The threat grew when Simnel gained international support on a greater scale through Maximilian and Margaret of Burgundy who provided 2000 German mercenaries to assist Simnel. Whilst in Ireland in 1487 Simnel was crowned Edward VI. The threat of Simnel had therefore drastically changed; he’d gone from a simple claimant to having international support and some kind of military support behind him. After landing in the north of England his forces numbered 8000. His presence in the north would have been threatening as he could have gained support from previous supporters of Richard III who had been respected and loved in that area. Henry’s response was to send a personally commanded force of 12,000 men to meet Simnel’s army. He therefore took the threat very seriously as he had to draw off troops from protecting the country from the south with the possible threat of invasion from Brittany. He also had to take the threat seriously as a large army could usurp his throne and thus endanger his dynasty.
Overall Simnel himself posed little threat to Henry directly. The majority of people didn’t believe Simnel’s claim and were happy with Henry as king as they didn’t wish for more civil unrest. The threat to Henry came militarily and he would have been very concerned with the support Simnel could have mustered from nobles in the north of England. With the chance of defections of Northern nobles a possibility he therefore sent a large army to counter the potential threat. With the battle of stoke won by Henry he was able to punish Simnel relatively lightly as the main leaders Lincoln, Schwarz, Broughton and Thomas Geraldine no longer posed a threat as they were killed in battle. Henry had realised Simnel was merely a pawn in the hands of ambitious men. Henry’s attitude to Simnel as a threat can be seen in the way he was treated after the battle. Simnel was given the job of a turn spit in Henry’s court and later falconry. Henry therefore perceived they’re to be very little threat at all or Simnel would have been executed.
In the autumn of 1491 Perkin Warbeck arrived in Cork claiming to be Richard Duke of York whose murder was assumed. Warbeck had the support of Charles VIII who had welcomed him into his court and Margaret of Burgundy. The extent of Henry’s concern was shown when he cut off all trade to Flanders after Warbeck fled there. This shows that Henry was very concerned with Warbeck and he support he was getting as the stopping of trade would seriously jeopardise the English economy. Henry would have considerably more threatened when Warbeck gained the support of Maximilian. From the start of Henry’s reign his relations with Maximilian had been poor. It was therefore concerning to Henry that a claimant to his throne had large amount of international support from powerful monarchs who were capable of a strong assault on England.
Warbeck’s support though crumbled when Charlse VIII withdrew his attention with his invasion of Italy. Maximilian also didn’t have the resources to finance an invasion of England. Henry’s intelligence network informed him of who was implicated at home with Warbeck with a number of attainder’s passed. The execution of Sir William Stanley shows how far Henry was willing to go to protect his security as Stanley changed the course of the Battle of Bosworth and thus was one of his trusted officials.
Henry’s swift intelligence action meant that Warbeck’s landing was a fiasco. He gained little local support so his ability to usurp Henry’s throne by force was not a threat. He did though gain refuge in Scotland with the support of James IV. Henry planned to invade Scotland but the military forces required were occupied with the Cornish Rebellion. Warbeck though remained a threat but not a potential danger. When Henry arrived in Cornwall he gained the support of several thousand me among the hate for Henry. After pressure from Daubeney’s royal army Warbeck
surrendered.
Warbeck was kept in mild captivity but after he escaped and was re-captured, Henry decided to have him executed. A contributing factor in this was the arranged marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon. Ferdinand and Isabella were reluctant to send their daughter to England while pretenders threatened the Tudor dynasty. Although Warbeck posed little threat therefore, it was important that as a potential threat he was removed.
The threat to Henry overall from Simnel and Warbeck was mainly increased due to their entanglement with foreign powers and subsequently the fear of invasion they created. Overall Warbeck showed the greater threat on paper the support he gained meant that he could muster a more successful force to aid him in an invasion of England. At the time though his support was unable to provide the resources to enable an invasion. Henry viewed his support as a great threat and he was willing to risk economic security. Simnel was able to gather a military force with the support of various leaders. Militarily he posed much greater threat to Henry than Warbeck did, as he succeeded in gathering an army and bringing it into battle against Henry.
