Who was Perkin Warbeck

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Q.� Whom did he impersonate

A.� He masqueraded for six years as Richard, Duke of York - one of the two 'princes in the tower'. The plot also cost the life of the last Plantagenet, Edward, Earl of Warwick.

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Q.� How did he start this fraudulent career

A.� He was born in Tournai, France, lived in Flanders and later in Portugal. He arrived in Ireland in the employment of a silk merchant in 1491. There - for reasons that will never be clear - supporters of the House of York persuaded him to impersonate Richard, Duke of York, the younger brother of Edward V, and who was supposed to have been murdered in the Tower of London. He said he had been permitted to escape when his brother was murdered, a story plausible enough to be accepted by those who wanted to believe it.

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Q.� But did anybody believe him

A.� Yes. He was received by Charles VIII of France as Richard of York. Even Margaret of Burgundy agreed he was her nephew. He attended the funeral of Emperor Frederick III in 1493 at the invitation of Maximilian I.

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Q.� And he tried to seize power

A.� Yes. Warbeck first attempted to invade England and topple the Lancastrian Henry VII was 3 July, 1495, with the help of Margaret of Burgundy. A small force landed near Deal and they were quickly repulsed. Warbeck never even got off the ship. He made for Ireland and with the support of the Earl of Desmond, he besieged Waterford. The town resisted and he was again forced to withdraw, this time to Scotland.

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Q.� Was he any more successful there

A.� He was well received. He married King James IV's cousin, Lady Catherine Gordon, and was granted a monthly pension of �112. James accepted his claim to the English throne. James agreed to invade England, in support of Warbeck, in September, 1496 - but it was a disaster. Nobody wanted to support Warbeck's cause and the Scots returned without a shot fired in anger.

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Q.� He wasn't terribly good at being a battling king, was he

A.� No - and it got worse. He returned Ireland and awaited another excuse for a fight. It came in June, 1497, when Cornishmen rose in protest at tax increases. Warbeck thought he could expect support there, so on 12 September he arrived near Land's End with 120 men in two ships. He gathered several thousand unarmed men and marched upon Exeter. Exeter fought back, so Warbeck moved on. When the King's army arrived, Warbeck quickly fled and took refuge in Beaulieu Abbey, where he surrendered without a fight.

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Q.� And execution followed swiftly

A.� No. Warbeck confessed to Henry at Taunton on 5 October, 1497, that he was from a bourgeois family in Tournai. He had come to Cork as a merchant's apprentice and had been 'recognised' as a Yorkist prince. Warbeck tried to escape in June, 1498, and was then sent to the Tower of London. Early in 1499, yet another pretender - this time a false Earl of Warwick - appeared to challenge Henry. He was also thrown in the Tower and put in the cell next to Warbeck. While and informer spied upon them, they plotted - as they had been expected to. They conspired to burn down the Tower, escape to Flanders, and put the real Earl of Warwick on the throne.

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Q.� And word got back to the King

A.� Yes. The false Warwick and the real Warwick, with several others, were found guilty of treason. Perkin Warbeck, a commoner, was hanged on 23 November. The Earl of Warwick, a noble, was beheaded on Tower Hill six days later.

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By Steve Cunningham