Ralph Neville Earl of Westmorland and his two wives.  Staindrop Church, Durham.  Ralph Neville by his wife Joan Beaufort,  was the father of Cicely Neville, mother of two kings – Edward IV and Richard III.  This drawing was made by Charles A Stothard c.1811 and shows them minus the graffiti.  

In the village of  Staindrop,  Durham, you can find the church of St Mary’s, originally known as St Gregory’s,  which being the church  of the nearby Neville fortress of Raby Castle, it’s scarcely surprising that it has an abundance of  Neville tombs therein.  One of the earliest  monuments is that of Euphemia de Clavering – what a deliciosus name! Euphemia c.1267-1320 was the daughter of Robert fitz Roger of Clavering, Essex, and Warkworth, Northumberland (1).  She was the first wife of  Ralph/Ranulph Nevill,  (who served both Edward I and Edward II in Scotland) third Lord Neville c.1262-1331 by whom she  had several children the most well known being Ralph Neville,  fourth Lord Neville c.1291-1367.   This son would be  described by chroniclers as a ‘powerful man, brave, cunning, and much to be feared, fought so fiercely that his enemies bore the imprint of his blows after the battle‘   and was one of the victors of the Battle of Nevilles Cross, 1346.    Known to be ‘great with the king‘ Ralph  would rebuild the south aisle of Staindrop church to house his mother’s tomb.

 Euphemia de Clavering, her of the lovesome name, angels gently stroke her face – died c.1320.  First wife of  Ralph Neville, third Lord Neville.   Photo jmc4 Church Explorer

Marjorie Neville nee Thwenge,  second wife to Ralph,  third Lord Neville.     Marjorie and Ralph were childless.  Unusually for a lady her feet rests on a lion.  Photo thanks to fragglerocking.  

An effigy of an unknown Neville child with the Neville saltire symbol on both sides of his pillow. Next to the child an effigy thought to be that of Isobel Neville who died c.1260.   Photo thanks to fragglerocking.

An effigy of a lady, possibly Isobel Neville,  who died in 1260 and whose marriage to Robert fitz Maldred/Meldred, Lord of Raby brought the Neville family to Raby after their son, Geoffrey fitz Robert, adopted his mother’s surname ‘Neville’

The child is unknown and has the Neville saltire symbol on both sides of the pillow supporting his head.  It must have seemed to the parents that no sooner was this child here than he was gone…..

RALPH NEVILLE, FIRST EARL OF WESTMORLAND c.1364-1425

The pièce de résistance of the Neville monuments  is surely that of Ralph Neville, first Earl of Westmorland and his two wives.  This Ralph Neville  was eldest son of John Neville, fifth Baron Neville, c.1330-1388 and grandson of the above Ralph Neville, fourth Lord Neville,  victor of Neville’s Cross…. please keep up at the back dear reader….  The monument  was created from alabaster that came from the quarries of John of Gaunt,  duke of Lancaster,  at Tutbury.  All three wear collars of Lancastrian SSs and it’s unusual in that  the small bedesmen carved at Ralph’s feet  kneel at lecterns rather than counting rosaries.   Ralph died on 21 October 1425, and was buried in the choir of his collegiate church at Staindrop. In his will he stated his wish to be buried either in Durham Cathedral or at Staindrop but Staindrop it was.   Although effigies of both his wives lay either side of his on the monument neither were buried with him.  His first wife Margaret Stafford was buried at Brancepeth,  his second, Joan Beaufort d.1440,  daughter of John of Gaunt,  was  buried in Lincoln Cathedral close to the tomb of her mother Katherine Swynford (2).

The large alabaster monument of Ralph Neville Earl of Westmorland, Margaret Stafford and Joan Beaufort.  Photo richardiiiworcs.co.uk  Note the bedesmen, now sadly headless, kneeling at lecturns. 

Photo richardiiiworcs.co.uk

Watchful lion on which Ralph rests his feet.  Multilated but still loyally fierce.  Photo thanks to fragglerocking.

Profile and details of headdress of one of Ralph’s wives.  Drawn c.1811 by Charles A Stothard.

Westmorland led a most interesting life which is well worth delving into.  His monument was originally in the chancel but later removed to its present position.  However his remains were found, with what was presumably his favourite greyhound (greyhounds being supporters on the earl’s seal) in the chancel during excavations. The skeleton was of a very tall man with a diseased leg (3).   Ralph fathered  a total of 22 (some say 23) children from his two marriages which  led to  many bitter problems caused by what has been described as ‘an ambitious family feud’ (4).   His will made at Raby on 18 October 1424, is described as ‘niggardly to the children of his first marriage‘ largely disinheriting the sons from that marriage  and written to settle the greater part of his inheritance on his children from his second marriage to Joan.    As J L Laynesmith puts it in her biography of Cicely Neville this injustice would ‘inevitably set generations of Nevilles at odds with one another and contributed to the baronial infighting of the Wars of the Roses’.  I will leave it to W E Hampton to summarise what were the end results of the life of Ralph Neville, first earl of Westmorland.

‘Ironically,  the brilliant and unjustly favoured offspring of his second marriage were to bring about the destruction of the houses of Lancaster and Beaufort while the issue of the first marriage, although injured by their stepmother,  were to support Lancaster and Beaufort with results disastrous to themselves’.

 Ralph Neville with twelve of his 14 children from his second marriage to Joan Beaufort.  The oldest son was Richard Neville earl of Salisbury c.1400-1460, father to Richard Neville who was later known as The Kingmaker.  Manuscript illumination Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

Joan Beaufort shown here with some of her daughters and stepdaughters.    The daughter in the yellow dress is often labelled as being Cicely Neville but in fact as Cicely was the 5th daughter she is probably  depicted standing further back.  Cicely of course would go on to become Duchess of York and the mother of two king – Edward IV and Richard III.   Manuscript illumination Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

St Mary’s Staindrop, Durham.  Burial place of generations of Nevilles.  Photo with thanks to fragglerocking.

With thanks to Fragglerocking for some examples of her wonderful photography.  Here is a link to her delightful blog.

1. Neville, Ralph, fourth Lord Neville (c. 1291–1367) Anthony Tuck. Oxford DNB.
2. Ralph, Neville First Earl of Westmorland c.1364-1425. Anthony Tuck. Oxford DNB.
3.  Memorials of the Wars of the Roses p.52.  W E Hampton.
4. Charles Ross.  Quoted in Neville, Ralph first earl of Westmorland (c. 1364–1425) Anthony Tuck. Oxforddnb.

If you have enjoyed this post you might also like:

St Andrew’s Church, Wingfield and the Tombs of the de la Poles

THE MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES OF GREAT BRITAIN : CHARLES A STOTHARD

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN NEVILLE, MARQUIS OF MONTAGU and EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND d.1471

THE SIX SISTERS OF WARWICK THE KINGMAKER

Anne Beauchamp Countess of Warwick – Wife to the Kingmaker

. 

Today a guest post from Annette Carson, author of many excellent books about Richard III and his times including The Maligned King,  Richard III: A Small Guide to a Great Debate, Richard Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector & Constable of England and a new translation of Mancini. Annette was also a member of the Looking for Richard Project.   Thank you Annette: 

If you enjoyed this post you might also like:

The Rise and Fall of William Lord Hastings and his Castle of Kirby Muxloe

Buckingham’s Mysterious Burial

Was Henry VII a Reluctant Bridegroom?

