RE:The Eclipse of the Sunne in Splendor
(Date Posted:06/28/2010 11:26 PM)
The 1st rule of thumb in pondering any crime is "quo beni?". Who benefits? Don't even start bashing Richard III LOL
I always thunk twas accepted that Edward IV died of a respiratory illness, & suddenly. Suddenly is the key word here. Arsenic is a tricky poison in that natch there's no set dosage that would kill a human, & the dosage that would do it as fast as it took a man as large as Edward to die would have to be so enormous that it could hardly have escaped notice. He was not only Longshanks Revisited in terms of height, but he'd also gotten pudgy & prolly would've rivaled his grandson Henry in girth had he lived longer. A severe respiratory infection or virus compromises all vital organs, & a viral illness might especially give a peep the heaves. It could just as easily have been the flu as arsenic. Lore has it that Edward caught cold whilst hunting & poof gone in less than a wk.
Who benefits from chopping down a lazy fat king past his prime, one who's ground the Wars of the Roses to a halt & brought peace & prosperity to his realm?
Not the Woodvilles, who got all of their goodies from him.
Buckingham resented him greatly for putting Anthony Woodville & not himself in charge of Prince Edward's household at Ludlow, as Buckingham was the premier landholder in the Welsh Marches & a royal duke at that. Never slight a duke. Buckingham did rebel against Richard III, but had no real base of support & was quickly taken down. Did Buckingham's royal pretensions extend to sitting his arse on the throne? But did Buckingham know in advance the likelihood of setting Edward's apparently legitimate sons aside? What would that get him, if not, except the usual regency pickings?
Margaret Beaufort was by then married to Stanley. Did she think if she get rid of Edward it would make it easier for Sonny Boy to overthrow a minor monarch & restore the House of Lancaster?
If Richard III had the dangerous knowledge that Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville could be made invalid, all he had to do was wait. And if he didn't, would the Woodvilles & their ilks allow him to continue to basically rule half of England during young Edward's short majority, & would Edward V let it go on? Richard's edgy detente w/ the Woodvilles stemmed from the same reasons.....sans Edward, no goodies.
Methinks if you propose Edward was murdered & look at who benefits, you come up w/ the same pool of suspects as who killed the Princes in the Tower. But if you look at is as who stood to benefit the MOST, it would be the sole remaining scion of the House of Lancaster.
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, but I remember seeing something which said that Edward simply just couldn't get out of bed one morning & went into a speedy decline. So I was wondering what on earth do you think he actually died of? 
Any opinions?
MarkGB5
