g Book_JW3..tl4L_ Copyright^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. A Historical Sketch OF PERKIN WARBECK PRETENDER TO THE CROWN OF ENGLAND BY EDWIN HENES, Jr. GEO. CHAUNCEY BR1NER *t TEbe f?nicfterbocfcet press mew Koch 1902 THE LISRARY OF CONGRESS, Two Copifcs Reosived 1902} CoPVniOHT EWTKY tc. /?e^ CI iss OuyCAa. No. 4//23f COPY 8. Copyright, 1902 BY EDWIN HENES, Jr. GEO. CHAUNCEY BRINER Ube "(Knickerbocker press, mew Korfe DEDICATED (by permission) TO GENERAL ALEXANDER S. WEBB, LL.D. PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK PERKIN WARBECK IS ING RICHARD III. of England had attained *■ *• the throne by putting the sons of Edward IV., the young and beautiful Edward V. and Richard Duke of York into prison and later to death. Edward V. reigned less than three months and was never crowned. At the time of his father's death he was living at Ludlow Castle, sur- rounded by his mother's kinsmen and friends. On his road to London he was overtaken by Richard Duke of Gloucester, who had come up from the north. By a sudden stroke of treachery and violence, Richard arrested Edward and a few of his followers and sent them as prisoners into Yorkshire. Edward was then taken to London. The poor boy, seeing his friends thus taken from him "wept and was nothing content, but it booted not." The Queen-mother, who was accompanying Edward, as soon as she heard what had happened, fled with her youngest son, Richard Duke of York, and her five daughters to the sanctuary at West- minster. The unfortunate King was lodged in the Tower, then a palace as well as a fortress and prison. The Duke of Gloucester was then ap- pointed Protector. So far Richard and his followers had been united by a common hatred of the Woodvilles or Wydeviles, one of whom, Elizabeth, Edward IV. had taken to wife. But soon Richard and his sup- porters disagreed among themselves. Lord Hast- ings in particular, who had been a bitter enemy of the Queen's friends, seems to have repented and to have secretly gone over to their side. On June 13, 1485, by order of Richard, Hastings was seized at the council board in the Tower, and put to death then and there. "By St. Paul," the Protec- tor is reported to have said, "I will not to dinner till I see thy head off " — and a log of wood which lay nearby served as a block for the hurried execu- tion. To justify himself, Richard made, that same afternoon, a proclamation that Hastings had con- spired against his life. Richard did not stop here: the little Duke of York, who all this while was quietly living with his mother, was removed from her in the sanctuary to join his brother in the Tower, and thus Gloucester had both his nephews "under his thumb." On the following Sunday Dr. Ralf Shaw, a noted preacher and brother of the Mayor of London, preached a sermon at Paul's Cross — a cross and pulpit which then stood at the northeast corner of St. Paul's Churchyard — setting forth that the children were illegitimate on the ground that when their father married Elizabeth Wydevile he was under a pre-contract to marry some other woman. According to the ecclesiastical law this would make his marriage with Elizabeth void. Richard was pointed out by the preacher as the right- ful inheritor of the crown, and on June 26th the Duke of Gloucester sat in Westminster Hall as King Richard III. of England. So it was that the crafty plotter succeeded in obtaining the crown. The new King and Anne his wife were crowned at Westminster, July 6, 1483, the preparations which had been made for the coronation of the nephew serving for those of the uncle. Richard then set out for York, where he and the Queen, with crowns upon] their heads, walked through the streets in grand procession. He was already liked in the north, where he had lived for some time, and all his display was designed to in- crease his popularity. But while he was thus spending his time there arose much murmuring in the south and west at the captivity of the sons of Edward IV. And at last Buckingham, who had always been Richard's friend, led an up- rising for their release. At this moment it was reported that the boys were dead. In the next reign it was stated that Sir James Tyrrel and John Dighton had confessed that on the refusal of Sir Robert Brackenbury, Constable of the Tower, to put his prisoners to death, Richard had bidden 5 that the keys of the Tower should be delivered to Tyrrel for a day, and that Tyrrel's groom, Dighton, together with one Miles Forrest, had smothered the sleeping boys in their bed and then buried them at the foot of the stairs. Some, how- ever, have doubted the murder, notwithstanding the apparent confirmation of the popular belief made by a discovery a hundred and ninety-one years later of the bones of two boys, of about the same age as the young princes, lying buried in the White Tower under the staircase leading to the chapel. The King, Charles II., who was then reigning, had them removed to Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, as the remains of Edward V. and of Richard Duke of York. So ended the life of these two unfortunate boys. In 1484 Richard's only child, Edward, died, whereupon Richard declared his sister's son, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, his heir. In the next year Queen Anne died, broken down by sorrow for the loss of her son, or