Lambert Simnel
In 1487, after Henry VII had been crowned king, a boy known as Lambert Simnel came to public attention. A priest, Richard Simon, put the boy forward as Edward, Earl of Warwick, a son of George, Duke of Clarence, a brother of Richard III and Edward IV. The young Earl of Warwick had been imprisoned in the Tower of London by Henry VII in 1485. Lambert Simnel claimed he was the earl, and had escaped prison. The son of Clarence could be seen as a more legitimate (by birthright) heir to the throne than Henry VII was. (Richard Simon reportedly first thought to present the boy as the missing prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger of the disappeared sons of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV.)
Supporters of the pretender crowned him as King Edward VI in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. More came to his defense, conspiring to displace Henry VII with this supposed rightful heir. The Earl of Lincoln, joining the cause, claimed to have helped the Earl of Warwick escape. Lincoln convinced Margaret of York, the dowager duchess of Burgundy, to join the cause.
Margaret of York was the sister of Edward IV, Richard III and Clarence, and thus an aunt to the Earl of Warwick. She raised mercenaries to attack Henry VII, and they invaded. The attackers lost to Henry's army in June, 1487. The priest, Simon, was given a life sentence in prison. King Henry VII, on the presumption that Simnel was not himself responsible for the ruse, pardoned him, and employed him as a kitchen worker in his household.
Perkin Warbeck
By 1490, the sons of Edward IV whom Richard III had sent to the Tower and had declared illegitimate, had not been seen for some years.
In 1490, at the court of Burgundy, a young boy claimed to be the younger of the two princes, and to have escaped from the Tower. Known as Perkin Warbeck, this young boy first attempted to gain support in Ireland, as had Lambert Simbert. Margaret of York, the dowager duchess of Burgundy and aunt of the disappeared prince, who had supported Lambert Simnel, threw her support behind Perkin Warbeck's claim as well. Henry VII responded by putting a trade embargo on Burgundy. Soon other European nations were involved in the conflict.
This new pretender built support among rulers in Europe, using the title King Richard IV of England. He was received in Scotland by James IV. James IV arranged a marriage between the supposed King Richard IV and the Lady Catherine Gordon, a relative of James IV. James sent a Scottish army in support of Warbeck's claim into England, but they retreated as soon as an English army approached. James IV quickly abandoned his ally, negotiating a peace with England at the urging of Queen Isabella of Spain and her co-ruler and husband, Ferdinand of Aragon.
Warbeck the pretender raised new support in Cornwall. Again as Richard IV, and with an army 6,000 strong, he invaded Exeter. When Warbeck heard that the English army was approaching, he deserted his troops. He was captured, the Cornish army surrendered and the leaders of the invasion were executed. Warbeck was paraded through London. After he confessed publicly to false impersonation, he was hanged.
Warbeck's story remained of some interest to later generations. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and author of Frankenstein, wrote The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck in 1830.
A Real Royal
Edward, 17th Earl of Warwick, son of George, Duke of Clarence, had been sent to the Tower of London as a prisoner after Henry VII assumed the throne. He was then ten years old. It was this member of Edward IV's family whom Lambert Simnel had impersonated in 1487. Henry VII permitted him to inherit his titles, even though he remained in prison as a potential threat to the Tudor king.
When Perkin Warbeck put himself forward as the rightful king of England, as the imprisoned and disappeared prince Richard, Henry put the imprisoned Warwick on trial. An allegation was that Warbeck and Warwick had schemed to release Warwick. Warwick, by this time 24 years old, was brought to a public trial and beheaded for treason on Tower Hill.
Likely behind Henry's action in 1499 in the matter of Warwick, after 14 years of imprisonment, is that the appearance of a second pretender to birthright rule through Edward IV made it clearer that any remaining heirs of that family were a threat to Henry VII's stable rule, and to that of his descendants. At about that time, Henry VII was negotiating for the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, Catherine of Aragon, to marry his eldest son, Arthur. There are reports that Catherine felt guilt about Warwick's death, attributing some of the challenges of her life to her responsibility in his execution.
