Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton | Page 3

and claimed his protection as the unfortunate Warwick. The credulous
nobleman listened to his story, and repeated it to others of the nobility,
who in time diffused it throughout all ranks of society. Everywhere the
escape of the Plantagenet was received with satisfaction, and at last the
people of Dublin unanimously tendered their allegiance to the pretender,
as the rightful heir to the throne. Their homage was of course accepted,

and Simnel was solemnly crowned (May 24, 1487), with a crown taken
from an effigy of the Virgin Mary, in Christ Church Cathedral. After
the coronation, he was publicly proclaimed king, and, as Speed tells us,
"was carried to the castle on tall men's shoulders, that he might be seen
and known." With the exception of the Butlers of Ormond, a few of the
prelates, and the inhabitants of Waterford, the whole island followed
the example of the capital, and not a voice was raised in protest, or a
sword drawn in favour of King Henry. Ireland was in revolt.
When news of these proceedings reached London, Henry summoned
the peers and bishops, and devised measures for the punishment of his
secret enemies and the maintenance of his authority. His first act was to
proclaim a free pardon to all his former opponents; his next, to lead the
real Earl of Warwick in procession from the Tower to St. Paul's, and
thence to the palace of Shene, where the nobility and gentry had daily
opportunities of meeting him and conversing with him. Suspecting, not
without cause, that the Queen-Dowager was implicated in the
conspiracy, Henry seized her lands and revenues, and shut her up in the
Convent of Bermondsey. But he failed to reach the active agents; and
although the English people were satisfied that the Earl of Warwick
was still a prisoner, the Irish persisted in their revolt, and declared that
the person who had been shown to the public at St. Paul's was a
counterfeit. By the orders of the Government a strict watch was kept at
the English ports, that fugitives, malcontents, or suspected persons
might not pass over into Ireland or Flanders; and a thousand pounds
reward was offered to any one who would present the State with the
body of the sham Plantagenet.
Meanwhile John, earl of Lincoln, whom Richard had declared heir to
the throne, and whom Henry had treated with favour, took the side of
the pretender, and having established a correspondence with Sir
Thomas Broughton of Lancashire, proceeded to the court of Margaret,
dowager-duchess of Burgundy--a woman described by Lord Bacon as
"possessing the spirit of a man and the malice of a woman," and whose
great aim it was to see the sovereignty of England once more held by
the house of which she was a member. She readily consented to abet
the sham Earl of Warwick, and furnished Lincoln and Lord Lovel with

a body of 2000 German veterans, commanded by an able officer named
Martin Schwartz. The countenance given to the movement by persons
of such high rank, and the accession of this military force, greatly
raised the courage of Simnel's Irish adherents, and led them to conceive
the project of invading England, where they believed the spirit of
disaffection to be as general as it was in their own island.
The news of the intended invasion came early to the ears of King Henry,
who promptly prepared to resist it. Having always felt or affected great
devotion, after mustering his army, he made a pilgrimage to the shrine
of our Lady of Walsingham, famous for miracles, and there offered up
prayers for success and for the overthrow of his enemies. Being
informed that Simnel and his gathering had landed at Foudrey, in
Lancashire, the king advanced to Coventry to meet them. The rebels
had anticipated that the disaffected provinces of the north would rise
and join them, but in this they were disappointed; for the cautious
northerners were not only convinced of Simnel's imposture, but were
afraid of the king's strength, and were averse to league themselves with
a horde of Irishmen and Germans. The Earl of Lincoln, therefore, who
commanded the invading force, finding no hopes but in victory,
determined to bring the matter to a speedy decision. The hostile armies
met at Stoke, in Nottinghamshire, and after a hardly-contested day, the
victory remained with the king. Lincoln, Broughton, and Schwartz
perished on the field of battle, with four thousand of their followers. As
Lord Lovel was never more heard of, it was supposed that he shared the
same fate. Lambert Simnel, with his tutor the monk Simon, were taken
prisoners. The latter, as an ecclesiastic, escaped the doom he merited,
and, not being tried at law, was only committed to close custody for the
rest of his life.