THREATS TO THE
THRONE
Lambert Simnel
LESSON OBJECTIVES
ALL will know how the ‘pretenders to the throne’
challenged Henry VII
MOST will know how the ‘pretenders to the
throne’ challenged Henry VII and explain how
Henry dealt with them
SOME will be able to explain how the ‘pretenders
to the throne’ challenged Henry VII and discuss
the significance of Henry’s actions in dealing with
the threats to his throne
THREATS TO
HENRY’S SECURITY
WHO ARE THE MAIN RIVALS?
Earl of Warwick
 Edward IV’s nephew (son of Duke of Clarence)
 Imprisoned; executed 1499 after implication in a plot
Elizabeth Woodville
 Wife of Edward IV, Henry’s mother-in-law
 Sent to a nunnery, her lands confiscated
The Poles
 Edward IV’s nephews (sons of Duchess of Suffolk)
 William in prison; Edmund and Richard are in exile
abroad
 John de la Pole – Earl of Lincoln – is still in England
and is perhaps the most dangerous of all!
*Margaret of Burgundy*
 Edward IV’s sister [pictured]
 Married to Charles the Bold (Duke of Burgundy)
 The most embittered and dangerous of all!
 Described by Edward Hall (Tudor Chronicler) as “The
Diabolical Duchess”!
HVII’S APPROACH
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Henry VII’s position in 1485 was unsettled.
He had won the throne by battle, and although he
quickly cements his position with a marriage to
Elizabeth of York, he is still young (29), inexperienced
and faces threats from other members of her family
Domestically, Henry plays a cautious game; he
chooses not to execute these rivals [why?] and instead
either has them imprisoned (e.g. Earl of Warwick) or
keeps a close eye on them (e.g. Earl of Lincoln)
Internationally, though, it is much harder to control
the threats to his throne
THE YORKIST TACTIC:
SUPPORT FOR THE
PRETENDERS
1. Lambert Simnel (1486-87)
WHO DID HE PRETEND TO BE?
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Pretended to be – (first) Richard of York and
(second) Earl of Warwick (even though he is
actually in the Tower!)
Actually – the son of an organ maker from
Oxford
Why? – rumours circulated that the Earl of
Warwick was dead. A priest from Oxford,
Richard Symonds claimed that one of his
pupils, the 10 year old Lambert Simnel – had a
striking resemblance to the murdered princes
WHO SUPPORTED HIM, AND WHY?
England - Yorkists:
 (a) Earl of Lincoln: A Yorkist himself (a.k.a. John de
la Pole) and therefore eager to destabilise the Tudors
– probably aims to take the throne himself, no
intention of making Simnel King.
 (b) Elizabeth Woodville: Henry VII’s mother in law,
who had her estates seized by Henry, later confined to
a nunnery
Abroad - Habsburg Burgundians:
 (a) Margaret of Burgundy was Edward IV’s sister and
therefore a Yorkist.
 (b) Emperor Maximilian:. Wants to take over
Brittany, resents Henry’s close relationship to it (he
stayed there safely during his exile).
Abroad - Ireland:
 A Yorkist stronghold – Edward IV’s father had been
Lord Lieutenant there, big estates and influence. Irish
Lords eager to destabilise England to secure
independence.
OUTLINE OF EVENTS
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May 1487: Margaret of Burgundy sends 2,000 mercenaries to Ireland,
where the Earl of Kildare crowns Simnel with a coronet from a nearby
statue of the Virgin Mary
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Henry offers the rebels – being led by Lincoln - a pardon, which they
refuse; he also displays the real Earl of Warwick, who is ignored.

June 1487: Battle of Stoke. Lincoln killed; Simnel & Symonds were both
captured and imprisoned
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As Simnel was a young boy who had been manipulated by Symonds he
put Simnel to work as a turnspit in the his kitchens!
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28 other rebels have their lands attainted [seized].

