Wherefore our sovereign lord, calling into his blessed remembrance this high and great charge

as part of his royal majesty and the state, not oblivious, not putting out of his godly

mind, the unnatural, mischievous and great perjuries, treason, homicides and murders, in

shedding of innocence blood, with many other wrongs, odious offenses and abominations against

God and man, committed and done by Richard, late lord of Gloucester.

Hello and welcome to the history of England episode 193, The Blood of Innocence.

The text I've just read was from one of Henry VII's first acts as king, an act of

a tinder condemning the actions and supporters of Richard III last to the plantageness.

You will notice a couple of things from the passage. Firstly, that Henry quite clearly

hated full stops. But secondly, the accusation that Richard had shed the blood of innocence.

And that's what we're here to do today, decide amongst us once and for all what happened

to those innocents, Edward and Richard, princes in the tower, and who was responsible for

what happened to them. The question is fascinated as for centuries, despite

or maybe because of the porosity of evidence. Because here were indeed two innocents, Edward

aged twelve, captured by his uncle and confined to the Tower of London. And his brother,

Richard of York, even younger, just ten years old, given up by his mother from sanctuary

to the safekeeping of his uncle again. Now we know that we will in all likelihood never

know for sure what happened, but despite that we'll keep trying. And of course it's important

on a human scale, but also an understanding what kind of people in Richard, Henry, Margaret

and Buckingham that we're dealing with. I have been asked many times why I've held

off for so long covering this topic. And the answer is that there is a general feeling

that poor old Richard has rather had the rough end of a pineapple on this one. So I thought

...