Opus 3: Henry VI, Part 2

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, had been slowly turning from friend to foe of Henry VI ever since Henry allowed Gloucester’s wife Eleanor to be arrested and imprisoned for witchcraft and treason. The Treaty of Tours proved to be the last straw. Gloucester complained bitterly about the dishonorable peace Henry had made with France and his demeaning acceptance of Margaret of Anjou as his queen — an ironic position for him to take, in view of his own marriage to a low-born woman, but a strongly held one nonetheless. Finally, his carping got to be too much for even the usually tolerant Henry. He too was arrested for treason in 1447 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there within weeks. There was and is every reason to believe that he was the victim of murder, in order to avoid giving him the bully pulpit of a public trial. His apparently unmolested body was not taken as exculpatory evidence, because it was well known that there are ways of killing that leave no mark. Some said…