James Tyrrell
Sir James Tyrrell | |
|---|---|
| Born | c.1455 |
| Died | 6 May 1502 |
| Buried | Austin Friars, London |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Arundel |
| Issue | Sir Thomas Tyrrell James Tyrrell William Tyrrell Anne Tyrrell |
| Father | William Tyrrell |
| Mother | Margaret Darcy |
Sir James Tyrrell (c.1455 – 6 May 1502)[1] was an English knight, a trusted servant of King Richard III of England. He is known for confessing to the murders of the Princes in the Tower under Richard's orders. However, his statement may have been taken under torture, so the confession might not be genuine. William Shakespeare portrays Tyrrell as the man who organises the princes' murder in Richard III.[2]
Family
James Tyrrell was the eldest son of William Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk, and Margaret Darcy, the daughter of Robert Darcy of Maldon, Essex, and the grandson of Sir John Tyrrell.[1][3]
Career
Tyrrell's father was beheaded on Tower Hill on 23 February 1462, together with Sir Thomas Tuddenham and John Montgomery. John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, and his eldest son and heir, Aubrey, were beheaded on 26 February and 20 February, respectively, after the discovery of an alleged plot to murder Edward IV. No records of the trials of the alleged conspirators have survived to shed light on what part, if any, Tyrrell's father played in the alleged conspiracy.[4] He was not attainted, and his eldest son and heir's wardship and the custody of his lands were granted to Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, who sold them to William Tyrrell's widow in March 1463 for £50.[1]
James Tyrrell fought on the Yorkist side at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, and was knighted there by Edward IV. A few months later he entered the service of the future Richard III, then Duke of Gloucester.[1] After Richard III assumed power, he was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1484. He was in France in 1485, and played no part in the Battle of Bosworth Field which signalled the end of the Yorkists and the start of the Tudor dynasty.
In the following year, he returned to England and was pardoned by King Henry VII, who reappointed him governor of Guînes (in the English possession of Calais). However, in 1501, Tyrrell lent his support to Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, now the leading Yorkist claimant to the English throne, who was in voluntary exile. In the spring of 1501 Henry VII sent Thomas Lovell to Guines arrest Tyrrell and others, including Tyrrell's son, Thomas.[1]
Tyrrell was charged with treason and tortured. Sir Thomas More wrote that during his examination Tyrrell confessed to the murders of King Edward V of England and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. He also implicated two other men. Despite further questioning, however, he was unable to say where the bodies were, claiming that they had been moved.
Tyrrell was tried and convicted of treason at the Guildhall in London on 2 May 1502 and executed four days later, on 6 May,[1] together with one of his accomplices in aiding Suffolk, Sir John Wyndham. He was buried at the church of the Austin Friars, London. He was attainted on 25 January 1504; however the attainder was reversed three years later, on 19 April 1507.[1]
Marriage and issue
In 1469 Tyrrell married Anne Arundel, the daughter of John Arundel of Lanherne, Cornwall, by his first wife, Elizabeth Morley, daughter of Thomas, Lord Morley,[1] by whom he had three sons and a daughter:[5][6]
- Sir Thomas Tyrrell (d.1551) of Gipping, Suffolk, who married firstly Margaret Willoughby, daughter of Christopher Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, by whom he had a son, Sir John Tyrrell (d.1574), who married Elizabeth Munday, the daughter of Sir John Munday (d.1537), Lord Mayor of London, and a daughter, Anne Tyrrell, who married Sir John Clere of Ormesby, Norfolk.[7][8][9]
- James Tyrrell (d.1539) of Columbine Hall in Stowupland, Suffolk, who married Anne Hotoft.[10][11]
- William Tyrrell.[10]
- Anne Tyrrell, who married Sir Richard Wentworth (d.1528) of Nettlestead, Suffolk, by whom she was the mother of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth.[12]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Horrox 2004.
- ^ Shakespeare and History: James Tyrrell
- ^ Horrox 2008.
- ^ Ross 2011, pp. 39, 42.
- ^ Richardson III 2011, pp. 183–4.
- ^ Metcalfe 1882, p. 74.
- ^ Richardson III 2011, pp. 183–5.
- ^ Richardson IV 2011, p. 340.
- ^ Burke 1835, p. 25.
- ^ a b Richardson III 2011, p. 184.
- ^ Bright 1858, p. 228.
- ^ Richardson III 2011, pp. 184–5.
References
- Bright, J.B. (1858). The Brights of Suffolk, England. Boston: John Wilson and Son. p. 228. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Burke, John (1835). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. I. London: Henry Colburn. p. 25. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Horrox, Rosemary (2008). Tyrell family (per. c.1304–c.1510). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) (subscription required) - Horrox, Rosemary (2004). Tyrell, Sir James (c.1455–1502). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) (subscription required) The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource: . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. - Metcalfe, Walter C., ed. (1882). The Visitations of Suffolk. Exeter: William Pollard. p. 74. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help); Invalid|ref=harv(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. pp. 183–4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) ISBN 144996639X - Ross, James (2011). John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford (1442-1513); 'The Foremost Man of the Kingdom'. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) ISBN 978 1 84383 614 8
External links
- Sir James Tyrrell: Hero or Villain?
- James Tyrell
- Will of Sir Thomas Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk, proved 25 August 1551, PROB 11/34/309, National Archives Retrieved 16 July 2013
- Will of Sir John Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk, proved 22 June 1574, PROB 11/56/322, National Archives Retrieved 16 July 2013
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- 1450s births
- 1502 deaths
- 15th-century English people
- Medieval English knights
- People executed under Henry VII of England
- English people executed by decapitation
- Recipients of English royal pardons
- High Sheriffs of Cornwall
- People executed by the Kingdom of England by decapitation
- Executions at the Tower of London
- 16th-century executions by England
- Male Shakespearean characters