

ENGLAND. 



ii. --.I. 



Battle of 



Stoke, June 

 fitli, 1 U)7. 



Kcccires 

 nibtidjr for 



the asist- 

 ancc of 

 Uriitay. 



treatment, her li\ mg formerly delivered the Princess 

 Elizabeth nnd her i tl.cr daughters into the hands of the 

 l.itp k.i Hi i;e\t ordered Warn u k to In- taken liom 

 the Tower, and led through the Mints of London in the 

 view of the whole pr. i the wane time se- 



attachcd to the house of 



York, nnd well acquainted with the person of the young 

 prince, to approach him, and converse with him. This 

 expedient had the effect of exposing the im|K>sttire to his 

 subjects in England ; but the people of Ireland still per- 

 in their rebellion, and charged the King with hav- 

 ingxhibited a counterfeit Warwick. John Earl of Lin- 

 coln, nephew of Edward IV. who had pre\ionslv retired 

 to Flanders, being there joined hv Lord Love), and fur- 

 nished by the Duchess of Burgundy with 2000 veteran 

 under the comman 1 of Martin Swart, a brave 

 and experienced officer, joined the party of Simnel in 

 Ireland. The Irish, encouraged by this reinforcement, 

 and having first crowned die impostor with great solem- 

 nity, proceeded to the invasion of England ; and having 

 landed in Lancashire, where they were received by Sir 

 Thomas Broughton, a gentleman of considerable in- 

 fluence in that county, they advanced into Yorkshire, in 

 tlic expectation of being joined by the inhabitants on 

 their march. But the people in general, convinced of 

 Lambert's imposture, averse to unite with foreign inva- 

 ders, and awed by the reputation of Henry, either re- 

 mained in tranquillity, or repaired to the royal army. 

 Lincoln, who commanded the rebels, and whose force 

 amounted to 8000 men, perceiving no hopes but in vic- 

 tory, resolved to bring the matter to a speedy decision. 

 Tlie king, who, upon the news of Simncl's landing, had 

 advanced as far as Coventry, was equally eager for the 

 combat. The hostile armies met at Stoke, near Newark 

 in Nottingham ; and, after an obstinate engagement, 

 I Icnry obtained a complete victory, at the cxpence of 

 2000 of his best troops. Lincoln, Lovel, Broughton, 

 Swart, and most of the rebel leaders, with 4000 of their 

 followers, perished in the field of battle. The impostor 

 Simr.cl, and his tutor Simon, were taken prisoners. The 

 latter being exempted, as a priest, from the power of the 

 civil law, was committed to close custody for life; and 

 the former, being too contemptible an object for the re- 

 sentment of Henry, was made, first a scullion in his kit- 

 chen, and afterwards advanced to the office of a falconer. 

 Few of the other delinquents were put to death, but ma- 

 ny of them were subjected to heavy fines. The proceed- 

 ings against all who were suspected of having favoured 

 the rebels were sufficiently arbitrary and rigorous ; but, 

 on the other hand, the people were gratified, and the 

 principal source of their disaffection removed, by the ce- 

 remony of the queen's coronation, which took place on 

 the 25th of November 1487. 



Henry, aware of the futility of conquests upon the 

 continent, or, as some authors represent the matter, 

 averse, through motives of frugality, from all distant ex- 

 |>editions, found it nevertheless necessary, to gratify the 

 warlike temper of his subjects, and to indulge their an- 

 cient animosity towards France, by professing a resolu- 

 tion to resist the encroachments which that rival power 

 had recently made upon the province of Brittany. Ha- 

 ving summoned a parliament at Westminster, he found 

 no difficulty in persuading them to grant him a consider- 

 able subsidy ; but, in those days, money was more easily 

 voted than levied in England. The inhabitants of the 

 /norc northern counties, who had been always disaffected 



to Henry's government, and who sv orjr. 



the "" ~.~" r 



collection of the tax. ami put to iVith In,- I'.ul of 

 Northumberland, while he attempted to enforce obe- 

 dience to the laws. Concc.ving themselves ton deep in 

 guilt to escape, they proceeded to open rebellion; and, 

 ut the instigation of John a Chamhrc, a seditious fellow 

 of low birth, they chose Sir John Egremont as their 

 Icadci.iind declared 'again* the king ;is a tyrant and 

 usiir|HT. As soon as Henry receded intelligence of this All i mm . 

 insurrection, he dispatched a body of troops, under the rcclion in 

 Earl of Sm rev, who dispersed the rebels without much 'I* 1 Ninth, 

 difficulty ; and a Chamhrc. having been taken prisoner, 

 wa> executed at York, with twelve of his nccompl. 

 Egremont fled for protection to the Duchess of Burgun- 

 dy ; and the greater part of his misguided followers re- 

 ceived a pardon. 



Henry, disappointed in his wishes to terminate the 

 pute with France by negotiations, found himself under 

 a necessity of adopting more active measures than he 

 had intended ; and the distresses of the Bretons became 

 so urgent, that at length, (after rceeivin;: a at 



two sea port towns from his ally, as security for the pay- 

 ment of his charges,) lie scut b'OOO men, for ten months, 

 to resist the process of the French power. These 

 troops, under the command of Loid Willoughby of 

 Broke, rendered the Bretons for some time masters of 

 the field ; but the French, retiring into their garri> 

 gave them no opportunity of striking any decisive blow; 

 and when the time of their service had elapsed, they 

 returned home, without having afforded any essential 

 support. The King of England, artfully labouring to 

 avoid the expences of war, and yet to thwart the designs 

 of the French court, became the dupe of his own policy ; 

 and, by the marriage of the Duchess of Brittany to the 

 King of France, the province was peaceably annexed to Annexation 

 his dominions. The King of England, chagrined to see of Brittany 

 his schemes defeated, and unwilling to lose his claims of to 1 ' r ncc > 

 re-imbursement from Brittany, abandoned at length his 

 cautious policy, and resolved to adopt more vigorous 

 measures, when no measures could be of any avail. Upon 

 pretence of a French war, he levied a BaKMfHMC upon Henr y l' rp - 

 liis subjects, (a mode of taxation peculiarly odious, as it ^/^.j" 

 was made at the discretion of commissioners); and, ha- France, 

 ving summoned a parliament, vaunted, in a magnificent H9?- 

 strain, of his determination to make a conquest of 

 France. The English nobility, yci/ed with militai 

 dour, entered with full credulity into the boasting schemes 

 of their sovereign. On the 6th of October 1492, Henry 

 landed at Calais with a well equipped army of 25,000 

 foot, and 1600 horse, and without a moment's delay laid 

 siege to Boulogne. But with all this show of hostility, 

 negotiations hud actually commenced before the army 

 left England; and, after artfully giving it the appearance 

 of being desired by his nobles, and owing to the delay 

 of his allies, he concluded a peace with France on the 

 third day of November. The principal article of the 

 treaty, was the payment of nearly 745,000 crowns to 

 Henry by the French government, partly as reimb 

 ment of the sums which he had advanced to Brittany, 

 and partly us arrears of the pension due to Edward I\ ., 

 besides the stipulation of 25,000 crowns, as an yearly 

 pension to himself and his heirs. 



Before the conclusion of the war, a new pretender to 

 the crown of England had begun to make iiis appearance. 

 The old Duchess of Burgundy, not discouraged by thr 



