Perkin Warbeck in Cornwall.
Surrenders to the king's forces and is brought prisoner to London, Oct., 1498.
Is executed at Tyburn, 1499.
By the 22nd June, 1497, all immediate danger had passed, the rebels being on that day utterly defeated at Blackheath. Their leaders were taken and executed; the rest were for the most part made prisoners, but were soon afterwards dismissed without further punishment. The leniency displayed towards them by Henry was[pg 333] ill-repaid by their afterwards flocking to the standard of the soi-disant Richard IV, King of England, who availed himself of their mutinous disposition and appeared in their midst at Bodmin. The news of Perkin Warbeck having arrived in Cornwall from Ireland was brought to the mayor and aldermen of the City of London by letter from the king, which was read to the Common Council on Saturday, the 16th September.[993] The rebels made an unsuccesful attempt to get possession of Exeter, but hearing of the approach of the king's forces, Perkin Warbeck withdrew to Taunton, leaving his followers to take care of themselves. From Taunton he went to "Mynet" (Minehead) accompanied by less than sixty adherents,[994] and by the 12th October the king was able to inform the Mayor that Peter "Warboys" had voluntarily submitted himself and had confessed to his being a native of Tournay.[995] The king had him conveyed to London and paraded through the streets on horseback, in a species of mock triumph, and caused his confession to be printed and scattered over the country that people might see the real character of the man. For a time he appears to have been detained in lax custody about the court, but after he had made an attempt to escape and reach the sea-coast, and been re-captured, he was sent to the Tower. There he got into communication with the unfortunate Earl of Warwick, and entered into a plot for effecting his own and the earl's liberty. A charge was formulated against the earl on the most trivial grounds, of a conspiracy to seize the Tower, and Warbeck was indicted as an accomplice. The former, being found[pg 334] guilty by his peers, was beheaded on Tower Hill, while Perkin and three of his accomplices were hanged at Tyburn.[996]
Visit of Henry VIII as a boy to the city, 30 Oct., 1498.
In the meantime Prince Henry, who afterwards succeeded his father on the throne as King Henry VIII, but was at the time a child of seven years, paid a visit to the city (30 Oct., 1498), where he received a hearty welcome and was presented by the Recorder, on behalf of the citizens, with a pair of gilt goblets. In reply to the Recorder, who in presenting this "litell and powre" gift, promised to remember his grace with a better at some future time, the prince made the following short speech:—[997]
His speech.
"Fader Maire, I thank you and your Brethern here present of this greate and kynd remembraunce which I trist in tyme comyng to deserve. And for asmoche as I can not give unto you according thankes, I shall pray the Kynges Grace to thank you, and for my partye I shall not forget yor kyndnesse."
In anticipation of the prince's visit, a proclamation had been made by the civic authorities with the view of purging the city of infectious disease, to the effect that all vagabonds and others affected with the "greate pockes" should vacate the city on pain of imprisonment.[998]
Negotiations for a marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon.