The War of the Roses (33 page)
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Authors: Timothy Venning
The notion that the âold nobility' would rally to this obscure pretender to be rid of their usurping sovereign was naïve, though the âspark' that touched off the 1497 Cornish revoltâfinancial extortionâwas to be one that led to more grumblings later in Henry's reign. Then, with less excuse, he was noted for demanding huge bonds for good behaviour from his nobles, and keeping them on a tight rein with confiscations at the slightest excuse. The instruments of his exactions were again to be âself-made men' of relatively low birth, this time two lay careeristsâSir Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson. Once Henry was dead his son Henry VIII made his new regime popular by arresting and executing them,
126
the first of many callous sacrifices of ministers and intimates that marked the career of the âTudor Stalin'. Would Warbeck have had more of a response to his propaganda about extortionate ânew men' if he had been rebelling in the mid-1500s, when Henry became noticeably more venal and allegedly miserly after his wife's death in 1503?
127
Was his timing wrongâand would he have had more luck if the Cornish envoys had missed him in August 1497 and he had gone back from Ireland to Flanders to wait for a better chance later? Would he have been able to call on angry regional magnates suffering from royal extortion by c. 1505, or would the flight of Edmund de la Pole to the Continent in 1501 have sidelined him permanently as a credible pretender?
The hard facts of military campaigning meant that Warbeck would need both a reasonably-sized foreign force (as provided by France for Henry in 1485 or by Duchess Margaret for Simnel in 1487) and English defections or neutrality to succeed. Edward IV had not had any significant foreign help from Burgundy as he returned to challenge Henry VI and Warwick âthe Kingmaker' in 1471, but had a ready âpower-base' as a past, competent ruler and was known to his ex-subjects; and he duly benefited from defections led by his brother Clarence. Similarly, Warwick was a known and popular senior magnate and political actor when he invaded England on Richard of York's behalf in 1460 and on his own behalf in 1470. The Duke of Buckingham was the principal local magnate in South Wales as he revolted against Richard III in 1483, though lacking known allies outside the region. Henry Tudor was as unknown in 1483 and 1485 as Warbeck was to be in the 1490s, but his genealogical provenance was known; as of December 1483 he had promised to marry the âlegitimate' heiress Elizabeth of York, and he faced a murdering usurper and possible regicide. He also benefited from having his stepfather, Stanley, in charge of one of his opponents' main military contingents. Even Simnel, of uncertain provenance, had military veterans and senior ex-Yorkists Lincoln and Lovell at his side and a body of Continental mercenaries fighting for him. By contrast Warbeckâwhoever he really was âlacked support in England after the arrests of January 1495, or at the latest the arrests of Kendall's Hospitaller-Church circle in spring 1496, and had no foreign troops to make up for it.
Had Charles VIII or Maximilian and Philip provided him with as many experienced men to attack Kent in 1495 as Margaret had given Simnel in 1487 (or preferably more), Henry might at least have faced a hard-fought battle. Warbeck's main backer after 1492 was Maximilian, who even set him up as a âgenuine' exiled King of England in Flanders, but the prospect of a large army of German âlandsknechts' marching on London for him was remote despite this support. Maximilian was only regent of the Flemish duchies for his son Philip, who achieved full control in 1494, and the prospect of Flemish funds for Warbeck's cause would depend on the local elected assemblies of cautious, thrifty burgers who needed a friendly regime in England for trade. Maximilian was not Emperor until his miserly father Frederick III died late in 1493 so had no Austrian lands or funds from the German princes until then, and in 1493 he âbought out' his cousin Sigismund, Duke of the Tyrol and Styria, to secure their revenues (especially the lucrative local mines). Until this double windfall he was reliant on loans from the Fugger banking family, agreed on in 1491 to save him from bankruptcy. 1494 also secured him a rich wife, Bianca Sforza of Milan, with a huge dowry; but this brought him into Italian politics to oppose French ambitions there as a greater priority than invading England.
128
Thenceforward he was usually resident in Innsbruck, and had diminished interest in Flanders, where Philip was now ruling and did next to nothing for Warbeck. The Habsburg family developments of 1491â9 thus served to minimalize the chances that Warbeck would get serious aid from them, and Duchess Margaret was a widow living on a fixed income on her jointure lands. Warbeck, and later the refugee Edmund de la Pole, were useful threats to hold over Henry VII but not objects of urgent considerationâand when Duke Philip and his wife Queen Juana of Castile were shipwrecked in Dorset in 1506 Henry was to âinvite' them to Windsor and not let them leave until Edmund was handed over. Would this have been Warbeck's fate too?
