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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Question from Glen - Perkin Warbeck

why did perkin warbeck pose such a threat to henry VII? A level

2 comments:

  1. You might try to find "The Perkin Warbeck Conspiracy 1491-1499" by Ian Arthurson. It's all about Warbeck's claim and how it impacted the politics of the time.

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  2. I had a similar A-level question on this too!
    Perkin Warbeck was a significant threat due to the number of European courts that welcomed him. By doing so, these monarchs were directly challenging Henry and had some political motive. For example, the French king Charles VIII, received him at court and recognised him; this was probably done not because Charles genuinely felt he was who he said he was, but instead to pressurize Henry to not oppose French interests relating to Brittany. These monarchs struck a deal with Henry; a sort of ‘you don't oppose us doing this and we will recognise Warbeck as a pretender’ and thus a traitor. Subsequently Henry was forced to enter peace treaties with France, Scotland and the Holy Roman Emperor.
    Also Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile were refusing to send their daughter Katherine to England while the threat of Warbeck persisted. So it posed a threat to relations with Castile and Aragon which Henry wished to preserve. Hope that helped.

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