A Trail of Blood by Jeremy Potter

Author:Jeremy Potter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1970-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

10

Only when the meal was over and Brother Thomas had thanked God for it did the talk continue.

‘State those reasons,’ Master Skelton commanded. He wore his wary look.

‘First, if the princes had been killed, Henry Tudor would have found out and published the fact as soon as he became king. Something had happened to them which neither he nor anyone else could discover.’ Brother Thomas paused expectantly, but his host’s face betrayed no secret.

‘Proceed with your argument, brother.’

‘Secondly, such a deed was not in Richard’s nature. Loyalty and honour and courage – these were his qualities. Loyalty above all: to his illustrious family and its cause. Loyalty bound him closest of all to his brother King Edward. How could he have murdered his brother’s sons, the protection of whose lives was bequeathed to him?’

‘You are right. Richard was born and bred in this village. We knew him for a God-fearing man – not a nephew-slayer like King John Sansterre.’

‘Thirdly, he had no necessity to kill the boys. They were declared bastards and Parliament petitioned him to accept the crown.’

‘Can this be the truth?’ Margaret’s blue eyes widened as she asked the question. She addressed, not Brother Thomas, but her father; who made no reply.

‘Fourthly, consider the behaviour of the boy’s mother, Queen Elizabeth Woodville. A few months after the supposed murder she became reconciled to Richard. She brought herself and her daughters out of sanctuary and placed them freely in his hands. Would she so have trusted the murderer of her sons? The king she quarrelled with after her sons’ disappearance was Henry, not Richard.’

Despite temptation elsewhere, Brother Thomas studied Robert Skelton’s face while he spoke.

‘Fifthly, consider the position of Cardinal Archbishop Bourchier. He it was who persuaded the queen to allow the younger boy out of sanctuary. He pledged his honour that the prince would be safe. He crowned Richard.’

‘If Cardinal Archbishop Morton could lie about the murder, why not Bourchier?’

‘The cases are different. Cardinal Morton had no responsibility for the princes’ safety. Cardinal Bourchier did. He survived Richard. If the princes were dead, would his conscience have permitted him to remain silent? Even if we suppose him an accomplice to infanticide and determined to conceal it, would not Henry Tudor have forced him into a public confession, or at least into an apologia which placed all the blame on Richard and exonerated himself?’

‘If he knew of or suspected their death,’ said Margaret softly, ‘he surely must have spoken out.’

‘Sixthly, what can we think of the Constable of the Tower at that time? We are told that Sir Robert Braken-bury was too honourable a man to obey Richard’s order to have the children killed, and that therefore he was ordered to hand over the keys to another man for one night so that the dark deed could be done. Yet this honourable man returned to his post the next day. He continued to have charge of the Tower for the remainder of Richard’s reign. We are asked to believe

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