28th November 1499

Execution of Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick

Edward Plantagenet Earl of Warwick was born in 1475. His parents were George Duke of Clarence and Isabel Neville, through whom he inherited the earldom of Warwick. With such illustrious parents, Edward was a significant person from birth. On one side of his family, he had royal blood. On the other, he had the Neville connections and the power that this line could bring to bear.

Following his father’s trial, execution and posthumous attainder, Edward had been removed from the line of succession to the throne.
His status was such that his uncle, Richard III, saw little threat from the young boy either at the time or in the longer term. In 1485 when Henry Tudor was victorious at the Battle of Bosworth, Edward was taken into safekeeping in the Palace of the Tower of London. Here he was detained but in comfortable quarters.

Edward’s significance increased following the failure of the 1487 invasion led by the Earl of Lincoln and the later capture of Perkin Warbeck. With the pretenders to the throne captured, the Princes in the Tower presumably dead and Lincoln himself dead, Edward was the remaining male from the House of York. If there was to be another Yorkist revolt, it would need to be in his name.

Edward and Perkin Warbeck were imprisoned in adjacent cells. It was alleged by their gaoler that the pair had been overheard plotting to escape from the Tower. We can only guess how true this is, and it is possible that the allegation was concocted. Nonetheless, it provided Henry VII with the grounds to have the pair tried. They were found guilty, and on 28th November 1499, Edward Plantagenet was beheaded on Tower Hill.

Featured image

Rendering from the “Rous Roll” by John Rous . Via Wikipedia.