Pretenders to England's Throne Quiz

Answer: Robert of Normandy

Robert of Normandy was the eldest son of William the Conqueror and should have been king of England upon his father's death in 1087. Robert's father, however, had disowned him. Robert, not content with being made Count of Maine rebelled against his father and in 1078 won a victory over the thus far invincible Conqueror near Beauvais on the border of France and Normany.

In the fighting the Conqueror was wounded and unhorsed by Robert himself. Although the two were apparently reconciled later, this was not a humiliation that William ever forgot.

When William died Robert was totally outwitted by his younger brothers when he sought to claim his inheritence. A career as a Crusader in the Holy Land brought him fame but not his crown. In the end his youngest surviving brother, Henry I, ran rings around him and finally had him imprisoned for the remaining 27 years of his life. Robert of Normandy died on February 3, 1134.

Answer: John of Gaunt

John of Gaunt (Gaunt is an anglicised version of Ghent) was born in Ghent at St Bavon Abbey in A.D.1340. He was a direct descendant of Matilda, and of six generations of kings. His father was Edward III and he was the fourth son.
Although he later became the most powerful man in the realm John of Gaunt never at any time, despite suspicion to the contrary, made any attempt to usurp the crown, which he could easily have done. He was nevertheless King of Castile and Leon, (most of Spain) a title which he took seriously even though he was never recognised by his 'subjects' and never established any kind of rule in that kingdom.
Gaunt acquired his lands, titles and estates by marriage, not through battle or murder. He obtained the duchy of Lancaster through his marriage to Blanche, the younger daughter of Henry Duke of Lancaster and the early deaths of Duke Henry and his elder daughter Maude by plague.
Without the advice of John of Gaunt it is unlikely that Richard II would have retained the crown for as long as he did.
John of Gaunt died in Leicester Castle in February 1399 aged 59 years. The crown was snatched by John's son, Henry, before the year was out.

Answer: Edward Earl of Warwick

Edward of Warwick was the son of George, Duke of Clarence, who was brother to Edward IV and Richard III. George was executed for treason in 1478 by his older brother Edward IV. Although his father's attainder barred him from the throne Edward nevertheless (because attainder was a political and reversible act) posed a threat and possible rallying point for rebels through his royal blood-line. Upon usurping the crown in August 1485 Henry Tudor moved swiftly to ensure his own security. One of his first acts was to send a body of men to Sheriff Hutton in Yorkshire in order to seize the ten-year-old Warwick.

The child was taken, like the royal princes before him, to the Tower of London where he was kept prisoner and quite literally hidden for the remaining fourteen years of his life, until he was judicially murdered by Henry on a trumped-up charge of treason.

Answer: Lambert Simnel/Edward of Warwick

The bedrock of Yorkist loyalty lay in Ireland where powerful Anglo/Norman lords reigned supreme.
In January 1487 a priest by the name of Richard Simons arrived there with a 'comely youth and well favoured', said to be Edward of Warwick.
This was Lambert Simnel and from all accounts he almost pulled it off. Simnel performed quite brilliantly throughout his dangerous charade. He was backed by Edward IV's and Richard III's sister Margaret who was the dowager Duchess of Burgundy. For whatever reason, she decided that Simnel was the real thing; perhaps she simply wished to make trouble for the supplanter of her House, Henry Tudor. Before long Lambert Simnel had the support of the powerful Earl of Lincoln who, although paying lip service to the false Warwick's pretensions, was in fact the real leader of the rebellion.
Simnel's ability to act the part was amazing and he convinced many people as to his authenticity. In Ireland, on May 24, 1487 he was crowned King Edward VI by the Archbishop of Dublin and on June 4, he sailed with his army to England.
On June 16, 1487 at the battle of Stoke (East Stoke) the issue was decided. The battle of Stoke was a close run affair but Henry Tudor came out on top after very nearly being defeated. The Earl of Lincoln, amongst many others, was killed and Lambert Simnel was taken prisoner. Henry Tudor was remarkably merciful. Since Simnel was patently not Warwick, Warwick still being Tudor's prisoner at the time, Tudor did no more than demote Simnel from king to scullion (kitchen hand). He remained working in Henry's kitchens until he was dismissed from the royal service some few years later. He then gained employment as a servant in the household of Sir Thomas Lovell.
Lambert Simnel died in 1525 at the age of fifty, a remarkable achievment bearing in mind that he was guilty of treason in Tudor times.

