# Verification notes: the 1487 claimant ("Lambert Simnel") and the Lille receipt

Items marked VERIFIED were read directly; the URL or edition is given.

## 1. The Lille receipt was in print in 1895 (VERIFIED)

Langley (2023) presents ADN B 3521/124564 (Archives départementales du Nord, Lille), dated 16 Dec 1487, as a discovery made by Albert Jan de Rooij in May 2020. An abstract of the same document, including the description of the claimant verbatim, was printed in 1895:

Jules Finot, *Inventaire sommaire des Archives départementales antérieures à 1790. Nord. Archives civiles, Série B*, tome VIII (Lille, 1895), pp. 265–266 (archive.org item `inventairesomma03finogoog`, full text at https://archive.org/download/inventairesomma03finogoog/inventairesomma03finogoog_djvu.txt; the entry sits under the heading "ARCHIVES DU NORD. — SÉRIE B" p. 266). The French abstract reads:

> Jean de Finet, marchand fustailler à Malines, (fourniture, au prix de 120 livres, de 400 longues piques de bois de frêne, de 24 et 22 pieds de long, ferrées de bons fers à la nouvelle mode, acérés et émoulus, achetées par l'ordre du Roi au mois de juin 1487 et délivrées à Mgr. de Walhain, pour distribuer aux suisses allemands picquenars qu'était alors chargé de conduire par mer messire Martin de Zwarte, chevalier d'Allemagne, que Madame la douairière (Marguerite d'York) « envoya lors, avec aucuns capitaines gens de guerre d'Engleterre, pour servir son nepveu, filz du roy Édouart, jadiz son frère, que Dieu absoille, débouté de sa seignourie et obvier aux emprinses du Roy dudit Engleterre », 16 décembre 1487)

Translation: Jean de Finet, timber merchant of Mechelen: supply, at a price of 120 livres, of 400 long ash pikes of 24 and 22 feet, shod with good iron heads in the new fashion, sharpened and ground, bought by the King's [Maximilian's] order in the month of June 1487 and delivered to the lord of Walhain to distribute to the German pikemen whom Sir Martin Schwartz, knight of Germany, was then charged to lead by sea, whom my lady the dowager (Margaret of York) "then sent, with some captains and men of war of England, to serve her nephew, son of King Edward, formerly her brother, whom God absolve, ousted from his lordship, and to counter the enterprises of the King of the said England", 16 December 1487.

Observations:
- The "King" whose order is recorded is Maximilian, King of the Romans; the accounts are his artillery accounts (Série B, Chambre des comptes de Lille).
- The abstract's own chronology is internally impossible: the pikes are said to have been bought in June 1487 for Schwartz's men, but Schwartz's force reached Ireland on 5 May 1487 (Henry VII to Ormond, Halliwell, *Letters of the Kings of England* I, p. 171) and fought at Stoke on 16 June. Chris Phillips (2024) noticed this; Langley's colleague Zoë Maula suggests the pikes were diverted to Brittany (Langley 2023, pp. 186–187).
- The neighbouring entries in the same account (same merchant Jean de Finet; Baudouin bâtard de Bourgogne's pikes for Brittany, 2 Aug 1488) show a formulaic descriptive style; the naming of the claimant is incidental to an accounting purpose.
- The same document is quoted (for the pikes) in Michael Bletzer, "'Excellent knights' and 'worthy soldiers': Habsburg captains at Bosworth and Stoke Field" (2013), p. 113.

## 2. Every other 1487 source, in three jurisdictions, says Warwick (or "Edward VI"), not Edward V

Source: Chris Phillips, "Who did 'Lambert Simnel' claim to be?" (27 Apr 2024), https://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/families/LambertSimnel.pdf (VERIFIED, read in full; note 1 says it was "partly written in collaboration with Nathalie Nijman-Bliekendaal, Zoë Maula, Jean Roefstra and John Dike", i.e. members of Langley's own Dutch Research Group). Phillips's inventory, with his references:

England
- Vergil, *Anglica Historia* (MS 1512–13; Hay 1950, pp. 12–25): the priest Symonds schooled the boy to pass as Warwick.
- Symonds's confession at convocation, 17 Feb 1487 (Register of John Morton, ed. Harper-Bill 1987, I, pp. 25–26): took the boy to Ireland "where he was taken to be the Earl of Warwick"; Warwick exhibited at St Paul's a few days later.
- Heralds' Memoir (Cavell 2009, pp. 108–117): rebels "called [him] King Edward", but "his name was in dede John".
- York House Books (Attreed 1991, II, p. 570): letter of 8 June 1487 from Masham "in the name of ther king calling hymself King Edward the vjt" (Raine 1941 mistranscribed as "V"; Lewis's claim of alteration rests on that error).
- Henry VII to the Pope, 5 July 1487 (Gairdner, *Letters and Papers* I, pp. 94–96): the Irish prelates crowned a boy "pretending that he was the son of the late Duke of Clarence"; papal mandate of Jan 1488 recites this (Cal. Papal Letters XIV, pp. 305–309).
- London citizen's notes (Green, *EHR* 96, 1981, pp. 585–590): "a child ... saying he was the Duke of Clarence's son, and was nat".
- Lincoln's attainder (Rot. Parl. VI, p. 397): pretender aged 10 in May 1487.
- Bernard André, *Vita Henrici VII* (Sutton's online edition): says the boy was passed off as a son of Edward IV and that "Edward's second son" was crowned in Ireland — the sole English dissent; Phillips treats it as André's error (he was writing c.1500–02, blind, dictating, confusing the 1487 boy with Warbeck).