as Richard's enemies afterward said, of poison given by her husband. In after days men told how Richard was haunted by the memory of his murdered nephews: he knew no peace of mind, his hand was ever on his dagger, his rest was broken by fearful dreams. Whether he was troubled by imaginary dangers or not, he had a real one in Henry Tudor, Earl of Rich- mond, who had lately bound himself by oath, if he obtained the crown, to marry Elizabeth of York, and had taken great steps toward the union of Yorkists and Lancastrians. On August 7, 1485, Richmond, with a body of adventurers, mostly Norman, landed at Milford Haven, and advancing into the country was met by Richard. Then was fought the important battle of Bosworth Field. Richard was slain, and Henry Richmond, first of the Tudors, was crowned on the battlefield as Henry VII. of England. In character Henry was cautious, crafty, fond of money, and ingenious in acquiring it. Being ever in fear of a pretender to his throne, he was anxious for the friendship of foreign princes, in order that they might not help rebels against him. Meanwhile a new claimant to the throne ap- peared, styling himself Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. According to his own account he was the second son of Edward IV., and had been saved alive when his brother was put to death; according to Henry he was one Pierre Osbeck, more com- monly Perkin Warbeck. There exists some doubt as to the place of his birth, but according to his own confession he was born in Tournay in Flan- ders. The exact year of his birth is also in doubt. In the beginning of the year 1490 Warbeck ap- plied for and received employment as deck-hand on a coasting vessel. His voyage was one of continual interest to him, for the mysterious tales of his fellow-seamen passed his leisure hours pleasantly, which would undoubtedly have seemed very long and wearisome. After a few adventures, he arrived at the Court of Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Burgundy. She was an able ruler, and was concerned in some of the principal negotiations of her time, proving herself a vindictive enemy of France, and a zealous servant of the House of 8 Austria. Margaret received Warbeck with enthusi- asm as her nephew, and may also have done something in the way of educating him for his part, but the stories of her having been his chief instructress are inconsistent with the comparative lateness of his visit to her. Margaret was called Henry's Juno from her inveterate hatred and in- trigues against him. But the story of the education Warbeck received from her has been greatly exag- gerated by Bacon and by most historians after him, whose accounts certainly suggest that she told him family secrets, which in her absence from England she herself had hardly much opportunity of knowing. "Then she informed him of all the circumstances and particulars that concerned the person of Richard Duke of York, which he was to act; de- scribing unto him the personages and features of the King and Queen, his pretended parents, and of his brothers and sisters, and others that were nearest him in childhood, together with all pass- ages, some secret, some common, that were fit for a child's memory, until the death of King Edward. Then she added the particulars of the time from the King's death until he and his brother were committed to the Tower, as well as during the time he was abroad as while he was in the sanc- tuary." * Margaret had paid a visit to England in 1480, but she had no special knowledge of the tragic history of the year 1483. It is strange that Henry allowed the affair to go on thus long, with so little notice. He may have thought even Margaret's genius hardly equal to such a tour de force as the launching of another counterfeit prince, only six years after her failure in that line. She had six years before this taken up the cause of Lambert Simnel, who was the son of one Thomas Simnel. Lambert was encouraged to personate the same murdered prince. Margaret was bent upon the restoration of the House of York, and did everything in her power to encour- age intrigues against Henry. Meanwhile Henry, as a worthy pupil of Louis * Bacon's Henry VII. XI., was using many artful means for tracking out the conspiracy against him. He directed various spies to pretend loyalty to Warbeck and his party, and thus to ascertain on whose help they counted in England. At the same time they were to take every opportunity of detaching Englishmen abroad from the rebellion. It is said that he took particu- lar care to have these spies cursed at St. Paul's, as if they were really his enemies. This, however, would happen in the natural course of things, if he kept secret their real intentions. The result of this policy soon appeared in the arrest of Lord Fitzwalter and some other men of rank, several of whom were beheaded. But the most startling revelation still remained; it was found that Sir William Stanley, who had deserted to Henry at Bosworth Field, had now joined the conspiracy against him. Little is known about the degree of Stanley's guilt. The indictment against him only specified his having said in conversation with the informer Clifford, that "if he were sure that the young man was Edward's son he would not bear II arms against him." The judges held that treason could not escape from