Perkin Warbeck

A pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII of England, Perkin Warbeck was an impostor, a Fleming born in Tournai in about 1474. He pretended to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV of England. The real Richard was almost certainly dead by this time, murdered in the Tower of London. Warbeck was first heard of in the court of Burgundy in 1490, and obtained assistance from Henry's various enemies, including King James IV of Scotland -- who allowed Warbeck to marry a royal relative, Catherine Gordon -- and Margaret of Burgundy, who was Edward IV's sister and the widow of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.

After making a feeble military challenge to Henry in 1498, Warbeck was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. In the company of Edward, Earl of Warwick, a genuine claimant imprisoned there by King Henry, he attempted escape in 1499, was captured and executed as a traitor.