The Mysterious Affair at Stony Stratford

CROSBY PLACE – HOME TO THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER 1483

The Coronation Feast of King Richard III and his Queen

‘So rude a matter and so strange a thinge, 

As a boy in Dublin to be made a kinge..’ *

Old St Paul’s where the tragic Edward Earl of Warwick was displayed in February 1487 and with ‘Lambert Simnel’  on the 8 July 1487.  ‘Old St Paul’s Cathedral Seen from the East 1656-58’ Wenceslaus Hollar.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

I have gathered much of the information to be found here from the excellent  books written by Michael Barrett (very helpful having all the key sources in chronological order in an appendix), David Baldwin (very useful for the battle of Stoke ) and John Ashdown-Hill for candidates for the ‘Dublin King’.  Articles by Gordon Smith,  Barrie Williams and Randolph Jones were also invaluable.

Main key sources include  Molinet, André, Vergil and the Heralds Memoir.

So who was the Dublin King and following on from that who was Lambert Simnel?  For the Dublin King we can safely say there were four candidates –

Edward V b. February  November 1470,  16 years old in June 1487,

Richard of Shrewsbury b.August 1473, 14 years old in June 1487.

Edward Earl of Warwick b. February 1475,  12 years old in June 1487.

Lambert Simnel described as 10 years old in Lincoln’s Act of Attainder November 1487.

Richard of Shrewsbury was very soon passed over (Perkin Warbeck anyone?) which leaves us with Edward V,  Edward Earl of Warwick and Lambert Simnel.

I’ve tried to work out logically who the Dublin King was and not factually as that is of course  impossible.

Let us look at Lambert Simnel:

‘Lambert Simnel’  as a scullion in the kitchen of Henry VII.   Artist unknown.  Getty images.

Despite historian A F Pollard opining that ‘No serious historian has doubted that Lambert Simnel was an imposter’ historians have still doggedly expended large quantities of ink on the probability of whether or not  the ten(ish) year old boy known as Lambert Simnel  was the young lad who was  crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on the 24 May 1487.   The next favourite seems to be the Edward the young Earl of Warwick although he was, to all intents and purposes, firmly lodged in the Tower of London at the time.   For same strange reason the chances of the young Dublin king being Edward V have been, on the whole,  overlooked which is exactly what the Tudor regime had hoped would happen.   It should be remembered that Edward V and his siblings, including Henry’s queen had all been declared legitimate by Henry’s Parliament in January 1486  and if it got out that a young lad claiming to be Edward V had been crowned in Dublin it was going to open a very unpleasant can of worms for Henry.   This fact may also have focussed Lincoln’s mind on the fact that as Edward V was now legitimised he would have been the rightful king and in the event of the rebellion proving successful it would have proven difficult for him to make a try for the throne.  Perhaps loyalty and decency never allowed the thought to creep into his mind anway.   To muddy already muddy waters further it is unclear whether the boy king was crowned Edward V or Edward VI.    This is despite it being totally illogical that Lincoln would  have thought it a sensible plan to have a blatantly fake Edward of Warwick or even the genuine  article crowned.     This is baffling and has never been  convincingly explained.  Although  evidence is lacking  that Richard III either made Lincoln his heir or intended to do so,  the fact is that  after the death of his son, Edward of Middleham,  he appointed Lincoln Lieutenant of Ireland,  a post that had been held by Edward and this  may  indicate the likelihood that he did indeed intend to make Lincoln his heir rather than the much younger Edward Earl of Warwick.  Richard may have stated his wishes on the eve of  Bosworth should things go wrong, which they did.   But  there is another option which I will return to later.  Obviously the truth of the matter went to the grave with Lincoln, which annoyed Henry VII no end,  but as way of explanation it has been suggested Lincoln may have believed  he would have been unable to attract enough followers –  so to follow that logic through –  the suggestion is,  that he believed the 12 year old son of the attainted George Duke of Clarence would? This is absurd.  This is put forward despite the fact that he, as a competent  adult of the Yorkist royal family with unquestionable and untainted  lineage would surely have been preferable to the young son of Clarence whereas for him to stand aside for a true son of Edward IV makes perfect sense.    Suggestions have also been mooted that he may have wanted to rule through a puppet king i.e. young Warwick,  or even take the throne from himself in the event the rebellion was successful.  Only wait, wouldn’t he have had a problem with then turfing the young Warwick, now the newly crowned king,  off the throne?  Why not just go for it himself?  However perhaps the most difficult sticking point  with Warwick being nominated as Richard’s heir would be that he had no legal claim to the throne because the issue of his father, George Duke Clarence had been barred in an Act of Attainder which was  reiterated later in Titulus Regius (The Royal Title) :

 ‘Moreover we consider howe that aftreward, by the thre estates of this reame assembled in a parliament holden at Westminster the xvijth yere of the regne of the said King Edward the iiijth, he then being in possession of coroune and roiall estate, by an acte made in the same parliament, George Duc of Clarence, brother to the same King Edward now decessed, was convicted and attainted of high treason; and in the same acte is conteigned more at large. Because and by reason whereof all the issue of the said George was and is disabled and barred of all right and clayme that in any wise they might have or challenge by enheritence to the crowne and roiall dignitie of this reame, by the auncien lawe and custome of this same reame …’   

To be fair it’s possible Richard could have overturned this just prior to Bosworth and the evidence lost,  but how likely would it have been that he would have passed over the adult Lincoln in favour of a small boy 10 year old boy.  It makes no sense.   Surely if the worst came to worst, which it did,  he would want a strong hand at the helm to take the House of York safely forward? 

A cursory look into Lambert’s story will immediately throw up contradiction after contradiction.     For example even the  name of the priest who ‘mentored’  Lambert, and is therefore a person of importance,  is completely muddled being either  William Simonds or Richard Simons depending on what version of events you are reading.   For example on 17th February 1487 the proceedings of a convocation of Canterbury,  held at St Paul’s,  were noted by a clerk to John Morton Archbishop of Canterbury.  To whit a priest William Simonds, 28 yrs old, confessed to the big wigs gathered there that he had ‘abducted and taken across to places in Ireland the son of a certain organ maker, of the university of Oxford, and that this boy was there reputed to be the earl of Warwick’ and that afterwards, Simons himself, was with Lovell in Furness Falls to reconnoitre a suitable place for the Yorkists to land.  Honestly you couldn’t make it up… but still …onwards!  Simonds was then taken to the Tower of London as Morton was already holding a  prisoner, being held for the same offence,  at Lambeth and lacked the room for another.   Note that neither the boy or his father at this stage had been named.

However according to Vergil, who on the whole is judged to be a good egg, but nevertheless was writing nearly 20 years after the event,   ‘Lambert the false boy-king’ was captured along with  his mentor, a priest, who had now morphed into  Richard Simons,  after the battle of Stoke Field.   To get over this awkward anomaly it’s been suggested  that William and Richard may have been brothers.   As Barrie Williams points out  it should be taken into account Vergil would only have been about 17 when these events were taking place and probably still living in Italy.  Therefore his version of events came from ‘ Tudor strong partisans’ including Morton – yes him again – More, Foxe, Bray and Urswick.  It does not need spelling out yet again the importance  for the Tudor regime, that it  be believed that the Dublin King was a 10 yr old Lambert Simnel,  impersonating  the 12 year old Earl of Warwick who could be proven to be, beyond doubt,  at that moment in time incarcerated in the Tower of London.   And indeed in the aftermath of Stoke, Lambert Simnel, according to  London Chronicle, recently discovered at the College of Arms,  and the hapless young Earl of Warwick were shown openly together at St Paul’s on the 8 July 1487 (1). 