What of Warbeck's English support? The Cornish rebels of September 1497 suffered from their recent losses in the June rebellion, though in neither case were experienced commanders or well-armed military veterans with adequate artillery involved. Many had billhooks or spears. The best hope Warbeck would have had in 1497 would be if he had happened to leave Scotland for southern Ireland sooner (April or May?) so luck would have had it that he could hasten to Cornwall when the first revolt broke out. He lacked senior gentry backers in the county who would have had the resources to send messengers to him in time once they heard of the revolt at St Keverne gathering pace, so it would have depended on Lord Audley deciding to send for him and him arriving quickly. This would rely on luck, as a royal ship could easily intercept him en route; and even if he reached the rebels in time and they accepted him as their leader the expedition would still have been outclassed militarily by Daubeny. Lacking major defectors, he would have faced defeat in Kent in June 1497 as he did in reality in Somerset in September. But he might still have been able to flee safely to a ship at a Channel port and return to Flanders to eke out a frustrating existence as Margaret's pensioner until she died in 1503 and Maximilian or Philip expelled him. His decision to take sanctuary at Beaulieuâprobably as there was no ship available in Southampton Waterâmeant that he would fall into royal hands and end up having to confirm that he was a fake. But his eventual imprisonment in the Tower and execution followed a failed attempt to ârun for it' from honourable detention at Court at Westminster, which ended with him floundering about in the reeds of the Thames somewhere near Sheen.
129
If he had had sympathizers ready to find him a ship then, instead of bolting without a clear plan, he could still have ended his days safe on the Continent. Instead, he was put in the Tower and later lured into a âplan to escape' for which he was tried and executedâprobably at least partly a âput-up job' by the King to ensnare the unfortunate Earl of Warwick in the cell beneath him and secure enough of a legal excuse to execute both of them. Ferdinand and Isabella seem to have been behind this, insisting that Warwick be executed to ensure that the English throne was secure before they would send their daughter Catherine of Aragon to England to marry Prince Arthur.
At best, a genuine âcell' of Yorkist plotters in Londonâa site of earlier plots to free Warwick in the early 1490sâwas infiltrated and used by the King, and the âcoincidence' that Warbeck was put in the next cell to Warwick and allowed to make a hole in his floor and contact him was clearly no such thing. Henry, to his credit, seems to have been aware of the injustice of executing the innocent Warwickâand in 1497â8 he had treated Warbeck with considerable leniency given his proven offences. Was this just a ploy, or did he believe that he might be a genuine prince after all? The involvement of Warwick in the âescape plot' and his subsequent trial and execution also brings in another âwhat if?' possibility, as the injustice of the punishment was widely felt in England. Subsequent rumour had it that the sudden death of Henry's eldest son, Arthur, in April 1502 was divine vengeance on him for the âmurder'
130
âand a king who was believed to have incurred God's wrath could be at greater risk of revolt. Luckily for Henry, the only likely potential beneficiary in 1502â6 was Suffolk, in exile and with no great chance of his host Archduke Philip lending him an army as Charles VIII had loaned one to Henry against another âroyal murderer' in 1485. Warwick's own sister and the âlegitimist' Yorkist claimant, Margaret, was safely married off to a regime loyalist and Beaufort relative, Sir Richard Pole.
131
What if she had been at large on the Continent too and available to marry Suffolk? Instead, the last senior member of the House of York ended up arrested for an alleged plot in 1538 and on the execution block in a âclear-out' of potential threats by Henry VIII in 1541. She was chased round Tower Green by the King's henchmen as she refused to submit quietlyâtragedy combined with farce.
For the 1320s, see Ian Mortimer,
The Greatest Traitor: the Life of Roger Mortimer, First Earl of March, Ruler of England 1327â30
(Pimlico 2004) pp. 100â01, 109â10, 126â8. For the mid-1380s: Anthony Tuck,
Richard II and the Nobility
(Edward Arnold 1971), pp. 66â7; Nigel Saul,
Richard II
(Yale UP 1997) pp. 120â1. For the 1440s, see Bertram Wolffe,
Henry VI
(Methuen 1981) pp. 106â34.
