Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk Hugh became Constable of Norwich Castle in 1122. Hugh initially supported Stephen of Blois as king of England. On the death of Henry I in 1135, his nephew Stephen usurped the throne, despite the oath Stephen and the barons had sworn to accept Henry's daughter Empress Matilda as his successor. It was Bigod who asserted that, in his last days, Henry I had named Stephen to become king at the expense of his daughter Matilda. Civil war resulted when, in 1139 Matilda, commanded the military strength necessary to challenge Stephen within his own realm. King Stephen had the initial support
Princes in the Tower Jan Allertz (Recorder of Rotterdam), all state that Richard killed the princes before he seized the throne (thus before June 1483). De Commines' "Memoirs" (c.1500), however, identifies the Duke of Buckingham as the person "who put them to death". Only Mancini's account is truly contemporary, having been written in London before November 1483. The Croyland Chronicle and de Commines' account were written three and seventeen years later, respectively (and thus after Richard III's death and the accession of Henry VII). Markham, writing long before Mancini's account was discovered, argued that some accounts, including the Croyland Chronicle, might have been authored