Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (21 page)

Henry Tudor shrewdly claimed the throne not by inheritance, but by conquest. Shrewd, because on any view of inheritance his claim was bettered by others.

Who was really entitled to succeed on Richard III’s death? As Richard left no issue, it would be the heir of Richard’s oldest brother, Edward IV. With the two princes dead, the answer is clear: Edward IV’s oldest surviving daughter, Elizabeth of York, sister of the murdered princes, who actually had a better right to the crown than Richard.

If it had to be a man (or if Edward or his children were illegitimate and therefore disqualified), it should have been Clarence’s son Edward; but he was the son of a traitor, he was a child and he was said to be mentally retarded, so he could be ruled out. The next male in line was Edward IV’s and Richard III’s sister Elizabeth’s son, John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln, nephew of two kings. Lincoln had been appointed successor by Richard III, but he seems to have had little support in the country. Anyway, he did not promote his claim. Instead, he pledged his allegiance to Henry immediately after Bosworth.

Tudor, was the son of Owen Tudor and Henry V’s widow, Queen Catherine. Owen Tudor had been a page at Henry V’s court, and had distinguished himself at the Battle of Agincourt, later rising to the rank of squire in the Queen’s household. When the scandal broke that the former Queen had given birth to five children in a relationship with her servant, the Council forced Catherine and Owen to separate, and Catherine was sent to Bermondsey Abbey where she died several months later. Of course, Owen and Catherine were not married, so their son, Edmund Tudor (the father of Henry), was illegitimate, that being confirmed when it was found necessary for an Act of Parliament to be passed in 1452 declaring his legitimacy. So, through Henry’s father there was not an ounce of entitlement to the throne.

It was only through Henry’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was only thirteen years old and a widow when she gave birth to Henry, that Henry could make any sort of case, the case being that he was the 3 x great-grandson of Edward III. Margaret Beaufort was the great-granddaughter of Edward’s son John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford, who later became his wife. Their children, the oldest being Margaret’s grandfather, were called Beaufort after Beaufort Castle in France where they were brought up, and they were all illegitimate. They were later legitimised by Act of Parliament, but only on condition that it gave neither them nor their descendants any right to the crown, Henry IV having added the phrase ‘
excepta dignitate regali
’ to make it clear that their disqualification through illegitimacy was unaffected by the Act. So Henry Tudor’s descent from Edward III gave him no rights at all.

There was no alternative; Henry claimed the crown by conquest. He was only too aware that taking the throne by conquest established a precedent for others to do the same, and that would always be Henry’s fear. But it was his only way to become king.

The coronation took place on 31st October 1485, Henry insisting on being crowned before he married Elizabeth of York, so as to show that he had not needed to rely on her royal blood to take the throne. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the true right of all their descendants in their claims to the crown runs not from Henry but from Elizabeth of York, the oldest child of Edward IV.
¹⁴

In January 1486, Henry married Elizabeth, thereby joining York and Lancaster (albeit the illegitimate line) via the Tudors, combining their symbols in the red and white Tudor rose, and ending the Wars of the Roses. Henry and Elizabeth had been living together for some time, and Elizabeth was already pregnant. Later in the year, she gave birth to Arthur; so the Tudor line was assured and the country celebrated.

Although there would be many plots to overthrow Henry, the real attempt to kill him was Richard’s desperate charge at Bosworth Field. Technically it was an attempt to kill the King, because Henry enacted that his accession was to be backdated to 21st August 1485 (the day before Bosworth) so that all those who had fought with Richard could be declared traitors for taking up arms against the King, even though nobody knew at the time that Henry was the king – not even Henry himself. It was another shrewd move, because with Richard’s supporters being attainted as traitors, it meant that Henry could seize their property and lands.

Lashing out at all within reach, Richard and his men made deep inroads, getting ever closer to Henry Tudor. In front of Henry, Richard saw Sir William Brandon holding Henry’s standard. Brandon was in the way, in between Richard and Henry. Richard struck him down. Then Richard shouted to Henry, challenging him to personal combat as he manoeuvred his horse closer to his rival. Henry ignored the challenge, and he turned his horse, trying to move away.

14 Elizabeth’s father, uncle, brother, husband, son and grandson were Kings of England; and two granddaughters were Queens of England. She is said to be rewarded by her likeness being used for the Queen of Hearts in a standard deck of cards.

Richard had insisted on wearing a crown over his helmet, resolved to fight as a king no matter the consequences. So when Sir William Stanley saw from a distance that it was Richard leading such a small force, he knew that if he and his men charged from behind, Richard would be trapped. Now Stanley was certain to be on the victorious side.

Stanley and his men rode forward and attacked Richard’s group of knights. Undaunted, Richard was determined to kill Henry. Richard raised his sword high, moving in to strike the vital blow. At that very moment, when Richard was almost within a sword’s length of Henry, Sir William Stanley’s men, having cut through Richard’s followers, reached the King. They dragged Richard from his horse. Thrown to the ground, he got to his feet and continued to fight; but he was alone and completely encircled. Richard was attacked from all sides, the assault continuing beyond his death until his corpse was totally mutilated. Only a few yards from each other; one king nearly killed, the other killed – and it was just seconds from being the other way round.

Henry was now the king, but he was worried. After all, he had taken the crown after invading with an army of only 2,000 men. Henry’s first step was to ban all the barons from having private armies; disobedience was treason.

Next, it was time to deal with his main rival. The new king gave orders for Clarence’s son, the sickly and retarded Edward Earl of Warwick, to be confined in the Tower. Impossible as it was for this 11-year-old child to be king, he had a far better right to the throne than Henry, and he had to be locked away.