being sheltered under such a condition, and Stanley was accordingly executed on February 16, 1495. I* appears also that he had deeply offended Henry by applying for the Earldom of Chester, which was then, as it still is, an appanage of the Crown and annexed to the title of Prince of Wales. It was he who saved Henry's life at Bosworth Field. Stanley, who could muster many followers in Cheshire and Lancashire, had, while holding office under Richard, secretly prom- ised his support to Henry. To the last moment he delayed declaring himself, because his eldest son was in the hands of the King, whose suspicion being now awakened, threatened that the son should die if the father played false. When the battle began near Market Bosworth, August 22, 1485, Stanley, in the midst of the encounter, joined Henry's troops. Richard, as a last effort, made a desperate charge upon Henry's body- guard. Cleaving the skull of one knight and un- horsing another, he cut his way to his rival, when 12 Sir William, who had hitherto held aloof, brought up his followers to Henry's rescue, and Richard, crying, "Treason! treason!" fell overpowered by numbers. The crown which had been struck from his helmet was picked up on the field and set by Stanley on the head of Henry, who was hailed as King. In the year 1491, when there was a prospect of war between England and France, Perkin War- beck landed at Cork. He was strikingly hand- some and attracted considerable attention on his arrival. Gradually a report was spread that he was really a Plantagenet — what precise member of that illustrious family was now among them was a subject on which authorities disagreed. He was first made out to be the Earl of Warwick, then a bastard of Richard III. ; but at last all Ireland was convinced that he was none other than the Duke of York. Thus encouraged, Warbeck wrote letters to the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, to enlist them in his cause. He made little progress for a time in gaining powerful adherents, and had, i3 indeed, as yet scarcely been heard of in England: still his Irish sojourn had given him a good oppor- tunity for studying the part which he was to play. War with England breaking put, the French Government thought it worth while to invite War- beck to Paris: there he was received as a royal prince and attended by a guard of honor. The French were always at enmity with the English, and gladly encouraged rebellious subjects. King Charles, in order that Warbeck might further extend his claim, presented him with a liberal pension. This open encouragement given abroad to the pretender to the English throne was naturally a trial to Henry's pacific policy. But Juno was in the clouds and could not be got hold of. She was not a sovereign princess, but only a duchess- dowager, living on the lands of her jointure and under the protection of her stepson, Philip Arch- duke of Austria. Henry must therefore address his remonstrances to him; and he sent over Sir Edward Poynings, to whose services at Sluys the .14 Flemings were much indebted, and Dr. Warham, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Low Countries with that object. The Archduke Philip was only fifteen years old, and his Council, influ- enced no doubt by Margaret herself, but still more by the French party in Flanders, replied that he was anxious to cultivate the best possible terms with England, but that his stepmother was free to do as she pleased within her own lands. ' ' It was impossible," they said, "to interfere with the Duchess of Burgundy's actions within the districts which belonged to her." This practically meant that Henry must look to himself in case any hostile expedition should be secretly fitted out in the Low Countries and land on the English coast. Henry might fairly have answered by a declaration of war with Flanders — a course to which he was natur- ally averse, and from which he allowed himself to be dissuaded by the Spanish Ambassador. So he only wrote to trusty men to be prepared to serve him in a day's warning for the defence of the king- dom. But he determined at the same time that ?5 the unfriendly treatment he had received from the Flemings should be visited on themselves; and since they made him so bad a return for freeing their commerce from molestation, he recalled the Merchant Adventurers from Antwerp, forbade commercial intercourse with Flanders, and pro- posed to set up a mart for English cloth at Calais. The immediate result of this course was a great deal of inconvenience to the merchants of England as well as of the Netherlands, — in fact rather more to the former than to the latter. For it was pres- ently discovered that a set of aliens in the very heart of London, — the Merchants of the Hanse, commonly called, from their place of business, the Merchants of the Steelyard, — were by their char- ters exempt from the prohibition and carried on freely the traffic from which the English merchants were excluded. The result was a riot in the city, which was with difficulty appeased: while the pres- sure put upon the Flemings did not prevent War- beck from receiving shelter and support in the Low Countries for about two years and a half. The i6 attempt to divert English commerce from the Low Countries was hopeless, and the Archduke's Coun- cil, conscious that England could not afford to