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See also: English impostor, was probably the son of a tradesman at See also: Oxford
.
He was about ten years old in 1487, and was described as a handsome youth of intelligence and See also: good See also: manners
.
In 1486, the See also: year following the accession of See also: Henry VII., rumours were disseminated by the adherents of the Yorkist dynasty that the two sons of
See also: Edward IV., who had been murdered in the Tower of See also: London,, were still alive
.
A See also: young Oxford See also: priest, See also: Richard See also: Symonds by name, conceived the project of putting forward the boy See also: Simnel to impersonate one of these princes as a'claimant for the See also: crown, with the idea of thereby procuring for himself the archbishopric of See also: Canterbury
.
He set about instructing the youth in the arts and graces appropriate to his pretended See also: birth.; but meanwhile a report having gained currency that the young See also: earl of See also: Warwick, son of Edward IV.'s See also: brother See also: George, duke of See also: Clarence, had died in the Tower, Symonds decided that the impersonation of this latter See also: prince would' be a more easily credible deception
.
It is probable that Symonds acted throughout with the connivance of the Yorkist leaders, and especially of See also: John de la
See also: Pole, earl of Lincoln, himself a See also: nephew of Edward IV., who had been named heir' to the crown by Richard III
.
The Yorkists had many adherents in See also: Ireland, and thither See also: Lambert Simnel was taken by Symonds early in 1487; and, gaining the support of the earl of See also: Kildare, the archbishop of See also: Dublin, the See also: lord chancellor and a powerful following, who were, or pretended to be, convinced' that the boy was the earl of Warwick escaped from the Tower, Simnel was crowned as See also: King Edward VI. in the
See also: cathedral in Dublin on the 24th of May 1487
.
Messages asking for help were sent to See also: Margaret, duchess of See also: Burgundy, See also: sister of :Edward IV., to See also: Sir See also: Thomas Broughton and other Yorkist leaders
.
On the 2nd of
See also: February 1487 Henry VII. held a council at Sheen to concert See also: measures for dealing with the conspiracy
.
See also: Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Edward IV., was imprisoned in the convent of
See also: Bermondsey; and the real earl of Warwick was taken from the Tower and shown in public in the streets of London
.
But although Lincoln is said to have conversed with Warwick on this occasion, he fled abroad immediately after the council at Sheen, where he was See also: present
.
In See also: Flanders, Lincoln joined Lord Lovell, who had headed an unsuccessful Yorkist rising in 1486, and in May 1487 the two lords proceeded to Dublin, where they landed a few days before the See also: coronation of Lambert Simnel
.
They were accompanied by 2000 See also: German soldiers under See also: Martin Schwartz, procured by Margaret of Burgundy to support the enterprise, Margaret having recognized Simnel as her nephew
.
This force, together with some
See also: ill-armed Irish levies commanded by Sir Thomas See also: Fitzgerald, landed, in See also: Lancashire on the 4th of See also: June
.
King Henry was at See also: Coventry when the See also: news of the landing reached him, and immediately marched to Nottingham, where his army was strengthened by the addition of 6000 men
.
The invaders met with little encouragement from the populace, who were not well disposed towards a monarch whom it was sought to impose upon them by the aid' of Irish and German mercenaries
.
Making for the fortress of Newark, Lincoln and Sir Thomas Broughton, at the See also: head of their motley forces, and accompanied by Simnel, attacked the royal army near the See also: village of Stoke-on-Trent on the 16th of June 1487
.
After a fierce and stubborn struggle in which , the Germans behaved with See also: great valour, the Royalists were completely victorious, though they See also: left 2000 men on the See also: field; Lincoln, Schwartz and Fitzgerald with 4000 of their followers were killed, and Lovell and Broughton disappeared never to be heard of again
.
The priest Symonds, and Simnel were taken prisoners
.
The former was consigned to a
See also: dungeon for the rest of his See also: life; but Henry VII., recognizing that the youthful pretender had been a tool in the hands of others and was in himself harmless, pardoned Lambert Simnel and took him into his own service in the See also: menial capacity of scullion
.
He was later promoted to be royal falconer and is said to have afterwards become aservant in the See also: household of, Sir Thomas Lovell
.
The date of Simnel's See also: death is unknown, but he is known to have been still living in the year 1534
.
See Rolls of Parliament
.
VI.: See also: Francis See also: Bacon,
See also: History of Henry VII.,
with notes by J
.
R
.
Lumby (Cambridge, 1881); Richard Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors (3 vols., London, 1885–189o) ; See also: James
See also: Gairdner, Henry VII
.
(London, 1889) and Letters and Papers illustrative of the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII
.
(" Rolls " series, 2 vols., London, 1861–1863):
.
The See also: Political History of See also: England, vol. v., by H
.
A
.
L
.
See also: Fisher (London, 1906) ; and W
.
Busch, England under the Tudors (1895)
.
For a contemporary account of Simnel's imposture, see Polydore Vergil, Anglicae historiae, to which all the later narratives are indebted
.
(R
.
J . |
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