Ireland
- Annals of Ulster (Mac Carthy 1895, III, pp. 298–299, 314–317; CELT T100001C, U1487.12, U1487.24): "the son of the Duke of York ... proclaimed king on the Sunday of the Holy Ghost in Ath-cliath" — an identification that fits nobody (Richard of York had no son); read literally it makes the claimant a younger brother of Edward IV.
- Red Book of the Irish Exchequer memorandum: coronation 27 May [1487], the name after "coronation" erased (Jones 2014b, pp. 207–209).
- Irish Exchequer Memoranda Roll, 2 Henry VII (destroyed 1922; two independent abstracts, Lynch and Hutchinson): a writ dated May "in the first year of Edward VI" (Jones 2014a).
- Letters patent to Peter Butler as sheriff of Kilkenny, dated 13 August "in the first year of our reign", attested by Kildare as "our Lieutenant", in the style "Edward ... King of England, France and Ireland" (Curtis, *Calendar of Ormond Deeds* III, pp. 261–263; Bryan 1933, pp. 283–285; image at the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland; Jones 2023). Regnal years ran from accession, so a document of August 1487 in Edward V's name would be "anno quinto"; "anno primo" is incompatible with Edward V. Gordon Smith (1996, p. 516 and n.) had already noted the patent and that "its seal appears to be that of Edward V", citing Bryan and Curtis's suggestion that Edward V's seal matrix came into Yorkist hands in Ireland; Smith's own dating of the patent to 1486 was rejected by Jones (Irish chancery documents still ran in Henry VII's name to 1 May 1487).
- Irish coins: "Edwardus ... Rex Anglie Francie et Hibernie", no regnal number (Carlyon-Britton 1941; Dolley 1969).

Burgundian territory (where Henry VII's writ did not run)
- Voorne domain accounts (Margaret's estate), 1487/8: payment for men to support "the Duke of Clarence", her brother's son, entitled to the English throne (Langley 2023, p. 424 n. 13 — published by Langley herself).
- Mechelen city accounts, 18 April 1487: eight flagons of wine "to the son of Clarence from England" (redated by Langley's team; Langley 2023, pp. 423–424 n. 11).
- Jean Molinet, *Chroniques* (Doutrepont & Jodogne I, pp. 562–565): Edward, son of the Duke of Clarence; London supporters cry "Vive Warwick".
- Adrien de But (Kervyn de Lettenhove 1870, pp. 665–678): "the son of the Duke of Clarence", the "Duke of Warwick".
- Caspar Weinreich's Danzig chronicle (Visser-Fuchs, *Ricardian* 7, 1986, p. 317): "the son of the Duke of Clarence".
- The Lille receipt: "filz du roy Édouart" — the one exception, plausibly a junior secretary's (Florens Hauweel's) assumption that Margaret's nephew was her brother the king's son.

## 3. The Gelders Archief item (VERIFIED, archive's own website)

Gelders Archief news item, 21 Nov 2023, "Stuk uit Gelders Archief werpt nieuw licht op Britse geschiedenis" (https://www.geldersarchief.nl/over-ons/actueel/nieuws/889-...): the manuscript is "toegang 0510 Diverse Charters en Aanwinsten, inventarisnummer 1549"; the finder, Nathalie Nijman-Bliekendaal, "had geen enkele ervaring met het doen van archiefonderzoek. Ze studeerde rechten en werkte bij Slachtofferhulp Nederland" (had no experience of archival research; she studied law and worked for Victim Support Netherlands); she found it online through its catalogue description, "een vertelling van Richard van York" (a narrative of Richard of York). The archive's page makes no claim about the document's authorship or reliability; it reports the documentary and the book.

Catalogue citation as corrected by the Dutch professional genealogist Yvette Hoitink (24 Nov 2023, https://www.dutchgenealogy.nl/new-dutch-evidence-for-the-missing-princes-in-the-tower/): "Unidentified author, story about Richard of York, circa 1500, with transcript, 1500s; call no. 1549, Diverse Charters and Acquisitions, Record Group 0510, Gelders Archief" — i.e. the archive dates it c.1500, in Dutch, author unidentified, in a collection of miscellaneous acquisitions (so provenance is not established). Hoitink also lists citation errors in the book (wrong call numbers for Bergen op Zoom registers; "Buckgegen" for the manuscript's "Buckgegem").

Prior knowledge: Langley's book itself (as summarised at sparkypus.com, 6 Mar 2024) records that the document was noticed in the 1950s by P. J. Mey, keeper of the charters, who sent it to Prof. Diederick Enklaar (Utrecht), who replied in substance "is the case of the false York, Perkin Warbeck, not already sufficiently known?" — so it was known and set aside as a Warbeck text, not unknown.

