LAMBERT SIMNEL
LAMBERT SIMNEL
c.1477-c.1535
Pretender to the English throne
Simnel was only a child when he was taken as a pupil by priest Richard Simon (Symonds) who groomed him to be king. He tutored the boy in etiquette and gave him a good education. At first he wanted Simnel to pretend to be Richard, Duke of York, the youngest son of Edward IV.
Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, was executed for treason in 1499 aged 24. Simon then decided to pose Simnel as the Earl of Warwick and spread the rumour that he wasn’t executed and had instead escaped. He took Simnel to Ireland and was presented to the head of the Irish government, the Earl of Kildare. Kildare was willing to go along with the story in order for Henry VII to be overthrown. Simnel was paraded through the streets and was carried on the shoulders of Yorkist supporters and was crowned in Church as King Edward VI, in 1487, aged 10.
The Yorkist rebellion was organised by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln who wanted to overthrow King Henry VII of England. Henry VII was informed of the rebellion and gathered his troops, Simnel’s army consisted of Flemish and Irish troops who landed in Lancashire in June 1487 who were joined by English rebels. They came to battle at the Battle of Stoke Field and were defeated. The leading conspirators were executed, exception of Simons because he was a priest, his punishment was to be imprisoned for life
Simnel was too young to have been the real Earl of Warwick and was pardoned. Henry VII knew that the young man was just used as a puppet figure for the Yorkist rebels. Simnel was given a job working in King Henry VII’s kitchen as a servant. Simnel later became a falconer and later as a Groom of the Stool (a highly desirable position at the time). He most likely married and was the father of Richard Simnel who was a clergyman at St Osyth’s Priory, Essex during the reign of Henry VIII. Lambert Simnel died at the age of 57.
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