On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:37:34 -0400, NP-f31 wrote:
>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.
>
>Doc
>NP-f31
Dearest Doc,
How deceptive! You said that the boys would not survive, but you
didn't specify which boys!
I thoroughly enjoyed your tale of historical fiction ... it is
completely plausible. Strangely, when I read that the princes had
escaped to the Continent, my very first thought was, "Well, I wonder
if, when they grow up, if they won't be as horrid as their uncle!"
So many boys do, you know.
Thank you so much for this gift. As with Grant, I hope you may decide
to continue. On asides, I want to mention ... perhaps prematurely ...
that both of you have served as if not an inspiration, then a
catalyst to my own modest literary efforts. Yesterday evening I sat
down to write fiction ... hadn't done it since I was a teen. I've
had this story winding round my head and decided to jot a few notes
just as a knock-off. Three hours later ... well, you both understand.
I'd forgotten how addictive writing can be. And how exhausting.
All My Best,
Victor
God Save the Queen.
God Bless the Prince of Wales.
God Preserve the Windsors.
Rule Britannia!
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