It may be worthwhile to remember that Vergil made an interesting blunder with Edward, Earl of Warwick’s age, stating that he was 15 years old  when he was removed from Sheriff Hutton in 1485  when in fact it would have been Edward, son of Edward IV,  who was then aged 15.   Interestingly Vergil did say that the Irish and Germans said that they had come to ‘restore’  the young Edward crowned in Dublin ‘to the kingdom’ – Restituere means to restore, put back, reinstate etc.,  As Gordon Smith points out this would rule out young Warwick, who had never been king and thus did not require restoring,  but strongly indicates that the Dublin King was indeed Edward V.

In a story found in the Book of Howth some years later, Henry VII invited Irish nobles to a banquet in England where the servant serving them wine was none other than the young Lambert, who had been despatched to the kitchens.  The very nobles who would have been present at the coronation in Dublin failed to recognise the young boy.  This is when Henry, who enjoyed a joke as well as the next man, made his famous  comment ‘My masters of Ireland you will be crowning apes at length’.  Now this is rather confusing.  Because if Henry had set out to to demonstrate that the young lad crowned in Dublin was the servant serving  them,  then all he had to do was to sit back and wait for them to recognise him.  Which is exactly what did not happen.  Shot in the foot much springs to mind.  So who was he and from whence did he come, this young Lambert?

The Council Meeting at Sheen and its Aftermath

This meeting held at Sheen, now known as Richmond, in February 1487 concluded with three decisions being made (as well as Lincoln making an immediate exit closely followed  by a  swift sprint to Flanders) :

1. The proclamation of a general pardon.
2. The exhibition of Warwick
3. The removal of Elizabeth Wydeville’s recently won back status, loss of her properties and ‘retirement’ to Bermondsey Abbey.  It has been argued by some historians, unconvincingly,  that she chose to remove herself there of her own free will.  This is despite the fact that she had just taken out a 40 year lease on Cheyneygates,  the luxurious Abbot’s house at Westminster Abbey  where she had spent time in comfortable sanctuary before sallying out in March 1484 with her daughters in tow  having made her peace with Richard III.  This  event had coincided with Robert Markenfield, a loyal follower of Richard being sent by the king two days later from Yorkshire to Coldridge, Devon, a property that had recently been removed from Elizabeth’s son, Thomas Grey,  Marquess of Dorset.  I will return to that later.   Oh! but  she was ill some say in explanation.  The  medieval illness that was serious enough to make someone so  poorly as to opt to give up all their worldly possessions and  move into closeted Abbey life  but where you survived five years has never been specified. Old and atmospheric photo of the Archway in Abbots’s Court leading out into the cloisters and the outside world.  It was through this ancient archway Elizabeth would have led  her daughters when they departed the sanctuary of the Abbot’s house at Westminster  Abbey.                                                                            Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset was also at this time removed to the Tower for the duration of the rebellion all the while expressing his hurt and disbelief that he, of all people,  should be held in suspicion!  Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells,  was not so lucky and after his arrest in March 1487, roughly around the time of the council at Sheen, remained in prison for the rest of his life.  These facts, taken as a whole,  serve to strengthen the belief that Elizabeth et al knew that one or perhaps even both her sons had survived the reign of Richard III.   For would she have jeopardised her daughter’s and heirs futures for the son of Clarence, a man who she had loathed and with good reason to believe was behind his execution and who on reaching adulthood may possibly seek to take revenge for his father’s murder?  Interestingly Thomas Grey – who had Coldridge restored to him after Bosworth –    would forever more have a close  eye kept on him  by Henry VII.  T B Pugh, who described Dorset as ‘’shifty’ mentions that in June 1492  measures were taken to put the Marquis under restraint through an indenture intended to ensure that he did not commit treason or conceal acts of treason of which others were guilty (2) 

When was the name Lambert Simnel first bandied about as being the name of the Dublin King? Lambert Simnel was first named in John de la Pole’s Act of Attainder in parliament in November 1487:

‘On the 24th day of May last past at the city of Dublin contrary to his homage and faith, truth and allegiance, traitorously renounced, revoked and disclaimed his own said most natural sovereign liege lord the king,  and caused one Lambert Simnel a child of 10 years of age, son to Thomas Simnel, late of Oxford, joiner, to be proclaimed, erected and reputed as king of this realm and to him did faith and homage, to the great dishonour and despite of all this realm’.

This lapse in time between Stoke and Lincoln’s Act of Attainder gave  the Tudor regime time to cook up a story to explain away the true, and awkward,  identity of the Dublin King.

Prior to the Dublin coronation Henry heard of the rumblings of what was going on in Ireland  and according to André he sent a herald to Ireland in an attempt to discover the true identify of the young boy.  This herald has been identified as John Yonge, Falcon Pursuivant, by historian Randolph Jones.  Yonge was paid £8 with an additional £5 on his return.  The trip proved fruitless but it was said that the herald was impressed with ‘Lambert’s’ ability to answer all his probing questions about the court of Edward IV (3).         However despite this  André still insisted that the young lad was an imposter,  although, as  Gordon Smith has pointed out, he failed to ‘explain who in Ireland would have had the detailed knowledge of English court life necessary to deceive a herald. The failure of the herald’s trap suggests that the pretender may have been genuine and a detailed knowledge of the times of Edward IV might suggest he was an older boy or young man’ (4) .

LAMBERT SIMNEL’S AGE

This is when it gets really sticky.  As Gordon Smith mentions:

‘If the imposter survived the battle of Stoke, a consistent story would need to be told to fill  the silence left by the death or disappearance of the conspirators and by the lack of any public investigation. However ‘the narratives of Molinet, André and Vergil  suggest there was no such consistency and indeed the new facts about imposter’s name, age and parentage in the Act of Attainder add to the confusion’.

However in light of the fact that both André, who was tutor to Prince Arthur,  and Vergil  had access to Henry VII’s court where Lambert Simnel had been resident this seems  odd.  To be fair though André may have been mostly based at Ludlow and not quite  in the loop.     It seems suspect that there is  only one source,  Lincoln’s Act of Attainder,  where Lambert’s age is given as 10 years old while chroniclers of the time all seem to reach the conclusion he was older and an adolescent.

The late historian John Ashdown-Hill devoted a whole book to the subject – the Dublin King – in which he concluded that it was unlikely that Edward V was he.  Loathe as I am to disagree with the findings of such a respected historian who delved far and wide into his research but needs must.  Dr Ashdown-Hill, who though of course, as we all are, was unable to ‘prove’ who the Dublin King was he seems to have veered towards it being the Duke of Clarence’s son, Edward.  This is on the grounds that Clarence was accused in the Act of Attainder against him, of plotting to get Edward, his then two year old son,  out of England and away to safety and it’s possible of course, that he succeeded in this.  His book makes many interesting points such as it was written in the Annals of Ulster that  ‘a great fleet of Saxons came to Ireland this year (1487) to meet the son (sic grandson) of the Duke of York who was exiled at this time with the Earl of Kildare.  And there lived not of the race of the blood royal that time but that son of the Duke and he was proclaimed king on the Sunday of the Holy Ghost (third of June) in the town of Ath Cliath (Dublin).  Alas Dr Ashdown-Hill did not make a connection to the possibility of this grandson being the oldest grandson of the Duke of York.  

