On this day, 18th February 1478, George, Duke of Clarence,
younger brother of King Edward IV and older brother of Richard
III, was executed for treason. Rumour persists that he was
drowned in a butt of malmsey wine. George was the fourth son of
Richard, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. He was born in Dublin
in 1449, during the time that his father was lieutenant there.
After Richard, Duke of York, was killed at Wakefield in 1460,
along with his second son Edmund, it was his eldest son, Edward,
who managed to take the throne in 1461. This made George, as the
next surviving brother, the heir to the throne. He was knighted
and created a duke, taking the title of Clarence as a reminder
of the hereditary claim of the house of York to the throne of
England. George wanted to marry Isabel Neville, the daughter of
the Earl of Warwick, but King Edward objected, probably hoping
to arrange a marriage for his brother that was diplomatically
advantageous to himself. However, George went ahead and married
Isabel anyway wit