The First Royal Pretender To Henry VII's Throne | Lambert Simnel | The Wars Of The Roses

The Wars of the Roses were characterised by a confusing conveyor belt of monarchs usurping, winning and retaking the English throne. But this eventually ended with Henry VII defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and becoming the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty. But that was far from the end of the matter and at least two figures would go down in history as pretenders to the throne. The first was a young boy named Lambert Simnel, although his name was actually most probably John. His origins are obscure but he was probably born sometime around 1476 in Oxford. His father was Thomas Simnel, who could have been a carpenter, an organ maker or even a cobbler. We don't know who Lambert's mother was or if she was even around. And all of this is not unusual for someone who was a commoner in the 15th century, except this was someone who was about to place themselves as a king. However, it must be remembered that most information known of Lambert Simnel comes from the later Tudor regime and they needed to show that they knew a lot more than they probably really did. Therefore, much of his story may have been tweaked and changed even before it went on record about 500 years ago. The first real mention of Lambert is in Dublin in the winter of 1486. It became known that a young boy was claiming to be Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, the last surviving male of the House of York and the son and heir of George, Duke of Clarence. Some accounts even state that Lambert first pretended to be Richard of Shrewsbury, the younger son of Edward IV, but then changed to the Earl of Warwick. The thing was, Edward Plantagenet was still alive and held by Henry VII in the Tower of London. So what was going on? When Henry VII took the English crown, having disposed of Richard III on a battlefield near Bosworth on the 22nd of August, Henry proved shortly afterwards how ruthless he could be by eliminating many of those who had a claim, however weak, to the throne. Luckily for Edward, Henry instead decided to simply place him first in Sheriff Hutton Castle and later in the Tower of London, where he could keep an eye on him. There were some rumours that the Duke of Clarence had planned to send Edward to Ireland to keep him safe, while putting a different child in his place. There was nothing to suggest this had ever actually happened, but going through the Wars of the Roses had made everyone suspicious and ready to believe anything. By 1486, a plot was underway to put Lambert forward as a king. The story goes that it was a priest, either known as Richard Simmonds or William Simmonds, who educated Simmonds, not only in academic subjects but also courtly manners and etiquette. However, it's highly unlikely that a priest would suddenly decide out of nowhere to become a kingmaker, and it's highly suspect that Oxford was an area where two of the leaders from the ensuing revolt held their properties. One of these was John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, and he publicly stated Lambert was the Earl of Warwick, despite Edward Plantagenet still being alive. No doubt Richard Simmonds was part of a much bigger plot, engaged for his ability to teach the young boy the kind of education expected of nobility. Richard Simmonds spread the rumour that the Earl of Warwick had escaped from the Tower of London and was now under his care, and he took him to Ireland. There, there was a significant amount of support for the Yorkist cause. It's likely that there was already a plot underway to invade England and overthrow Henry VII, and this would have happened with or without Simmonds. He was merely a figurehead. At the end of 1486, Lambert was well established in Ireland, backed by Thomas Fitzgerald, the Chancellor of Ireland, his brother Gerald Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, and Walter Fitzsimmons, the Archbishop of Dublin. When news of these events reached Henry VII, he sent a herald to question Lambert about his background and his story. The plot grew when Margaret of York, sister to Edward IV and Richard III and now Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, lent her support to Lambert's cause, publicly declaring him to be the Earl of Warwick and sending funds to aid him. On 2 February 1487, hoping to reduce the murmurings of Lambert being the Earl of Warwick, Henry VII released the real Earl of Warwick from the Tower and paraded him through London. But despite this, and due to news travelling very slowly in the medieval period, this had little effect in squashing the rumours. On 24 May 1487, Lambert was crowned as King Edward in Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin, a parliament was held in his name, and coins were struck bearing his image. Interestingly, in contemporary accounts, no regnal number was given, but we'll come back to that later, remember it for now. The city of Waterford, which remained loyal during these events, mocked Dubliners for choosing an organ maker's son as their king. It would seem no one was actually fooled by the story being woven about Lambert, but it didn't stop the Yorkists in their plan. This was also where John de la Pole got involved, fleeing to Burgundy to Margaret of York's side and declaring he had aided in Warwick's supposed escape. While there, he also met with Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell, who was in exile after supporting a failed uprising in 1486. He and other Yorkist courtiers travelled to Ireland to join the army being raised under Thomas Fitzgerald. On 4 June, with a force of around 1,500 German and Flemish mercenaries, 4,000 Irish Light Infantry and a host of Yorkist supporters, Simnel and the Earl of Lincoln landed on Peel Island in Furness, Lancashire. Simmons would later claim he had met with Lovell in Furness to discuss a suitable landing place from Ireland. Setting up camp from this fairly secure base, the Yorkist forces moved quickly east across the Pennines into Wensleydale. While many nobles were reluctant to join them and kick off yet more conflict, there were some amongst the gentry who did join. This included John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton, and Thomas Scrope, 6th Baron Scrope of Massam. And on 8 June, a letter was sent, apparently from King Edward, from Massam to York to announce his cause and to ensure the city of York would welcome him. Despite the two Baron Scopes leading their men to York's gates, the city remained loyal to Henry VII. And when they declared Lambert the rightful King at