## 4. The Dutch Research Group's own caveat (secondary, quoted)

Dan Moorhouse, "Conflicting 'Proof' and the Princes in the Tower", thewarsoftheroses.co.uk, 21 Jul 2024, quotes a statement by members of the Dutch Research Group that they "considered the making of a documentary and the publishing of a book on the subject premature and possibly counter-productive", that the documents are genuine but "open to various interpretations and do not constitute irrefutable proof without other genuine and undoubted sources to back up what these documents are telling us". Located: this is a letter to the *Ricardian Bulletin*, June 2024, by Zoë Maula, Jean Roefstra and William Wiss, described as former members of the Dutch Research Group (as reported in web summaries of the Bulletin; the Bulletin issue itself is members-only and was not read directly).

## 5. Papal Penitentiary indult, 21 May 1494 (secondary, verified via Richard III Society research blog, Jan 2025)

Clarke & Zutshi, *Supplications from England and Wales in the Registers of the Apostolic Penitentiary*, vol. 3 (1492–1503), p. 127: indult to "the nobleman Richard, duke of York" for a portable altar and confessional letters, "Fiat de speciali Iul. episcopus Brethonoriensis regens". Shows the Penitentiary accepted the style used by a petitioner at Maximilian's court; it is a routine grace, not an adjudication of identity.

## 6. Henry VII to Pope Innocent VIII, Kenilworth, 5 July 1487 (VERIFIED)

James Gairdner (ed.), *Letters and Papers illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III and Henry VII*, Rolls Series 24, vol. I (1861), pp. 94–96 (archive.org `letterspapersill01gair`):

> Cum nonnulli ex praelatis Hiberniae, archiepiscopus scilicet Dublinensis, archiepiscopus Armachanensis et episcopi Medensis et Darensis, tam in nostri dominii quam censurarum ecclesiasticarum contemptum, rebellibus hostibusque nostris opem et juvamen impenderint, ac spurium quemdam puerum, quem victoria potiti in manibus nostris habemus, ad rebellium ipsorum et hostium nostrorum confingentium puerum ipsum ducis quondam Clarentiae filium esse, in regem Angliae coronarunt, ad grave nostrum et totius regni nostri praejudicium, vestram Sanctitatem humillime imploramus ut praefatos praelatos in censuras incursos ecclesiasticas postulare velit, atque in eos de jure procedere.

Translation: Since certain prelates of Ireland, namely the archbishop of Dublin, the archbishop of Armagh and the bishops of Meath and Derry, in contempt both of our lordship and of the censures of the Church, gave aid and help to our rebels and enemies, and crowned as king of England a certain base-born boy, whom, having won the victory, we hold in our hands, at the instance of those rebels and enemies of ours who feigned that this boy was the son of the late duke of Clarence, to the grave prejudice of ourselves and of our whole realm, we most humbly implore your Holiness to declare the said prelates to have incurred ecclesiastical censure and to proceed against them by law.

Why it matters: this is a private diplomatic request that triggered a real papal process in Ireland (Innocent VIII's mandate of January 1488 recites the same claim). For Langley's theory to hold, Henry would have had to plant a demonstrably false statement about the claimant's identity in a letter whose whole purpose was to get Irish bishops prosecuted in a country where everyone knew who had been crowned.

## 7. Parliament Rolls (VERIFIED, from the 1767–77 *Rotuli Parliamentorum* vol. VI, archive.org `bim_eighteenth-century_rotuli-parliamentorum-u_great-britain-parliamen_1767_6`)

Attainder of Richard III, parliament of November 1485 (1 Hen. VII), Rot. Parl. VI, p. 276:
> ... not oblivious nor puttinge out of hys godly mind the unnaturall, mischeivous, and grete Perjuries, Treasons, Homicides and Murdres, in shedding of Infants blood, with manie other Wronges, odious Offences, and abominacions ayenst God and Man, and in especiall oure said Soveraigne Lord, committed and doone by Richard late Duke of Glouc', callinge and nameinge hymself, by usurpacion, King Richard the IIIde ...

Attainder of John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, parliament of November 1487, Rot. Parl. VI, p. 397:
> ... the xxiiij day of May last passed, at the Cite of Develyn, contrarie to his homage and faith, trouth and allegiaunce, trayterously renounced, revoked and disclaymed his oone said most naturall Sovereygne Liege Lord the Kyng, and caused oone Lambert Symnell, a child of x yere of age, sonne to Thomas Symnell, late of Oxforde Joynoure, to be proclamed, erecte and reputed as Kyng of this Realme, and to hym did feith and homage, to the grete dishonour and despite of all this Realme; and frome thens ... arived with a greate Navie in Furnes in Lancashire, the iiij day of June last past ...

Note: the attainder gives the boy's age as ten and a joiner's son (Vergil: organ-maker), and does not say whom he was claimed to be. Edward V would have been sixteen in May 1487, Warwick twelve.