The
Hans Holbein Foundation resource centre for research and development
Vol.
V, No. 3., August 2004.
HOLBEIN, SIR THOMAS MORE
& THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER
The
disappearance of two boy princes from the Tower of London in 1483 remains the
greatest,
most baffling and longest running case of missing persons in the history of royal England. It is unsolved.
Read the
remarkable “Sir Thomas More and The Princes in the Tower”
--
encrypted messages for posterity by More’s friend Hans Holbein the Younger.
Holbein
claims he met both princes, now married with families, in More’s house in the
reign of Henry VIII.
Holbein
gives us their cover names. We know where they are buried. Holbein’s claim is
“testable” -- by DNA profiling.
The Author
Jack
Leslau was born in London in 1931. His discovery of the so-called Holbein Codes
surprised the academic world
since it
was unpaid work by a self-taught amateur.
What the UK Media say about Jack Leslau :
“How Holbein Hid a
Royal Secret”
‘The
picture on the right may or may not have been painted by Holbein in Chelsea in
1540. According to Jack Leslau, this
portrait
of Sir Thomas More and his family contains clues proving that Richard III did
not murder the little princes in the Tower
–
and that no such murders took place at all.’ Report by Geraldine Norman,
SPECTRUM Article, The Times, 25 March 1983, p. 12
“Painting unveiled again.”
‘The Lord
Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, talks to Lord St. Oswald after yesterday’s unveiling
of the painting.’
Article
by Michael Hickling, The Yorkshire Post, 26 March 1983, p. 3
“Princes in the Tower lived on with secret identities.”
Article
by Annabel Ferriman, The Observer, 11 August 1991, p. 7
“Genetic
Hunt for Princes in the Tower.”
Article
by Peter Pallot, The Daily Telegraph, 13 August 1991, p.14
“DNA may solve Princes’ riddle.”
Article
by Lewis Smith, Sunday Express, 6 August 1995, p. 31
“Will DNA prove the princes lived?”
Article
by Annabel Ferriman, Independent on Sunday, 6 August 1995, p. 8
“The Princes in the Tower”
‘The
true fate of Edward and Richard, the two young princes who disappeared from the
Tower of London in 1483, is under
multi-disciplinary
review. “The greatest mystery in English history will be resolved by
scientists,” says Jack Leslau of the
Friends
of Thomas More. Scientists in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States
will test Leslau’s theory that the
princes
were in fact not murdered and that the story was a successful Tudor deception.’
Article by Sir Gordon Wolstenholme,
former
Harveian Librarian, Royal College of Physicians, BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL,
Vol. 303, p. 382, 17 August 1991.
“BBC NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS : SPECIAL
CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAMMES, RADIO.”
‘Dear Jack Leslau, Thank you very much for coming to Broadcasting House to take part in our arts pilot programme.
I
thought your remarks during the discussion were fascinating and I shall watch
news of your bid for the DNA tests
with
great interest.’ Signed, Sheila Cook, Senior Producer, BBC News &
Current Affairs Programmes, 22 August 1991.
RICHARD III SOCIETY
Patron
H. R. H. The Duke of Gloucester
‘Dear
Jack, Many thanks indeed for your lecture on Tuesday last. Next time, maybe we
should start specially early so as
not
to run out of time! I hope you felt it was worth while: we certainly did, and
we had our all time maximum audience – 108.’
Signed
E. M. Nokes, General Secretary, dated 17 September 1992.
“Copy or Original?” The Family of Sir Thomas More
‘A number of tests carried out during its recent restoration, and extensive research carried out by Jack Leslau, have once again
reopened
the controversy as to its authorship, date and interpretation. The restored
canvas, measuring 12ft by 9ft, was unveiled
last
month by More’s successor in office Lord Hailsham, and is once again on view at
Nostell Priory, Wakefield, Yorkshire.
Article
by Susan of COUNTRY LIFE, p. 924, 14 April 1983.
“Pass Notes” No.
667: The Princes in the Tower
‘Ages?:
That depends.
On
what? On whether Richard III had the two princes done
in at the ages of 14 and nine.
Everyone
knows he did. You try telling that to Jack Leslau…’
The
Guardian, Weekend Front 2/3, August 1995.
Comment from abroad :
USA, Europe, Asia and Oceania
“University
of Arizona confirms Holbein painting is authentic.”