So  in summary Lambert Simnel  being the young boy that was crowned in Dublin and  who was then taken after Stoke is so extremely unlikely as to be non existent as well as daft.   After looking at it as far as I can go,  I now believe  that Lambert Simnel  was never at Dublin leave alone crowned king in Christ Church Cathedral.     I think he was substituted in the aftermath of Stoke with the ‘lad that his rebels called King Edward whose name was indeed John’ (5).   As Gordon Smith puts so succulently ‘ The changes between Simons confession in February and Lincoln’s Attainder of November 1487  tend to  confirm that the character of Lambert Simnel emerged at the end of an ad hoc story invented by the English government in response to the events of the 1487 rebellion.   Virgil’s narrative transposed Lambert back to the start of the conspiracy and to this transposition can be attributed Virgil’s mistakes (e.g. Warwick’s age … and the capture of Simons)  and the implausibility of the pseudo-Warwick plot.  …  the conclusion that the king from Dublin was Edward V not only fits the events of the so-called Simnel rebellion of 1487 but also explains the differences in the narratives of Molinet, André and Virgil    There are reasons to believe that the  John who was captured after Stoke was John Evans who indeed was Edward V and who had been living incognito in Coldridge, Devon, the property of his half brother, the Marquess of Dorset with the knowledge of Richard III.  It should be remembered that on the 3rd March Richard had despatched one of his trusted followers, Robert Markynfield –  ‘Robert Markyngfeld/the keping of the park of Holrig in Devoneshire during the kinges pleasure..’  –  to Coldridge two days after Elizabeth Wydeville left sanctuary on the 1st March 1484, where he would remain until after Bosworth (6).    Furthermore is it possible that Richard on the eve of Bosworth had asked Lincoln, in the event of the battle going badly, to aid his younger cousin when the time was right to regain his throne?  Richard would have known this would have appealed to the dissident Yorkists who had never quite accepted the removal of Edward IV’s son from the throne.  Did Richard reason that if he were to lose his life in the ensuing battle that an illigitimate son of Edward IV would be very much preferable to the alternative.   With guidance from Lincoln perhaps all would be well and the white rose of York bloom once more.   This could be an explanation of why Lincoln gave the Dublin King, who I believe was Edward V,  his complete support in the venture to try to regain his throne.  Tragically Lincoln was to die in the attempt and as ‘John’ disappeared after Stoke there is good reason to believe that he may have been returned to Coldridge to live out his life incognito.  

We should also add to the equation Sir Henry’s Bodrugan’s role in the story of Coldridge, which he owned, Richard III having given it to him, and his presence at the Dublin Coronation.  But that is another story and if you are interested you can read it here.

The adults who arranged the switch and presented the 10 year old boy who had been hastily renamed Lambert Simnel would have known, one would like to believe, that under the circumstances,  the young and innocent  boy would not be severely punished even if at all.  In fact Lambert was given a safe if unexciting job in the kitchens although later he would rise to the giddy heights of falconer. I wonder could he have been the son or a young family member of an accommodating servant who could have been bribed and convinced that if the young boy went along with the story and new identify  he would be found a safe position in the  kitchens and perhaps even get promotion.  Which he did.   What’s not to like?  Is there any record of what became of Lambert.  Vergil wrote that he was still alive ‘to this very day’ when writing c.1513.  Michael Bennett wrote that he was issued with robes for the funeral of Sir Thomas Lovell, a courtier and counsellor of Henry VII in 1525.  After that he fades away into the mists of time.  

* From an old Irish song.  With thanks to Randolph Scott.

1. Lambert Simnel’s Rebellion: How reliable is Polydore Vergil? Barrie Williams.
2. Grey, Thomas, first marquess of Dorset c.1455-1501.  T.B. Pugh. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004.
3. The Extraordinary Reign of ‘Edward VI’ in Ireland 1487-8.  Ricardian Bulletin March 2021
4.  Lambert Simnel and the King from Dublin. Gordon Smith.
5. Heralds Memoir.
6. Harleian Manuscript 433 p.140 Vol One

If you have enjoyed this article you may also like

A Portrait of Edward V and Perhaps Even a Resting Place?- St Matthew’s Church Coldridge

A PORTRAIT OF EDWARD V AND THE MYSTERY OF COLDRIDGE CHURCH…Part II A Guest Post by John Dike.

Edward Earl of Warwick – His Life and Death.

The Mysterious Dublin King and Battle of Stoke

PERKIN WARBECK AND THE ASSAULTS ON THE GATES OF EXETER

Lady Katherine Gordon – Wife to Perkin Warbeck

AUSTIN FRIARS: LAST RESTING PLACE OF PERKIN WARBECK

Cheyneygates, Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth Woodville’s Pied-à-terre

SIR HENRY BODRUGAN – A LINK TO RICHARD III, EDWARD V, COLDRIDGE AND THE DUBLIN KING

Stained glass image of Edward V in the Evans chapel at Coldridge Church.  Image has been verified as being of Edward V by stained glass experts Brooks and Cherry as well as the Keeper of  Ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo  Photo Dale Cherry

Here is a link to an interesting article in the Telegraph.   For those unable to access the article it’s also available on Yahoo News.  Following my posts –   A Portrait of Edward V and Perhaps Even a Resting Place – St Matthew’s Church Coldridge and a guest post  –  A PORTRAIT OF EDWARD V AND THE MYSTERY OF COLDRIDGE CHURCH Part II –  by John Dike  a Coldridge resident and who has been leading Philippa Langley’s The Missing Princes Project team in Devon,  I am very happy to see this very plausible theory getting  the publicity it deserves.     Bill Gardner is Deputy News Editor of the Telegraph, and whose interest first being piqued by the Missing Princes Project,  decided to have a catchup and recently travelled down to Coldridge to interview John Dike and to take a look around the church.  The resultant article was published in the  Telegraph on the 29 December 2021.     I think its  exciting and hopefully an indication that this theory –  which is up to now  one of the most plausible –  of what became of one of the sons of Edward IV  will become more widely known about  and a refreshing antidote to the relentless,  tedious  and monotonous stories  that the ‘Princes in the Tower’ were murdered.    

A reminder of some of the clues in Coldridge Church : 

Yorkist emblems.  Here a White Rose of York and a Sunne in Splendour..  Photo Dale Cherry

Sunne in Splendour effigy.  Photo John Dike.

The open crown above the image of Edward V but which originally would have been in a different window – possibly the Chantry over a royal coat of arms.  Note the deer in the ermine instead of the usual stoats tails.  Surely a nod to John Evans as Parker at Coldridge Deer Park?

St Matthews Church, Coldridge beneath a glowering Devon sky.  Could this be the burial place of John Evans who possibly was Edward V, son of Edward IV who lived out his life incognito in Coldridge.

Footnote.  Another thought is that Edward V could have been present at the Battle of Stoke 16th June 1487.  A young lad had been crowned King Edward in Dublin on the 24th May 1487 by die hard Yorkists.  This  ‘King Edward’ was found after the battle but the heralds recorded that although the young King Edward was taken,  his real name was ‘John’  ‘And there was taken the lade that his rebelles called King Edwarde (whoos name was in dede John) – by a vaylent and a gentil esquire of the kings howse called Robert Bellingham’ (1). Is it possible that this ‘John’ was John Evans of Coldridge who in actual fact was Edward V.  Is it also possible that this young man was badly wounded especially around the face, or even had his face purposefully disfigured and then returned to live out his life in Coldridge?  This would explain why  the face of the older man in the window at Coldridge appears to be badly scarred?

The face in the window of the mature man who appears to be scarred around the mouth and an opaque eye.  Carries a crown and wearing ermine.   Could this be John Evans – who in his life as Edward V was wounded at the Battle of Stoke?

1. Chroniques de Jean Molinet ed. G Doutrepont and O Jordogne Brussells 1935.  Translation taken from Michael Bennett’s Lambert Simnel and the Battle of Stoke. See also Heralds’Memoir  1486-1490 pp.116-17 E. Cavell.

Links to other posts with links to Coldridge.

