Richard Symonds
Art Neuendorffer
http://45.1911encyclopedia.org/V/VE/VERE_FAMILY_.htm
Robert, the 5th earl (1240--1296). who brought into his family the
chamberlainship to the queen by his marriage with the Sandford heiress,
sided with Simon de Montfort, and lost for a time his earidom and
offices. John, the 7th earl (1313--1360), was a distinguished soldier,
fighting at Crecy and 'Poitiers and in all Edward III.'s wars in his
time; and his marriage with a Badilesmere heiress added to the lands and
titles of his house. His son, Thomas (1337--1371), also a soldier, was
father of Robert, 9th earl, the famous favourite of Richard II. In spite
of his attainder (1388), his uncle Aubrey (c. 1340--1400), a follower of
the Black Prince, was restored to the earldom, by consent of parliament
in 1393, but not to the great chamberlainship. As the earldom (which had
been held in fee) was granted to him in tail male, this is looked on by
some as a new creation. His elder son, Richard (d. 1417), the next earl,
held a command at Agincourt, and was father of Earl John, who was
beheaded as a Lancastrian, with his eldest son, in 1462. Their death was
avenged by his younger son John, the 13th earl (1443--15 13), who shared
to the full in the triumph of the Red Rose. On the death of his nephew
John, the next earl (d. 1526), the baronies (it was afterwards held)
passed away to his sisters, but the earldom descended to his cousin
John. (d. 1540), though the crown resumed the great chamberlainship.
This John, who was in favour with Henry VIII., was grandfather, through
his younger son Geoffrey, of the celebrated "fighting Veres," Sir
Francis and his brother Sir Horace. His eldest son John, 16th earl (c.
1512--1562), was in favour with Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth, and
contrived to recover for his family the office of great chamberlain.
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228 (inv 1486) John (de Vere), 13th Earl of Oxford.
In command at the battle of Bosworth in support of Henry VII,
and later against SIMNEL's rebellion.
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24th May, 1487, LAMBERT SIMNEL (undercook) crowned King Edward VI
http://tudorhistory.org/secondary/henry7/c4.html
<<MODERN research has added nothing to the slender information given by
early writers with regard to that "strange accident of State," the
rebellion which took place in the second year of Henry's reign in favour
of Lambert Simnel. But the circumstances out of which it arose are clear
enough. The king was still "green in his estate." A number of the
Yorkist party were still dissatisfied. So much mystery surrounded the
fate of the sons of Edward IV. that idle rumours prevailed that one, if
not both of them, were still alive. The imprisonment of Warwick in the
Tower aroused suspicions that the king would put him to death, and
rumours were even spread that he had been actually made away with. It
was under these circumstances that Richard Simon, a priest of Oxford,
stirred perhaps by some restless spirits behind the scenes, inspired an
adventurous boy named Lambert Simnel, whose education doubtless had been
entrusted to him by his parents, with the idea of personating a young
prince of the House of York. The lad was only ten years of age, the son
of one Thomas Simnel, described afterwards in an Act of Parliament as
"late of Oxford, joiner," but in another document as an organ maker;
while the blind poet, Bernard Andre, who lived at the time, was not sure
whether the youth claimed a baker or a shoemaker for his father. His
origin, therefore, was obscure enough, but he was a bright lad and an
apt scholar. He was first encouraged to personate Richard, Duke of York,
the younger of the two princes murdered in the Tower; but perhaps owing
to the rumour that Warwick had died in prison, it was thought that he
could as safely fit himself with the character of the latter personage.
And to prevent immediate detection Simon carried his pupil over to
Ireland, where he was declared to be the Earl of Warwick, son of the
Duke of Clarence, newly escaped from the Tower.
The devotion of the Irish people to the House of York, and their
characteristic readiness to acquiesce in impostures without too much
inquiry, at once secured for him an enthusiastic reception. It has been
supposed that Henry neglected Ireland at the beginning of his reign
because he failed to remove the Earl of Kildare, who had been Lord
Deputy in the reigns of Edward IV. and Richard III. But evidence exists
which shows pretty clearly that he only forbore from policy to attempt
what was beyond his strength; for he sent over to Ireland a messenger
named John Estrete expressly to invite the earl over to England to
confer with him as to the best means of bringing the country completely
under English rule; and as this was in reply to a request of the earl
himself to be made Deputy for a term of nine or ten years, the king,
without committing himself in any way, gave every indication that he was
well disposed to consent, but wished, for one thing to see whether the
rvenues of Ireland could be made to bear the charge of £1000 a year for
the Deputy's salary, or whether that would have to be provided
otherwise.
It is not clear, however, that this message reached the earl before
Simnel's landing in Ireland. If it did we must suppose that it did not
entirely satisfy him. For Kildare took counsel with the nobles and
others upon the young man's pretensions, and it was unanimously agreed
to support them. The supposed son of Clarence was lodged in Dublin
castle with great honour, proclaimed King of England by the name of
Edward VI., and presently (24th May) crowned in Christ Church Cathedral,
Dublin, amid the universal enthusiasm of the populace. Not a sword was
drawn in Henry's favour. Bishops, nobles, judges, and high officers of
State, all with one consent came to over their allegiance to the
pretender.
