Perkin Warbeck - Pretender to the English throne

Perkin Warbeck was a pretender to the English throne in the 1490s. The King, Henry VII, was vulnerable to such claims, as his own right to rule was tenuous - having seized the throne in battle from Richard III.

Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV and one of the so-called "Princes in the Tower". Richard, were he alive, would have been the rightful claimant to the throne, assuming that his elder brother Edward V was dead.

Due to the uncertainty as to whether Richard had died (either of some natural cause or from having been murdered in the Tower of London) or whether he had somehow survived, Warbeck's claim gained some support. Followers may have truly believed Warbeck was Richard, or may have supported him simply because of their desire to overthrow the reigning king, Henry VII, and reclaim the throne.

Warbeck emerged as a significant threat to the newly established Tudor dynasty, and had much foreign support - including from close relatives of the missing young prince. Henry declared Warbeck an impostor.

Warbeck made several landings in England backed by small armies but met strong resistance from the King's men and surrendered in Hampshire in 1497. After his capture, he retracted his claim, writing a confession in which he said he was a Fleming born in Tournai around 1474.

After his confession, Warbeck was well-treated by the King, but in 1499 the Spanish refused to send Catherine of Aragon to England until all Yorkist would-be kings were removed from the equation. It became necessary to clear the prisons of all threats to the new dynasty and Warbeck was one of those that was executed. He was hanged at Tyburn on 23rd November 1499.

Dealing with Warbeck cost Henry VII over £13,000 (equivalent to £10,301,000 in 2019), putting a strain on Henry's weak state finances.

Perkin Warbeck - Pretender to the English throne

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