Perkin Warbeck - Early Life

Early Life

Perkin Warbeck's personal history has been fraught with many unreliable and varying statements. He himself gave out that he was Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV. After he was captured and interrogated in 1497 under the eye of King Henry VII, another version of his life was published, based on his confession. This confession is considered by many historians to be possibly only partially true as it was procured under duress. According to the confession, Warbeck was born to a man called John Osbeck (also known as Jehan de Werbecque). Osbeck, who was married to Warbeck's mother Katherine de Faro, was Flemish and held the occupation of comptroller to the city of Tournai. These family ties are backed up by several municipal archives of Tournai which mention most of the people whom Warbeck declared he was related to. He was taken to Antwerp by his mother at around age ten to learn Dutch. From here, he was undertaken by several masters around Antwerp and Middelburg before being employed by a local English merchant named John Strewe for a few months. After his time in the Netherlands, Warbeck yearned to visit other countries and was hired by a Breton merchant. This merchant eventually brought Warbeck to Cork, Ireland in 1491 when he was about seventeen, and it was here that he learnt to speak English. Warbeck then claims that upon seeing him dressed in silk clothes, some of the citizens of Cork who were Yorkists demanded to " him the honour as a member of the Royal House of York." He said they did this because they were resolved in gaining revenge on the King of England and decided that he would claim to be the younger son of King Edward IV. However, many historians believe that Warbeck lied about the story of how he came to be a pretender in order to cover his tracks and hopefully allow himself to escape the death penalty.