Editing James Tyrrell

{{short description|English knight (c. 1455–1502)}}
{{Other people|James Tyrrell}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{ infobox noble
| name         = Sir James Tyrrell
| image        = 
| caption      = 
| noble family = 
| father       = William Tyrrell
| mother       = Margaret Darcy
| spouse       = Anne Arundel
| issue        = Sir Thomas Tyrrell<br>James Tyrrell<br>William Tyrrell<br>Anne Tyrrell
| birth_date   = c. 1445
| birth_place  = 
| death_date  = 6 May 1502
| death_place  = 
| burial_place = [[Austin Friars, London]]
}}
'''Sir James Tyrrell''' (c. 1455 – 6 May 1502){{sfn|Horrox|2004}} was an English [[knight]], a trusted servant of king [[Richard III of England]].  He is known for allegedly confessing to the murders of the [[Princes in the Tower]] under Richard's orders. In his 1593 play ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', [[William Shakespeare]] portrays Tyrrell as the man who organises the princes’ murders.

==Family==
James Tyrrell was the eldest son of William Tyrrell of [[Gipping]] in Suffolk, and Margaret Darcy, the daughter of Robert Darcy of [[Maldon, Essex|Maldon]], and the grandson of [[John Tyrrell (died 1437)|Sir John Tyrrell]].{{sfn|Horrox|2004}}{{sfn|Horrox|2008}}

==Career==
Tyrrell's father was beheaded on [[Tower Hill]] on 23 February 1462, together with [[Thomas Tuddenham|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 of England|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.{{sfn|Ross|2011|pp=39, 42}} He was not [[attainder|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.{{sfn|Horrox|2004}}

James Tyrrell fought on the [[House of York|Yorkist]] side at the [[Battle of Tewkesbury]] on 4 May 1471, and was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] there by [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]].{{sfn|Pollard|1933|p=233}} A few months later he entered the service of the future [[Richard III of England|Richard III]], then [[Duke of Gloucester]].{{sfn|Horrox|2004}} After Richard III assumed power, he was appointed [[High Sheriff of Cornwall]] in 1484.<ref>{{cite book |page=22 |title=List of Sheriffs for England and Wales from the Earliest Times to A.D. 1831 |first=A. |last=Hughes |publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode |location=London |year=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AF4sAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PR1}}</ref> 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]].

[[File:Austin Friary copperplate map.png|thumb|right|250px|Depiction of Austin Friars, London, circa 1550, burial place of Sir James Tyrrell]]
He returned to England in 1486 and was pardoned by King [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] on 16 June, and was pardoned again on 16 July. Sir [[Clements Markham]] considers that it was between these dates that the [[Princes in the Tower|murder of the princes]] took place – although Sir Clements has frequently been criticised for his lack of scholarly rigour and accuracy.{{sfn|Archbold|1899}} Henry VII reappointed him governor of [[Guînes]] (in the English possession of [[Calais]]) in 1486. Tyrrell had previously been granted the Lieutenancy of Guines on 22 January 1485 by Richard III (vellum document and Great Seal now owned by Richard III Society in UK). 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 of England|Henry VII]] sent [[Thomas Lovell]] to Guînes to arrest Tyrrell and others, including Tyrrell's son, Thomas.{{sfn|Horrox|2004}}

Tyrrell was charged with [[High treason|treason]], was tried and convicted at the [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall]] in London on 2 May 1502 and executed four days later, on 6 May,{{sfn|Horrox|2004}} together with one of his accomplices in aiding Suffolk, [[John Wyndham (Yorkist conspirator)|Sir John Wyndham]]. Tyrrell 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.{{sfn|Horrox|2004}}

