CHAPTER IX. THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF STOKE. {177a} “Have we so soon forgot those days of ruin, When York and Lancaster drew forth the battles, When, like a matron butchered by her sons, And cast beside some common way, a spectacle Of horror and affright to passers by, Our groaning country bled at ev’ry vein?” ROWE’S _Jane Shore_, act iii. BEFORE commencing a description of the Field of the Battle of Stoke (in Nottinghamshire), it may be advisable to mention concisely the nature of a very formidable insurrection, which was suppressed by that battle. John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, {177b} a man of talents, courage, and enterprise, was a nephew of Edward IV. and of Richard the Third, and also of Margaret, {177c} the widow of Charles the Bold, or the Rash, Duke of Burgundy. Margaret was an uncompromising and implacable enemy of Henry VII., {178a} and in 1487, a formidable conspiracy was set on foot, by her and the Earl of Lincoln, of which the object was to raise an insurrection in England against Henry. It was given out that Edward Earl of Warwick, son of George Duke of Clarence, and nephew of Edward IV., had effected his escape, notwithstanding the vigilance of Henry VII., and had gone abroad; and Lambert Simnel, {178b} the son of a joiner, named Thomas Simnel, of Oxford, {178c} was tutored by Richard Simons, a priest of that city, to personate the young prince. Margaret furnished the Earl of Lincoln with 2000 Germans, veteran troops, commanded by Martin Swartz, an officer of talents and experience. With these forces, and with Lambert accompanying him, the earl landed in Ireland, and Lambert was soon afterwards crowned as King, in the Cathedral at Dublin. They remained some short time in Ireland, where the earl raised a body of Irish forces, and provided transports; and having at length sailed from Dublin, the Earl landed with his army, on the 4th of June, {178c} near Pile of Foudrey, at Furness, in Lancashire, where Sir Thomas Broughton, who had become a party to the conspiracy, had considerable possessions; and the spot near the village of Broughton, where, according to tradition, they encamped after landing, is even now called Swart Moor, after the commander of the German troops. The insurgents were there joined by Sir Thomas Broughton, and others, with additional forces.