These, being well supplied with money, and bidden to
trace every movement of the youth, at length declared that they had
discovered that he was the son of a Flemish merchant, of the city of
Tournay, his name Perkin Warbeck, his knowledge of the language and
manners of England having been derived from the English traders in
Flanders. This information, with much to support it, was set afloat in
England, and the king then demanded of the Archduke Philip, sovereign of
Burgundy, that he should give up this pretender, or banish him from his
court. Philip replied that Burgundy was the domain of the duchess, who
was mistress in her own land. In revenge, Henry closed all commercial
communication between the two countries, taking from Antwerp its
profitable market in English cloth.
Now tragedy followed comedy. Sir Robert Clifford, who had declared the
boy to be undoubtedly the Duke of York, suffered the king to convince
him that he was mistaken, and denounced several noblemen as being
secretly friends to Perkin Warbeck. These were arrested, and three of
them beheaded, one of them, Sir William Stanley, having saved Henry's
life on Bosworth Field. But he was rich, and a seizure of his estate
would swell the royal coffers.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222