Nor was this all; for Ireland was but the scene chosen for the
development of a widespread conspiracy, the first beginnings of which
had not wholly escaped the king's notice. As early as February, just
after Candlemas Day, the king had held a Great Council at Sheen, the
chief result of which was a very mysterious decision taken about the
queen-dowager. That Elizabeth Woodville, when her daughter was actually
Queen of England, could have knowingly joined an intrigue to dethrone
her husband is hardly credible in itself, and there is no reason to
think it true. But she was a most unsteady woman, and her indiscretions
may have been such as to serve the enemy's purpose almost as well as any
active support she could have given them. Whatever may have been the
case, the king thought fit, on due consideration, to deprive her of her
jointure lands, which he had only a year before restored to her, leaving
her to find a retreat in the Abbey of Bermondsey, where she had a right
to claim apartments as King Edward's widow, with a pension of 400 marks,
which the king soon after augmented to £400. In that seclusion, from
which apparently she only emerged on some special occasions, she passed
the few remaining years of her life, a miserable and disappointed woman.
Her jointure lands were given by Henry to the queen, her daughter.
Another result of the Council just referred to was seen in the flight of
one of the noblemen who had taken part in it almost immediately
afterwards. This was John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, who, being the
eldest son of the Duke of Suffolk by Elizabeth, sister of Edward IV.,
had been named as successor to the kingdom by Richard III. not long
before Henry's invasion. That he should have been disappointed at
Henry's success was of course only natural, and it would seem that the
proceedings at the Council convinced him that he was in danger of being
arrested as an intriguer. He escaped beyond sea and joined Lord Lovell
in Flanders, where he reported that Warwick was in Ireland and that he
himself had been privy to his escape, having conferred with him at Sheen
just before he left England. This was an excellent foundation for a
plot. In Flanders all disaffected Yorkists were sure of sympathy from
Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, widow of Charles the Bold, who, being a
sister of Edward IV. and also of the Earl of Lincoln's mother, was bent
upon the restoration of the House of York, and did everything in her
power to encourage intrigues against Henry. And it really seemed that
this enterprise, begun through the instrumentality of an impostor,
required only a little judicious aid to enable Lincoln to turn Henry off
the throne.
Henry meanwhile met the danger first by ordering Warwick to be taken
from the Tower one Sunday and conducted through the streets in sight of
all the people to St. Paul's; and secondly, by issuing a general pardon
for all offences, including treason against himself, on the submission
of the offenders. He at the same time caused the coasts to be well
watched, not only to prevent further escapes, but to guard against
invasion, which was especially apprehended on the eastern coast. For
this reason orders were given on the 7th of April to set the beacons in
order throughout Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex; and to confirm the loyalty
of those counties, the king himself determined to go a progress through
them. So having appointed two generals -- his uncle *Jasper* , Duke of
Bedford, and the *Earl of Oxford* -- in case of any invasion either from
Ireland or from Flanders, he left London in the middle of March and
passed through Essex and Suffolk into Norfolk. At Bury St. Edmunds he
was informed that the Marquis of Dorset -- alarmed, no doubt, at what
had befallen his mother, the queen-dowager -- was coming to his presence
to explain his conduct when in France, and deprecate further suspicion;
but considering the uncertainties of the time, the king thought it best
to send the *Earl of Oxford* to apprehend him and put him in the Tower,
so as "to try his truth and prove his patience." For Henry considered
that if he were really loyal, as he actually proved, he would willingly
endure so slight an indignity for the sake of his prince, while if he
were otherwise it would prevent his doing mischief. Henry kept his
Easter at Norwich, and on Easter Monday (16th April) rode from thence to
the famous shrine of Walsingham.
After paying his devotions there he turned westward towards the centre
of the kingdom. He reached Coventry in less than a week, in time to keep
the feast of St. George there, which was done with very special
solemnity. Morton, who was now Archbishop of Canterbury, with five other
bishops and a host of clergy, solemnly read in the cathedral the Pope's
bulls declaring the king's right to the Crown, and that of the queen
which was joined to his by marriage; whereupon they "cursed with book,
bell, and candle" all who should in any way oppose those rights.
Meanwhile the Earl of Lincoln and Lord Lovell, having obtained from the
Duchess Margaret a band of 2,000 veteran Germans, under the command of
an esperienced captain named Martin Swart, left the Low countries, not
to invade the east coast, but to join Simnel in Ireland, and landed in
that country on the 5th of May. The king was still at Coventry when he
heard the news, attended by most of the southern nobility, who had been
summoned thither to assist him with their counsels. Most of these he at
once sent back to their own districts to muster men, but some remained
with him and sent orders to their people to be ready whenever summoned.
