The Tudor Society
  • #OTD in Tudor History – 23 November

    Perkin Warbeck

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd November, Pretender Perkin Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn (1499), and scrivener and sailor Edward Squire was hanged, drawn and quartered for plotting to poison Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex (1598)…

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  • #OTD in Tudor history – 3 July

    Portraits of Catherine of Aragon and Mary I, and a sketch of Perkin Warbeck

    On this day in Tudor history, 3rd July, pretender Perkin Warbeck landed on the Kent coast; Catherine of Aragon was ordered to call herself “Princess Dowager” and not queen; and Mary I bid farewell to Philip of Spain…

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  • November 23 – The execution of Pretender Perkin Warbeck

    16th-century copy by Jacques Le Boucq of the only known contemporary portrait of Warbeck, Library of Arras.

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd November 1499, in the reign of King Henry VII, Perkin Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn.

    Warbeck was executed for allegedly plotting to help another claimant, Edward, Earl of Warwick, escape from the Tower of London.

    Perkin Warbeck had been imprisoned in 1497 after he had raised a rebellion claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower. He had even been proclaimed King Richard IV, but his rebellion and claim had failed.

    Let me tell you about Perkin Warbeck’s background, explain how he ended up trying to claim the throne of England, and tell you what happened.

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  • July 3 – A Tudor pretender lands, and Mary I bids a final farewell to her husband, Philip of Spain

    https://youtu.be/Um4eyVRcDdc

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  • 23 November – A plot to poison Elizabeth I’s saddle and Essex’s chair, and the hanging of pretender Perkin Warbeck

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd November 1598, scrivener and sailor Edward Squire was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn for treason after being accused of plotting with Jesuits in Seville to poison Elizabeth I’s saddle and the Earl of Essex’s chair.

    Squire, who ended up in Seville after being captured by Spaniards while on a voyage with Sir Francis Drake, confessed under torture, but claimed his innocence at his trial and execution.

    But what exactly happened, and how and why did a Protestant scrivener and sailor end up accused of treason?

    Find out all about Edward Squire and the alleged plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and her favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in this talk…

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  • 3 July – Pretender Perkin Warbeck lands

    On this day in Tudor history, 3rd July 1495, the pretender Perkin Warbeck landed at Deal in Kent with men and ships. In the ensuing battle, the Battle of Deal, with Kentish men who supported King Henry VII, around 150 of Warbeck’s men were killed and over 160 captured. Warbeck managed to escape, fleeing to Ireland.

    Who was Warbeck claiming to be? Whose support did her have? And what happened next?

    Find out more about claimant Perkin Warbeck in today’s talk.

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  • 23 November – The pretender Perkin Warbeck

    Note: I say that Margaret of York was the Princes’ sister, when actually she was their aunt. Sorry!

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd November 1499, in the reign of King Henry VII, pretender Perkin Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn after allegedly plotting to help another claimant, Edward, Earl of Warwick, escape from the Tower of London.

    Perkin Warbeck had claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower, and had even been proclaimed King Richard IV, but his rebellion and claim failed.

    In today’s talk, I give Perkin Warbeck’s background, and explain how he ended up trying to claim the throne of England, and what happened.

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  • Lady Katherine Gordon

    Born around 1474, Katherine Gordon was the daughter of George Gordon, second Earl of Huntly, and Elizabeth Hay. Her father acted as Chancellor of Scotland from 1498 to 1501. Little is known of Katherine’s early life, but she was reputed to be beautiful and charming. The future Henry VIII is said to have ‘marveled at her beauty and amiable countenance, and sent her to London to the Queen’. On 13 January 1496, when she was about twenty-one, Katherine married the Yorkist pretender Perkin Warbeck. Her husband had claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, son of Edward IV, since 1491. The prince had been incarcerated in the Tower of London by his uncle Richard III in 1483, and his fate was still unresolved eight years later. In 1495, Perkin arrived at the court of James IV of Scotland, having previously been supported by Charles VIII of France, Emperor Maximilian and Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Burgundy. Shortly after his marriage to Katherine, Perkin was granted Falkland Palace as a base for his adherents and as the headquarters at which his invasion of England was planned. Henry VII of England, in response to Warbeck’s activities, prepared an army with which to invade Scotland.

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  • Perkin Warbeck by Sarah Bryson

    On 23rd November 1499, Perkin Warbeck faced his death at Tyburn. He was sentenced to be hanged until he was dead. His crime was attempting to escape the Tower of London where he was held a prisoner, but his story goes back several years and involves a tale of deception, treason and rumours of a young Prince come back to life!

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  • 3 July 1495 – Perkin Warbeck lands at Deal

    On 3rd July 1495, the pretender Perkin Warbeck landed at Deal in Kent with men and ships. Around 150 of his men were killed and over 160 captured by Henry VII’s troops. Warbeck escaped, fleeing to Ireland. Warbeck claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower.

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