H7 Pretenders & Rebellions

Lovell and Stafford (1486)

- Lovell and Stafford brothers had Yorkist claims and were supporters of Richard III in Bosworth battle.

- Were protected by church intially, but broken to go to different regions in England including Worcestershire to rally support. However, were unsuccessful majorly as H7 sent army and captured most of them.

- FAILURE DUE TO: lack of strong leadership and claim to the throne, lacked foreign support as well as internal public support.

Lambert Simnel Uprising (1487)

- Simnel was a pretender of Edward, Earl of Warwick and was trained by a priest as a young child.

- Attained the support of Dowager Duchess Margaret of burgundy who was a Yorkist and sister of Edward IV, who provided 2000 experienced mercenaries in Battle of Stoke.

- Also had internal noble support from John de la Pole. He also had support from the Earls of Kildare in Ireland who crowned him King before the Battle.

- Battle of Stoke very narrowly won by H7 due to the experience and skill of Simnel's army, and close victory signalled by 3000 dead in royal army. This showed H7 the fragility of his power and control as King.

- NEARLY SUCCESSFUL DUE TO: attainment of foreign support, skilled nature of armed forces, attainment of funding and clear claim to the throne.

- FAILED DUE TO: Simnel was not a strong leader but merely a figurehead for a conspiracy of nobles.

Yorkshire Tax Revolt (1489)

- H7 needed to raise money for Breton campaign to gain tactical foothold against France. Attempted use of a different taxation, income tax rather than standard extraordinary taxation but this was a major fail.

- Needed £100,000 but only received around 1/3 of this proving unsuccessful

- There was extreme resentment in Yorkshire as they also were tasked with the protection of the Northern border with Scotland.

- Provoke rebellion in Yorkshire which led to assassination of Earl of Northumberland and John Egremont, an illegitimate member of Percy family, led riots

- H7 responded to this by sending Earl of Surrey to the North and put out uprising and eventually the unreliability of Egremont as a leader led to the dying out of the movement.

- NEALRY SUCCESSFUL DUE TO: widespread nature of regional support, anger and resentment was strong

- FAILURE DUE TO: lack of reliable leadership, singularity of issue led to dying out of the movement, effective response by H7.

Perkin Warbeck (1491-99) - IFBES countries

- Impersonated Richard, Duke of York

- 1492 = Warbeck travelled to Ireland in search of foreign support amongst the Kildares who had supported Simnel. But H7 immediately dispatched troops to Ireland forcing Warbeck to flee.

- 1492 = Warbeck fled to France where he was received as a prince by Charles VIII alongside numerous Yorkist court members. However, after the signing of the Treaty of Etaples, Charles VIII was forced to remove support for Warbeck in return for removal of English troops from French soil.

- 1493 = Warbeck fled to court of Margaret of Burgundy seeking support, causing trade embargo from both sides jeopardising the cloth trade.

- 1493 = Warbeck also found support with Maxmillian, the Holy Roman Emperor who recognised him as King.

- 1494 = William Stanley, the Chamberlain of the Kin'g's Household and several other major noble conspirators were uncovered in H7's court as supporting Warbeck's uprising.

- 1495 = Warbeck had already failed to gain support in Ireland and fled to Scotland where he gained support of King James IV who even granted him a person of £1200 and married him to his cousin. However, after the Truce of Ayton signed in 1487 and the failed Scottish invasion, James IV retracted support in favour of the English alliance.

- 1497 = Warbeck's last attempts were to use the rebellion in Cornwall against taxation to garner public support but was ultimately caught and imprisoned by 1498, and executed by 1499.

- NEARLY SUCCESSFUL DUE TO: wide range of foreign support and endorsement from foreign rulers, attainment of prestige, strong leadership and figure of Warbeck

- FAILED DUE TO: lack of any real consistency in support, H7's effective tactics of using FP to remove Warbeck's support, lack of armed forces and major public support.

Cornish Rebellion (1497)

- In 1496, H7 declared a benevolence tax, which was essentially a forced loan from the English public to raise funds to go against the looming Warbeck Scottish invasion.

- Cornish, particularly miners, were angered and opposed taxes for a war that was extremely distant from them.

- 15,000 marched led by Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank into Devon attracting major support from nolbes like James Touchet.

- The movement gained traction in Bristol and Salisbury where they issued declaration of grievances. However, they did not manage to get mass support in Kent which disillusioned many Cornish, causing numbers to dwindle down to 10,000

- The Battle of Blackheath between protestors and H7's army of 25,000 saw the rebellion completely quashed as the protestors lacked organisation, cavalry and effective weaponry.

- The leaders were sentenced to hanging and severe financial punishments levied against cornwall with deaths up to 2000 amongst protestors.

- NEARLY SUCCESSFUL DUE TO: moderate internal support, strong cause for protest.

- FAILED DUE TO: lack of organisation of armed forces, weak leadership, lack of foreign and internal support

The White Rose Rebellion (1501-1506)

- Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, was last prominent Yorkist claimant to throne and was outwardly loyal but angered H7 by refusing dukedom

- Returned from Calais in 1501 and then fled to court of HRE and Burgundy where he received support and protection.

- By 1504, H7 had a strong informer system in Suffolk's camp which enabled him to realise it was a strong campaign to replace him at a time of weakness (son and wife dead)

- However, fate played into H7 hands as Philip of Burgundy was stranded in English port due to storm in 1506. H7 negotiated terms of his survival by forcing them to surrender Suffolk who was later executed by H8 in 1513.

- NEAR SUCCESS DUE TO: foreign support of nobles and monarchs and protection, strong leadership and claim to throne

- FAILED DUE TO: lack of armed forces, H7's bargaining skills and security of the throne by 1506 demonstrated by informer network.