[The following is in regards to the mysterious fate of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, who in 1190 was designated heir to the throne of England by his uncle, Richard I, the idea being that he would succeed the throne instead of Richard’s younger brother, [John]*(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Jan_tomb.jpg). Unfortunately, John had him incarcerated in Rouen Castle in 1203, where he then disappeared, presumably killed by John.]
The king [John] told his nephew [Arthur] that he would set him free and give him back his duchy of Brittany if he would break with Philip II [of France] and promise homage and loyalty. But the young duke was not a Plantagenet for nothing and appears to have possessed his father’s and his uncles’ insane pride.
[…]
Arthur answered fiercely that he would never make peace until he had obtained not merely Brittany but everything that had belonged to his uncle Richard, including the kingdom of England. John immediately ordered that Arthur should be moved to Rouen, where he was confined in a newly built tower, ‘and not long after that, Arthur suddenly vanished.’
Nobody knows what happened. Ralph of Coggeshall, who took pains to be as accurate as possible about most matters, says that because the Bretons were in revolt over their duke’s imprisonment ‘the king’s counsellors’ had already suggested that Arthur should be blinded and castrated ‘so that he would thereafter be incapable of princely rule’. Ralph further tells us that John had ordered Hubert de Burgh to do this, when Arthur was at Falaise, but that Hubert disobeyed him.
[…]
There was also a contemporary rumour, perhaps put about by the court, that Arthur had fallen from a high tower while trying to escape. A French life of Philip II, the Philippide, says that John took the boy out onto the Seine on a boat, where he cut his throat and threw him overboard.
The last story may contain an element of truth. Among the king’s counsellors at this time, William of Braose was one of the most important, perhaps the most important of all. A benefactor of the Cistercian monastery of Margam in Wales, William may have confided the secret to its monks after he turned against John. Certainly the Annals of Margan contain an extremely plausible account: at Rouen on Maundy Thursday 1203 the king, ‘when he was drunk and possessed by the devil’ (ebrius et daemonio plenus), killed Arthur with his own hand and then dropped the corpse into the Seine after tying a heavy stone to it. A fisherman dredged up the body in his net and it was identified and secretly buried at a nearby Benedictine priory ‘in fear of the tyrant’.
Source:
Seward, Desmond. “The Murder of Arthur.” Eleanor of Aquitaine. New York: Times , 1979. 245-46. Print.
Further Reading:
Arzhur Iañ / Arthur Ier de Bretagne (Arthur I, Duke of Brittany)
Richard I of England / Richard Cœur de Lion (Richard the Lionheart) / Oc e No (Yes and No)
John, King of England / Johan sanz Terre (John Lockland)
Philip II of France / Philippe Auguste (Philip Augustus)
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