A year after Richard III’s death, a boy claiming to be a Yorkist prince appeared as if from nowhere, claiming to be Richard III’s heir and the rightful King of England. In 1487, in a unique ceremony, this boy was crowned in Dublin Cathedral, despite the Tudor government insisting that his real name was Lambert Simnel and that he was a mere pretender to the throne.
Now, in The Dublin King, author and historian John Ashdown-Hill questions that official view. Using new discoveries, little-known evidence and insight, he seeks the truth behind the 500-year-old story of the boy-king crowned in Dublin. He also presents a link between Lambert Simnel’s story and that of George, Duke of Clarence, the brother of Richard III. On the way, the book sheds new light on the fate of the ‘Princes in the Tower’, before raising the possibility of using DNA to clarify the identity of key characters in the story and their relationships.
Chapter 1. Richard, Duke of York
Chapter 2. Edward V – and the Wider Problems of the Fate of the ‘Princes’
Chapter 3. Edward, Earl of Warwick – Authorised Version
Chapter 4. Edward, Earl of Warwick – Alternative Version
Chapter 6. Lincoln, Lovell and Yorkists in England
Chapter 7. The ‘Diabolicall Duches’
Chapter 8. The Earl of Kildare and the Irish Contingent
Chapter 9. Henry VII and John Morton
Chapter 10. Evidence from England
Chapter 11. Burgundian Preparations
Chapter 12. The Reign of the Dublin King
Chapter 13. The Battle of Stoke Field
Chapter 14. Lambert Simnel, Scullion and Falconer
Chapter 15. ‘Richard of England’
Chapter 17. Catherine of Aragon and the Spanish Interest
Chapter 18. The Third ‘Prince in the Tower’
Appendix 2: Contemporary and Near-Contemporary Records of the Dublin King’s Identity
Appendix 3: Frequency of the Occurrence of the Surname Simnel in the UK circa 1500–2000