One of the most captivating civil wars to ever sweep through England was when the House
of York and the House of Lancaster were both fighting for the English Throne during the
wars of the roses.
Both of them had claims to the throne, and both during the 15th century would sit a the
top of English society.
It was a time of great bloodshed, uncertainty and fierce battles but there was one man who
caused chaos in the dynastic struggles and who crossed his own brother the King of England.
George Platagenet was a turn coat and a man who betrayed his brother, and for his backstabbing
he was sentenced to death and was executed in a rather bizarre and shocking way.
Join us today as we look at the Duke of Clarence who was drowned in wine!
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George Platagent was the son of Richard Plantagenet the Duke of York, and was born in Dublin Castle
in October 1449.
His mother was Cecily Neville, but he’s remembered in History for having two brother’s
who became Kings of England in their own right.
Edward IV seized the throne during the Wars of the Roses, and his other brother Richard
would become Richard III following the debacle with the Princes in the Tower claimed the
throne.
The family were close to the throne, and it was Goerge’s father who initially challenged
the Lancastrian’s to the throne, but he was defeated during the Battle of Wakefield
in 1460.
Also George’s older brother Edmund known as the Earl of Rutland would be killed in
battle and George and Richard were sent away to be protected.
The Yorkist claim would continue through George’s brother Edward who was known as the Earl of
March, and he also continued to lead the families claim.
He was a feared military leader, and was known for defeating the King Henry VI at the Battle
of Towton and then he himself was proclaimed King deposing Henry.
Edward then was crowned King Edward IV at Westminster, and this meant that George Platagent
was the brother of the King, and Edward rewarded him and his other siblings, and George became
known as the Duke of Clarence in 1461 and his younger brother Richard became the Duke
of Gloucester.
Edward later then married Elizabeth Woodville and he continued to surround himself with
influential earls including Warwick Kingmaker, Richard Neville the Earl of Warwick.
George Plantagenet wished to marry Warwick’s eldest daughter and heir to his lands and
titles, Isabelle Neville.
But Edward IV the King refused to support this match, and against the King’s ideas
George and Isabelle went to France and got married, but this began George’s arguments
with the King.
As time went on he grew close with the influential Warwick Kingmaker, and he gave his support
to rebels in the north, and the King also learned that his own brother was stabbing
him in the back and being a traitor.
George lost his title of the Lord Leftenant of Ireland, and he then left England to go
to France with Warwick Kingmaker, his father in law.
He was looked after by King Louis XII in France, and whilst away the pair began to support
the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou and the pair switched to the enemies of the War
of the Roses, the House of Lancaster.
This was a huge shock as George was born into the House of York and his own father began
the challenge, and this was seen as a huge betrayal.
George and his father in law invaded England and George was fighting for the enemy and
to restore the enemy to the throne against his own brother, but quickly he knew that
he had done the wrong thing and he begged his brother Edward for his forgiveness.
George did earn his brother’s trust, and he returned back to the Yorkist cause and
he turned his back on the Earl of Warwick who was later killed by Edward’s soldiers
at the Battle of Barnet in 1371.
Edward re-instated his brother and George became the Great Chamberlain of England, but
he did kidnap Anne Neville his sister in law after George’s brother Richard tried to
marry her, and he was worried about the share of the Earl of Warwicks land he would get.
But George did have two children with Isabel Neville, Edward the Earl of Warwick and also
Margaret the Countess of Salisbury who was also executed inside the walls of the Tower
of London.
But tragedy hit George in December 1476 when his wife died after she gave birth to a son
who also died, and following this George went off the rails.
He tried to remarry, but Edward yet against refused to support a match and George plotted
yet again against his brother Edward IV.
He became very paranoid, and claimed that his wife had been poisoned by one of her servants,
and George later hanged her after she was found guilty at a trial which was not legal.
George then began to dissent against his brother the King, and he perpetuated rumours that
the King was illegitimate and that his mother had an affair with a man who was actually
his father, who was an archer.
He also claimed Edward IV’s Queen was illegitimate and that their marriage was false and not
legally binding.
When Edward IV found out about his brother’s words, he was outraged and angry.
He executed one of George Platagenet’s household staff, John Stacey who was accused of witchcraft
and was then killed.
George was not put off though, and and he continued to speak out against his brother.
But Edward IV had enough, and he ordered the arrest of his younger brother and George was
then imprisoned at the Tower of London.
Whilst here he was charged with high treason against his brother the King, and he was held
there for a few months as Edward was debating what to do and whether to execute George or
to let him go free.
He was hesitant to sentence George to death, but eventually he was pursuaded to do so,
and a trial for George was brought against him.
George was not present there, but Edward sentenced his own brother to death, and he urged Parliament
to pass and act of attainder claiming his brother as guilty of treason.
This was passed, and George was condemned to die, but his execution was one of the most
bizarre in History.
George was not beheaded by axe as would have been expected or hanged, drawn and quartered
but he underwent an execution which was extremely bizarre.
The Tower of London at the time was the most secure and formidable fortress in England,
but it was there where George Platagenet, the brother of King Edward IV was executed
in private in front of no crowd.
The official records from the Tower at the time claim that inside of the Bowyer Tower,
part of the castle that George was executed.
In the following century, three Queens of England would lose their lives in the Tower
of London, and George would be the first of the royal family to be killed and executed
within the Tower’s walls.
But it was not done as mentioned by axe, but a disturbing and shocking rumour documented
George Platagenet’s execution.
It was said that inside of the Bowyer Tower, George was privately executed by a number
of the guards of the Tower of London.
Edward VI had ordered that his brother should be drowned and executed in a barrel or a water
butt filled with Malmsety Wine.
So George would have been lowered and held in a barrel full of wine, and some believe
this was Edward having a final say in his brother, and the King sentencing him to a
unique but still brutal death with much suffering.
George was dunked and then held under the wine until he succumbed to his fate, drowning
and then dying.
This would have been more of a brutal and painful ordeal for George, than if he’d
been simply beheaded on Tower Hill like many more after him would succumb to after being
found guilty of treason.
Interestingly in a portrait Margaret his daughter is shown with a bracelet that has a barrel
on it, and this could symbolise her link to her father and his brutal fate inside the
Tower of London.
As mentioned she would also be executed inside the Tower of London during the reign of King
Henry Viii.
But George Plantagenet is considered one of the biggest traitors in Medieval history,
turning on his brother Edward VI and causing him a number of problems.
For some people, a barrel of wine would be a good thing, but for Goerge Plantagenet the
Duke of Clarence it certainly was not.
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