How Successful Was Henry in Handling the Yorkist Threat?
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Henry VII has always had a very weak claim to the throne and the Yorkist potentially have a greater title to the throne, judging from this, this has made it a challenge. This has already put Henry in an unstable position in staying the king of England. Henry had many Yorkist threats during his reign. People of the likes of lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck which made his reign very difficult, but was able to successfully tackle both. However, considering this tackle, and worry, Henry was quite successful is Handling the Yorkist’s.
One of Henrys threats was Lambert Simnel. Henry was successful to an extent in handling Simnel. Simnel was a highly educated and well-mannered man who had very close links and relations with John Del La Pole and the Earl of Lincoln who were both also behind the lambert Simnel affair in 1486. The Earl of Lincoln was the natural Yorkist party leader, as he was the nephew of the two Yorkist kings, both Edward VI and Richard III. This was a problem for Henry as he already had a weak claim to the throne and the Yorkist had the potential to over throw him. Lambert Simnel also had foreign connections with Burgundy, this was a big threat as Simnel was now supported by Margaret of Burgundy, the sister of the two Yorkist Kings. Margaret of Burgundy purely disliked henry, and she was outraged by the usurpation of her brother, Edward IV. Margaret had also considered Simnel as her nephew and was able to raise 2000 mercenaries under the command of Schwartz in 1487. Simnel became an even bigger threat to Henry as he was accepted and welcomed into Ireland as the Earl of Warwick, but later in, on the 24th of May 1487, Warbeck was crowned by the Earl of Kildare, one of the most powerful and influential men in Ireland, as prince Edward IV. Ireland also greatly disliked England and England did not have great control over Ireland. Making Henry vulnerable to power. Not only did Simnel be crowned as prince, he was also able to gain extra support from the leading Irish magnet being able to gain money and troops for the rebellion. At this point, Ireland is becoming powerful, and the dislike and lack of support towards England increased. Although Simnel was able to gain mass support along the way from very powerful countries and enemies of England, he wasn’t successful in the rebellious battle. Simnel had tried to march through Cambria and north Yorkshire hoping to gain even more support and more troops. However, due to the poor response and not receiving more supporters, this left Simnel to battle Henrys 12000 men against his 8000 men. Henry defeated against Simnels army, by a landslide. Overall, Henry was successful in dealing with Simnel, a Yorkist threat as the Earl of Lincoln was killed during the fight, making Simnel lose his only greatest support. However, it was successful to an extent as Henry was left uneasy. He had to spend the rest of the year moving through areas of disaffection. He received oaths of loyalty and punished offenders. Unfortunately, only 25 men were attained, so Henry had less land available to reward supporters. Rewarding people was one of Henrys greatest ways of receiving loyalty and respect, this meant that the less land, the less people he could reward, the more disloyal people would be.
A great Yorkist threat that Henry successfully tackled was Perkin Warbeck. Warbeck was Henrys Second rebellion after Lambert Simnels rebellion in 1486-87. The Perkin Warbeck rebellion lasted for 8 year, between the years 1491-99. This affair showed Henry’s fragile position in the first half of his reign. Perkin Warbeck had impersonated Richard Duke of York- one of the lost princes in the tower, who were assumed dead, but there was never proof for that judgment. The affair was successful as Warbeck was welcomed into Paris in 1492 with 100 Yorkist supporters meant the weakness of Henry’s power. From Paris, Warbeck travelled to Flanders where Margaret