Brackenbury and The Princes in The Tower
As Constable of the Tower of London, Brackenbury inevitably figures into any account of the fate of Richard III's nephews, the Princes in the Tower.
For example, in Thomas More’s version of the life of Richard III, More says that after the coronation on 6 July 1483 and while on his way to Gloucester, Richard sent John Green to Brackenbury with written orders for Brackenbury to kill the princes. Brackenbury, says More, replied “that he would never put them to death, though he should die therefore”. So Richard then ordered Sir James Tyrrell to go to Brackenbury with a letter by which he was commanded to deliver to Sir James all the keys of the Tower for one night, "to the end he might there accomplish the King’s pleasure". According to St Thomas “gentle Brackenbury”, who had resisted the demands of the King, now meekly complied.
Read more about this topic: Robert Brackenbury
Famous quotes containing the words princes and/or tower:
“This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death,
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes at a shot
So bloodily hast struck?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Culture is a sham if it is only a sort of Gothic front put on an iron building—like Tower Bridge—or a classical front put on a steel frame—like the Daily Telegraph building in Fleet Street. Culture, if it is to be a real thing and a holy thing, must be the product of what we actually do for a living—not something added, like sugar on a pill.”
—Eric Gill (1882–1940)