3.1 'Over-Mighty Subjects': Noblemen as Props & Rivals

Over-Mighty Subject

Noble who became too powerful & influential with the King

Able to steer the King’s patronage & matters of national policy to a great extent

Likely to cause conflict among nobility

Under-Mighty Monarch

Weak monarch

Unable to overrule leading nobles when necessary

Too easily influenced by individual subjects when taking key decisions

Significance of 1399

Henry Bolingbroke usurped Richard II → upset the legitimate line of succession

Even if Richard had abdicated, Bolingbroke took the throne by force, which made a mockery of the hereditary claim

→ Alternative claimants reduced his legitimacy

Henry IV faced numerous rebellions:

• 1403, Tripartite Indenture uniting Owain Glyndwr, Henry Hotspur & Edmund Mortimer - Defeated at Battle of Shrewsbury

Crushing Conspiracy by Force:

Henry V

Southampton Plot 1415

First two years of his reign saw a resurgence of anti-Lancastrian sentiment

Southampton Plot = culmination

Aimed to kill Henry V & replace him w/ Edmund Mortimer, earl of March

Led by earl of Cambridge, Henry Scrope & Sir Thomas Grey

Involved w/ other dissillusioned groups:

• Scottish & Welsh rebes

• Earl of Northumberland

• Lollards

• French encouragement (maybe to deter invasion?)

Edmund Mortimer, earl of March betrayed them to Henry V

Leaders were arrested, imprisoned & executed as traitors at Southampton Castle → their heads were displayed as warnings

Henry demonstrated mercy by pardoning earl of March, ensuring his absolute loyalty for the rest of Henry’s reign

By later summer of 1415, he was sufficiently secure to continue his planned invasion

Crushing of Conspiracy

Henry VII

Execution of Warwick in 1499

Henry became King through right of conquest (Bosworth) but had a tenuous hereditary claim

→ Worsened by rumours that Edmund Tudor, Henry’s father, was also illegitimate and also the blood-uncle of Henry’s mother → marriage illegal & forbidden by Church

Most dangerous alternative candidate = 14 year-old Edward, earl of Warwick, son of George, duke of Clarence

→ Henry imprisoned him in the Tower

First major threat = 1486 Simnel Conspiracy

Crushing Conspiracy

Henry VII - Simnel

• Pretended he was Edward, earl of Warwick. Because the real Edward was imprisoned, he had not been seen, strengthening rumors.

• Backed by Yorkist sympathizers & particularly Ireland, as earl of Warwick was grandson of Richard, duke of York who was popular in his lieutenancy

  • Irish leaders, including Archbishop of Dublin & earl of Kildare, opposed Henry as he wouldn't confirm their positions

  • Also wanted greater powers & less interference from England

  • Potenital of gaining land by rebellion

Richard III’s sister, Margaret, duchess of Burgundy supported Simnel, sending an army of 2,000

Irish crowned Simnel King in Dublin in 1487

Henry VII’s Reaction

Swiftly arrested ANY key figure w/ Yorkist connections, including Elizabeth Woodville & her son, marquis of Dorset

Publicly displayed real earl of Warwick

Met Simnel’s army in Lacaster, June 1487, at the Battle of Stoke, killing key Yorkist leaders. Won decisively

Simnel was pardoned & worked in palace kitchens

Scale of rebellion highlighted fragility of Tudor claim & unease within early reign of Henry VII

Crushing Conspiracy

Henry VII - Warbeck

Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, duke of York, the younger of the Princes of the Tower

Supported by pro-Yorkist factions,

Significant support from French King, Margaret of Burgundy & James IV of Scotland who saw him as a disrupter

→ arranged for Warbeck to marry Lady Catherine Gordon, cousin of James IV, strengthening his position

Attempted to invade England 3 times, but was ultimately a troublesome failure

1497 - raised an army of 2-3,000, besieging Exeter but this failed, & he surrendered to Henry VII

Henry treated Warbeck w/ mercy = allowed to live under housearrest within the English court w/ his wife

1498, Warbeck tried to escape, he was caught & imprisoned in the Tower

Met fellow prisoner, Edward, earl of Warwick → 1499, they were tried for plotting to escape the tower

Nov 1499, both were executed, Warwick hanged as a commoner & Edward beheaded on Tower Hill

Maybe politically motivated to stop a future focus of rebellion