Article
by Carla McClain, Tucson Citizen, 2 March 1983, p.4
“The Hidden Rebus in Hans Holbein’s Portrait
of the Sir Thomas More Family.”
‘Although
the authenticity of the Nostell Priory portrait of the Thomas More family as a
Holbein original has become the subject
of
a raging controversy in art history circles, the discovery of the hidden rebus
in the painting may cause significant change
in
the recorded history of 16th-century Tudor England.’ Article by
Thomas Van Ness Merriam, EXETER,
Bulletin
of Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N. H. 03833, USA. Summer 1983.
“How Holbein hid a royal secret.’
Sydney
Morning Herald, N. S. W., 18 June 1983, p. 42
“SECRETARIAT OF STATE -- FROM THE VATICAN”
‘Dear
Mr. Leslau, The Holy Father has directed me to acknowledge your letter and to
thank you for the copy of your lecture.
His
Holiness appreciates the sentiments which prompted this devoted gesture and he
invokes upon you and your colleagues
the
peace and joy of our Lord Jesus Christ. I also have the honour to convey his
Apostolic Blessing. Yours sincerely,’
Signed,
C. Sepe, Assessor, dated 28 February 1989.
“11 January 1990. Jack Leslau delivers a lecture, filmed for a TV documentary, on the Princes in the Tower,
at the Athenaeum Club, London.”
BULLETIN
THOMAS MORE, January 1990, p. 21 (Moreana, the
bi-lingual [French and English] review of Thomas More Studies,
serves
as bulletin to the International Association Amici Thomae Mori, at the
Catholic University of the West at Angers, France.
“Historian finds clues to 500-year-old whodunit.”
Article
by Lee Levitt, JEWISH CHRONICLE, London, 23 August 1991, p. 5
“Centuries on, they’re still arguing about Richard III.”
Article
by Randi Hutter Epstein, SAUDI GAZETTE, Riyadh, 26 August 1991, p.1
“The Craziest Story I Ever Heard.”
‘It
is a wonderful story and my hands itch to get those skeletons over here.’ The
speaker is Vice-Rector Herman Van Den Berghe
of
the Catholic University of Louvain (KUL) whose Centre of Human Genetics has
worked out a technique with which the history of England
can
be rewritten. ‘It started when Nobel Prize winner De Duve called me. Next was
the craziest story I ever heard but that was in fact
as
probable as the other version of the history of The Princes in the Tower.’ Article
by Peter Van Dooren, Science Editor, De Standaard,
4
September 1991, p. 12
§1 THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER
The mystery of the Princes in the Tower has an
uncomfortable feel about it.
But no longer. A witness left
testimony in a painting and no one saw it
because it was hidden and in
code. Not everyone knows that !
The witness is POSITIVELY identified, the codetext decoded and
interpreted.
If you want to know more...click on.
Introduction
More than five hundred
years after the disappearance of two English princes, thirteen-year-old Edward
V and his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York, people still dispute and
contradict what happened.
Since the
princes disappeared from the Tower of London in the reign of Richard III, one
side say Richard had them killed, relying on a confession made some nineteen
years later by a person promptly beheaded by order of Henry VII. The other side
says it was a false confession extracted under torture. ‘Why wasn't there a public
trial ?’
And so the
dispute was born.
And as the
turbulent history receded further back into the past, the likelihood of
discovering new evidence of the true fate of the princes became more and more
improbable. But the outcome of this royal tragedy, which saw the birth of the
Tudor dynasty in England, the story of its remarkable consequences and the
extraordinary way in which those consequences came to be interactive and
inextricably intertwined with our story, begins very simply.
It begins with
a painting.
The person who
broke the code tells the story…..
JACK LESLAU : ‘I would like
to introduce you to the persons depicted in this painting. But first, I want
you to see if there is anything strange about the picture itself. For instance,
the clock door above Thomas More’s head is open.
To the right, in front of an
unstrung table harp there is an extremely odd vase with each handle upside-down
in relation to its companion handle.
In the right foreground, two
sisters wear dresses with sleeves made from material of the other sister’s
bodice : red velvet and cloth-of-gold.
There are more than eighty
anomalies in this painting and you may conceivably decide to identify them,
work out what they mean and what the artist is trying to communicate. You will
have help.