Answer: Perkin Warbeck

Again Ireland was the venue for the unveiling of a new pretender. Perkin Warbeck was first 'produced' to public gaze at Cork in 1491.
And as with Lambert Simnel, this young pretender convinced many of his authenticity as a prince of the blood. He behaved with all the charm and grace of a born Plantagenet. His fate, however, was not to be as fortunate as Simnel's. Warbeck was formally recognised as one of the missing sons of Edward IV by no less than such dignitaries as, Charles VIII of France, James IV of Scotland and Maximilian, Holy Roman Emperor.
Warbeck is reported to have been born in Tournai, the son of a boatman, pilot or customs controller. He travelled to Lisbon where he was employed by one Peter Vacz de Cogna. After leaving de Cogna's employ he took service with a Breton merchant named Pregent Meno who seems to have enjoyed dressing up his new employee and took him with him on a trip to Ireland. Upon arriving in Ireland dressed in silks and fine clothes provided by his protector/employer it is said that Warbeck's bearing was so princely that the Irish at once took him to be a prince. It would seem, though, that some kind of plan was already underway. It was not long before Perkin Warbeck was being escorted through Connaught and Donegal by the powerful Earl of Desmond. But Warbeck's attempts at gaining the throne of England were disastrous, and mismanaged military affairs cost him dear. This mediaeval imposter did, however, manage to convince James IV of Scotland to such an extent that he married the Scots King's daughter and received an annual allowance of £1200 from his treasury.
Unforunately for Warbeck, Henry Tudor was too powerful and too clever and had his agents in Flanders, Ireland and now Scotland.
In a woeful attempt to push his already remarkable luck still further Perkin Warbeck, now styled as Duke of York crossed the English-Scots border and proclaimed himself King Richard IV. He had with him the Scots King and a mere 1400 men. Warbeck's Scots soldiers treated this as merely another raid on the English and raped and killed, destroying everything in their path. Not one English hand was raised in favour of Perkin Warbeck. After a mere four miles, sickened at the behaviour of his rag-tag army, Warbeck turned back.
Perkin Warbeck's ill fated attempts continued until, after deserting his small mainly Irish army in Cornwall, he sought refuge and sanctuary at Beaulieu abbey and gave himself up on promise of pardon.
Henry Tudor's patience had run out and Perkin Warbeck died horribly.
First tortured, he was then dragged through the streets of London on a hurdle to Tyburn. There he was hung on a gallows and displayed. He was then cut down and whilst still alive he was disembowelled, castrated and his body severed into quarters. Finally, his head head was cut off and stuck on a pole on London bridge.
It is quite possible that Perkin Warbeck's attempt at the throne finally convinced Henry Tudor to do away with his 'prince of the blood contender', held in the Tower, the young Edward of Warwick, which he did quite shortly afterwards.

Answer: Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey was certainly a most unfortunate person. Thrust into the maelstrom of high politics in 1553 she was used pretty much as a pawn by her parents and the powerful Earl of Northumberland, John Dudley, who controlled the Council, the King, and the army . Jane Grey had married Dudley's son, Guilford Dudley, in May 1553 and John Dudley saw very clearly that on the death of the King the power and influence of his House would be advanced enormously if he were father of the new King and father-in-law to the ruling Queen.
Despite the fact the John Dudley got his way in almost everything, Lady Jane would not be budged on one important matter; she refused
adamantly to have her husband crowned as king. She despised the man and had been bullied into marrying him. A dukedom was as far as she would go and she felt that that was too much for the oafish Guilford Dudley.
There was never much of a chance for this studious young woman to succeed in her attempt to gain the crown of England. She had little wish to be queen and in the end she was left alone to face execution for an act in which she had never wanted to play a part.
Lady Jane Grey was executed by the Catholic Queen Mary on February 12, 1554. She met her end with great courage and in fact could have been pardoned had she embraced the Catholic faith. This she refused to do, preferring death to the betrayal of her faith.

