There was, however, still a third personation, passed over by most
historians, this time by a native of London. The new Pretender was
named Ralph Wilford, the son of a shoemaker. He fell into the hands
of a scoundrel named Patrick, an Augustine friar, who taught him what
to say and how to say it. The two began to go about the country in
Kent, and to whisper among the simple country folk the same story that
Lambert Simnel had told. This lad was none other than the Earl of
Warwick. When the friar found that the thing was receiving, here and
there, a little credence, he began to back up the boy, and even went
into the pulpit and preached on the subject. But this time the matter
was not allowed to get to a head. There was no rebellion: both the
rebels were arrested, the young man was hanged at St. Thomas Waterings,
and the friar was put into prison for the rest of his natural life.
In the year 1500 was a “great death” in London and in other parts.
The “great death” was due to an outbreak of plague; not the sweating
sickness, which also returned later, but apparently some form of the
old plague, the “Black Death.” It is one of the many visitations which
fell upon the City, afflicted it for a time, filled the churchyards
with dead bodies, then passed away and was forgotten. Twenty thousand
persons, according to Fabyan, were carried off in London alone. The
King retired to Calais till the worst was over.
On the 14th November 1501, Prince Arthur, then a little over fifteen
years of age, was married to Katherine of Aragon, who was then three
years older. They were married in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Holinshed says
that a long stage was erected, 6 feet high, leading from the west doors
to the Choir; that at the end was raised a Mount on which there was
room for eight persons, with steps to go up and down; and that on this
platform stood the King and Queen and the bridegroom, and on it also
the Mayor and Aldermen were allowed a place.
[Illustration: KATHERINE OF ARAGON AND ARTHUR, PRINCE OF WALES
C. Butler’s Collection.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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