes.

Alison Weir's case against Richard III seems water-tight and I find it hard to believe that at the time nobody really questioned the disappearance and suspected death of the Princes who were in his care and they never actually dug where the bodies were supposed to be because of a rumour that they had been thrown into the sea! How easy it must have been to get away with murder, literally, if a well placed rumour is enough to get people off the scent!

There are other interesting little bits of information in this book and a few pictures. The case against Henry VII is disputed because at the time he was in exile in Brittany and even though he wouldn't have killed them himself he was thought of as a bit of a nobody at the time so he wouldn't have been able to get men to do the task for him.

Also one of the men who was given the job of actually carrying out the murder confessed he had done it on Richard III's instructions shortly before his execution and in those days they didn't try to save their mortal body by confessing they were trying to save their souls from hell so confessions prior to death were usually accurate and full.

There is also still debate about whether Richard III had a hunchback and a withered arm, we still don't really know this as there are portraits from his era that depict him with and without uneven shoulders and portraits from Tudor times with both as well.

I found this book very hard to follow to begin with, I'm not familiar with the people who would have been around at this point in time and I found the fact they have their real names and a title confusing to follow. One minute they are called by their real names and the next by their title and I had to keep flicking back to establish who the author was referring to. This is more about my lack of knowledge than a fault of the authors though, had the book been about Henry VIII I would have had no trouble staying with all the titles.

The book is very detailed and has alot of historical information as you'd expect from Alison Weir. It's not a thick book at only 250 pages long but because of the amount of detail it takes a few days to read it. In the back there is a family tree and the index lists pages where certain people are mentioned so if you wanted to go straight to a section about a particular person you could.

I enjoyed it once I got into it and figured out who was who. Although it didn't grab my interest quite like the Tudor period does it was informative to read about the circumstances of the Princes and get the background information on how Henry VII came to the throne.

For anyone interested in history this will make for a fascinating read. Amazon are currently selling this for £6.99 new and £3.71 from Amazon Marketplace. It has also been adapted into a DVD but I haven't seen this and can't comment.

Summary: Worth a read if you like historical books