For the present, I have to
draw attention that this painting has been in the possession of the More family
since it was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8-1543) during the artist's second
visit to England (1532-1543). Recent investigation revealed an anti-Catholic
slogan on the painting, which appeared in the mid-18th century and was later
over painted with a spurious date and signature, 'Rowlandas
Locky 1530' or '1532'. Since the
only Rowland Lockey in the literature is known from about 1593, the latest
examinations in the UK and USA give this beautiful painting to Holbein, the
radiocarbon date corroborating authentic documentation and traditional More
family history. The scientific reports are published for the first time today.
(See : BOOKSTALL).
Point
and click first :
■ Jack LESLAU “The Princes
in the Tower” Moreana XXV 98-99 (Dec.1988) 17-36
■ Jack LESLAU “The More Circle : the
Antwerp/Mechelen/Louvain Connexion”
(Amici
Thomae Mori International Symposium MAINZ 1995)
See
also: EUROPA: Wiege des Humanismus und der Reformation Publ. PETER LANG, 1997
p.167-172
Sir Thomas More and his Family is reproduced by kind permission of the owner, the Lord St Oswald and
Trustees, and is on view to the public at Nostell Priory, Nr. Wakefield, West
Yorkshire, England. Further details are available from the National Trust
Office in York. Photograph, by Sir Geoffrey Shackerley.
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The Contents of this Web site link
directly to the above published articles :
48.2MB in 510 Files:
§2
SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS FAMILY
by
Hans Holbein the Younger
Part One
¶The “new” History Theory
Part Two
¶Cryptology
The
case for a Holbein attribution
The
artist’s communication security
Art
and Information theory
Art
and Academia
Art
and NIET
Notes & References
¶The
royal styling on the tomb of Lady of Jane Guildford,
Duchess
of Northumberland,
In
the Thomas More Chapel of Old Chelsea Church
‘Ye
Right Noble and Excellent Princess’ :
an
interpretation.
¶Photograph
of the memorial plaque on the Northumberland Monument.
The
rank and styling of:
Sir
Richard Guildford
Sir
Edward Guildford
The
‘High and Mighty’ styling of:
John
Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.
Why
is the Duchess of Northumberland buried in an obscure parish church ?
Why
isn’t the Duchess buried in one of the Dudley family vaults ?
The
contemporary witness Holbein provides compelling new evidence to explain the
mystery.
The
roles played by Chroniclers :
Edward
Hall
Raphael
Holinshed
“Royal
Cousins”
Anecdotal
history of a great grandson of Edward IV,
Sir
Philip Sidney --
(“a
rightful heir”)
And
a great granddaughter of Edward IV,
Elizabeth
I --
(“a
legal heir”)
James
IV of Scotland: the King James Version of the Bible.
The
on going inquiry: Elizabethan, Jacobean & Stuart.
Acknowledgements
Addenda
& Corrigenda
¶Benedictus
Smythe : The illegitimate son of John Clement.
¶The
on going method of inquiry
Negative
Intelligence Evaluation Theory (NIET)
¶Investigation
in Flanders
Report
¶Investigation
in England
Report
¶The
Saint
¶Reactions
to John Guy’s BBC documentary
¶Monarchy
Henry
VIII : ‘A sexual impediment of some consequence’ : an article
Read
:
1.
Holbein’s cryptic comment on the prime cause of the re-marriages of the king
2.
The published opinions of Royal Physicians on Henry VIII’s medical case history
3.
The NIET investigation of the genetic case history
The
amazing and definitive conclusion
…………………………………………….
Readers’
Comments
¶National
Security Agencies
Agency
Comments
¶Writers
and Publishers
¶B.
Fields ; G. Tournoi ; A.J. Pollard ; A. Weir ; D. Wilson ; D. Baldwin.
“
Gentlemen versus Players”
The
amateur takes on the professionals in a one-wicket match.
The
professionals have batted (five centuries) and now it’s the turn of the
amateur.
He
is using the latest bat made by science : A “Nike DNA Profile”.
The
fielding side do not have modern technology.
They
move in ever decreasing circles.
The
batter bats steadily on.
“Read and
Reap”
.
”The
Female of the Species”
(A
translation of history into drama for the stage)
‘If
you are sensitive to this sort of thing, Jack Leslau’s “Female of the Species” (2003)
outstrips in horror Akiro Kurosawa’s “Ran” (1985)’
The
number is 5.
¶John
Clement MD : Scholar/Warrior.