Perkin Warbeck was an impostor and pretender to the throne of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England. As a person, Perkin was foolish, vain, and incompetent.
A portrait of Perkin Warbeck. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
New Delhi: The curious tale of Perkin Warbeck has been immortalised in history as someone who was a pretender to the English throne. He claimed himself to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV and was one of the ‘Princes in the Tower’. Richard would have the rightful claim to the throne had he been alive as it was assumed that Edward V, his elder brother was dead and that he was a legitimate son.
The man who pretended to be the king
Perkin Warbeck was an impostor and pretender to the throne of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England. As a person, Perkin was foolish, vain, and incompetent, and the Yorkist enemies of Henry used him in England and Europe in a bid to dismantle the Tudor dynasty.
Warbeck was the son of a local Flanders official who served various employers in his youth. In 1491, he ended up in Ireland and he was dressed in the lavish silk clothes of his master in Cork. It excited the people in town who decided that Warbeck must be a person of royal descent. In Ireland, the Yorkist interest was still strong and Warbeck’s admirers told him that he was heir to the English crown. He was persuaded by the plotters to impersonate Richard, the Duke of York, who was presumably murdered in 1483 with Edward V in the Tower of London.
There was an uncertainty as to whether Richard had actually died or if he survived and as a result, the claim of Warbeck gained support. Many people were convinced that Warbeck was Richard. Since there was no clear knowledge about the fate of Richard, and having received support outside England, Warbeck became a big threat to the newly established Tudor dynasty.
Warbeck began to drum up forces to invade England. He was coached by Dowager Duchess Margaret, sister of Edward IV, on his impostor role, and he received support from France, Maximilian I of Austria, King James IV of Scotland and England’s powerful men. In 1495 and 1496, he unsuccessfully tried to invade England and in 1497, he landed in Cornwall. After facing the troops of Henry, Warbeck escaped to Beaulieu. He was captured and later hanged after he tried to escape from the Tower of London.
Next Article
Follow us on social media