quarrel with Flanders, continued the same irritat- ing policy of pretended friendliness. Maximilian, also, who on the death of his father Frederic in 1493 had come to be recognized as emperor, though his title strictly was still only King of the Romans, forgetful of repeated benefits at Henry's hands, was quite zealous in favor of the pretender; and Henry knew long before it was launched that an expedition was being prepared in the Low Countries for the invasion of England. It would probably have sailed two years earlier than it did but for the difficulty Maximilian com- monly found in obtaining supplies; for the pre- tender could not look for much help from any other quarter. Soon after Warbeck's arrival in the Low Countries, he had written to Queen Isabella of Spain setting forth his claims as Duke of York, and giving an account of his adventures ; but the letter was simply laid aside, docketed by i7 the Spanish Secretary of State as "from Richard who calls himself King of England." Ferdinand and Isabella were too wise to have anything to do with him. The French king offered Henry the benefit of his navy in case of any hostile attempt against England; but Henry replied that as to the matter of the "lad," as Henry called him, there was no need of any special precautions, — it was quite well known in England that he was the son of a boatman in Tournay. Henry, no doubt looked upon his pretensions with very genuine contempt, while foreign princes, friendly and un- friendly, tried to increase their importance as a possible source of disturbance. But Henry knew that real danger could only come from conspiracy at home in aid of an invasion ; and he was suffi- ciently on his guard against being dispossessed of his throne in the way he had dispossessed King Richard. But the caution of Henry and the impecuniosity of Maximilian are in themselves scarcely sufficient explanation of the fact that a pretender to the English throne should have lain two and a half years in Flanders, encouraged openly by a Duchess- dowager of Burgundy and secretly by the Arch- duke Philip's Council, without making any attempt to realize his pretensions. The fact is that Euro- pean princes were at this time engrossed with matters of much greater consequence. It was during those two years and a half that Charles VIII. had made his famous expedition into Italy, when it was said that his soldiers had come merely with chalk in their hands to mark up their lodg- ings. At his approach one king of Naples had abdicated, and his successor had been obliged to fly. In fact, he was welcomed everywhere as the deliverer of Italy, and particularly of Naples, from intolerable tyranny and misgovernment. Yet, un- conscious of the cause to which his success was due, he seemed to think himself not a liberator, but a conqueror, and alienated the hearts of the Italians almost as soon as he had won them; with the result that he was nearly locked up in the peninsula by the very same princes who had *9 invited him into it. Chief of these was the schem- ing Lodovico Maria Sforza, called by the Italians "the Moor," uncle of the Duke of Milan and regent of the duchy, who assured him that Venice would stand neutral and that the only opposition he had to look for was in seeking to make good his claim to Naples. Before he had gone far, Lodovico had become Duke of Milan himself by the very suspicious death of his nephew, whom he had kept imprisoned at Pavia. But in the following spring the Pope, the Duke of Milan, and the Vene- tian republic were all Charles's enemies, and had formed a league against him with Maximilian and Ferdinand of Spain. Neither had Henry in England been indifferent to the affairs in Italy. Far off as he was, he had taken some pains to establish friendly relations with the Arrongese kings of Naples, — no doubt as a kind of check on France if Charles should not be faithful to his engagements. Just after the treaty of Etaples he, Henry, had sent the Garter, the highest British order of knighthood, and one of the oldest and most illustrious of European orders, to Alfonzo, Duke of Calabria, who became King of Naples by his father's death before Charles VIII's invasion. He had also cultivated the most cordial relations with Milan, and had even listened to a proposal for marrying the young Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza to a daughter of Edward IV. and sister of his own queen. If in these matters his policy bore little fruit it was not for want of careful and intelligent watching of the affairs of Italy. In many things [wrote a Milanese envoy in London to Lodovico Sforza a year or two later] — in many things I know this sovereign to be admirably well informed, but above all because he is most thoroughly acquainted with the affairs of Italy, and receives special information of every event. He is no less conversant with your own personal attributes and those of your duchy than the King of France; and when the King of France went into Italy the King of England sent with him a herald of his own called Richmond, a sage man, who saw everything until his return. Then the merchants, especially the Florentines, never cease giving the King of England advices. It was by this continual watchfulness, studying the world far and near, and keeping himself per- fectly informed at all times of the internal