1. THE MYSTERIOUS DUBLIN KING AND THE BATTLE OF STOKE

2. MARKENFIELD HALL & THE MARKENFIELD BROTHERS, THOMAS AND ROBERT

3. A PORTRAIT OF EDWARD V AND THE MYSTERY OF COLDRIDGE CHURCH…Part II A Guest Post by John Dike.

4. A Portrait of Edward V and Perhaps Even a Resting Place?- St Matthew’s Church Coldridge

5. PERKIN WARBECK AND THE ASSAULTS ON THE GATES OF EXETER

6. Lady Katherine Gordon – Wife to Perkin Warbeck

One of Merton Priory’s gates.  Possibly entrance to the guest accommodation or hospitium thought to have been located to the west of the priory.   Rebuilt and resited in 1935 outside St Mary’s Church, Merton.  Photo thanks to Mr Joel’s Photography.

Merton Abbey, Colliers Wood, London, SW19 does not exactly conjure up ‘magnificent’ does it?  In fact it sounds like the headquarters of one of those clothing catalogues so popular in the 1970s.  And yet that is exactly what Merton Abbey  or Merton Priory  to give it its correct name was – magnificent.   Founded in 1117 by Gilbert le Norman, Sheriff of Surrey who would die at the priory in 1125.  Built on the banks of the River Wandle the priory was on a par with great abbeys such as that at Westminster and  until its total destruction in 1538 numbered amongst the largest and most important of the monastic houses covering an area of 60 acres.  Westminster would  survive, although no longer a monastery, no doubt aided by the fact that even Henry VIII could hardly destroy the burial place of his parents.    However the Augustinian Merton Priory along with  many others did not.  It was razed to the very ground it stood upon and practically no visible signs a prestigious priory once stood there remains.     Every part of it from stones to roof  slates was carted away to build Henry’s new palace, later known as Nonsuch Palace, which was built upon the site of the medieval village of Cuddington. Fifty carters were employed from Cheam, Clapham, Cuddington, Malden, Merton, Mitcham, Morden, Putney, Sutton, Tooting, Wandsworth and Wimbledon. Each received eightpence for a ton load for the four mile journey and by July 1538 2719 tons of stone had been conveyed from the priory to Cuddington (1).

The village, its  church and burials,  were demolished  to make way for Henry’s new extravaganza.  Nonsuch would in its  turn suffer the same fate and also be totally razed to the ground.   However remnants of the priory were recovered from the site of Nonsuch such as the beautiful ceiling boss below.

Ceiling boss recovered from the site of Nonsuch Palace in 1959 but originally part of the Priory.  Museum of London. Photo Mike Peel.

The priory’s location was lost until the 1920s and later excavations in the 1970s revealed the foundations of the chapter house.   Further foundations were revealed in the 1980s.   Today a few remnants remain above ground such as a small  section of wall rebuilt using  materials from the original and a 12th century gateway that was also rebuilt in 1990 and moved to a different position.  A marker indicates its original site.   Much of the foundations of priory are now below Sainsbury’s Savacentre  but the remains of the chapter house  were left uncovered and can be seen today  in an enclosed area below Merantun Way, the road which was built in 1988.  This road was originally known as the A24, the straightness of which bear witness to its origins as a Roman road which later evolved into a medieval thoroughfare  known as Stane/Stone Street.  Such is progress although it pains me to say so.  

Head with coronet discovered in 1797 on the site of the priory by Sir William Hamilton. The head would have originally been painted, and the coronet  around the head, gilded, with traces of the latter still visible. Hairstyle closely resembling the popular hairstyle dating from the early 15th century  – think of a young Henry V.  In fact is this Henry V?  See portrait below for comparison. Owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London now on loan to the British Museum.   

Henry V, as Prince of Wales.  Artist Homas Hoccleve c.1411-1413.

Many important personages are associated with Merton Priory including:

Thomas a Becket (c.1118-1170) Educated at Merton from 1128 aged 10.    Thomas would later employ Robert, one of the priory’s canons as his chaplain and confessor.  

Nicholas Breakspeare In c.1120 the only Englishman to become pope as Adrian IV.

Henry Ist (1068-1135) Lay in repose at the priory in 1135.

King John (1166-1216) Said to have stopped off at Merton on his way to nearby Runnymede and it was from Merton that he issued letters of safe conduct to allow the barons to leave London.  

Henry III (1207-1272) A major patron and having stayed at the priory no less than 54 times had his own quarters there.  It was from Merton when he was nine years old he attended a peace conference between England and France. He would instruct his own mason to aid with major rebuilding work that was in progress between 1222 and the 1260s after a severe storm caused the spire to collapse.  Supplied a total of 16 oaks from Windsor forest towards the work.   Henry brought his bride Eleanor of Provence to the Priory 1236 after their wedding at Canterbury Cathedral for their honeymoon.  

Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (1180-1243).  Henry III’s Justiciar.   Took himself to Merton  Priory to prepare his defence in 1232 after falling out of the king’s favour.  Things got a bit sticky for Hubert –  and the priory –  when he refused to leave and a very cross king ordered him to be seized dead or alive.    A mob of armed London citizens, who had their own axes to grind, Hubert having hanged the leader of a popular riot in 1222,  begun to wend their merry way to Merton (2).  Things were rapidly getting out of control  and the Bishop of Chichester pleaded with Henry to call a halt to these events while the Earl of Chester warned Henry about the danger of mob rule.   Henry wisely listened and aborted the lynching which no doubt would have taken place.  Hubert, who had spent the intervening period awaiting the mobs arrival prostrated in a state of undress  before the altar,  took the opportunity to leave the Priory, possibly by a back entrance if he had any sense, and enter sanctuary at Brentwood Chapel in Essex.  He would be removed from there and deposited in the Tower for a while until things blew over.   Surprisingly Hubert would survive until 12 May 1243 when he died ‘full of days’ at Banstead on  the 12th May 1243 and was buried at Blackfriars (3)  Today Hubert is remembered in a local road – De Burgh Road. 

Hubert de Burgh at Merton.  Hubert is depicted kneeling, holding a cross, before the altar at Merton in 1232.  Image taken from Historia Anglorum.  Artist Matthew Paris. British Library. 

Walter de Merton (c.1205-1277).  Studied at the priory.  Founded Merton College in 1264 and set aside two manors in Surrey for the support of ‘scholars residing at Merton‘.   This Merton College would later be transferred to Oxford after Walter purchased two houses there and so was founded the collegiate systems at both Oxford and Cambridge.   

Henry VI (1421-1471).  On Ist November 1437 Henry held a crown wearing ceremony at the priory to mark the emergence from his minority (4).   

Mary Ist (1516-58). Visited while she was still a princess in 1532 having supper there on the 17th October and staying until dinner on the 19th.  

The initial major building work was not to be the last for in 1393 the Prior notified the Bishop of Winchester that the chapel was ‘in a truely decayed and ruinous state‘ and that further repairs were needed (5). Tragically it would take a much, much shorter time to destroy  the glorious priory that had evolved and taken centuries to reach completion.  Strange as it may seem but gothic buildings were fairly easy to demolish.  As Lionel Green who has made an extensive study of the priory explains ‘Each arch depended on the support of a neighbour. A miner could dig under one of the crossing piers, shoring up with timber as worked progressed. A fire lit within the shoring would sink the pier, and all the arches above it would collapse. Adjoining arcades, deprived of their abutment, would fall, bringing down the heavy vaults they had safely carried for centuries’ (6).   To add to the tragedy the destruction of the Priory was not even to echo what happened to other  priories and abbeys such as Whitby, Rievaulx, Hailes, Glastonbury and so many others that left glorious and evocative ruins.   Merton’s destruction would be complete.   

