George Plantagenet: How the King's Brother Drowned in a Barrel of Wine

1478. Tower of London. The February cold pierces to the bone, settling on the damp stone walls. Light rarely penetrates here, into the dungeons. And here, in one of the damp cells, stands a barrel. Huge. Filled to the brim with sweet, thick Malvasian wine. Malmsey. A drink of aristocrats, imported from distant Greece. Worth a fortune.

Usually it is drunk from. But today they will drown in it.

George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, the blood brother of King Edward IV of England, is sentenced to death for treason. According to legend, the king, out of the remnants of brotherly feelings, allowed him to choose the method of execution himself. To avoid public beheading with an axe on Tower Hill. And George chose this. Extravagant? Crazy? Perhaps. But this is all Clarence. A man who desperately craved more all his life, but drowned in his own pride.

Middle Brother Syndrome

Let's take a look at the Plantagenets of the Wars of the Roses era. This was not just a family, it was a tangle of ambitions, generously doused with blood. The elder brother, Edward, was tall, charismatic, and a brilliant commander. The sun king of his time. The younger brother, Richard (the future Richard III), was gloomy, loyal, like a watch dog, doing the dirty work. And in the middle - George.

George was the classic middle child, only on the scale of an entire kingdom. Handsome. Charming. Brilliantly educated. And absolutely, catastrophically unbearable.

He had everything an aristocrat could dream of. The title of Duke of Clarence. Huge land holdings. Wealth. But he wanted the crown. He felt it was unfair that Edward sat on the throne while he, no less worthy (as he himself believed), was forced to bow.

Envy is a terrible feeling. It corrodes from within. George couldn't wait and couldn't be second. And this painful ambition pushed him into the arms of the most dangerous man in England.

Treachery as a Habit

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. "The Kingmaker". The man who put Edward on the throne, and then decided that the king had become too independent. Warwick needed a new puppet. And who better than the king's vain brother?

George took the bait. He secretly married Warwick's daughter, Isabella, violating Edward's direct order. And then he raised a rebellion. Brother went to war against brother. They even managed to briefly overthrow Edward and return the mad Henry VI of the hostile Lancaster dynasty to the throne.

But then George realized one unpleasant thing. Warwick was not going to make him king. Clarence was just a pawn in someone else's game. And what does our hero do? That's right. He betrays Warwick.

Just before the decisive battle, George crawls to Edward. With tears in his eyes, begging for forgiveness. And Edward... forgives. Blood is thicker than water. The battle is won, Warwick is killed, the family is reunited. It would seem - sit quietly, drink wine, enjoy life. You were miraculously spared your head.

But George couldn't sit still.

Madness and Paranoia

The point of no return was 1476. George's wife, Isabella, dies. She dies after childbirth - a common and terrible thing for that time. But Clarence's brain, already inflamed by suspicions and alcohol, refuses to accept reality.

He decides that Isabella was poisoned. And accuses her maid, Ankaret Twynyho, of this. George bursts into her house, kidnaps the woman, brings her to his estate and arranges an illegal trial. Frightened jurors return a guilty verdict. Ankaret is hanged.

This was a colossal mistake. In 15th century England, even a duke did not have the right to administer justice bypassing the king. It was a slap in the face to Edward. A demonstration that Clarence puts himself above the law.

The king endured for a long time. But the cup overflowed. Edward personally acted as the prosecutor at the trial in Parliament. Witnesses described this scene as something frightening: a tall, heavy king, crimson with anger, shouting accusations in the face of his brother. None of the lords dared to say a word in defense of George. The sentence was predetermined. Death penalty for treason.

The Sweet Taste of Death

And so we return to the basement of the Tower. February 1478.

Historians still argue whether George was really drowned in a barrel of wine. Some believe that this is just a beautiful, gruesome metaphor - they say, he was a drunkard and "drowned" in his vice. But most chronicles of the time, including Italian ambassadors who loved to gossip, confirm that it is true.

Why wine? Perhaps it was Edward's evil irony. "You loved luxury and Malvasia so much, brother? Get it in full." Or perhaps it was George's last whim himself. If you have to die, then not on a dirty scaffold under the hooting of the crowd. But quietly, in a sweet stupor.

Imagine this moment. The smell of raw wood. The viscous, sticky sweetness of wine clogging the lungs. Darkness.

His death was a shock to all of Europe. Kings often killed rivals, but the execution of a blood brother... This violated an invisible line. They say that Edward could not forgive himself for this decision until the end of his days. At any mention of Clarence's name, he grew gloomy and withdrew into himself.

And the barrel of wine has forever entered history. As a monument to a man who never had enough. George Plantagenet could have become a great commander, a wise advisor, a pillar of the throne. But he preferred intrigue. And in the end he got exactly what he deserved.

Sweet, thick wine. And the taste of betrayal, which can no longer be washed away.