HENRY VII--LAMBERT SIMNEL AND PERKIN WARBECK CRISIS

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Lambert Simnel 1486-7

Simnel's claim to being Earl of Warwick attacked Henry VII in only year of his reign. Simnel was able to gain support quickly, first in the Yorkish threshold of Oxford, then Ireland where he was crowned Edward VI. He was also able to gain international support from Margaret of Burgundy who sent aid of money and 2,000 mercenaries. It had began in 1486 but was not noticed until early 1487. Henry fear sought him to give pardons to the rebels and parade the real Earl of Warwick around the streets of London who was alive and had spent a year in the Tower. Despite this, support for Simnel was strong indicating the lack of support for the Tudors. 

Simnel's rising became more serious in June when the rebels landed in Lancashire and began to march south. There were 8,000 men. With this in mind, Henry was threatened to face Simnel at Stoke, near Newark in June 1487. Henry crushed the rebels under three hours. Henry did not execute Simnel because he was only a child and this would make Henry out as a tyrant. Instead until Perkin Warbeck came under the spotlight, Simnel was offered a job in the Palace and lived until both the 'Pretenders' were executed. In reality, Henry used Simnel as a 'pawn', an object of trophy.

Perkin Warbeck 1491-99

Historian S.B. Chrimes argues that 'Perkin's arrival in Ireland in 1491 was not an accident, but the result of a plan in which Charles VIII of France and Margaret Burgundy were involved (...)'

Warbeck…

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