Part Seventeen: Lambert Simnel & the Battle of Stoke Field

Lambert Simnel

Aaand, we’re back at it. To note, this will be my last historical post before the New Year due to travel, but we’ll reconvene the second week of January. (In the meantime, of course, if you follow the modern stuff , there will the traditional end-of-year wrap-ups next week.) Anyway. The Princes in the Tower. Henry VII. Rebellions. Before we start, if you missed the last post on evidence for the Princes’ potential survival, you can catch up here. I recommend making sure that you’ve read it since I’ve written the below on the assumption you’re clear on those events.

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Jacqueline of Hainaut & Her Four Husbands

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We’ve touched on Jacqueline of Hainaut briefly when discussing her third husband, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and his second marriage to Eleanor Cobham. But that was two years ago now and frankly Jacqueline is the more interesting wife, one who played a mischievous role in the royal families of France and England, not to mention going up against the duchy of Burgundy in its heyday.

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The Last Will of Henry V & the Inheritance of an Empire

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Henry V was not supposed to die on August 31, 1422. Not when he was only his 30s, not when his son was less than a year old, and not when England was establishing a dual empire inclusive of France. The death itself was a national tragedy, one which would have had a huge impact on the health and viability of his successor’s reign regardless, but it was it was his final will and last-minute codicils that first drew the battle lines against which England found itself fighting for the next 60+ years.

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