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PERKIN See also: throne of See also: England, was the son of Jehan de Werbecque, a poor See also: burgess of Tournay in See also: Flanders and of his wife Katherine de See also: Faro
.
The exact date of his See also: birth is unknown, but as he represented himself as having been nine years old in 1483, it must have taken place in, or close on, 1474
.
His confession made at the end of his See also: life was an account of his early years which is to some extent supported by other testimony
.
The names of his See also: father and other relations whom he mentions have been found in the municipal records of Tournay, and the official description of them agrees with his statements
.
According to this version, which may be accepted as substantially true, he was brought up at See also: Antwerp by a See also: cousin Jehan Stienbecks, and served a succession of employers as a boy servant
.
He was for a See also: time with an Englishman See also: John Strewe at Middleburg, and then accompanied Lady Brampton, the wife of an exiled
See also: partisan of the See also: house of See also: York, to See also: Portugal
.
He was for a See also: year employed by a Portuguese knight whom he described as having only one See also: eye, and whom he names See also: Vacz de Cogna (Vaz da Cunha ?)
.
In 1491 he was at See also: Cork as the servant of a See also: Breton See also: silk See also: merchant Pregent (See also: Pierre See also: Jean) Meno
.
See also: Ireland was strongly attached to the house of York, and was full of intrigue against See also: King
See also: Henry VII
.
Perkin says that the
See also: people seeing him dressed in the silks of his master took him for a See also: person of distinction, and insisted that he must be either the son of See also: George, duke of See also: Clarence, or a See also: bastard of See also: Richard III
.
He was more or less encouraged by the earls of Desmond and See also: Kildare
.
The facts are See also: ill recorded, but it is safe to presume that intriguers who wished to disturb the See also: government of Henry VII. took See also: advantage of a popular delusion, and made use of the lad as a tool
.
At this time he spoke See also: English badly
.
By 1492 he had become sufficiently notorious to attract the See also: attention of King Henry's government and of See also: foreign sovereigns
.
He was in that year summoned to Flanders by See also: Margaret, the widowed duchess of See also: Burgundy, and See also: sister of See also: Edward IV., who was the See also: main support of the Yorkist exiles, and who was the enemy of Henry VII. for See also: family reasons and for See also: personal reasons also, for she wished to extort from him the payment of the balance of her dowry
.
She found the impostor useful as a means of injuring the king of England
.
Several See also: European sovereigns were moved to help him by the same kind of reason
.
The suppositions that he was the son of Clarence or of Richard III. were discarded in favour of the more useful hypothesis that he was Richard, duke of York, the younger of the two sons of Edward IV., murdered in the Tower
.
See also: Charles VIII., king of
See also: France, the counsellors of the youthful duke of Burgundy, the duke's father See also: Maximilian, king of the See also: Romans, and See also: James IV. of Scotland, none of whom can have been really deceived, took up his cause more or less actively
.
He was entertained in France, and was taken by Maximilian to attend the funeral of the emperor
See also: Frederick III. in 1493
.
At Vienna he was treated as the lawful king of England
.
He was naturally the cause of considerable anxiety to the English government, which was well acquainted with his real See also: history, and made attempts to get him seized
.
His protectors entered into negotiations which in fact turned on the question whether more was to be gained by supporting him, or by giving him up
.
An See also: appeal to Isabella, See also: queen of See also: Castile, met with no response
.
In See also: July 1495 he was provided with a few See also: ships and men by Maximilian, now emperor, and he appeared on the See also: coast of Kent
.
No See also: movement in his favour took place
.
A few of his followers who landed were cut off, and he went on to Ireland to join the See also: earl of Desmond in Munster
.
After an unsuccessful attack on See also: Waterford in See also: August, he fled to Scotland
.
Here King James IV. showed him favour, and arranged a See also: marriage for him with See also: Catherine See also: Gordon, daughter of the earl of Huntly
.
He was helped fo make a See also: short inroad into See also: Northumberland, but the intervention of the See also: Spanish government brought about a See also: peace between England and Scotland
.
In 1497 Perkin was sent on his travels again with
Declaration of war
.
two or three small vessels, and accompanied by his wife, who had See also: borne him one or two See also: children
.
After some obscure adventures in Ireland, he landed at Whitesand See also: Bay, near the See also: Land's End, on the 7th of See also: September, and was joined by a See also: crowd of the country people, who had been recently in revolt against excessive See also: taxation
.
He advanced to Exeter, but was unable to master the See also: town
.
On the approach of the royal troops he deserted his followers, and ran for See also: refuge to the sanctuary of See also: Beaulieu in Hampshire
.
He then surrendered
.
His wife was kindly treated and placed in the See also: household of Henry's queen See also: Elizabeth
.
Perkin was compelled to make two ignominious public confessions at
See also: Westminster, and in Cheapside on the 15th and loth of See also: June 1498
.
On the 23rd of See also: November 1499 he was hanged on a See also: charge of endeavouring to escape from the Tower with the imprisoned earl of See also: Warwick
.
See James See also: Gairdner, Richard the Third, and the See also: Story of Perkin See also: Warbeck (Cambridge, 1898)
.
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