The Titulus Regius of 1483

The controversies of Richard III's reign don't begin with what happened to his nephews, the Princes in the Tower.  They begin with Richard's own ascent to the English throne.  In those days, strict primogeniture, or descent from father to son, wasn't a done deal.  More often then not, when a King died, the throne was open to whichever male of the Royal Family could fight for it.  Many Kings of the Plantagenet dynasty were lucky enough to die when their heir was an adult, Henry II to Richard I to John, or Henry III to Edwards I-III.  Others were fortunate enough that loyal councilors or members of the family protected the rights of a minor heir, such as young Henry III, who succeeded when he was 9 years old, or Richard II, who succeeded when he was 10.  Twelve-year-old Edward V wasn't so lucky.

Edward IV was madly in love with his wife, Elizabeth Woodville, but that didn't preclude him from relationships with other women.  Jane Shore wasn't his first mistress.  A woman named Elizabeth Lucy had born Edward his son, Arthur, later 1st Viscount Lisle.  And there may have been still others.  At the time of his accession, Edward was resisting a French match being proposed by Warwick the Kingmaker and may have given his troth, or promise of marriage, to another woman besides Elizabeth Woodville.  She was Lady Eleanor Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and more commonly known by her married name of Butler.  According to rumor, Edward IV may have been secretly engaged to her and she may have born him a child.  In those days, an engagement to marry was looked upon almost as legal and binding as a marriage.  If the parties had contracted or promised to marry, they could not legally marry another person, as a precontract would render the subsequent marriage null and void and any children illegitimate.  Whatever the relationship between Edward and Eleanor, they each went on with the lives with other people.  Eleanor married Sir Thomas Butler and became a wealthy patroness of religious institutions.  Edward married Elizabeth Woodville and had 7 surviving children.

Eleanor died in 1468 and Edward died in 1483, having arranged for his son by Elizabeth to become Edward V and his brother Richard of Gloucester to serve as regent.  At that opportune moment, with both Eleanor and Edward IV dead and unable to account for the past, a preacher came forward, claiming that young Edward V wasn't the valid king because his parents' marriage had been tarnished by the earlier engagement of Edward and Eleanor.  Who put this preacher on the trail of this old chesnut will never be known.  Did Richard dig up the information and use the preacher as a mouthpiece to set his plot in motion to take the throne?  It will never be known for sure.  However, once the information became public in the form of a sermon, Richard took full advantage.  Edward V and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury were already in the Tower of London for safekeeping and their they would remain.  But there was another problem.  George, Duke of Clarence left a son, Edward, who was attainted of his father's dukedom, but had inherited his uncle Warwick's title through his mother.  Edward of Warwick had a more senior claim to the throne than his uncle.  He was also a minor and in the Tower but boys grow up and the Tower wasn't escape-proof.  Something had to be done.

Parliament convened in the wake of Edward IV's death and passed a law known as the Titulus Regius, or Royal Title.  During this tumultuous period, with the Wars of the Roses fresh in everyone's mind, a stable reign under a competent adult male was much better than a regency council, or a takeover by another contender.  And, the MPs would have been aware of Henry Tudor waiting in the wings over in France.  The Titulus invalidated Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, making all their children illegitimate.  It not only affirmed Clarence's attainder for treason, but asserted that Clarence, born in Ireland, was born outside of England and thus unable to inherit the throne.  Ironically, this logic would have applied to many Plantagenet kings born in what is now France.  But logic doesn't always prevail when stability and national security are a concern.  With the Titulus in effect, not only could Richard be crowned King and hopefully live long enough to see his own Edward into adulthood, but he could keep his nephews under lock and key indefinitely. 

Then, tragedy struck.  Richard's son Edward died months before his father's death at Bosworth in 1485.  With Henry Tudor now on the throne and due to marry Elizabeth of York, there was a need to remove the stain on her family inheritance by reinstating her parents marriage.  The Titulus Regulus was repealed, with Edward V once more in the list of English Kings.  By this time Edward V and Richard, Duke of York were conveniently dead, maybe, and Edward of Warwick had lived so long in the Tower of London that he was institutionalized and probably wouldn't have been able to function adequately outside prison walls.