state of other countries, as well as his own, and their rela- tions towards each other, that Henry, the most pacific prince that ever reigned, erelong made his value as an ally felt by sovereigns over the whole of Europe. But the conviction that he was firmly seated on his throne was by no means even yet universal; and there were sovereigns far from wise, like Maximilian, King of the Romans, whom no sense of past benefits could keep steady in friendship. For Maximilian, having made an ad- vantageous peace with France, with large com- pensation for past injuries, thought he could do without England; or if he hoped for anything more from that quarter, it would be from Eng- land under a new master, such as Margaret of Burgundy would give. Not that this desertion of Henry was occasioned by any cordiality toward France, for it is clear that Charles VIII. never trusted his friendship; and having in 1494 married a sister of Lodovico Sforza, he was easily drawn into the League of Italian powers against Charles in the following year. This ought to have made him anxious once more to cultivate amicable rela- tions with Henry; but instead of doing this he continued his idle support of Warbeck ; persuaded, it would seem, that by this means Henry could easily be driven out and a new sovereign given to England who would at once begin a war with France. And so sanguine was he in this matter that he would not even listen to his brother-in-law, Lodovico, who showed him that the opinion in Spain as well as in Italy was that the League against France would be greatly strengthened by Henry's adhesion. Meanwhile Maximilian and his young son Philip were in raptures at the splendid chances which were now presenting themselves. Warbeck ap- pears to have given them the additional promise, 2 3 either to abdicate in favor of Philip, or to hold the kingdom in subordination to him; it seemed quite probable that Maximilian would soon be able to hurl all the forces of England at the King of France, whom he hated so intensely. Henry there- fore became suddenly aware that England was to be at once invaded, and that Warbeck was held to be really the Duke of York, not only by those who had been maintaining him for two years, but by the Pope, by James IV. of Scotland, by Charles of France, by the Duke of Savoy, by the King of Denmark, and perhaps also by Ferdinand and Isabella. To a man habitually prudent and far- seeing, there is something unbearable in the thought of having allowed danger to accumulate by sheer neglect; and Henry suffered this misery to such an extent that he became in a few days quite an old man. At the beginning of July, 1495, Warbeck's fleet, or rather Maximilian's, was off the coast of Kent. Some of the troops on board disembarked near Deal, and were at once attacked by the country people. 24 No attempt was made to rescue the prisoners and the expedition passed on. Warbeck had no mind to land himself, but sailed away to try his fortunes in Ireland, where he had made such a favorable impression at first. Now, it might have been politic enough from Warbeck's point of view to betake himself to an island over which Henry had not yet succeeded in establishing his authority on anything like a secure basis. But it was a rather humiliating result of two years' preparation for the invasion of England that, after having a fleet equipped for the pur- pose, the adventurer had not dared to set foot in the country himself. Maximilian, who had taken a great part in fitting out the expedition, had been bragging to the Venetian ambassadors, that the Duke of York, as he called him, would very soon conquer England, and then, in fulfilment of the most solemn promises, turn his arms against the King of France. How he received the news of the unsuccessful attempt at Deal we are not in- formed; but even two months later he was still 25 feeding himself with delusive hopes of ultimate success of an enterprise which had made such an unpromising commencement. Very different was the view of a shrewd observer like Ferdinand, whose friendship for Henry, never more than luke- warm, was founded solely on considerations of policy. He was carefully watching the turn of events for future guidance: and to him the fiasco at Deal was pretty decisive — not so much of the pretensions of Perkin Warbeck, which he never seems to have credited, as of the utter impossibil- ity of Henry's enemies dealing a serious blow at him with such a slender and ineffective weapon. "We now tell you," he wrote to his ambassador in England, "that as for the affair of him who calls himself duke, we hold it for a jest." It was really little more even in the country to which Warbeck had now withdrawn himself. For Ireland, though still a considerable problem to Henry, was not quite such a convenient play- ground for his enemies as it had been at the beginning of his reign. Kildare was no longer 26 Deputy. He had been attainted by an Irish Parliament for disloyal conduct and sent a prisoner to England. Below is a letter from the Lords of Ireland to Henry urging that Kildare be allowed to remain in Ireland for the safety of the country. To the King, our Soverayne Liege Lord : Moost excelent Cristen kyng and our moost re- doubted soverayne and liege lord, in the humblest wise that eny subjettes kan or may, we recommand us unto your moost excellent