Before long, to Henry’s annoyance, news arrived that Edward Earl of Warwick had escaped and was raising support, demanding to be crowned as the true king. It was a deception; Edward was still in the Tower. The so-called true king was in fact Lambert Simnel, a joiner’s son, who was impersonating Edward. Arrangements were made for the real Edward to attend a service at St Paul’s so as to show himself, but it made no difference. Even John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln was convinced, or pretended to be convinced, that the child was his cousin. The hope was that with foreign aid Henry could be removed, after which Edward or Lincoln himself would take the throne. Either way, it would be the House of York.

Foreign support came from Margaret of Burgundy, who was the sister of Edward IV and Richard III and aunt of Lincoln and Warwick. She helped Lincoln to recruit 2,000 German mercenaries. They sailed to Ireland, and on their arrival Lambert Simnel was crowned King Edward VI in Dublin Cathedral.

Lincoln’s army then made for England. They landed on the Lancashire coast and set out for Yorkshire; but unlike Henry Tudor’s forces before Bosworth, their numbers did not increase significantly as they advanced. Henry confronted the rebels at Stoke Field in Nottinghamshire. Although initially the rebels had the upper hand, in the end Henry’s greater numbers triumphed. John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln, the adult male with the best legal right to the crown, was killed. Lambert Simnel was seized and sent to work in the King’s kitchen, and in later years he was promoted to falconer.

The next extraordinary threat to Henry’s crown came in 1491. A Breton ship arrived in Cork harbour with a cargo of silks and fine clothes. On board was 17-year-old crew member Perkin Warbeck (originally spelled ‘Werbecque’), the son of a boatman from Tournai. One of Warbeck’s duties was to ‘model’ the silks and other finery to potential customers. Many of those who saw him thought that he must be high-born, so much so that the Mayor stated that he was probably Clarence’s son, Edward Earl of Warwick, who had escaped from the Tower. Others thought he was Richard Duke of York, the younger of the two princes murdered in the Tower whose bodies had never been produced.

In Dublin the leading citizens decided to go with Richard Duke of York, as the King was in a position to produce the real Warwick. Warbeck was told to take on the Duke’s identity, he was taught English and he was trained to behave like a duke.

Warbeck’s supporters soon included the King of France, the King of Scotland, Margaret of Burgundy and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, all of them happy to cause Henry trouble. After a while, even Henry himself wondered if it might be true. He sent agents to Ireland to investigate, and they reported back that it was all utter nonsense. However, Henry’s agents also discovered the names of those in England who were supporting Warbeck. The supporters were arrested, the most senior being the Lord Chamberlain Sir William Stanley, the very man whose attack on Richard III had been so instrumental in securing Henry’s victory at Bosworth Field. It appears that Stanley’s guilt was based solely on his comment that if the young man really was the Duke of York, then he could not take up arms against him. It was enough; Stanley could not be trusted, so he was executed.

Then Warbeck landed on the south coast with a small force. In a brief skirmish, most of his men were killed or captured – the English to be hanged, the foreigners to be ransomed. Warbeck and the others escaped and sailed back to Ireland. Henry’s forces were waiting for them, so they carried on to Scotland. Warbeck was welcomed by King James IV, treated as the duke he was not, and then married off to James’s distant cousin, Lady Catherine Gordon, the daughter of the Chancellor.

In return, Warbeck promised to surrender English territory to Scotland if he became king, so James decided to incite unrest by sending his army to make an incursion into northern England. Now Henry had to levy taxes in order to raise an army for a Scottish campaign. This provoked great discontent, and in no time at all 15,000 rebels from Cornwall made their way to London, claiming that only northerners should pay for protection from the Scots. They were routed by Henry’s men, 2,000 rebels being killed. Then Henry’s army marched north and forced the Scots back over the border.

Undeterred, in 1497 Warbeck landed in Devon with only 120 men, and he was proclaimed King Richard IV. By the time he laid siege to Exeter, his supporters numbered over 8,000. However, their weaponry was inadequate for a siege, so they moved on to Taunton. With Henry’s army approaching, Warbeck took fright, and one night he and sixty of his followers ran off. Most of them were captured, and Warbeck surrendered. Of course, Warbeck was not English so he was not guilty of treason. He was not executed; not even tried. Warbeck and his wife were merely forced to live at Henry’s court. A few months later, Warbeck ran away. He was captured, and this time he was sent to the Tower.

Incredibly, in early 1499 another phoney Warwick appeared. This one was Ralph Wilford, the son of a London shoemaker. He was hanged straight away. Now Henry had had enough; it was time to deal more firmly with all rivals.

Later in the year, a so-called plot was said to have been hatched to rescue Warbeck, Warwick and other Yorkists from the Tower with the intent of overthrowing the King. Almost certainly the plot had been instigated, probably invented, by Henry’s agents so as to provide justification for killing everyone who was a threat to Henry. Warbeck, Edward Earl of Warwick and others were executed for involvement in the ‘plot’.

After all the executions, there should have been no one left to cause problems for Henry. But there would always be someone else. Lincoln left no issue, so his heir, the new Yorkist claimant, was his brother, Edmundde la Pole Duke of Suffolk. He started negotiations on the Continent, and found some support; but in time his followers (including Sir James Tyrrell, who had organised the murder of Edward V) were seized and executed, and Edmund fled to the court of Emperor Maximilian.

Now Henry could deal with the next issue: the succession. It was agreed that Prince Arthur would marry the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain, and in late 1501, Crown Prince Arthur married Catherine of Aragon. Everything was now in place: King Henry secure, the Tudor dynasty established, Arthur advantageously married, and the King’s second son, the 10-year-old Henry, destined for the Church.