Answer: Duke of Monmouth

James Monmouth was the first son born to the then exiled Charles II.
He was born in Rotterdam on April 9, 1649. Monmouth's father, Charles, was only nineteen years old when his son was born. His mother, Lucy Walter, was only eighteen. The liason between Lucy and Charles was a brief affair and Lucy was known to be generous with her favours to, shall we say, a good few others.
Nevertheless Charles recognised the boy as his own. Despite her reputation it would seem that Lucy was a loving mother. Charles in fact had to kidnap the boy from her. From then on young James was spoilt outrageously. Upon his father's restoration to the throne of England he became at nineteen years of age, commander of the King's Bodyguard, a member of the Privy Council, High Chamberlain and Master of the Horse. Money, titles and estates were lavished upon him. Young James Monmouth lived for pleasure and was full of good humour and hijinks. His charming charismatic personality won him many friends and admirers. He had houses, jewellery and £6,000 per year; not to mention his wife's £10,000 from her estates which were effectively his. Young Monmouth's wife was a Scottish heiress named Anne, two years younger than her husband. She was Countess of Buccleugh in her own right and very wealthy indeed.
James Monmouth was a very handsome young man and very athletic. He won prizes for foot racing and riding. Outwardly he was the most pleasing of young gentlemen, courteous, obliging and charming. Samuel Pepys, though, described him as skittish. And certainly there was a darker side to young Monmouth. He once employed men to slit the nose of a member of parliament who had disagreed with his father, the king. The victim, Sir John Coventry, was left for dead in the street. On another occasion he personally killed a 'beadle' (probably a 'bouncer') in a brothel brawl.

Monmouth's father Charles II died in February 1685 and the dead king's Catholic brother, James Duke of York, was proclaimed King James II. Once again war came down to religious belief as Protestants gathered around Monmouth in order to prevent the Catholic James from becoming king.
At the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685, the last pitched battle fought on English soil, the Duke of Monmouth was defeated. Monmouth, losing his nerve had fled the battlefield before the issue was decided. But at his execution in 1685 he displayed great calm and courage.

Answer: None

Charles II, although fathering several children, did not sire one legitimate heir and so his brother James succeeded to the throne on his death.

Answer: William of Orange

William of Orange was able to usurp the throne of James II because of the reigning king's foolish behaviour. After executing his nephew, Monmouth, James adopted measures which led his subjects to fear a return of Catholicism. James was a convert to Catholicism and although he wished to move the country in the direction of religious toleration his methods left much to be desired. The arrest of the Archbishop of Canterbury and six other bishops for refusing to read out James's Declaration of Indulgence in churches was an unwise measure. With the Catholic King of France using his army to massacre his Protestant Huguenot subjects, fears abounded in Protestant England that their Catholic King James might embark upon a similar course. Approaches were made to James's son-in-law, William of Orange, and within months William launched his invasion 'to save England from the bonds of popery by usurping the crown'.
James did not contest William's advance but quite simply panicked and fled to France after first ensuring that his wife and child had been sent ahead to that country. Although James II abandoned his realm he never abdicated. Certainly in the eyes of he some he was still king 'de jure' and he maintained all his titles and pretensions, this by courtesy of the French King who was lavish in his generosity towards James and his family.
William of Orange was not a popular king and his accession was marked by complete apathy. When he landed at Torbay in Devon and marched without any undue haste towards London no one joined him and no one hindered him. He had made his arrangements well in advance with those that mattered and did not expect any real problems.
William ruled England jointly with his wife, Mary II, (James II's daughter) until her death in 1694 and alone till his own death in 1702.

Answer: False

The last and little known Stuart contender for the throne of England was Henry Benedict Thomas Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart.
This individual born in Rome in 1725, was the younger son of the old pretender James III (son of James II) and younger brother of 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. Henry, or Henry IX as he was styled, was baptised by Pope Benedict XIII at a time when the powers of Europe were keen to see strife and dissension in England.
In 1744 Henry was forbidden by his father to accompany his elder brother Charles on his expedition to Scotland to regain the family's lost kingdom. Henry was mortified but James was adamant. He doted on this younger son far more than did on the more robust Charles.
Henry and Charles fell out badly in April 1747. One of the reasons was that, by virtue of his standing with the Pope, young Henry had been offered and accepted a cardinal's hat.
Henry was not popular amongst his fellow cardinals; he was a prince of the blood and he constantly reminded those around him that he was royal. He even insisted that he sit upon a golden cushion instead of the customary bare wooden stool and he was addressed as Royal Highness and Eminence.
The main object in life for his father and brother was to return to England as the rightful ruling family. In this they failed, but Henry's ambitions now lay elsewhere. Whilst his sick father sank into melancholia and his brother became a vile mannered alcoholic, Henry enjoyed his life as a successful churchman. In 1758 he became 'camerlengo' and as such presided over the enclave which elected Pope Benedict's successor. In 1759 he was Archbishop of Corinth. He was then enthroned as Bishop of Tusculum and as success bred success he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church and then, towards the end of his life, Dean of the Sacred College. Of all the pretenders to the Englsh throne Henry probably came out best. He achieved power, wealth and influence in his chosen field.
Henry died in 1807 having lived to witness the advent of Napoleon and the savage wars of conquest that accompanied the rise of that dictator.