Miles Forest,
Alleged to be one of the killers of the "Princes in the Tower" in 1483:
Forest is said to have been one of the killers of the
"Princes in the Tower"
(the deposed child King Edward V and his brother
Richard, Duke of York).
The Princes are thought to have been murdered in the
Tower of London in 1483
on the orders of their uncle
Richard III.
The claim that
Miles Forest was one of the killers
was made early, in
More's History of King Richard III (c.1513)
by Sir Thomas More.
More says that Miles Forest was
one of the four jailers of the princes at the
Tower of London.
(These would not be professional jailers, but men loyal to Richard III
brought in to guard the princes.)
Forest is described in one edition of More as
"a noted ruffian"
and in another edition as a man already
"fleshed in murder"
(experienced in murder).
One night, the princes were smothered to death in their beds by Miles Forest and John Dighton,
on the orders of Sir James Tyrrell,
acting for Richard III.
Sanctuary in St.Martin's church, London:
It was said that after the murder
Forest feared revenge and he sought sanctuary at the church of
St. Martin's Le Grand in the City of London,
which was a known sanctuary for malefactors.
More says that Forest
"piecemeal rotted away"
at St. Martin's.
See
p.85
of 1883 edn.
Forest died soon after. He died before Sept 1484.
His widow Joan received an annuity on 9 Sept 1484.
Richard III
was killed at the
Battle of Bosworth on 22 Aug 1485,
and a new Tudor regime took power.
Forest was never arrested for his crime
since he was already dead.
Traditionally, not everyone has believed Sir Thomas More's account, or the guilt of Miles Forest.
However
[Thornton, 2020]
shows that Sir Thomas More would have known Forest's sons,
who were in Royal service,
and he may have got the information about their father from them.
Sir Thomas More in fact appears in a
1528 case
opposite
Miles Forest the younger.
[Thornton, 2020]
convincingly
shows that Forest
had issue:
A somewhat different text is given on
pp.83-85
of 1883 edn.
See modernised text with footnotes.
From here.
This gives the text as:
"Then, all the others
being removed from them, this Miles Forest and John Dighton
about midnight, the seely" [poor, helpless] "children lying in their beds, came into
the chamber and suddenly lapped" [bound] "them up among the clothes
- so bewrapped
them and entangled them, keeping down by force the featherbed
and pillows hard unto their mouths, that within a while, smothered and
stifled, their breath failing, they gave up to God their innocent souls
into the joys of heaven, leaving to the tormentors their bodies dead in
the bed."
"The Murder of the Sons of Edward IV".
1835 painting
by Theodor Hildebrandt.
See larger.
From
here.
If we believe More, Miles Forest is one of the men here.
The "Princes in the Tower"
depicted in an
1878 painting by John Everett Millais.
From here.
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