Victor of the Tower - Part 2
June 13th, 1483
Lord Hastings is dead. He was beheaded without trial or cause on the
Tower Green this morning. He seems to have walked into a trap
unawares. It is now clear that Duke Richard will be King. He has both
Princes in the Tower, the Queen in sancutary and his Northern Army a
days march from London. The worst news of all came to me this morning.
The Duke of Buckingham himself visited me in my chambers. He has laid
on me the task of murdering the princes. It is to be done in secret
with no witnesses. Clearly he plans to do away with me when I have
performed his heinous crime for him. He gave me a bag of golden coins
to hire assassins and assassins to kill the assassins. I wist not how
to save the princes or myself. For all this gold will serve me not.
Certainly not in England, foreign these coins appear, and certainly
not if I am headless as well. Yet these coins have given me an idea. I
must earn the trust of the princes if my plan is to work.
June 17th, 1483
I have gone to visit the princes and made clear to them my plan. At
the sight of me they made joyful sounds of welcoming. These two
beautiful boys have had the company of no one for days. The food that
I order brought up to them is placed inside their door anonymously. I
am the only one allowed to see them, and I am to be their executioner.
As I told the young King of his Uncle's plot he wept bitterly that
fate should be so unkind to him. He surprised me when he stood before
me, as brave as any man has ever been and quoth, 'If I am to die
uncrowned, I take joy in the fact that my dearest friend will send me
to the Lord my God.' He looked at me with the greatest severity and
said, 'Make it quick, Victor. You will not cause me pain. Please allow
me to acquit myself of my sins.' And with that he knelt in prayer
before me. No! Said I, 'You will not die, my prince!' I love you too
dearly to ever harm you. Nay, my beloved, I intend to save you.' From
that moment on I spoke to Edward as a familiar, as my own son. And if
my plan shall work, so shall he be and his brother as well. I laid out
my plan to the brothers. They agreed to every aspect, for they knew
that with much luck this plan may well succeed. They embraced me
warmly with kisses, tears and affections. Their outpouring of love
caused my heart nearly to burst with happiness. I knew I must do my
utmost now to keep us all alive. They bade me sleep with them to
comfort them and keep a safe vigil. This I did without reserve.
June 18th, 1483
I have procured the services of a certain Doctor, an acquaintance of
myself. He is not a purveyor of leechcraft, as some so-called Doctors
practice. Nay, he is schooled in the new learning of the Italians. In
the city there is an outbreak of typhus, as we often see in summer. He
does what he can to help the sick, but many still die of the typhus
vapours. The Doctor, through great danger unto himself, hath brought
to the Tower the bodies of two young boys who were victims of the
outbreak. Very similar of look and build are these nameless lads to
the princes. Though they died in poverty, they have been buried as
princes. The Doctor and I washed their wasted bodies and their flowing
hair. How it pained me to see such beauty in such a pathetic state. We
dressed them in the clothes of young Edward and Richard and had I not
known that my Lord and liege Edward sat with his brother in his
apartment above us, I fain would have thought these boys were my
Princes. We had buried the impostors reverently under flagstones at
the foot of the tower steps. The Doctor was ushered out of the castle
at daybreak in a cart and dressed as a drover or farmer. On his cart
was secreted a sack of clothing and the belongings of the princes.
Now the final steps of my plan rely on luck and stealth. My writings
will leave a trail, my son, for you to follow if you can. Take this
letter and these gold coins with you. Say to William, my servant, to
report to Lord Buckingham that the Warden says that the deed is done.
If he can make clean his escape, he will, and will meet us in Germany.
For that is where we are to go my son. The Holy Roman Emperor will
offer us sanctuary in his lands. The Princes will be raised there
safely according to their station. We've enough gold to buy a small
duchy, if the opportunity arises. The Queen has heard whispers of the
plan and sent money by way of a trusted priest. Perhaps, as men, the
Princes can regain their kingdom. But as boys, they will not die, by
my soul I swear this.
Our plan is to buy transport, not to France, as the Yorkists will
expect, but on a Dutch fluyt to Amsterdam. This morning I made
arrangements with a trading vessel. We will dress the princes in the
clothes of the dead boys and cut their hair. They will pretend to be
my sons. Tonight when darkness falls we will lower the Princes down
the privvy shaft to the sewers. They are to follow the sewer pipes to
the Thames where the Doctor will meet them with his cart. Dressed as
they are and smelling as they will, no one will suspect that they
aren't victims of the typhus plague. They will travel to the Docklands
on the Thames and join me on the fluyt. We will spend the night on
board and set sail for Amsterdam at dawn. Should God grant us the
grace of a safe passage we will make our way over land to Bremen and
then perhaps to Hannover. The Germans embrace all things English
because they so distrust the French. Perhaps we can make a life there
such as befits a King and Prince of England. Do as I bid my son, keep
safe this message as well as your life. Should this note fall into the
wrong hands, we will all lose our heads.
My God speed you to me.
Your loving father,
Victor
Postscript 2010-
This manuscript, carbon dated to the late Middle Ages, was discovered
in a trunk in the attic of a country house in Yorkshire, UK.
Apparently, the son of Victor, Warden of the Tower, never made it to
Germany. There are references to a Victor who served as warden in the
Tower in the late 15th Century. His name disappears after the coup of
1483, he was last reported missing and presumed dead.
Bones were discovered in 1674 by workmen rebuilding a stairway in the
Tower, and these were subsequently placed in Westminster Abbey, in an
urn bearing the names of Edward and Richard. However it has never been
proven that the bones belonged to the princes, so there remains a
possibility that Edward survived the Tower.
Interestingly, at the end of the 15th century a series of marriages
occured in duchies throughout the Hannover region of Germany. This
wealth and power as subsequent generations of this powerful family
continued to intermarry with other royal families throughout Western
Europe. In fact, in August 1714, George I of this line, was crowned
the first Hanoverian King of England. His great-great-great
Granddaughter was Victoria I. Apparently, this name was a favourite in
the family for many generations.
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