The Murder Of Prince Arthur,

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19036, 3 April 1930, Page 6

The Murder Of Prince Arthur ,

727 Years Ago

By Charles Conway

QN April 3, 1203, Prince Arthur, who was then only sixteen years of age, was foully murdered by King John of England.

Arthur, who was born in 1187, was the posthumous child of Geoffrey, the fourth son of Henry 11. of England, while his mother was Constance, the heiress of Conan IV., Duke of Brittany. Thus at the time of his birth Arthur was not only Duke of Brittany, but he stood second in the line of succession to the English throne. When Henry 11. died in 1189 he was making preparations for seizirtg the dukedom of Brittany, and immediately his successor and third son, Richard the First, known in history as “Coeur de Lion,” ascended the throne he claimed the guardianship of his nephew Arthur, but he was prevented from enforcing this claim by his early departure on a crusade to the Holy Land. During Richard’s absence in Palestine Constance took the reins in her own hands, and in 1184 she had her son duly proclaimed Duke by an assembly of tjie Breton bishops and barons.

When Richard I. returned to England he despatched an army to Brittany, but it was defeated, and in 1197 he became reconciled to Constance and Arthur. Two years later Richard died and Arthur, who was then twelve years of age, was his rightful successor, but the English throne was usurped by his uncle John, the fifth son of Henry 11., who lost no time in making several futile attempts to kidnap and poison his nephew. The people of England submitted to John’s usurpation. Arthur renounced his claim to the English throne mainly on the persuasion of Philip Augustus, King of France, but in 1202, when the French monarch wished to take Normandy from John and declared war against him for that purpose, he put forward the claims of Arthur as his principal pretext for hostilities. Soon after the war commenced Arthur, who went into the field with his barons, was captured by John at Mirabeau and was imprisoned for some months at Falaise, where his custodian, Hubert de Burgh, was ordered to deprive him of his eyesight. Hubert’s refusal to commit this dastardly act led to the young prince being removed to Rouen, where he was murdered. According to Ralph, Abbot of Coggeshall, Arthur was taken from his in the early hours of April 3, 1203, and placed in a boat on the River Seine, which washed the walls of his prison. In the boat he found himself alone with his uncle John and a man named Peter de Maulac, and the lonely spot, the dark hour and the darker looks of his uncle, told the youth that his hour had come. His pathetic appeals that his life might be spared were disregarded, and when the boat reached the middle of the deserted river he was stabbed to the heart and his body flung into the stream, but whether it was John or the attendant, who was the actual assassin will never be known. (Copyrighted.)