Lambert Simnel

Lambert Simnel was ten years of age and a nonentity when he was crowned Edward VI of England at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland on May 24th, 1487.  He was used by the Yorkists claiming he was Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of George, Duke of Clarence, and therefore a nephew of both Edward IV and Richard III. The Yorkists invaded England with a band of 2,000 German mercenaries that same month, and were beaten by Henry VII  at Stoke in Nottinghamshire.

Meanwhile, the real Earl of Warwick was a prisoner of Henry VII in the Tower of London.

Simnel’s sponsors in this debacle were Gerald Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, and John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln.   At Stoke, Lincoln was killed, Simnel was captured and Kildare fled. Henry VII, deciding that Simnel was harmless, put him to work in his kitchens.

IWF


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