grace. Please it the same that our right gode lord Gerald erle of Kyl- dare your depute lieutenant of this your land of Irland hath shewed unto us your graciouse lettrez dated at your maner of Greenwich the xxviij day of July last passed, whereby we have well under- staund your graciouse mynd in the same that ye wold have our said gode lord to your noble pres- ence, to thentent that he myght knowe thereby your graciouse mynd, and that your highnes myght have plenas communicacion with hym in all such things as myght concerne the wele of this your said land and for the reducyng thereof and your sub- ' jettes of the same to a gode and lawefull ordre and 27 obeisaunce, to the pleaser of God and wele and profit of your subjettes and land, as in your said lettre more amplier it doth appear. Gracious lord, and it like your highness, we understaund that he is bounded and sworne to be your trewe and feith- ful subjet and liegeman as straitly and as sure as ever was eny subjet to his prince: the which othe and assurance our said gode lord hath wele and truly kept and observed contynuelly to this tyme, and undoubted will kepe during his lyve, and never will degresse from the said othe and assur- aunce. And graciouse lord, forasmoche as we understand the great dangers and emynent periles that shold folly if he shold depart owt of this your land, as well by your Irishe enemys as otherwise; for when our said gode lord was seke, whereof we certified your highnes but late, it was playnly and openly reported that our said gode lord was in grete joperdy of lyve, by reason whereof diverse of the myghtiest of our Irish enemys confidered to gedir ymagyned and noysed a division t . between them of your landes in this parties, yif God had done the will of our said gode lord. And in his said sekenes ther were diverse of your sub- jettes robbed, spoyled and taken prisoners and 28 meny other grete hurts done. And by the oothes that we have done to your highnes that is true with oute feynyng. Wherefor we in our moost humble and obeysant maner beseche your excellent grace to be his gode and graciouse lord, and to have hym in your moost tender favour, and that he may have your graciouse license at this tyme to abide at home for the defence and saufgard of us and others your feythful subjettes for diverse and many urgent causes and great dangers, which we knowe right- well shold fall in his absence yif he shold depart. And graciouse lord we beseche your highnes that whatsoever accusements be made unto your grace on our said lord that ther be no credence takyn therto tyll his resonable excuses be had in the same. Moost excellent Cristen kyng and our moost redoubted soverayne liege lord, the Blessed Triniti graunte you meny properouse yeres to reigne upon us with victory of your enemys. Goven at your Cite of Divelyn in playne parle- ment under the oone part of your grete seall of this your said land, the iiij day of Juny. [Here follow thirteen signatures.] By your true and feithful subjettes the lordes spirituels and temporels and your Counseillours 20 of your land of Irland in playne parlement ther assembled. Addressed: To the Kyng our Soverayne Liege Lord. The Earl of Desmond, however, was still at large in Munster, and to him Warbeck at once repaired. Between them they laid siege to the loyal town of Waterford — the only place in Ireland which had held out for the King against Lambert Simnel. Warbeck's little fleet blockaded the harbor, while his Irish allies shut in the town on the land side. The citizens, however, discharged volleys of artillery against the ships, and in eleven days Warbeck was compelled to raise the siege, leaving more than one vessel in their hands. There seems to have been nothing more left for Warbeck to do in Ireland, and he accordingly pro- ceeded to Scotland. From the time of his first appearance as the Duke of York, the Scots had been interested in his pretensions. He had written to James IV. as he did to other sovereigns for support, and ap- 3° parently to him before others. James had certainly assisted the expedition in which Warbeck made his abortive attempt at Deal, and was reported at that time to have sent him ships and men to do him service. For any enterprise against England the adventurer and his pretensions offered an admir- able pretext, and on his arrival he was received by James with all the honor due to a foreign prince. His wardrobe was plentifully furnished at the ex- pense of the Scottish King, and messengers were despatched all over the kingdom with letters to array the lieges for military service. But nearly a year seems to have elapsed after his arrival in Scotland before he actually crossed the border at the head of a small force in order to make good his pretended right; and when he did so, the at- tempt was so utterly futile that it must have been a complete disappointment, not only to the Scots, but to many who looked on from a distance, like the Venetian agents in England, who seemed to have been fully persuaded that Henry was in real dread of being driven from his kingdom. It is 3i not improbable that they derived this impression from Henry himself, who doubtless had reasons of his own for magnifying to them the difficulties by which he was surrounded. James and Warbeck planned an invasion of England, for which Scotland was to be compen- sated