Warwick, and only male heir of the House of York, had effected his
escape from the Tower, and the plan of the imposture was changed.
Simnel was set to learn another lesson, and in a very brief time had
acquired a vast amount of information respecting the private life of
the royal family, and the adventures of the Earl of Warwick. When he
was accounted thoroughly proficient, he was despatched to Ireland in
the company of Simon--the expectation of the plotters being that the
imposition would be less likely to be detected on the other side of
the channel, and that the English settlers in Ireland, who were known
to be attached to the Yorkist cause, would support his pretensions.

These anticipations were amply fulfilled. On his arrival in the
island, Simnel at once presented himself to the Earl of Kildare, then
viceroy, and claimed his protection as the unfortunate Warwick. The
credulous nobleman listened to his story, and repeated it to others of
the nobility, who in time diffused it throughout all ranks of society.
Everywhere the escape of the Plantagenet was received with
satisfaction, and at last the people of Dublin unanimously tendered
their allegiance to the pretender, as the rightful heir to the throne.
Their homage was of course accepted, and Simnel was solemnly crowned
(May 24, 1487), with a crown taken from an effigy of the Virgin Mary,
in Christ Church Cathedral. After the coronation, he was publicly
proclaimed king, and, as Speed tells us, "was carried to the castle on
tall men's shoulders, that he might be seen and known." With the
exception of the Butlers of Ormond, a few of the prelates, and the
inhabitants of Waterford, the whole island followed the example of the
capital, and not a voice was raised in protest, or a sword drawn in
favour of King Henry. Ireland was in revolt.

When news of these proceedings reached London, Henry summoned the
peers and bishops, and devised measures for the punishment of his
secret enemies and the maintenance of his authority. His first act was
to proclaim a free pardon to all his former opponents; his next, to
lead the real Earl of Warwick in procession from the Tower to St.
Paul's, and thence to the palace of Shene, where the nobility and
gentry had daily opportunities of meeting him and conversing with him.
Suspecting, not without cause, that the Queen-Dowager was implicated
in the conspiracy, Henry seized her lands and revenues, and shut her
up in the Convent of Bermond