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Elizabeth publicly crowned Queen to unite the people and
satisfy the remaining Yorkists.
1488: Treaty of friendship signed with Maximilian (Burgundy)
POSITIVE ASSESSMENT

Stoke was the last battle of the Wars of the Roses
– Henry was decisive and brave
Woodvilles were destroyed as a political force
after Stoke – Henry had the excuse to seize their
lands
 Simnel was utterly humiliated rather than
turned into a martyr – masterful handing
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NEGATIVE POINTS
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Rebellion failed mainly because people were tired of
wars, not because they positively supported Henry
The outcome was far from certain –
(a) Henry shows his insecurity by offering to
pardon the rebels if they abandoned their plans,
(b) Two wings of his army refused to get involved
at the Battle of Stoke until they were sure that he
would win
(c) Lincoln was killed against orders – probably
so that his backers would never be betrayed to Henry!

THE YORKIST TACTIC:
SUPPORT FOR THE
PRETENDERS
2. Perkin Warbeck
1491-99
WHO DID HE PRETEND TO BE?
WHO WAS HE?
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Persuaded by Margaret of Burgundy to
impersonate Richard of York, Edward IV’s
younger son
Actually a 17 year old charismatic cloth
merchant with a shady background, real
name Peter Orlock!
His supporters view him as a great way of
overthrowing Henry VII
They probably then planned to discard
Warbeck and make the Earl of Warwick
King
WHO SUPPORTED HIM, AND WHY?
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Much wider base of support than Simnel
In England, Sir William Stanley is secretly
supporting the plot
Margaret of Burgundy
So too do the King of France (Charles VIII),
Scotland and the Netherlands, who are taken in
by the deception
Isabella of Spain regards his claim as “a jest”
but nevertheless refuses to allow her daughter
Catherine to marry Prince Arthur until the
threat is dealt with
OUTLINE OF EVENTS
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1492 – Warbeck recognised as “Richard IV” in France. Henry VII
signs Treaty of Etaples with Charles VIII, which forces Warbeck to
seek a new refuge
1493 – Warbeck recognised in the Netherlands. Henry VII imposes
trade sanctions
1494 – Warbeck recognised by Emperor Maximillian
1495 - Warbeck recognised by James IV of Scotland – James offers
his cousin Lady Gordon to Warbeck & an annual pension of £1200
(£500,000 in today’s money!); Henry’s spies reveal Sir William
Stanley as a traitor and he is executed
1496 - Warbeck launches an invasion from Scotland - fails when
northern nobles and commons remained loyal to Henry VII
1497 – James IV bought off by the Truce of Ayton. Warbeck and
followers turn up in Cornwall, amidst a tax rebellion, but gets little
support and eventually surrenders to Henry’s troops. He is forced
to publicly admit his deception, and is then put into the stocks
before being thrown in prison
1498: Warbeck escapes from prison and is recaptured; Henry
plants a spy into the Tower who persuades both Warwick and
Warbeck to join in an escape plan
1499: Henry promptly has both arrested and executed
ASSESSMENT

Henry VII clearly stronger than in 1486-7 – he acts decisively and
withstands a pretender who had considerable foreign help, even
when it coincided with a tax rebellion at home
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Domestically, Warwick has finally been eliminated, as was Sir
William Stanley
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Internationally, Henry has forged relations with France, Ireland
and Scotland in the heat of the crisis
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However, Henry could not rest even now. He lost two sons and his
wife between 1502-04, and this gave fresh impetus to the
Yorkists, who now put their hope on Edmund de la Pole, in exile
in Burgundy.
Henry has 54 men attainted for their implication in the plot – a
measure of his fear – and only manages to get Pole into the Tower
in 1506 (Philip of Burgundy was blackmailed into surrendering
him after being shipwrecked in England)
CONCLUSION: WHEN DID HENRY
FEEL SECURE ON HIS THRONE?
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Never!
Only by 1506 had all serious threats to his throne
been eliminated
Even after then the security of his dynasty rested
on the survival of his only remaining son, Prince
Henry!
QUESTIONS
 In
what ways were these rebellions similar, and
in what ways were they different?
(TIP: think in terms of causes, course, consequence)
 Henry’s
method of dealing with Simnel and
Warbeck has been described as masterly. Why
do you think this is?
 Why
was Henry nevertheless unable to ever feel
secure on his throne?
ACTIVITY
Complete the following table, comparing the
nature and extent of the threat to Henry VII
from Simnel & Warbeck.
Lambert Simnel
Duration of the
threat
Support in
England
Foreign support
Henry VII’s
responses
Other Points
Success or Failure
for Henry?
Perkin Warbeck