Conspiracies against Henry VII

To make his place more secure, Henry VII had imprisoned the Yorkist heir, Edward, son of the duke of Clarence and nephew of Edward IV. But this did not save him from attempts on the part of the Yorkist leaders to dethrone him. In 1487 a youth, Lambert Simnel, personating the imprisoned heir, raised a rebellion in Ireland which was supported by the whole Yorkist party, even including the queen mother, Elizabeth Woodville. The uprising was formidable in that it was aided by Margaret of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV and widow of Charles the Bold. But Henry, acting quickly, defeated the insurgents at Stoke, slew John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, nephew of Edward IV, and capturing Simnel, contemptuously made him a kitchen boy in his palace.

In 1492 another rebellion was set on foot with Perkin (or Peterkin) Warbeck as the impersonator of Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the princes murdered in the Tower. Again the opposition forces rallied about the new claimant. For a moment they were joined by Charles VIII of France, who should have been on friendly terms with Henry, because his father (Louis XI) had favored the Lancastrians, but who was angry with the English king because of a dispute over Brittany. Warbeck's cause was upheld, as was to have been expected, by Margaret of Burgundy, whose palace," says Bacon, "was the sanctuary and receptacle of all traitors against the king." But by making a treaty with Charles VIII in 1492, Henry deprived Perkin of his refuge in France, and retaliated upon Margaret for her support of the pretender by forbidding in 1494 all commerce with the Netherlands, of which provinces Margaret was the overlord. He transferred to Calais the market maintained by the Merchant Adventurers in Antwerp, and drove the Flemish from London. Philip the Handsome, grandson of Charles the Bold, and son of Maximilian the emperor, held out for two years; but the Flemings forced him to yield, and in 1496 a new treaty was agreed upon, called the Magnus Intercursus.

Having been successful abroad, Henry now determined to break the rebellion at home, knowing that Perkin found his chief friends within the realm. He caused eight Yorkist noblemen to be seized, and four of them to be beheaded. Then he struck higher and put to death Sir William Stanley, who had aided him at Bosworth! Perkin fled to Ireland, the soil where these mushroom and upstart weeds, that spring up in a night, did chiefly prosper." Already, in 1494, Henry, enraged by the support which both Simnel and Perkin had obtained there, had sent over Sir Edward Poynings as deputy, who sought to effect in what is known as Poynings' Acts (1494) the subordination of the Irish to the English parliament.' Perkin's career was about over. He fled to Scotland, but in 1497 returned to Ireland, and crossing to Cornwall, was defeated and captured there in 1499. He was imprisoned in the Tower, and later, when he and his fellow-prisoner, Edward, Earl of Warwick, attempted to escape, their plan was discovered, and both were executed.

The struggle with the pretenders, which had continued for fourteen years, had ended in the death or subjection of those of the nobility who opposed the claims of Henry VII to the throne. But the king during these years had never lost sight of the greater needs of the kingdom. He strengthened the authority of the crown by extending the jurisdiction and power of the king's council and by employing parliament largely as a money-granting body. He recognized the value of a well-filled treasury and sought to obtain money by means often of doubtful legitimacy.

THE TOWER OF LONDON.

The building represented is the White Tower, the original Keep built in 1078, a fine example of Norman architecture.

He advanced the general prosperity of the kingdom by encouraging commerce, agriculture, and to a slight degree, colonization. And, lastly, he made England's name known abroad by favorable foreign alliances.