This Day in History: 1486-04-17

On 17th April 1486 (until the 20th), Henry VII was at Pontefract Castle on his way to York. He had set off from the Priory of St John of Jerusalem near London in mid-March on his first official progress of the North. Although the first armed uprising against Henry, after the Battle of Bosworth, by Yorkist supporters Francis Lord Lovell and Humphrey Stafford, did not occur until Eastertime 1486 (Easter Sunday was 4th April), after Lovell and Stafford had escaped from sanctuary at Colchester Abbey, the new king had been monitoring their activities for some time. An attempt to capture Henry VII at York was apparently foiled by Henry Percy on St George’s Day. Lovell fled to Flanders and the Stafford brothers were forcibly removed from sanctuary at Culham on the 14th May. Humphrey was executed but his younger brother, Thomas, was pardoned.