Lambert Simnel: The Boy King Who Nearly Toppled the Tudors

A commoner's son crowned king before he turned eleven, then set to work turning the spit in the royal kitchens for the rest of his life. This deep dive explores how Lambert Simnel became the figurehead of a bloody rebellion that came remarkably close to toppling the newly established Tudor dynasty, and how his greatest triumph was simply surviving.We trace the conspiracy engineered by the priest Richard Simon, who trained an obscure boy to impersonate a Yorkist prince, and follow the plot through Ireland, Burgundy, and a decisive battlefield in England. It is a study in how a strategically placed rumor could rally an entire army.Simon's decision to pass Simnel off as Edward, Earl of Warwick, after a shift in political rumorsThe 1487 coronation as King Edward VI at Christ Church Cathedral in DublinMargaret of York's funding of 2,000 Flemish mercenaries under Martin SchwartzThe Battle of Stoke Field, often called the true final battle of the Wars of the RosesHenry VII's merciful pardon, putting Simnel to work as a kitchen boy and later royal falconer