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Re: History with a Sinclair connection
27 November 1495 - King James IV of Scotland entertains Perkin Warbeck
On 23 November, 1499, Perkin Warbeck was taken from the Tower of London to
Tyburn Hill to be hanged. He masqueraded for six years as Richard, Duke
of York had come to an end two years previously. He died, not for his
emulation of the prince, but because he plotted to overthrow Henry VII. The
plot also cost the life of the last Plantagenet, Edward, Earl of Warwick.
Warbeck's career as Duke of York began in 1491 in Cork where he was
initially acclaimed as the Earl of Warwick. He then adopted the identity
of Richard of York, the younger of the two 'Princes in the Tower'. He
alleged he had been permitted to escape when his brother was murdered, a
story sufficiently plausible to be accepted by those who wanted to believe
it.
Warbeck's welcome in Ireland fell short of that accorded an earlier Yorkist
pretender, Lambert Simnel, in 1487. So he began a long exodus around
European courts looking for support. As Richard of York he was received by
Charles VIII of France; by Margaret of Burgundy, who conceded him to be her
nephew. He attended the funeral of Emperor Frederick III in 1493 at the
invitation of Maximilian I. Warbeck first attempt to invade England was 3
July, 1495, with the help of Margaret of Burgundy. A small force landed near
Deal they were routed..
Warbeck never got off the ship he made for Ireland. With the support of the
Earl of Desmond he besieged Waterford, but when the town resisted he was
again forced to withdraw, this time to Scotland.
In Scotland Warbeck was well received . He married the king's cousin, Lady
Catherine Gordon, a grand daughter of the Earl of Caithness and was granted
a monthly pension of £112. James IV accepted his claim to the English
throne. The Scottish invasion of England in his support of Warbeck,
September 1496, was a fiasco.: No surge of public backing was forthcoming
from Northumberland and the Scots withdrew without meeting the English
forces. The episode served only as an excuse for Henry to raise taxes for
defence. Now an embarrassment to the James IV, Warbeck returned once more to
Ireland.
A rising in Cornwall against the tax increases in June 1497 encouraged
Warbeck to expect support there. On September 12th he arrived near Land's
End with just 120 men in two ships.This final invasion was by far the most
successful; his force was several thousand strong by the time it reached
Exeter. His “Army” was unarmed and when Exeter resisted, Warbeck moved
on. When the King's army reached the rebels Warbeck realised there was no
hope and fled for the coast. He took refuge in Beaulieu Abbey.. He
surrendered without a fight.
In his confession to Henry at Taunton on 5 October 1497, Warbeck admitted
that he was the son of a bourgeois of Tournai. He said he had come to Cork
in 1491 as a merchant's apprentice and had been 'recognised' as a Yorkist
prince.
Though some of the ringleaders of the Cornish rebellion were executed,
Warbeck was merely taken into custody until he tried to escape in June
1498. He was then sent to the Tower of London. Early in 1499, yet another
false Warwick had been set up in opposition to Henry.Though the plot was
quickly suppressed it may have convinced the King of the wisdom of
disposing of Warwick altogether. An agent provocateur was most likely
employed. Warbeck and Warwick were confined in neighbouring cells and one
of Perkin's erstwhile supporters was appointed gaoler. An informer gave away
the plot: to burn down the Tower, escape to
Flanders, and place Warwick on the throne. The false pretender and the true
pretender along with several others, including the gaoler, were found
guilty of treason. Perkin Warbeck was hanged, being a commoner, on 23
November ; the Earl of Warwick being the noble that he was had his head cut
off on Tower Hill on the 29th.
Sinclair
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