Henry then rode to Kenilworth, and sent the Earl of Ormond to bring the
queen and his mother to him there. News next came that the enemy had
landed in Lancashire beside Furness Fells. A council of war was held at
once, and *Oxford* , at his own request, was given the command of the
royal forces.
Being thus compelled to face for a time a renewal of the civil war,
Henry determined, for his part at least, to check as far as possible
those enormities with which the country had been too familiar during
such commotions; and by the advice of Morton, Fox, and others, he issued
a very stringent proclamation against robbing churches, ravishing women,
or even taking victuals without paying for them at the prices "assized
by the clerk of the market," on pain of death. Nor was any man to
venture to take a lodging for himself not assigned to him by the king's
harbingers, on pain of imprisonment and further punishment at the king's
discretion. The strictest discipline was enforced throughout the army;
and the stocks and prisons of market towns in the rear of its march were
filled with vagrants and offenders against the proclamation. Thus the
king and his host advanced in good order to Nottingham, where they were
joined by a very large force of the Earl of Derby's men under his son,
*Lord Strange* , and from thence to Newark, near which town, at the
village of Stoke, they met and defeated the invaders.
The enemy had done well to land in Lancashire, where they knew they
could reckon on the aid of Sir Thomas Broughton and get a few English
followers to join the ill-assorted crew of Irishmen and Germans who came
to support Simnel's pretensions to the English throne. But they had
greatly miscalculated in thinking that they would receive much support
in England. They had naturally made for York, where the feeling in
favour of the House of York had always been strong; but the country was
desolate, and Lovell's previous abortive attempt in Yorkshire did not
dispose the people in their favour. The hordes of half-savage Irishmen
under Lord Thomas Fitzgerald (the Earl of Kildare's brother), and even
the well-trained mercenaries under Martin Swart, were calculated rather
to arouse disgust and indignation. Meeting with no favourable reception
in Yorkshire, they came southwards and endeavoured to surprise Newark;
but were met, as we have just said, at Stoke, and utterly routed with
great slaughter. The Irish, "after the manner of their country, almost
naked," being only armed with darts and skeins, fought bravely, but were
cut down in masses. The rest of the host, too, maintained the fight with
the obstinacy of desperate men. All the leaders -- Lincoln, Lovell,
Swart, and Sir Thomas Broughton -- either died on the field, or at least
were not seen alive after it; for as regards Lovell there was a report
that he had escaped and lived long after in some secret place, and it is
even supposed that his body was discovered as late as the beginning of
the eighteenth century in a long-hidden chamber at Minster Lovel in
Oxfordshire. Simnel and his tutor, the priest, were taken prisoners, and
the former being a mere boy, the king, with great policy, instead of
putting him to death, took him into his service as *a menial of the
royal kitchen* .>>
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Richard Symonds by name
http://57.1911encyclopedia.org/S/SI/SIMNEL_LAMBERT.htm
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<<SIMNEL, LAMBERT (fi. 1477-1534). English impostor, was probably the
son of a tradesman at Oxford. He was about ten Ga' ars old in 1487, and
was described as a handsome youth of trai telligence and good' manners.
In 1486, the year following e' accession of Henry VII., rumours were
disseminated by the ~., who had been murdered in the Tower of London,,
were still lati ye. A young Oxford priest, Richard Symonds by name,
conceived the 'project of putting forward the boy Simnel to of personate
one of these princes as a 'claimant for the crown, He th the idea of
thereby procuring for himself the archbishopric sec Canterbury. He set
about instructing the youth in'the arts eig d graces appropriate to his
pretended birth,; but meanwhile 'for report having gained currency that
the young earl of Warwick, des n of Edward IV.'s brother George, duke ~f
Clarence, had died thc the Tower, Symonds decided that the impersonation
of this dif ;ter prince would' be a more easily credible deception. It
(G probable that Symonds, acted throughout with the' connivance his the
Yorkist leaders, and especially of John de la Pole, earl bet Lincoln,
himself a nephew of Edward IV., who had been named tin jr to the crown
by Richard III. The Yorkists had many th~ ,herents in Ireland, and
thither Lambert Simnel was taken am Symonds early in 1487; and, gaining
the support of the str rl of Kildare, the archbishop of Dublin, the lord
chancellor wh a powerful following, who were, or pretended to be, con-
C. riced that the boy was the earl of Warwick escaped from the )wer,
Simnel was crowned as King Edward VI. in the cathedral in Dublin on the
24th of May 1487. . .
The priest Symonds, and Simnel were taken prisoners. Ge 2e former was
consigned to a dungeon for the rest of his life; for it Henry VII.,
recognizing that the youthful pretender had 18, en a tool in the hands
of others and was in himself harmless, ap, Lrdoned Lambert Simnel and
took him into his own service St the menial capacity of scullion.
He was later promoted Cc be royal falconer and is said to have
afterwards become a tinun in the year 1534.>>
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Art Neuendorffer