In the 17th century the site became known as Merton Abbey, a name that has stuck ever since and used for various industries.  It has been excavated several times  between 1921 and 2004 and a wealth of artefacts found including pre medieval finds such as prehistoric pick axes and Roman building material.  Medieval finds from the priory include moulded stone fragments, window glass, roof tiles, decorative tiles, pottery, lead coffin, leather shoes, buckles, keys, knives, coins and much else including 738 burials.   One poignant find was  a gold ring inscribed ‘je ne weil aymer autre que vous’  which translates ‘ I am not seeking to love anyone other than you’..

Fragments of a glass window.  Museum of London.   Photo Mike Peel.

Remnants of a traceried window.  Now in the Museum of London.  Photo Mike Peel.

  Buried without coffins the remains of two adult males and child.  Tumbled together with obvious haste they were possibly plague victims. Photo Museum of London Archaeology Service 

But how did the demise of the Priory impact on the local population? These people would have always had the Priory in their lives, their parents and grandparents before them and its importance to them cannot be underestimated.  Throughout their lives it would have been a source of comfort to them, a hospital, a source of employment, somewhere they could get alms from should they fall on hard times and a safe haven for travellers.    It’s easy to imagine the despair which would have been felt by many as they saw it crashing down before their very eyes.   I will leave it to  Lionel Green  – whose in depth  and superbly researched articles on  the Priory can be found on the The Merton Historical Website  and who puts it so eloquently: 

‘Day after day, day after day, the smoke and dust must have pervaded the district, visible from the surrounding hills. Tears must have been shed as the villagers of Wimbledon, Morden, Mitcham and Tooting witnessed the collapse of the tower, so familiar as part of the view from the heights of Wimbledon and St Mary’s church, from the Ridgway, from Cannon Hill, from Morden and St Lawrence’s church, from Mitcham and its church of St Peter and St Paul and from Park Hill in Tooting. That which had dominated the view for centuries was no more’ (7).

1. Destruction of a Monastery. Lionel Green. Merton Historical Society who quotes National Archives E 101/477/12 as his source.
2.  Roger de Wendover Chronica vol.iv p.250
3.  Seeking Sanctuary at Merton.  Lionel Green. Merton Historical Society.  Bulletin 134 June 2000 p.8
4.  Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Henry VI. R.A Griffiths.
5. historicengland.org.uk 
6. The Destruction of a Priory.  Lionel Green.  Online article of the Merton Historical Society. Bulletin 148 p.11. December 2003
7. Ibid.

If you have enjoyed this article you might also like :

Thomas Cromwell’s House in Austin Friars

THE MEDIEVAL PRIORY AND HOSPITAL OF ST MARY SPITAL

The Abbey of the Minoresses of St Clare without Aldgate and the Ladies of the Minories

The English Medieval Cathedral

BERMONDSEY ABBEY AND ELIZABETH WYDEVILLE’S ‘RETIREMENT’ THERE

AUSTIN FRIARS: LAST RESTING PLACE OF PERKIN WARBECK

London’s Lost and Forgotten Rivers

The Middleham Jewel, AD 1450-1500.  Photo Anthony  Chappel Ross, Courtesy York Museums Trust.

Two metal detectorists have recently had a sumptous litte find.  A tiny gold bible beautifully engraved.  Which is great.  But what makes their find super great is that it is yet another discovery made near the remains of castles that were once Neville strongholds.  For this new find was found close to  a footpath on farmland near Sheriff Hutton and the previous two finds, the jewel now known as the Middleham Jewel and a ring were both found near, of course,  Middleham Castle.  This has led to speculation they were both owned by members of the Neville family.

The tiny gold bible.  The Yorkshire Museum had said that the figures depict St Leonard and St Margaret, both patron saints of childbirth.

Now – before I proceed any further I must give thanks to John Cherry, of the British Museum and his book The Middleham Jewel and Ring from which I have gleaned much of my information.   I recommend this book for anyone wanting to know all there is to know about the Jewel and the ring, especially the ring which sometimes gets overshadowed by the grandeur of the jewel.  

THE MIDDLEHAM JEWEL

The Middleham Jewel.  Photo yorkshiremusem.org.uk

This jewel which is nothing short of spectacular  was found in September 1985 next to a path which led from  Jervaulx Abbey to  Middleham Castle and then to Coverham Abbey  by a Mr Ted Seaton and initially was sold at auction by Mr Seaton and the owners of the land for £1.3 million.  However when it was deemed by The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art to be ‘outstanding’ the Yorkshire Museum mounted a fund raising campaign and managed to raise £2.5 million.  The jewel was thus saved for the nation. There is, pleasingly, at the back of the book a list of the donors who enabled the jewel to be saved for the nation.  Thank you very much, each and everyone of you!

The jewel consists of a gold lozenge shaped pendant 64 mm high and 48 mm wide weighing 62.65 grammes engraved with religious scenes and figures.  To the front is a beautiful sapphire,  a latin inscription and an engraving of the Trinity.  The back has figures of 15 saints, the Lamb of God and an engraving of the Nativity. Experts have dated it to the third quarter of the 15th century and it would have been worn as a pendant on a very rich lady’s necklace or collar.  There are several examples of similar pendants to be found on various effigies and  brasses as well as the drawings of the Rous Roll which features ladies of the Neville family.

Where would such a jewel, very likely a ‘specific commission’, have been made? John Cherry suggests London where large congregations of goldsmith were located in Cheapside.  There was, of course also goldsmiths on London Bridge aplenty which was a kind of medieval Bond Street.  Hmmm – perhaps – however there would surely have been goldsmiths in York?   There are small holes around the edges which indicate that when it left the goldsmith’s shop,  all sparkly and new,  it had a metalwork frame to which were attached pearls.  It must have been amazingly beautiful and it’s easy to imagine the joy of the lady who received it.  Was it a gift from an indulgent husband to his wife or had the lady commissioned the piece herself?

One of the illustrations from the book.  Detail from a border of a Flemish manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford,  illustrating a similar jewel with its pearls intact.

The jewel was artfully designed so that by pressing against four of the saints the back slid open.  The sliding plate could be locked by means of the little key which turned a piece of gold inside the jewel.  This locking system no longer works.  Interestingly the jewel, which still retains remains of  enamelling in parts,  shows signs it was at sometime in its life repaired.  This would indicate it had been well worn and perhaps even passed on – perhaps mother to daughter?  

The sapphire probably was not the only precious stone that adorned the jewel.  Amazingly there are signs this sapphire did not begin its life on the jewel but had been recycled as it is pierced along its sides as if it was once worn strung perhaps on a necklace before it was placed on the jewel in a prominent position above the exquisitely engraved Trinity.   This stone  itself served a dual purpose – that of protection plus devotion.  

Around the edges of the front of the jewel is finely engraved Ecce agnus dei qui tollis peccata mundi (Behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world). These words would have been recited by the priest in the Mass shortly before Communion and would have been very familiar to someone who lived in the 15th century  The first letter ‘E‘ still has remains of the original enamel.   The last two words of the inscription are Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters used to indicate the name of God and Ananizapta, used as a magical word to protect against drunkenness or epilepsy.  These two words were believed to be  effective against illness and John Cherry believes that this would suggest the owner of the jewel was worried about health matters and would have looked upon the jewel as a protection against illness of even death.   