by thirty-three thousand pounds and the cession of Berwick. Henry, now thoroughly awakened to his difficulties, was attempting the same arts which had prospered in Flanders. He was in constant communication with John Ram- say, Lord Bothwell, who had promised if possible to kidnap the "feigned boy" and despatch him to England, also to intimidate his supporters. Both- well traitorously pressed upon Henry that war with Scotland was always dear to Englishmen; that James's government was most unpopular; that it would be easy to send a fleet and destroy all the shipping of the country; and that Edinburgh Castle itself was only half-armed. However, be- fore Henry was prepared for such enterprises the Scottish raid into England took place, September 3 2 17, 1496. Henry, indeed, seems to have en- deavored to avert it by negotiations, for he had that very month commissioned Bishop Fox and others to treat for the marriage of the Scotch King to his daughter Margaret. But James apparently believed that by means of Warbeck he could re- cover Berwick from the English, and negotiate under more favorable conditions. Warbeck got together a body of 1400 men of different nationali- ties, who mustered at Ellm Kirk and crossed the Border with James. But there was nothing in the en- terprise except the foreign element in the invading army to distinguish it from any other Border raid. There was a good deal of ravage, of burning, and of killing; but there was no sign whatever that any English people were disposed to join the invaders; and within four days the host had returned once more within Scottish territory. Warbeck, it is said, was soon weary at the sight of cruelty and devastation committed by his Scotch allies; and he begged King James to be a little more merciful to those whom he affected to call his subjects. 33 Nothing, however, was so clear as that the alleged subjects cared little for him who claimed their allegiance. By this time both Charles and Ferdinand had bethought themselves how important it was to com- pete for Henry's friendship; and each was declar- ing that he alone could supply undoubted evidence of Warbeck's real birth. Henry, not ill-pleased at finding his alliance thus valued and his dangers from Warbeck getting less every day, nevertheless used the rebellion as an excuse for remaining neutral in the war between France and Austria. "How," he asked Ferdinand and Maximilian, "could he possibly declare war against France while such a home danger was close upon him? " James is commonly represented as having been convinced by his experience that Warbeck was an impostor. But whatever may have been his real opinion he had pledged himself too deeply to War- beck's cause to admit that he was imposed on. The pretender had actually during his stay in Scotland been allowed to take a wife from among LofC. 34 the best blood of the Scotch nobility, and had in fact become related to James himself by his mar- riage to Katherine Gordon, known as the White Rose of Scotland. Moreover, he still possessed value in the eyes of some sovereigns; for the French Ambassador had been offering James one hundred thousand crowns if he would send him again into France. Not that Charles really be- lieved in his pretensions, but he had not long before sent over to England a document, attested by his Council, showing that the young man's parentage was quite well known in France; he offered to send over his father and mother for better evidence of the truth. But things had altered somewhat since then, for Henry had joined the league of European powers to keep the French out of Italy; and Charles conceived that, if he could but get hold of the young man again, he could still make use of him to keep the King of England in order. James, however, had no notion of selling his guest to any power, friendly or otherwise, and War- 35 beck remained under his protection for nearly another year. But James most probably saw that he must come to an arrangement with England in the long run, and did not wish to be compelled to surrender him by treaty. So in July, 1497, War- beck, with his wife, embarked at Ayr, with a small fleet under the command of the Scottish captains Andrew and Robert Barton. He once more bent his course to Ireland, and on the 26th of July landed at Cork, where he had been encouraged to look for some support. But Kildare, who had been reappointed as deputy, was not willing to offend again; so he got little encouragement, and soon determined to sail for Cornwall, where a rebellion had been repressed only three months before, and might perhaps be renewed by his presence. This Cornish dissatisfaction had originally sprung out of the old grievance of subsidies. That a trif- ling Scottish invasion should be held to justify such exactions all over England appeared intolerable to a sturdy race of miners who would have thought little of resisting a few hundred foreigners, if any such had landed in their counties. Being in- formed by one Thomas Flammock, an attorney from Bodwin, that taxes were illegal for such a purpose, they actually resolved to march to Lon- don in arms in order to petition against the impost, and to call for the punishment of those who ad- vised it — of Cardinal Morton and Sir Reginald Bray. In Devonshire their conduct was peaceful; but on entering Somersetshire near Taunton, they