Back to the Houses Of Lancaster And York calendar
A few years later a new imposter appeared. This man was called Perkin Warbeck and he claimed to be Richard, Duke of York,
the youngest of the princes in the Tower. It’s a bit like a few weeks ago when someone said they had lost the winning lottery ticket and over 250 people rang
in to say they had it. Only one person could but the others thought they would try it on. This is like dear old, or actually young, Mr Warbeck.
Warbeck first claimed to be Richard in France in 1490. He explained
that after killing his brother Edward, the killers had taken pity on him because he was so young. They made him promise not to reveal who he was for a certain
number of years.
In 1491 he went to Ireland, just like Simnel, looking for support. He didn’t find any so went back to France. The King of France, Charles VIII, had
just signed a treaty with Henry VII in which he promised not to shelter any imposters so he expelled Warbeck from France. However Margaret of York, who had left
England before the princes were born and had never been back, said she recognised Perkin and he was Richard of York. Me thinks Margaret is a bit of a stirrer.
In 1495 Warbeck landed at Deal in Kent, hoping for lots of support. Again, he didn’t get it. In fact 150 of his supporters were killed before Warbeck
even left his boat and, taking this into account, he decided it would be best to sail back again, although he sailed back to Ireland. This time he found some
support but when others started to attack him, he fled to Scotland. He was certainly building up his sea miles. Henry, meanwhile, forgave Perkin’s Irish supporters,
and showed he had a bit of a sense of humour by saying "I suppose they will crown an ape next".
Scotland was a bit nicer to Warbeck. He actually married a distant cousin of the King of Scotland and then the Scots and Warbeck put together an
invasion army. It marched into England, managed four miles, ran out of provisions, received no support and went back again. James IV of Scotland then sent Warbeck
back to Ireland again.
But Ireland still didn’t want him so he and about 120 men set sail for Cornwall in September 1497. There had been a rebellion against Henry in Cornwall
a few months before and Warbeck was welcomed there and declared to be Richard IV. Warbeck, or Richard as he wanted to be known, gathered an army of 6,000, marched
across Cornwall and Devon but when he heard that the King’s army was approaching, he ran away. He was captured, the Cornish army surrendered and Warbeck was
eventually imprisoned in the Tower of London, which he should have known quite well if he really was Richard.
Henry tried to be nice to Warbeck, taking him out of the tower and giving him a room in his palace but Warbeck, who was one of those people who never
gives up even when it’s obvious he should, tried to escape. He was then sent back to the Tower, tried to escape again and Henry finally decided to stop playing
these stupid games and Warbeck was taken to Tyburn in London where he read out a confession saying he wasn’t Richard, and was then hanged so it didn’t really
matter if he was.
Forward to 1491AD
