There was quite a number of plots hatched against Henry VII in England, in addition to the sometimes exploits of
Perkin Warbeck as the Duke of York. Betrayal from abroad and at home, intertwined with threads of happenings, the relations with England and Ireland and Scotland rolled on, and the surprise uprising from Cornwall surged. Old allies had to be put down even as discussions on new far-reaching treaties and agreements, all had to be set up and set down.
Apparently, Henry had spies all over England. Some of these at St Paul's would call out allies as enemies and then wait, as Henry's real enemies would seek out these 'cursed men' to then deliver fresh plots. One of these plots, J.D. Mackie explains, was Lord Stanley, the younger brother to that Lord Stanley wed to Henry's mother. There at Bosworth Field, whose men were crucial in that fight, it was the
younger William who had placed the 'battered crown' on Henry Tudor's head. William's elder brother had long before married Henry's mother, but with no new battles out in the field, newer yields were less forthcoming. After several years of service, William wanted more. In June of 1493, supposedly unhappy with his spoils, and on word from
Robert Clifford back in the spring, William went seeking favor from Margaret of Burgundy. That was the year that Warbeck was making his name in the Lowlands.
Through 1494, Henry had arraigned a number of traitors, including the dean at St Paul's and a couple Dominican friars, who were pardoned. But Robert Ratcliffe, William Daubeney, Lord Fitzwalter, and Sir William Mountford were all beheaded. At the end of that year, it was Robert Clifford who was rewarded for his great service, and not in working for Warbeck. When Clifford returned to England, it was Lord William Stanley, the king's lord chamberlain who was arrested. [p. 122] Details of the case remain obscure as the public arraignment may not perfectly describe all the charges. But Lord William was accused of filling his coffers with the former King Richard's goods. Mackie seems content with the 'good sense' that must have led Henry to condemn someone so close to the royal person, even if evidence remains murky or seemingly unsubstantial. On Clifford's connection to the case, Mackie makes his place plausible.
"The best explanation of Clifford's conduct is that, when he went abroad, believed in the pretender's claims, that his mind was disabused by his experiences in Flanders, and that in these circumstances became susceptible to rewards offered by Henry VII. "
As for Lord Stanley, Mackie wants to give the king the benefit of the doubt and seem pragmatic.
" Whether the king was entirely surprised by the news of Stanley's disloyalty may be doubted. The truth may be that he had already some suspicion but hesitated to proceed against so great a subject without real proof, and that when he was provided with definite evidence he seized the opportunity to rid himself of a dangerous man whose wealth would furnish the royal coffers." [p. 123]
In February 1495,Stanley was arrested and beheaded. In January, Clifford was rewarded with a pardon and a £500 gift. By October that year, King Henry got Parliament to pass a law that 'no person' should 'be held liable' for 'assistance' bestowed by the king in furthering the king's wishes. Henry knew that if he were to lose his crown that this kind of protection lent to his help could be lost as well, but for the time being, he thought it necessary enough to ensure parliament would comply with his wishes.
"He was applying to the Crown the principle he had already asserted.... The past was past, and no useful purpose would be served by grubbing into old titles and reviving old animosities. He was vindicating the status quo." [p. 124]
Meanwhile the trouble in Ireland was rising and Henry appointed Sir Edward Poynings as deputy to quash the fomenting rebellion. Kildare was arrested and sent to England to be questioned. [p. 128] There was much more to this putting down of Ireland including a new set of laws. For Kildare there was a great turnaround and by September 1496 he had returned to Ireland and accepted by both the English King and the Irish Lords as it's ruler. [pp. 125-34]
Turbulence between England and Scotland stretched back centuries. So did the defensive alliance between Scotland and France, England's traditional enemy. Henry had sought the peace between himself and the young Scot King James IV in 1488 for three years, and again in 1491 for five more years. These attempts were put off and limited by the Scots to a quick truce ending in November 1492, and then renewed only til April 1494. But Henry then tried to secure a more stable alliance through marriage. After this, another truce was affirmed by both monarchs that would last through April 1501. Here, Mackie shows, once again, Henry really trying to insist on peace and Scotland continuing in 'obstruction'. [p. 137]
The Scots, accepting Perkin Warbeck in November 1495 as 'a fugitive rather than a conqueror', would make relations tense again. An attempt in the autumn of 1496, spurred on by promised rewards from Warbeck himself, crossed the River Tweed and then, next day, not finding any support there, crossed back into Scotland. Henry used the occasion to solicit an increase in taxes and to raise various subsidies throughout England for the common defense. [p. 140]
When word of this new collection spread many became despondent.
"Men still felt that direct taxation was something of an extortion to be levied only under exceptional circumstances, and they may well have thought that the commons had already been generous to the king.... In Cornwall, a county 'sterile and without all fecunditee', dissatisfaction produced an open explosion. Why, it was asked, should the poor Cornish miners be taxed for 'a smal commocion made of ye Scottes, which was asswaged and ended in a moment'?" [p. 141]
The foment was led and spurred on by a local blacksmith Michael Joseph, and a lawyer, Thomas Flamank. The smithy is listed as captain of the growing horde who went to London, not for rebellion, but to petition the king in the spring of 1497. The lawyer had seized on the idea that the proper defense should be laid at the feet of the northern nobles living along the border of Scotland. Without violence or slaughter the masses grew and marched on the capital gaining adherents all along the way, including a Lancastrian supporter, James Touchet, Baron of Audley. This voice from the nobility gave the movement greater credibility, even if, as Mackie notes, 'Bacon said Audley was 'unquiet and popular''. [p.141]
The horde, denied entrance by Bristol, moved on through Salisbury and Winchester. But Henry was already marshalling forces for a Scottish expedition, and so he had plentiful troops at hand. Time and again the movement of people with at least some 15,000 men at arms were rebuffed. Near Henley, at Guildford, and again at Kent, those masses moving 'for petition' found armed soldiers greeting them stonily. They encamped near Blackheath on June 16th, 'in greate agony and variaunce', some saying they should give up Audley and Flamank if the rest could be pardoned.
Standing behind some 25,000 troops stationed at Lambeth, Henry could remain resolute. The next morning, a royal attack left many dead, including 300 of its own. But the overall numbers were lopsided and the insurgents soon fell apart. The leaders were captured and in time brought quickly to London. Henry crossed London Bridge in triumph. [p. 142]
By the 27th of June, the smithy and the lawyer were 'drawn from the Tower to be hanged at Tyburn' and then the next day, Audley was drawn 'from Newgate to Tower-hill' and was then beheaded. Their heads were placed on London Bridge. The blacksmith's dismembered parts were sent to parts west, and those of the lawyer placed in the four corners of the City of London. Henry stopped there but again sent out his men to gather fines from the affected western areas. [p. 143] This was how a King, a monarch, an absolute authority dispensed justice in those days.
Within days, Perkin Warbeck would appear again. By October, he would surrender himself.
___________________________________quotes and pagination from J.D. Mackie: The Earlier Tudors 1485-1558 Oxford, UK 1957
