This Day in History: 1484-03-01

Ob 1st March 1484, Elizabeth Woodville’s agreement with Richard III, lord of Sandal, saw her emerging from sanctuary at Westminster Abbey with her daughters, her youngest son, Richard, having been ‘let go’ the previous June. Some say that Elizabeth had no alternative than to come to terms with her brother-in-law, others that she did not believe him guilty of the murder of her two sons, the ‘Princes in the Tower’, considering Richard had promised to protect her daughters and find suitable husbands. Richard’s later large financial grant to his supporter, Sir James Tyrell, for secret business in the Low Countries, has been seen by some Ricardians as evidence of the two Princes secreted abroad with possibly Perkin Warbeck (aka Richard of York) invading to claim the throne over thirteen years later.