Editing Princes in the Tower (section)

==Impact==
The political reality of the disappearance of the princes, whatever happened to them, is that they were believed to have been murdered and Richard was blamed for their murders.<ref>Pollard pp. 137–139</ref> Even if he had not been directly responsible for their deaths, the fact that he had deposed them and kept them under tight guard made him responsible for their welfare in the eyes of contemporaries, and the belief that they had been murdered made him guilty.<ref>Pollard p 138</ref> As Baldwin noted in support of his conclusion that Richard would not have murdered the princes, "It seems incredible Richard ever supposed killing his nephews would help secure his position or make him more acceptable to his subjects."<ref name="ReferenceB"/> An initial uprising in September 1483, aimed at deposing Richard and restoring Edward V to the throne, was not stopped by rumours of Edward's murder.<ref>Hicks pp. 211–212</ref> Instead, the rebels rallied around Henry Tudor as a potential alternative candidate; Horrox says Tudor was "an inconceivable choice if Edward V and his brother were thought to be still available".<ref name=RH/>

Anthony Cheetham, who considered Richard likely to have had the princes murdered, commented that it was "a colossal blunder. Nothing else could have prompted the deflated Woodvilles to hitch themselves to Henry Tudor's bandwagon."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cheetham|first1=Anthony|title=The Life and Times of Richard III|date=1972|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|location=London|page=151}}</ref> The fact that the majority of the rebels were wealthy and powerful southern noblemen, loyal to Edward IV, suggests a degree of revulsion against Richard's usurpation of the throne:<ref>Hicks p 211</ref> their willingness to fight on under an implausible alternative candidate suggests that they regarded anyone as preferable to Richard as King due to his usurpation and the murder of his nephews.<ref>Hicks p. 212</ref> Bennett suggested that perhaps those who had initially supported Richard in his seizure of power may have felt complicit in the crime, which he thought "might explain the bitterness of the subsequent recriminations against him".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bennett|first1=Michael|title=The Battle of Bosworth|date=1993|publisher=Alan Sutton|location=Stroud|page=45|edition=2nd}}</ref> Hicks speculated that these men may have been "appalled by the character of the regime...shocked by Richard's crimes".<ref>Hicks pp. 228</ref> Their defection severely weakened Richard, who had to impose his supporters among the northern lords as officeholders in the southern counties to maintain order, in itself a very unpopular act that further damaged his reputation.<ref name="RH" /> In Pollard's words, "the belief that he had murdered his nephews seriously handicapped Richard's efforts to secure himself on the throne he had usurped".<ref>Pollard p. 139</ref>