Rebellions

• Economic - Yorkshire rebellion 1489


  • tax was introduced to raise revenue for military expenditure. Also inflationary pressures were rising
  • The people in Yorkshire were dissatisfied with this so 5000 rebels to capture the city of York 
  • the rebels murdered the earl of Northumberland just outside of top life in the Northen riding of Yorkshire in April.
  • The earl of Surrey reached York and put down the rebellion with ease. This had little impact on Henry and caused no threat. It held little significance
• Economic - The Cornish Rebllion 1497

  • A new tax was introduced to raise money to fund a Scottish war
  • The people of Cornwall believed it was unreasonable that they were funding a war o far away
  • Micheal An Gof and Thomas Flamank along with 15000 rebels surrounded London - his is a threat as this is where the Kings territory is. Thet Made it to Blackheath which the historian Christine carpenter said this would have bee almaring to Henry due to the amount of people that marched such as long way without being stopped. It raised questions on how effective henrys Law and order was in these regions
  • Henrys troops marched down from Scotland and lord daubeney and his troops defeated he rebels - The rebels did reach London but did not have the power to succeed as it was poorly organised and Henrys troops were more prepared. The leaders were excecuted - Lord audley but others treated as conspirator’s and did not receive Punishment
• Foreign - Perkin Warbeck 1491-97

  • In 1491 Perkin Warbeck began to impersonate Richard Duke of York and managed to achieve support from Foreign Powers
  • Market of Burganday (Richard’s sister) tutored him in the way of the Yorkshire court an trained him courtly manors
  • Charles VIII of France received him as prince and treated him as a royal figure but Warbeck ws abandoned after the treaty of etaples
  • James IV King of Scotland recongsed him as Richard if and arranged for him to marry Lady Catherine Gordon (a relative of the Scottish royal family) he also provided Warbeck with military support, leading an invasion of England in 1496 however this was poorly supported and eventually Warbeck lost Scottish support when James agreed to true in the treaty of Ayton in 1497
  • Maximilian (HRE) supported Warbeck and recognised him as king - his a king remained symbolic however he lacked support and tangible resources from him
• Foreign - Warbeck rebllion conc.

  • He made a final attempt to gain support in the Cornish rebellion in 1497 but failed and surrender to the king.
  • Tje rebllion was signficsnt as warbecks first attempt to land in England was in 1495 and it was found out that one of the conspirators was sir Lord Stanley, Henry’s lord chamberlain who had supported him in the battle of bosworth. He was beheaded in 1495. It revealed Henry’s vulnerability as people that close to him were against him.g
  • Also Warbeck tried to abscond with the earl of Warwick when he was imprisoned but failed and was executed. This was significant as the Earl of Wawrick was a a strong claiment to the throne and in many perspectives he was very innocent so it gave Henry an opportunity to kill him .
• Foreign - The ‘white rose’

  • John deal pole killed in battle in 1487
  • Edmund de la pole had genuine claim to the throne since he was the nephew of Richard III
  • In 1501 Edmund fled England to flanders after failing to get support and seeked refuge with Maximilian - whilst in England Henry arrested Edmund de la poles family and friends
  • The treaty of Windsor in 1506 meant that Maximilian had to give up Edmund which led to him getting imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was executed in 1513
  • Whilst Richard d la pole was still a threat he died but 1525 in the battle of pavaria
• Dynastic - The Lovell Rebelion 1486

  • The Lovells and Stafford’s who both fought for Richard III at the BoB and were also very close friends with him
  • Viscount Lovell and Humphrey Stafford tried to raise an army against him however failed to raise enough troops
  • Lovell tried to raise a force in Richards heartland of support of the north riding of Yorkshire but failed.
  • Henrys close spies found out of their conspiring and despite their fleeing to Abington abbey, he was caught and forcibly removed by 60 of the kings men and were executed
  • It was signficsnt how little enthusiasm there was at this stage for rising against Henry. It’s clear that early on he still had support
• Dynastic The Simnel Rebellion 1487

  • Richard Simon’s was responsible for teaching Simnel courtly manners so he could successfully imposter Edward, the earl of Warwick as the true heir to the throne
  • Henrys use of spies meant he had notice of the rebellious conspiracy. He put the earl of Northumberland in power in the north as this is where Richard’s supporters were. However he was untrustworthy and fought for Richard in the BoB so this was a risk.
  • he was also able to reinforce coastal defences in east Angela.
  • The rebels successfully gained lots of support from the English and Irish Nobel's but also Margret of Burgundy therefore managed to raise a force of 2000 German mercenaries
• Dynastic - The Simnel Rebellion


  • henry was much more prepared. He had 12000 troops whilst Richard had 8000 troops.
  • Henrys position was much more secure. He set up the system of bonds of good behavior. This allowed behaved landowners and other people who supported him to remain in his favour and support him