Today we’re looking at a royal history mystery that took place during the Wars of the Roses and resulted in the death of a king. What happened to Henry VI?
Henry VI became the King of England shortly after his birth in 1421. His father, Henry V, died after a sudden illness at the age of 35, leaving the throne to his only son, a nine-month-old boy. Henry VI was guided by a regency council until his majority but was naturally shy and pious and preferred to leave the governing to his noblemen.
He began exhibiting symptoms of mental illness and went through periods where he was unable to effectively reign. This led to a split between the houses of York and Lancaster over who should be king. Henry VI was Lancastrian, but Richard, Duke of York, was descended from Edward III through another line, and his claim to the throne was gaining traction.
What followed was years of warring between the houses of Lancaster and York, later called the Wars of the Roses. The House of York was symbolised with a white rose; the House of Lancaster, a red rose (when Henry VII took the throne, he founded the House of Tudor and united the red and white roses to create a Tudor Rose).
The Duke of York was killed in battle alongside his second son Edmund, in 1460. Henry remained on the throne, but Edward, Earl of March and now Duke of York, took up his father’s claim and began to fight for the throne.
He won decisive battles and took the throne as Edward IV in 1461; Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou fled to Scotland.
Henry VI spent the next few years hiding out in various places in England before he was captured in 1465 and sent to the Tower of London. He remained there until 1470 when he was briefly restored to the throne for six months.
In 1471, Edward IV regained the throne. Henry VI’s only son, Edward of Westminster, was killed in battle, and his queen, Margaret of Anjou was captured. Henry VI was returned to the Tower of London, where he was quickly reported as dead
What Happened to Henry VI?
On 4 May 1471, Edward IV and the Yorkists won the Battle of Tewkesbury and regained the throne. Henry VI’s death was reported as occurring overnight on 21 May.
Most historians agree that it was entirely too perfectly timed to be anything other than murder, but the question remains: who murdered Henry VI?
One popular theory, to continue the slander of Richard III as history’s ultimate villain, is that Richard, then the Duke of Gloucester, committed the murder for his older brother. But why would it fall to a member of the Royal Family to commit the crime when there were likely hundreds of loyal Yorkists willing to do so?
Another theory, floated in the Tower of London, was that Henry VI died while praying. A later examination of his skeleton found that his skull was in pieces, meaning that he may have suffered a fatal blow to the head.
Certainly, following the death of his only son and heir, Edward of Westminster, in battle, Henry VI was the last Lancastrian standing between Edward IV and the throne. Henry VI’s death and the death of his son assured the York claim to the throne. But the question as to who may have committed the crime is lost to history.