So who was the original owner of the Middleham jewel?   Well if the dating is correct the most obvious candidate for that would be Anne Beauchamp (1426-1492) Countess of Warwick and wife to Richard Neville later known as the ‘Kingmaker.’ They were married as children and later Middleham Castle would be one of their homes.   Anne was not greatly fecund only having  two children that made it to adulthood.  She was however known for her care and comforting of women in labour – ‘Glad to be at and with women that traueld of chyld’  – so it’s conceivable the jewel with its nod to protecting ladies in pregnancy and labour would have had a strong appeal to her (1).  It’s poignant to remember that Anne’s skill and empathy to women in labour would have been never more needed than  on the 16th April 1470 when her own daughter, Isobel,  had the misfortune to go into labour onboard a ship, outside Calais,  that had been denied permission to land.   A truly horrendous situation for all involved and with the tragic result that the baby was either born dead or lived only a very short time and was buried at sea.   

Could Anne have lost the jewel one day when she was travelling along that footpath close to her home?  Or bearing in mind that the jewel shows signs of wear and repair perhaps she gave it to her eldest daughter, Isobel who was to marry George Duke of Clarence and was to have, as far as is known, 4 children, two of whom died soon after birth including the little one born at sea.   When Isobel died on the 22 December 1476 aged 25 was the jewel returned to her mother who maybe then passed it to her youngest daughter Anne, then Duchess of Gloucester?  Middleham was the favourite home of the young duchess before she became queen.   Was Queen Anne the last owner and the one who lost the jewel?   Whoever it was it’s easy to imagine the distress its loss  would have caused the loser.  Perhaps it was  stolen and  lost by the thief making a hurried exit?   We will of course never know.  

Anne Beauchamp.  Latin version of the Rous Roll.   Photo the Heraldry Society.

THE MIDDLEHAM RING

Interior of the ring which has been engraved with the word ‘Sovereynly’ which translates to ‘In a regal or sovereign like manner’  Photo : York Museums Trust 

The exterior of the ring decorated with twelve esses similar to those found in the  livery collars of the Kings and Dukes of Lancaster including John of Gaunt. 

The ring which is large, and designed to wear over a glove, was found in the East Park at Middleham, in September 1990.  Decorated with 12 esses,  the areas between the letters were originally enamelled black.  Thus the gold letters would have shone out.  The engraved  word ‘Sovereynly’  in the interior of the ring may be linked  to ‘Sovereyne’  which was the motto of Henry IV prior to him becoming king in 1399 and when he was the Earl of Derby and if so it would have been worn to indicate the wearer was a supporter of Henry or it may even have been a gift from him (2).  

Splendid example of a Lancastrian collar of esses c.1447.  Lord Bardolph, church of St Mary, Dennington, Suffolk.  Photo mira66 @ flkr.

In the 1930s other objects were found when the moat was cleaned up including a  small copper alloy boar badge, which may have belonged to one of Richard IIIs retainers and which are now on loan to the Yorkshire Museum.  Let us hope these sublime and  important finds won’t be the last.  

1. Rous Roll 
2. The Middleham Jewel and Ring p.11. 

If you enjoyed this you might also like

The Sisters Neville – Isobel, Duchess of Clarence and Queen Anne Neville, Daughters to the Kingmaker

QUEEN ANNE NEVILL – HER BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY

CROSSRAIL – A PORTAL INTO MEDIEVAL LONDON

EDWARD OF MIDDLEHAM ‘SON TO KYNG RICHARD’ & THE MYSTERIOUS SHERIFF HUTTON MONUMENT

GEORGE DUKE OF CLARENCE, ISOBEL NEVILLE AND THE CLARENCE VAULT

The Last Stand of Martin Schwartz and his German Mercenaries at the Battle of Stoke Field 16th June 1487.  Unknown artist Cassell’s Century Edition History of England c.1901.

Dublin, Ireland, Ascension day, 24th May,  1487 (1).     A young lad is crowned King of England and France and Lord of Ireland in Christ Church Cathedral by the last remaining diehard Yorkist rebels and leading Irish nobles.  As the coronation regalia was out of reach at Westminster, London, they enterprisingly utilised a crown from a statue of the Virgin Mary.  From the very get go there is confusion as to whether he was crowned Edward V or Edward VI but the consensus of opinions lean towards the latter.   Who this young lad was has baffled historians ever since not helped by the fact that the very people that crowned him annoyingly changed their minds over who they were actually crowning – was it Richard of Shrewsbury or Edward Earl of Warwick?  Perhaps Richard can be ruled out swiftly because the heralds of the time addressed the Dublin King as Edward. However there is no confusion as to whom the actual  ‘suspects’ in the case were though being :

Richard of Shrewsbury, youngest son of Edward IV

Edward,  Earl of Warwick, George Duke of Clarence’s son

Edward eldest son of the late Edward IV, who had been for a short time Edward V.

 Lambert Simnel the young boy whom the rebellion became named after.  Let’s take a look at them one by one.  

The choir Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin scene of the ‘Dublin King’s’ Coronation..Photo with thanks to Diliff – own work.  

RICHARD OF SHREWSBURY, DUKE OF YORK

It was Richard, born 17 August 1473,  who for a while was first named as the new king.  He was of course the youngest of Edward IV’s sons and had disappeared in 1483 with his brother, Edward V, from the Tower of London.  Their story has been told many times and is so well known I won’t  go into it here.  It being put forward that Richard was  the new king  was speedily abandoned and Warwick named in his stead.  Can we rule out for sure that Richard was not the newly crowned king?  Probably but nothing is entirely certain in this foggy story much of it written in the early reign of the first Tudor king.   Did Richard survive the cataclysmic outcome of Stoke  and make his way  to Burgundy to the safe haven that was the court of his aunt, the indomitable Margaret of Burgundy? Did he then go on to morph into Perkin Warbeck to try yet again to gain the throne that had been lost to the Tudors?  

Edward, Earl of Clarence.

 Edward b.25 February 1475, replaced Richard as being identified as the new king.  In the aftermath of the death of his mother, Isobel Neville,daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick,  on the 22 December 1476, his father George,  Duke of Clarence,  may have taken off to Ireland for several weeks (2). He had put the death of his wife and their baby son squarely down to their having  been poisoned.   He was later accused, in the Act of Attainder against him,  of instructing friends and allies namely Abbot John Strensham of Tewkesbury, one of his son’s Godfathers,  John Tapton and Roger Harewell to aid him in getting the two year old out of England and to safety,  Ireland being one of the very places thought of as a possible haven.  This was to be achieved by the three men bringing a small boy to Warwick Castle to take the place of the true son of Clarence. Meanwhile another man, John Taylour was instructed to collect the real Edward in preparation of getting him out of England.    Tapton and Harewell under interrogation, whatever form that took, would deny that they had handed the child over.  Well they would wouldn’t they and their denials in the circumstances really don’t amount to much.  It is not known whether Taylour too denied whether he had carried out his part of the plan and indeed may have even been out of the country and not available for questioning (3).   Whether the plan was a success or a failure, on the execution of Clarence, the small boy,  genuine article or not, was firstly given into the guardianship his father’s enemy Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset and later on for a short time to his aunt, Queen Anne Neville.   He would eventually be placed with other royal children at Sheriff Hutton Castle, Yorkshire,  where following the deaths of both his aunt in March 1485 and his uncle King Richard III at Bosworth in August 1485 he would be given for a short while into the care of Margaret Beaufort at her London home of Coldharbour before being housed in the Tower of London until he was executed on the 28th November 1499.    It should be noted that none of his above guardians would have probably seen hide or hair of him prior to  their guardianship of him so it would be very possible indeed they would not have spotted a changeling boy had been brought to them.  It is rather disturbing to think that if this indeed happened a completely innocent young man  would have been executed, although indeed the true Earl was an innocent too.  

