Perkin Warbeck's Close Escape
Marking three years since 'Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders' was published.
Three years ago today my fourth book, ‘Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick’ was released by Amberley Publishing. I had worked on the book for four years and am proud of the result. It is, I dare say, a gripping tale of treachery, betrayal, and intrigue at the heart of the early Tudor court, and in many ways influenced Tudor paranoia, not always unjustified, in successive generations.
My ethos behind the book was to centre the man who was the target for the multitude of plots and conspiracies throughout his 24-year reign, Henry VII, the usurper who now had to cling onto his hard-won crown. Hopefully, I succeeded, and the book has brought much more understanding of what the hell was going on between 1485 and 1499.
Anyway, below is a brief adapted extract from the book, and hopefully those of you who haven’t yet picked up a copy, soon find your way to it! To those who already have it, thank you for reading (and remember to review online if you enjoyed!).
Having obtained another military victory on English soil, his third after Bosworth in 1485 and Stoke Field in 1487, when Henry VII found a moment to analyse recent events, he was surely relieved to learn his war-hungry Scottish counterpart James IV had not taken full opportunity of his internal woes to pillage northern England, a few minor raids notwithstanding. Once more, Henry reverted to type and sought a prosperous peace rather than endure the gamble of war.
From Sheen on 5 July 1497, the English king dictated a set of detailed instructions for Bishop Richard Fox, who was tasked with heading back across the border to secure a deal. The bishop’s primary objective was to ‘demand and require’ James ‘deliver unto us of Perkyn Werbek’, and ‘for the goodwill and affection’ Henry bore towards his royal cousin, he would be content to bring the war to an amicable end. Fox was to stress to James that the pretender was ‘not the person that he surmised to be when he obtained his safe conduct’ so it would not damage his honour to turn him over, but should these conditions prove unacceptable, then the Scottish king should travel south to Newcastle to meet Henry in person for further discussions.
Should James consent to the terms Fox presented, however, it was Henry’s will that the Scottish monarch be bound upon pain of ecclesiastical censures to ensure he did not renege on the deal, providing ‘men of good estate and condition’ were sent to England as hostages. Compensation, meanwhile, ‘unto our subjects for the damages that they had by the throwing down of their castles and forts’ during previous raids was also expected. In return, Henry pledged he would ‘restrain our army’, despite the ‘great preparations that we have made’ to ‘our inestimable charges and costs’. In private, however, Henry empowered Fox to agree any deal which got Warbeck into English hands.
The problem Fox encountered once he received his instructions, however, was that Warbeck was no longer available to be surrendered. On 6 July, the very day after Henry composed his letter to the bishop, the pretender, with the final instalment of his pension in his purse and accompanied by his Scottish wife Katherine Gordon, sailed from Ayr harbour in the west of Scotland. James was not present, and there appears to have been little of the grand ceremony which greeted Warbeck’s arrival nineteen months earlier in November 1495, though he did leave behind his brown horse to settle any outstanding debts.
The ship which Warbeck boarded was known as the Cukow and was a French merchant vessel rather than a warship – more suitable for short voyages rather than to launch a military invasion. For the journey out of Scotland, it was stocked with provisions such as wine, bread, salt beef, mutton, cheese and fish, and probably carried around thirty of Warbeck’s followers, including Robert Barton, one of James IV’s own captains. Katherine, referred to in the Scottish records as the duchess of York and possibly leaving her native country for the first time on an uncertain adventure, was at least given some cloth by the king from which to fashion a sea-gown.
During the first week of July, Warbeck and his small crew sailed out into the Firth of Clyde and headed south towards Ireland. His activities during this period are difficult to ascertain, but at some point during August he was forced into abandoning any pretence of capturing Cork, and fled to Kinsale harbour where a handful of ships loyal to Henry VII awaited his arrival. Heading out into the Irish Sea and evading his pursuers, one contemporary account suggests Warbeck’s vessel was actually detained by English sailors who suspected he was onboard.
Even though the ship was searched, and the captain advised there was a 1,000-mark reward for the pretender’s capture, Warbeck nevertheless avoided detection by hiding within a cask of wine. He remained free, for now, but with the English coast in sight, the end of his campaign was nigh.
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"Even though the ship searched... Warbeck nevertheless avoided detection by hiding within a cask of wine." This was so mind blowing to me the first time I read your book. How close he got to being caught and how close Henry was to finally capturing him! Do you remember the feeling you got when you discovered that little known fact?
You know I love this book and reference it often. Cannot wait for the new one !