See
The Brut
, ed. F T de Brie (London 1906â8) pp. 511â13 on the popular view of Humphrey's victimization by the âpeace party'. Also: J A Giles,
Chronicles of the White Rose of York
(London 1845), pp. 33â4;
Historical Collections of a Citizen of London: Gregory's Chronicle, 1189-1469
, ed. James Gairdner (Camden Society 1876) pp. 187â8, John Benet, âChronicle for the years 1400 to 1462', ed. G and M Harriss in
Camden Miscellany
, vol xxiv (Royal Historical Society 1972) pp. 192â3,
Davies' Chronicle
pp. 62â5,
Chronicles of London
, ed. H Kingsford (Oxford 1905) pp. 157â8; also
English Historical Review
, vol xxix (1914) p. 513.
Juliet Barker,
Conquest: the English Kingdom of France 1415â50
(Abacus 2009), pp. 247â9.
Wolffe, pp. 162â5.
Ibid, pp. 110â11.
See also âArticles of the Duke of York against the Bishop of Chichester',
B L Harleian Mss
. 543, ff. 161râ163r.
Wolffe, p. 221.
Roger Virgoe, âThe Death of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk', in
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
, vol xlvii (1965) pp. 489â502.
Wolffe, p. 224.
The claim of Humphrey's murder by the King or court was not widely believed in 1447 (Wolffe, p. 131) so it was probably exacerbated by York's propagandists later; a few individuals did, however, blame Henry that early, see PRO King's Bench 9/256/12 indictment.
Davies' Chronicle
, pp. 79â80; but as above, the story of Prince Edward's illegitimacy was only widespread in the later 1450s.
Giles' Chronicle
, p. 39;
The Brut
, p. 517.
Wolffe, pp. 240â1.
Benet's Chronicle
, pp. 205â6;
Bale's Chronicle
, p. 139. See also J Roskell, âSir William Oldhall, Speaker in the Parliament of 1450â1' in
Nottingham Medieval Studies
vol v (1961) pp. 87â112.
Benet's Chronicle
, pp. 206â7; Wheathampstead,
Registrum
, vol I p. 162;
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v p. 346; H Kingsford,
English Historical Literature in the Fifteenth Century
(Oxford 1913) pp. 297â8.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, pp. 147â8;
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 195.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, p. 148.
Quoted in Joseph Stevenson,
The English Wars in France in the Fifteenth Century
, vol ii part ii (Record Society 1861â4) pp. 639â42.
Capgrave, quoted by Wolffe p. 16. Also: PRO King's Bench 9/260/85; 9/256/12; 9/262/1; 9/262/78; 9/122/28; and see RF Heinesett, âTreason by Words' in
Sussex Notes and Queries
, vol xiv (Lewes 1954â7) pp. 116â20.
Wolffe, pp. 137 and 139â41, 143â4.
Ibid pp. 5â8 and 10â11.
Ibid pp. 119â26, and Sir J Ramsay,
Lancaster and York
(Oxford 1892) vol ii pp. 49â53. On a local level in a region with a pro-regime âfavourite' as the local âstrongman', see
Documents Illustrative of Medieval Kentish Society
, ed. F H Du Boulay (Kent Archaeological Society 1964), pp. 220â43. For Fortescue's complaints, see his
The Governance of England
(Oxford 1885) p. 134.
See R A Griffiths, âThe Trial of Eleanor Cobham: an episode in the fall of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester', in
BJRL
, vol li (1968â9) pp. 381â99.
Wolffe, p. 39.
Bertram Wolffe,
The Royal Demesne
, pp. 124â30; Wolffe,
Henry VI
, pp. 230â1; see also
The Paston Letters
, ed. James Gairdner (6 vols, 1904).
See Bertram Wolffe,
Henry VI
, chapter 7.
As n. 18.
Wolffe, p. 234. See also
Giles' Chronicle
p. 33 for Henry's fear of Duke Humphrey and resort to armed guards from c. 1445.
See the first documentary reference to York as a potential challenger in PRO King's Bench 9/265/12â29, an indictment of January 1451. J Stevenson,
Wars
, vol ii (Record Society 1861â4) p. 750 for the 1451 formal Parliamentary proposal that York be named as heir.
Rotuli Parliamentarum,
vol v, pp. 228â33.
K B MacFarlane, âWilliam Worcester: a preliminary survey' in
Studies Presented to Sir Hilary Jenkinson
, ed. J Conway Davies (Oxford 1957) pp. 211â15; and p. 5 for the expectation that Henry would lead the expedition.
Wolffe,
Henry VI
(Methuen 1981) pp. 263â4.
Paston Letters
, introduction: p. cxi.
Calendar of Patent Rolls 1446â52
, pp. 537, 577.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, p. 346.
Wheathampstead,
Registrum
vol I, p. 162;
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 206;
Davies' Chronicle
p. 70.