Bootham, the rest of the forces, including Simnel himself, went south. However, support wasn't as forthcoming as they had hoped for and few nobles decided to join them either. This may have been due to genuinely supporting the new Tudor regime, seeing that the Simnel campaign was going to fail, or simply wanting to keep their heads down after years of conflict. Henry VII was prepared, however. This was partially due to a planned invasion of Ireland, but hearing about what was happening with Lambert had merely allowed the rightfully paranoid King to ready himself for what was coming. There was some unrest in London due to uncertainty over whether there had been a rebel victory or not, and a few Londoners took to the streets. Nevertheless, it made little difference and by the 15th of June 1487, Henry VII had left Nottingham with a large force of his own men, at least double that of the Earl of Lincoln's, around 12,000. They set up camp near Nottingham about 10 miles away, while Simnel and Lincoln's army made camp at East Stoke, a village nearby. The following day on the 16th of June, the two armies met near East Stoke between Rampire Hill and the River Trent. It was a brutal battle, and is considered by some historians to have been even bloodier than Bosworth. At first, the Yorkist forces remained in a large unit on the brow of Rampire Hill, but soon found themselves assaulted with arrows from the King's archers. Instead of retaining the high ground, they decided instead to immediately go into the attack and try to break up the Lancastrian line. It didn't work, and the battle went on for three hours in a bitter push from both sides. The German mercenaries had the latest in early handguns, but as these were slow to load, they were not a match against the many highly trained longbowmen against them, and the Irish soldiers lacked body armour, which meant they were quickly cut down. Lincoln's forces found themselves cornered by the Lancastrian army as the River Trent flanked the battlefield on three sides. Many of the Yorkist forces attempted to escape along the Trent and down a ravine, which even today is known locally by the chilling name Red Gutter, and were trapped and killed there. The Earl of Lincoln and Thomas Fitzgerald both fell in battle, dying while fighting. Lovell managed to flee and was presumed to have escaped to Scotland or abroad, but there is no evidence of his having reached Scotland or his later fate. Simnel and Simmonds were both captured in the aftermath of the battle. A herald present at the battle recounted that the lad the rebels called King Edward was captured by Robert Bellingham, a squire in the King's household. Simmonds, being a man of the cloth, avoided execution but was still imprisoned for life. The Irish nobles who had supported Lambert mostly avoided any punishment at all, as Henry VII needed them to help govern Ireland effectively, however he would later persuade the Pope to excommunicate the Irish clergy who had aided the rebellion. In light of not being able to arrest Lincoln and find out the depth of the Yorkist uprising as he was dead, Henry instead decided to launch a series of investigations into the rebellion, which didn't throw up much information and the outcome was few executions and many fines. This was in line with Henry's method of controlling the nobility by basically taking away their money and leaving them weakened as a result. But what about Lambert? Well, Henry knew the young boy had been nothing more than a figurehead and so Simnel was given a full pardon and a job in his kitchen as a spit-turner. There are scant records on Lambert's later life but there is a good suggestion he became a falconer and married. Not bad for a young boy from a fairly ordinary background. Henry's position was improved by his clemency towards Lambert as well as quashing yet more Yorkist supporters both in the Battle of Stokefield and afterwards. But there are a minority of historians who question the identity of Lambert altogether. Could he actually have been someone more…regal? There is a niche theory that posits that Lambert was actually Edward V. The nobles crowned him as he never received his coronation in London and this was why John de la Pole supported him instead of going for his own claim to the throne. Now this theory also means you have to believe that Edward V survived being in the Tower of London during Edward III's reign without a peep of noise as no one saw him and then he somehow snuck out before Henry VII became king and went to Ireland or Oxford. This theory rests on the lack of evidence for a regnal number in the records. Only after the events when it was being written up by Tudor chroniclers was Lambert noted as being called King Edward VI but in fact there is nothing contemporary to corroborate this. However, there are a lot of holes in this. The first is the idea that a boy who was noted by contemporaries as being about 10 years old was actually the 16-year-old Edward V. While there could be some variance in age, not many 16-year-olds could pass as 10-year-olds. Also it's highly unlikely for a slew of reasons I go over in my video about the Princes in the Tower that Edward V was alive in any fashion in the Tower or otherwise until 1487. While the Tudors were undeniable fabricators of the historical record and many records for the Irish Parliament were destroyed by Henry VII, this one seems a stretch too far. The main reason is this. If you were the 16-year-old Edward V, rightful ruler of England who had been imprisoned wrongly by your uncle Richard III and now the throne of England was claimed by a usurper, would you be quiet about it? A 16-year-old was considered a man and one who had been raised to be royal would have no issue in raising noise, an army and a cause against Henry VII. It's pretty clear that Lambert was trained in how to behave and everything about the rebellion was planned out by the adults around him. As for the Regnal number, while it is annoying it's missing from records, a lack of evidence is not evidence in itself. So Lambert Simnel had began life as a commoner and did not become a king but did at least end up in the royal household. Henry VII rid himself of a few more bothersome nobles who were against him and bolstered himself financially with a few more fines. The country had also seen the last major battle that could be considered part of the Wars of the Roses. However, another pretender to the throne was waiting in the wings in the form of Perkin Warbeck and this one wouldn't be thrown off so easily. If you enjoyed this video don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss any new documentaries.