murdered a commissioner for the subsidy, and forced Lord Audley to be their general. Under his command they marched by way of Salisbury and Winchester into Kent, where they hoped to find a population like-minded with themselves, doubtless from the memories of Cade's rebellion. In this they had no success, the Kentish men being proud rather of their recent resistance to Warbeck than of any achievements of their fathers. Henry, also, fortunately for himself, had forces in hand which had been prepared for the Scottish war; these were immediately ordered to advance toward 37 Blackheath, where the rebels were now encamped; while at the same time bodies of horse were sent to their rear to prevent their straggling in that direc- tion. Officers were also detailed to the city of London to organize resistance and check the panic which seemed impending there. Confidence having been thus restored, the commanders spread the report that they intended to attack the rebels on Monday, June 24th; and, having thus thrown them off their guard, they ordered their outposts at the bridge over the Ravenburne at Deptford to be driven in on the Saturday afternoon. This was done by Lord Danberry; and as the Cornishmen had arranged no supports in case of repulse, he had no difficulty in making his way to Blackheath Hill, and charging the main body on the plain above. His victory was soon complete, two thou- sand rebels being slain, and the other fourteen thousand completely hemmed in by the troop in the rear. It is remarkable that although the good archery of Cornwall had cost Henry the lives of three hundred men slain on the field, he yet 3» contented himself with inflicting capital punishment on Lord Audley, Flammock, and a third leader, a Bodwin blacksmith, one Michael Joseph. Escaping with difficulty from some Waterford pursuers who were overhauling his vessels, War- beck landed at Whitesand Bay, and the Corn- ishmen, no whit daunted by the results of their excursion to the metropolis, joined him in such numbers that he was able, after a fashion, to besiege Exeter. Being driven from thence by the Earl of Devon, he led about seven thousand men as far as Taunton; then his heart failed him so miserably that he deserted his wretched follow- ers and made for the sanctuary of Beaulieu in the New Forest. Being taken to Exeter where Henry then was, he made a full confession of his impos- ture, the substance of which has been lately con- firmed by the discovery of a letter from him to his mother, written at about the same time, and with family details. "First it is to be known," said Perkin Warbeck, sitting with his feet in the stocks before the door 39 of Westminster Hall, "that I was born in the town of Tournay in Flanders, and my father's name is John Osbeck, which said John was comptroller of the said town of Tournay, and my mother's name is Katharine de Faro." The prisoner then went on to give the names of his two grandfathers, and uncle, and some other connections. One grand- mother had married a Peter Flamme, receiver of the town of Tournay, and dean of the boatmen on the Scheldt. His maternal grandfather kept the keys of St. John's in the same town. During his boyhood he was taken by his mother to Antwerp to learn Flemish, and stayed with a cousin, John Steinbeck, half a year. " And after that," he goes on to say, " I returned again to Tournay by reason of the wars that were in Flanders. And within a year following I was sent with a merchant of the same town of Tournay, named Barlo, and his master's name Alexander, to the mart of Antwerp, where I fell sick, which sick- ness continued upon five months. And the said Barlo set me to board in a skinner's house that 40 dwelled beside the house of the English nation. And by him I was from thence carried to Browe mart, and I lodged at the sign of the Old Man, where I abode the space of two months. And after this the said Barlo set me with a merchant of Mid- dleburgh to service, for to learn the language, his name was John Strewe, with whom I dwelled from Christmas to Easter. And then I went in Portugal in the company of Sir Edward Brampton's wife in a ship which was called the Queen Ship. And when I was come thither, there I was put in service to a knight that dwelled in Lisbon, which was called Peter Vazz de Cogna, with whom I dwelled a whole year, which said knight had but one eye. And be- cause I desired to see other countries, I took license of him, and then I put myself in service with a Breton called Pregent Meno, the which brought me with him into Ireland, and there against my will made me to learn English and taught me what I should do and say." Thus did Perkin Warbeck himself account for his private history. Two whole days did he sit in the stocks, the first at Westminster and the second at Cheap, and read his confession publicly. 4i Strange to say, too, his life was spared, even after he had made one attempt at escape; but being after- wards imprisoned in the Tower, he was allowed to communicate with the captive Earl of Warwick. The two plotted a new evasion, but the star of the unfortunate adventurer was near its setting. On the 23d of November, 1499, Perkin Warbeck was executed at Tyburn: "the winding ivy of a Planta- genet," in Bacon's picturesque phrase, "thus killing the true tree itself." ftFP 1 p 190^ I COPY DPI. TOC.tr niv.