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 207.
Giles' Chronicle
, p. 43;
A Short English Chronicle
, p. 69;
Rotuli Parliamentarum,
vol v, pp. 346â7.
PRO E 101/ 410/ 9; for the ârebels' grovelling in halters in the snow, see
Six Town Chronicles
, ed. R Flenley (Oxford 1911) p. 107.
Calendar of Patent Rolls 1446â52
, pp. 111, 162; ibid 1452â61, pp. 34-5; PRO E 28/83/41.
D Wilkins,
Concilia
, vol iii, p. 560.
Robert Knecht,
The Valois: Kings of France 1328-1589
(Hambledon and London 2004) p. 47.
See Wolffe,
Henry VI
, pp. 270â1 for plausible reasons for Henry's collapse. For Heworth Moor, see R A Griffiths, âLocal rivalries and national politics: the Nevilles and the Duke of Exeter, 1452-61' in
Speculum
xliii (1968) pp. 589â632.
Cambridge Medieval History
, vol vii, pp. 372â3.
Paston Letters
, vol I pp. 259â61 and 403â6.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, pp. 242â4; Wolffe,
Henry VI
, pp. 278â81.
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 211.
C A J Armstrong, âPolitics and the Battle of St Albans, 1455' in
Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research
, vol xxxiii (1960) pp. 8â9.
Armstrong, pp. 8â9.
Griffiths in
Speculum
, vol xliii, pp. 606â8;
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 210;
Paston Letters
, vol I p. 264.
Wolffe,
Henry VI
, p. 285.
Proceedings of the Privy Council
, ed. Nicholas (1834â7) vol vi, pp. 339â42.
PRO E 404/70/3/ 2, 71: orders for arms for the King's entourage.
Wolffe,
Henry VI
, p. 291.
Ibid pp. 291â2.
Ibid p. 292.
Paston Letters
, vol I, pp. 328â9 and Wolffe,
Henry VI
, pp. 292â3.
Armstrong, pp. 42â8; Wolffe,
Henry VI
, pp. 293â5.
Rotuli Parliamentarum,
vol v, pp. 321â2.
Ibid, pp. 289â90; and pp. 284â9 on provision for the Prince of Wales to succeed as regent.
See J Roskell in
BIHR
, vol xxix (1956) pp. 193â5.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v ,pp. 300â03, 335a; Armstrong, pp. 58â62.
Wolffe,
Henry VI
, p. 299; PRO E 28/87/ 29A.
Wolffe,
Henry VI
, pp. 297â8.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, pp. 321â2.
Wolffe,
Henry VI
, p. 306. See also Thomas Gascoigne,
Loci et Libra Veritatum
, ed. J E Thorold Rogers (Oxford 1881) p. 214;
Croyland Chronicle
, p. 454 on Henry's weak-mindedness by 1460. See also R L Storey,
The End of the House of Lancaster
(Cambridge University Press 1966), pp. 178â82 and 228â30 on politico-military reasons for the King's progresses.
Wolffe,
Henry VI
, p. 309;
Calendar of Patent Rolls 1452-61
, pp. 371, 400, 405, 410.
Storey, p. 179.
PRO E 404/70/3/44, C. 81/ 1546/89c.
Gascoigne, op. cit., and
Paston Letters
, vol I, pp. 407â9 for the Queen's involvement in these changes of personnel.
Proceedings of the Privy Council
, vol vi, pp. 333â4;
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v p. 347.
PRO King's Bench 9/35/24, 44, 60, 70, 71, 72;
Calendar of the Patent Rolls 1452â61
, pp. 348, 353.
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 221;
Davies' Chronicle
, p. 77;
Six Town Chronicles
, pp. 145, 160;
Chronicle of London
, ed. Nicholas, pp. 251â4 on the âLove-Day' ceremony.
John Gillingham,
The Wars of the Roses
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2001) p. 72.
Gaston du Fresne de Beaucourt,
Histoire de Charles VII
(Paris 1881â91, 6 vols) vol vi pp. 52, 55, 137.
Beaucourt, vol vi, pp. 144â5.
Memoires du Philippe de Commignes
, ed. D Godefroy and L de Fresnoy (Paris 1747) vol ii pp. 110â11.
Wheathampstead,
Registrum
, vol I, pp. 336â7.
Six Town Chronicles
, p. 113;
The Brut
, p. 526;
Davies' Chronicle
, p. 77; Kingsford's
London Chronicles
, p. 169.