Interestingly a Burgundian  chronicler, Jean de Molinet, writing in about 1504 and free from the restraints of writing under a Tudor regime  wrote that ‘One little branch, engendered by a Royal tree, had been nurtured amongst the fruitful and lordly shrubs of Ireland…. this very noble  branch is Edward, son of the Duke of Clarence…’  As John Ashdown-Hill pointed out,  Molinet’s Burgundian background ‘makes him a very interesting source’ one of the ‘key supporters of the Dublin King’ being Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy.  Margaret was of course aunt to Edward of Warwick as she was to both the sons of Edward IV.  

LAMBERT SIMNEL

Lambert Simnel as a scullion in the kitchen of Henry VII.  Artist unknown.  Getty images.

Lambert born c. 1476/7 seems, to me,  the most unlikely candidate.  Why would they have crowned an imposter? It begs the question was Lambert truly Lambert the Imposter, a mere stalking horse,  or were there two Lamberts, one of them a true scion of the house of York or maybe even someone else?   Described by Virgil as a comely youth, and well favoured, not without some extraordinary dignity and grace of aspect’  his story is rather odd from the beginning with a name that screams ‘made up’  and  those not well read in history can be forgiven for confusing him with a character from panto or even a cake that you eat at Easter but in fact early documentation states his father’s name was Thomas Simnel who had connections to Oxford.    His metamorphosis from the son of a joiner or a baker, or organ maker  or a shoemaker, depending what version you are reading,  by a lone priest,  seems rather unlikely.  How would the priest, named either as Richard Simons or William Symonds, again depending on what version you are reading, have been able to coach him so successfully in the minutiae of the Yorkist court?   Certainly  the coaching was  successful for when Henry sent over a herald to Ireland to question him, the herald returned convinced he was someone who would have been at court having answered all his probing questions correctly. He had first appeared at the castle in Dublin in 1486 accompanied by Simons.   Gerald Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare welcomed him after Simons had explained that his young protégé was the young Earl of Warwick who had managed to escape his prison in the Tower of London.     But at the end of the day although we may not know who Lambert truly was, we do know where he was after the battle of Stoke for he was discovered and taken to Henry Tudor.  Henry had him placed to work in the kitchens as a scullion, it is said, although later he would achieve the giddy heights of a falconer and Simons was imprisoned for life.   At one point, Henry, who could be really mischievous at times, bless, had invited several Irish nobles who would have known Simnel by sight including the Earl of Kildare to dine.   The hapless Lambert was charged with pouring them their wine – ‘new King Lambarte Symenell brought them wine to drink…’    The Irish nobles failed to recognise the ‘servant’ attending on them.  Henry gave them a nudge – ‘Ah’ said Henry ‘here is the lad you lot crowned at Dublin – you’ll be crowning monkeys next’ or words to that effect (4).  The joke was somewhat on Henry when still they all failed to recognise Lambert.  Little is known about Lambert’s later life.  Let’s hope it was a good one.  

On Saturday 5 May 1487 John Earl of Lincoln, Francis Viscount Lovell and Martin Swartz, a highly experienced general,  arrived in Dublin along with  2000 veteran German troops supplied by the staunch Margaret of Burgundy.   Margaret  ‘ abhorred the mingling of the blood of York and Tudor and yearned to see it thrown down from the throne of England and that of York, pure and undivided, set up in its place’  besides which she liked nothing more than to wind Henry Tudor up.   Lincoln led the call for the young lad to be crowned.  Which he was – the Bishop of Meath performing the ceremony.  After the crowning he was ‘carried from the church to the castle by a chieftain of the name of Darcy’,  said to be man of great height (5). Swiftly following on from this, King Edward, Lincoln,  Lovell and the Irish lords, Thomas and Maurice Fitzgerald along with Swartz crossed the sea from Ireland to Lancashire arriving around the  5th June.   Kildare had recruited 4000 Gaelic kerne to augment their numbers.  Upon their arrival they were joined by Sir Thomas Broughton and his followers, their numbers now swollen to around 8,000.  Still hopelessly outnumbered – it has been suggested Tudor’s army amounted to as many as  36,000 – and expecting no mercy if they were taken the rebels fought bravely until they were almost exterminated to a man (6).  Among those fallen were Lincoln, the Fitzgeralds and the brave Swartz.  Lovell may have escaped and there is a story that he was given refuge in Scotland.  The rather lurid story that he escaped to his ancestral home of Minster Lovell and was there found, a skeleton,  walled up in a hidden room in the 18th century can be discounted as the manor and lands were at the time of Stoke owned by  a rabid follower of Henry, his uncle Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford who held them until his death in 1495.

Edward V  

After the battle, which was fought on the 16 June, the heralds recorded that the young King Edward was taken, only his real name was ‘John’  ‘And there was taken the lade that his rebelles called King Edwarde whoos name was in dede John – by a vaylent and a gentil esquire of the kings howse called Robert Bellingham’ (7).

 The inclusion of the name ‘John’ has been described by Gordon Smith as a perhaps a ‘spontaneous invention recorded shortly afterwards’.     Only wait!  It is perhaps more than a coincidence that there are reasons to believe that Edward V had been living since 1484 incognito under the name of John Evans (EVans…get it!) at Coldridge in Devon one of the properties owned by his half brother, Thomas Grey,  Marquess of Dorset.  After Stoke, if this theory is correct he would return there to live out the remainder of his life perhaps after being grieviously wounded during the battle.   To read more about this theory please read, if you have not already done so  A Portrait of Edward V and Perhaps Even a Resting Place?  and A PORTRAIT OF EDWARD V AND THE MYSTERY OF COLDRIDGE CHURCH…Part II.

And so the last terrible battle of the Wars of the Roses was over.  I’ll not linger upon it.  It is well recorded elsewhere.  But in very brief summary the Yorkist leaders, Thomas Fitzgerald and Martin Swartz lay among the slain but the majority were unnamed and would be  buried in mass graves far from their homes.   It is said only 200 of King Edward’s army survived.  The English and Irish who were captured after were executed while the foreign ones were dismissed.  

AFTERMATH

One of the most surprising victims of the rebellion was Edward V’s mother and mother-in- law to Henry VII, Elizabeth Wydeville.  Only having recently regained some of the status she had lost during the reign of Richard III she was now the dowager Queen Mother and it came as a bolt out of the blue when after a council meeting at Sheen in February 1487, held to discuss the revolt, her recently acquired gains were removed from her forthwith and she was sent to reside in Bermondsey Abbey while Dorset was sent to the Tower.  She lived out the last years of her life there and her will demonstrates that she was living, if not in penury,  in much straitened circumstances.  Yes, Elizabeth had been caught at it again.  She was involved in the Simnel Rebellion.  This was quite extraordinary as, if the rebellion had succeeded, her own daughter Elizabeth of York would have been ejected from the throne, her little  grandson Arthur disinherited.   No doubt her son-in-law would have got the chop too but every cloud has a silver lining as they say.   Why would she do this? Certainly not for the son of Clarence, a man she had hated,  to take the throne.  Let’s not beat about the bush.  Elizabeth knew that at least one of her sons survived but that is another story for another day.  

Recommended reading- Lambert Simnel and the King from Dublin GORDON SMITH

and The Dublin King by John Ashdown-Hill

1.    The date of 24th May has  been accepted by some historians as this was the date given in the Earl of Lincoln’s attainder passed by the English Parliament in November 1487.  However historian Randolph Jones believes that the Coronation was actually held 3 days later on the 27th May, which was a Sunday and the usual day that Coronations were held.  See his article A Revised date for the Dublin Coronation of Edward VI.  Ricardian Bulletin June 2009 pp.42-44.2.
2. John Ashdown-Hill The Third Plantagenet p.133.
3. The Dublin King p.71 John Ashdown-Hill.