Challenges to Henry VII's Crown: Perkin Warbeck, 1491-99

Perkin Warbeck, 1491-99

In the autumn of 1491 Perkin Warbeck, a 17-year-old from Tournai in France, arrived in Ireland on a Breton merchant’s ship. He seems to have impressed the townsfolk, who assumed that he might be the Earl of Warwick. Warbeck denied this, claiming instead to be Richard, Duke of York, whose murder in the Tower was assumed but had never been proved.

The conspiracy achieved international recognition from France, Burgundy, the Holy Roman Empire and Scotland.

France

Charles VIII (1483-98) welcomed Warbeck at the French court and by the summer of 1492 approximately 100 English Yorkists had joined him in Paris. However, the Treaty of Étaples, which Henry VII negotiated with France in November, meant that he had to leave, so he fled to Flanders where he was accepted by Margaret of Burgundy as her nephew.

Burgundy

It is unlikely that Margaret believed Warbeck to be Richard, Duke of York, but in the absence of any genuine Yorkist claimant at liberty, supporting him would have been her best opportunity to dislodge Henry. She calculated that faithful Yorkists would be prepared to back anyone in order to challenge Henry VII’s right to the throne.

Holy Roman Empire

Not content with Margaret’s support alone, Warbeck found a more influential patron when Maximilian, the newly elected Holy Roman Emperor, recognised him as Richard IV in 1494. However, Maximilian did not have the resources available to finance an invasion of England.

Scotland

Warbeck’s attempt to invade England at Deal in Kent in July 1495 was a fiasco. He failed to gather sufficient local support and set sail for Ireland. Warbeck laid siege to the town of Waterford for 11 days without success and then departed for Scotland, where James IV gave him refuge and support. It is difficult to be certain how far James was convinced by Warbeck, if at all, but he did go as far as to give him his cousin in marriage together with an annual pension of £1,200. He also prepared a force to invade England.

These actions were enough to challenge Henry’s crown but fortunately for him, the Scottish invasion of England was a disaster. Warbeck received no support south of the border and retreated.

Warbeck’s failure

Warbeck returned to Ireland in July 1497, hoping for more success there. However, he found that even Kildare was temporarily loyal to Henry, so he set sail for the south-west of England hoping, as a last resort, to find support from this traditionally rebellious area. Again he was to be disappointed; having landed in Devon, he was driven out of Exeter and Taunton and only a few thousand people joined him. Within a fortnight it was all over, and Warbeck once again abandoned his followers. This time he fled to the sanctuary of Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire. In August 1497 he was persuaded to give himself up.

Henry allowed Warbeck to remain at Court with his young Scottish bride, but he escaped in 1498. He was recaptured, publicly humiliated and then imprisoned in the Tower alsongside the Earl of Warwick.

Warwick, weary of imprisonment, was persuaded by Warbeck to plan an escape - but they failed. In 1499, Warbeck was charged with trying to escape yet again and this time he was hanged. The Earl of Warwick was found guilty of treason and was executed a week later.