For the story of the Prince's âreal' paternity circulating, see
Davies' Chronicle
, pp. 78â9,
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 216;
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, p. 348. Order for weaponry spring 1459: PRO E 404/71/3/343.
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 223.
Davies' Chronicle
, pp. 80â3.
Gregory's Chronicle
, p. 205.
See n. 32 for the formal statement of this plan in Parliament 1459. This was made in the aftermath of Margaret's triumph at Ludlow and accompanied the attainder of her enemies so it was clearly a major âplank' of her intentions.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, pp. 349, 366;
Calendar of the Patent Rolls 1452â60
, pp. 536â614;
Foedera
, vol xi, pp. 446â8. See also propaganda against York at this point, e.g. the âSomnia Vigilante', ed. J Gilson, in
E H R
vol xxvi (1911) pp. 512â25.
Benet's Chronicle
, pp. 150â2.
Ramsay,
Lancaster and York
, pp. 227â9.
De Wauvrin,
Chroniques
, eds. W and E Hardy (Rolls Series 1891) vol v, pp. 312â18.
Gregory's Chronicle
, p. 208; Wheathampstead,
Registrum
pp. 376â80 for the nobles' dismay at York claiming the throne. Discussion in J Lander, âMarriage and Politics in the Fifteenth Century: the Nevills and the Wydvills' in
BIHR
, vol xxxvi (1967) pp. 126â8.
Gregory's Chronicle
, p. 208. For papal involvement, see Constance Head, âPius II and the Wars of the Roses' in
Archivum Historiae Pontificiae
, vol viii (1970) pp. 160â1. Pius, as papal diplomat Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, had visited Britain himself so had personal knowledge of some of the contenders.
Gregory's Chronicle
, p. 207.
Hall's Chronicle
, quoted by Alison Weir,
The Union of the Two Noble Illustre Houses of Lancaster and York
, 1547, reprinted and edited by H Ellis (London 1809) p. 257 for the episode of Margaret gloating over York's body and putting his head on Micklegate Bar, York. In fact, Hall's grandfather had been in York's entourage at Wakefield in 1460, so he may have used family tradition for this story. Clifford's psychopathic tendencies were already known, as he had led an armed posse to London earlier to demand that King Henry arrest York and Salisbury for killing his father in 1455 at St Albans.
Benet's Chronicle
, p. 228;
Bale's Chronicle
, p. 152;
Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles
, pp. 154, 171â2; Ramsay,
Lancaster and York
, pp. 237â8. See analysis in P Haigh,
The Battle of Wakefield
(Stroud, 1996).
âShort English Chronicle', in
Three English Chronicles
, ed. James Gairdner (Camden Society 1880) pp. 76â7;
Gregory's Chronicle
, p. 211.
See C A J Armstrong, âThe Inauguration Ceremonies of the Yorkist Kings, and their title to the throne' in
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
, fourth series vol xxx (1948) pp. 51â73.
Croyland Chronicle
, pp. 421â3.
Gregory's Chronicle
, pp. 211â15;
Davies' Chronicle
, pp. 107â8;
Chronicles of London
, ed. Kingsford, p. 173;
Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles
, pp. 76, 155, 172. Also see Scofield,
The Life and Reign of Edward the Fourth
(London 1923), vol I, pp. 147â8.
So-called because annalist John Stow relied on it for his 1610 account of the battle.
See n. 52 for the significant timing of this story.
Wauvrin, vol v, pp. 312â18.
For 1327, when Parliament (or rather those peers and MPs carefully selected by the insurgent leader Mortimer) agreed to depose Edward II and the King was informed afterwards and âvoluntarily' concurred by abdicating: N Fryde,
The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II 1321â6
(Cambridge UP 1979) pp. 197â200, C Valente âThe deposition and abdication of Edward II' in
E H R,
vol cxiii (1998) pp. 880â1, and Ian Mortimer,
The Greatest Traitor
, pp. 166â70. For the abdication followed by Parliamentary approval in 1399, see
Chronicles of the Revolution 1397â1400
, ed. C Given-Wilson (Manchester UP 1997) pp. 160â1, 187.
Rotuli Parliamentarum
, vol v, pp. 463â7.
Ibid.
See Wolffe p. 270 and Storey, p. 136n and p. 252n.
Paston Letters
, vol v, pp. 40â52, 55â7.
Ibid, vol I pp,. 416â17.
Ibid, p. 403.
C Ross,
Richard III
, p. 4; Paul Murray Kendall,
Richard III
pp. 37 and 440n.
See n. 65.