1487 - Political Events

Political Events

A pretender to the English throne gains support from Margaret, duchess of Burgundy and sister of the late Edward IV. The 10-year-old imposter Lambert Simnel impersonates the 10-year-old earl of Warwick, a son of the duke of Clarence, who is imprisoned in the Tower of London. Simnel's supporters crown him Edward VI in Dublin Cathedral and he lands in Lancashire with a force of poorly armed Irish levies and German mercenaries. The earl of Lincoln and the Swiss mercenary Martin Schwartz command a force of 8,000 men to oppose the king, but Henry VII commands an army of 12,000 that includes John de Vere, 13th earl of Oxford, and defeats the rebels at Stoke in Nottinghamshire June 16, losing 3,000 as compared to 4,000 rebel dead, including Lincoln and Schwartz. Henry VII pardons young Simnel, and he will become a falconer to the king after a period as scullery boy (see Perkin Warbeck, 1494).