The invasion of England came in summer of 1487, when John de la Pole, Francis Lovell, many Irish retainers and 2,000 German mercenaries landed in Lancashire. The met with the king’s troops at Stoke, near Newark on 16th June, but were largely outnumbered and defeated. The Irish retainers were poorly prepared for battle and Henry had had time enough to prepare and organise for the rebellion. This is where Simnel found himself in a no win situation. He spent so long preparing for the invasion that it had given Henry time to rally his own troops and prepare them to counter the invasion. However, had Simnel spent less time preparing and rushed in with a small amount of retainers, even though he would have had the element of surprise on his side, he would have been fighting with a poor army of men. No match for the kings troops.
Simnel, only being ten years of age and more a puppet, than a true contender to the throne, was granted leniency and was given a job in the kitchens on Henry VII. Richard Symonds, being a priest, was sentenced to life imprisonment, rather than execution. This was probably more for reasons of propaganda rather than anything. It would not be good for the king to be seen killing a priest and a ten year old boy.
The second threat came from another pretender to the throne. This time a man called Perkin Warbeck was claiming to be the younger of the sons of Edward IV, Richard.
The rumours were started in Cork, in 1491 and for the next 8 years Warbeck provided more of an annoyance to the King rather than a true threat.
Saying this Warbeck did gain many powerful, but again foreign, supporters. These included, Margaret of Burgundy, again, James IV of Scotland and Maximilian, the Holy Roman Emperor. He also, had feeble support from the Irish people. Very few English people chose to follow Warbeck’s rebellion. Of these supporters James IV of Scotland proved the most powerful and important allies for Warbeck. James offered him refuge, he even allowed him to marry his cousin.
Warbeck launched an attack in 1497 just after the Cornish Rebellion. He landed in Cornwall, believing that due to the discontentment in the county he would gain a lot of support for his cause. However, he was just too late. The Cornish Rebellion had been resolved; the people were not interested in his cause. Warbeck got as far as Taunton, before being arrested and imprisoned in the Tower.
Two years later, Warbeck was found guilty of conspiring to escape the Tower and was hanged.
The main reason for the spectacular failure of Warbeck’s rebellion is that, although out of England his cause was largely supported, internally he found very little support. This is largely due to bad luck and bad timing. Had he been a few months earlier with his invasion, he would have found wide support for his invasion from the people of Cornwall, but as it was the problems had been resolved and Warbeck was marching with a weak army of men.
The third rebellion that Henry faced was the Cornish Rebellion, in 1497.
The reason for this uprising was high taxes, which were paying for the cost of the war with Scotland, sparked because of the Warbeck rebellion.
Lead by Lord Audley, a lawyer and a blacksmith, with so few powerful leaders they could not expect to get far. Still, 15,000 rebels marched from Cornwall to London. However, they promised not to hurt a single living creature, but they needed to punish those who had instigated the imposing of the new taxes.
The rebels were met at Blackheath, just outside London and were defeated by the king’s men. The rebels lost about 1000 men and a further 1,500 were captured. The main leaders were either killed or fined.
Of the three rebellions I believe that Lambert Simnel’s was the most threatening to Henry and his government. This is due to the simple reason that it took place within two years of Henry ascending the throne. Had it come ten years later, people would have been more comfortable and accepting of the King, but after only two years, the memory of Richard was still fresh and so more people were willing to fight.
Warbeck, although he launched two major attacks without any success, mainly because of the lack of support and the Cornish rebellion, whilst having numbers and organisation their side, the just did not prepare for the fact that they would have to engage in a major battle. Leaving with the promise of not hurting a sole, the Cornish rebels were almost departing for a ‘peaceful protest’, so the confrontation with the kings men would have taken them almost by surprise.
