Entry taken from the book The Plantagenet.
That a king of England should be crowned in Dublin and not in London is strange; that it was when there was already a monarch of England crowned and reigning in London is even more so. However, as strange as it may seem, this event took place in Ireland in 1487. Its protagonist is known as The Dublin King, and speculation about whether he was an impostor or the legitimate heir to the English crown has continued to this day.
Let's situate ourselves; the regulars of the blog are familiar with the dynastic conflict known as the War of the Roses that pitted the houses of York and Lancaster against each other for the English throne. The branch of the York, after the death of Ricardo Plantagenet, was represented by his sons Eduardo, Jorge and Ricardo. That of Lancaster by King Henry VI. At one point in the conflict, a member of the House of York, Jorge Duke of Clarence, goes over to the side of the Lancasters due to alleged grievances received from his brother Eduardo. In compensation, in 1470 Henry VI named George his heir in the event of the death of his own son.
Between 1470 and 1485, Henry VI, his son and his heir, Edward of the House of Lancaster and George, Duke of Clarence, died. This makes the latter's son, named Edward, heir to the rights to the Lancastrian throne. The question seems unimportant, because at that time the house of York rules in England, through the two brothers of Jorge Duke of Clarence; first Edward IV and, on his death in 1483, Richard III.
However, in 1485 there is a rebellion against Richard III led by Henry Tudor, who intends to assert his right to the throne through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, a member of the Lancaster house. Henry invades England from France, defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in which he dies, and is crowned King of England as Henry VII.
The new king is aware that his dynastic rights are more than questionable and to consolidate them he marries the daughter of Edward IV of York, Elizabeth. But he knows there is someone who has more claim to the throne than he does, both from the perspective of the House of York and the House of Lancaster. It is the son of George of Clarence, Edward, invested with the powerful title of Earl of Warwick. Eduardo would be the legitimate heir to the house of York as a descendant of the brother of kings Edward IV and Richard III and also of the house of Lancaster, as his father was designated heir by Henry VI in the event of the death of his son. .
Henry VII, aware of the threat, orders the Earl of Warwick to appear in London, where he is confined in the Tower until his execution for treason in 1499. And here the legend begins:on May 24, 1487, a man who says being the true son of George of Clarence, supported by numerous supporters of the House of York led by the Earl of Lincoln is crowned King of England in Dublin. The Tudor propaganda denies from the beginning that this character is the son of the Duke of Clarence and points out that he is an impostor named Lambert Simnel.
The supposed Edward VI invades England the following year but is defeated at the Battle of Stoke Field (see link for what happened in the battle and Simnel's subsequent fate).
Only the location of the remains of the Earl of Warwick executed in the Tower of London in 1499 and the analysis of their DNA would contribute to definitively shed light on the enigma of the man known as The Dublin King.
Image| Henry VII