12 Reasons You're Wrong About King Richard III

4. Richard III Has Also Been Wrongly Blamed For Edward Of Lancaster's Death

Another rival who Richard III has been accused of murdering is that of Edward of Lancaster, King Henry VI's son - who died at the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471 aged 17. At least seven contemporary accounts confirm that Edward of Lancaster died on the battlefield - with one Lancastrian chronicler even stating: "And there was slain in the field Prince Edward, which cried for succour to his brother-in-law the Duke of Clarence." It was not until the early 16th-Century that accounts started to lay the blame for Prince Edward's death at King Richard III's hands - with staunch Lancastrian Robert Fabyan one of the first to do so. The claims, dramatised by Shakespeare, suggest Edward of Lancaster was captured and brought before King Edward IV who demanded that the former swear allegiance to the Yorkist house and that when he refused, Richard was among those to kill him with their swords. Despite this, there is no evidence to suggest Edward of Lancaster died anywhere but on the battlefield at Tewkesbury - where he is likely to have been beheaded on a makeshift block. Interestingly, Edward of Lancaster was also the only heir apparent to the English throne to ever die during battle.