===Princes in the Tower===
Some years after Tyrrell's execution, Sir [[Thomas More]] claimed in his "History of King Richard III" that during his examination Tyrrell confessed to the murders of King [[Edward V of England]] and his brother [[Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York]]. According to More, he also implicated John Dighton as a perpetrator, and Dighton when questioned corroborated Tyrrell's account. But he was unable to say where the bodies were, claiming that they had been moved.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.r3.org/on-line-library-text-essays/marius-richard-the-history-of-king-richard-iii/thomas-more-index/the-history-of-king-richard-the-third-sir-thomas-more/ |title=The History of King Richard the Third |last=More |first=Thomas |year=1557 |language=en-US |via=Richard III Society – American Branch |access-date=2018-05-04 |quote=...syr Iames Tirell was in the Tower, for Treason committed agaynste the moste famous prince king Henry the seuenth, bothe Dighton an he were examined, & confessed the murther in maner aboue writen, but whither the bodies were remoued thei could nothing tel. |archive-date=26 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526201422/http://www.r3.org/on-line-library-text-essays/marius-richard-the-history-of-king-richard-iii/thomas-more-index/the-history-of-king-richard-the-third-sir-thomas-more/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The original document of Tyrrell's alleged confession was never produced. However, other contemporary accounts, notably that of [[Polydore Vergil]], make no mention of the confession. Additionally, if the confession was ever made, it was likely gathered during or after torture.

Elizabethan chronicles developed More's narrative of Tyrrell and the Princes in the Tower. Richard III gave James Tyrrell and Sir Thomas Tyrell (of "brethren of blood") the keys to the Tower. James Tyrell "devised that they should be murthered in their beds", and appointed Miles Forrest and John Dighton to smother them. Tyrell, according to the chronicles, supervised the burials "at the stayre foote, metely deepe in the ground under a great heape of stones". Tyrell reported the burial to Richard III, who ordered that they be buried secretly in another place. Forrest "miserably rotted away" at [[St. Martin's Le Grand]] and Dighton lived in "great misery" at Calais.<ref>[[Richard Grafton]], [https://archive.org/details/graftonschronicl02grafuoft/page/116/mode/2up ''Chronicle at Large'', 2 (London, 1809), pp. 117–119]</ref>

==Marriage and issue==
In 1469, Tyrrell married Anne Arundel, the daughter of [[John Arundell (1421–1473)|John Arundel]] of [[Lanherne]], by his first wife, Elizabeth Morley, daughter of [[Thomas de Morley, 5th Baron Morley|Thomas, Lord Morley]],{{sfn|Horrox|2004}} by whom he had three sons and a daughter:{{sfn|Richardson III|2011|pp=183–4}}{{sfn|Metcalfe|1882|p=74}}

*Sir Thomas Tyrrell (d. 1551) of [[Gipping]], who married 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 [[John Mundy (mayor)|Sir John Munday]] (d. 1537), [[List of Lord Mayors of London|Lord Mayor of London]], and a daughter, Anne Tyrrell, who married Sir [[John Clere (died 1557)|John Clere]] of [[Ormesby]].{{sfn|Richardson III|2011|pp=183–5}}{{sfn|Richardson IV|2011|p=340}}{{sfn|Burke|1835|p=25}}
*James Tyrrell (d. 1539) of Columbine Hall in [[Stowupland]], who married Anne Hotoft.{{sfn|Richardson III|2011|p=184}}{{sfn|Bright|1858|p=228}}
*William Tyrrell.{{sfn|Richardson III|2011|p=184}}
*Anne Tyrrell, who married [[Richard Wentworth (nobleman)|Sir Richard Wentworth]] (d. 1528) of [[Nettlestead, Suffolk|Nettlestead]], by whom she was the mother of [[Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth]].{{sfn|Richardson III|2011|pp=184–5}}

==Further discussion==
In a television programme first broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK on 21 March 2015, the historian [[David Starkey]] announced his discovery in royal records that both Henry VII and his wife [[Elizabeth of York|Elizabeth]], the sister of Edward V and Richard Duke of York, were present throughout Tyrrell's trial.<ref name="Breverton2016">{{cite book|author=Terry Breverton|title=Henry VII: The Maligned Tudor King|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcR5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT326|year=2016|publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited|isbn=978-1-4456-4606-0|page=326}}</ref>

However, contemporary documents originally retrieved by scholar Rosemary Horrox record that the king and queen were lodged in the Royal Apartments at the Tower during Tyrrell's trial, which was not held at the Tower itself.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=27952|title=Tyrell, Sir James (c.1455–1502)}}</ref>

In his 1593 play ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', [[William Shakespeare]] portrays Tyrrell as the man who organises the princes' murders.<ref>[http://www.shakespeareandhistory.com/james-tyrrell.php Shakespeare and History: James Tyrrell]</ref>

In 2024, Professor Tim Thornton of the [[University of Huddersfield]] contended that a chain belonging to Edward V mentioned in the will of [[Margaret Capel]], Tyrrell's sister-in-law, was a [[chain of office]], and supported claims that Tyrrell was involved in the murder.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news |last=Bryson |first=Julia |date=3 December 2024 |title=New evidence uncovered in Princes in Tower mystery |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vrxe91epro |work=BBC News |location=Yorkshire |access-date=8 December 2024}}</ref><ref>Tim Thornton, "Sir William Capell and A Royal Chain: The Afterlives (and Death) of King Edward V", ''History: The Journal of the Historical Association'', 109:308 (2024), pp. 445–480. {{doi|10.1111/1468-229X.13430}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{Cite DNB | first=William Arthur Jobson |last=Archbold | wstitle = Tyrrell, James (d.1502)|volume=57}}
*{{Cite book |last=Bright |first=J.B. |year=1858 |title=The Brights of Suffolk, England |location=Boston |publisher=John Wilson and Son |page=[https://archive.org/details/brightssuffolk00briggoog/page/n320 228] |url=https://archive.org/details/brightssuffolk00briggoog |access-date=16 July 2013 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=John |year=1835 |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland |location=London |publisher=Henry Colburn |volume=I |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uo9AAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA25 }}
*{{cite ODNB |last=Horrox |first=Rosemary |year=2008 |title=Tyrell family (per. c. 1304 – c. 1510) |id=52799}} 
*{{cite ODNB |last=Horrox |first=Rosemary |year=2004 |title=Tyrell, Sir James (c. 1455–1502) |id=27952}} 
*{{Cite book |editor-last=Metcalfe |editor-first=Walter C. |year=1882 |title=The Visitations of Suffolk |location=Exeter |publisher=William Pollard |page=74 |url=https://archive.org/stream/visitationsofsuf00harvuoft#page/74/mode/2up |access-date=1 August 2013 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=The Making of Sir Thomas More's ''Richard III'' |first=A.F. |last=Pollard |title=Historical Essays in Honour of James Tait |editor-first1=John Goronwy |editor-last1=Edwards |editor-first2=Vivian Hunter |editor-last2=Galbraith |editor-first3=Ernest Fraser |editor-last3=Jacob |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1933 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Richardson |first=Douglas |year=2011 |title=Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families |editor-first=Kimball G. |editor-last=Everingham |location=Salt Lake City |edition=2nd |volume=III |pages=183–4 |ref={{sfnref |Richardson III |2011}} |isbn=978-1449966393 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Richardson |first=Douglas |year=2011 |title=Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families |editor-first=Kimball G. |editor-last=Everingham |location=Salt Lake City |edition=2nd |volume=IV |ref={{sfnref |Richardson IV |2011}} |isbn=978-1460992708 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Ross |first=James |year=2011 |title=John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford (1442–1513); 'The Foremost Man of the Kingdom' |publisher=[[The Boydell Press]] |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |isbn=978-1-84383-614-8 }}

==Further reading==
*{{citation |ref=none |last= Wagner|first=John A. |year=2001 |chapter=Tyrell, Sir James (1445–1502) |title=Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses |pages=279–280 |edition=illustrated |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781851093588 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubXnWRMt6uoC&pg=PA279}}

==External links==
*[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27952 James Tyrell]
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D952609 Will of Sir Thomas Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk, proved 25 August 1551, PROB 11/34/309, National Archives] Retrieved 16 July 2013
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D960717 Will of Sir John Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk, proved 22 June 1574, PROB 11/56/322, National Archives] Retrieved 16 July 2013

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[[Category:1450s births]]
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[[Category:15th-century English people]]
[[Category:16th-century English people]]
[[Category:Medieval English knights]]
[[Category:People executed under Henry VII of England]]
[[Category:Executed English people]]
[[Category:Recipients of English royal pardons]]
[[Category:High sheriffs of Cornwall]]
[[Category:People executed by Tudor England by decapitation]]
[[Category:Executions at the Tower of London]]
[[Category:16th-century executions by England]]
[[Category:Edward V]]
[[Category:People of the Wars of the Roses]]
[[Category:Burials at Austin Friars, London]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Princes in the Tower]]