ABSTRACT
The positions of Ireland and Scotland, in theory and in practice, were far more problematic. Kildare’s loyalty was tested early in the new reign when Lambert Simnel landed at Dublin in May 1487, claiming to be the Earl of Warwick, the Yorkist heir to the throne. The principal difference between Scotland and Ireland in the sixteenth century was that Scotland had been for many years an independent country under the rule of its own kings. James IV himself was killed, along with the flower of the Scottish nobility and around 10,000 of his troops, and his realm passed to his son, the infant James V. Cecil persuaded Elizabeth that immediate intervention was needed, and in January 1560 an English fleet dropped anchor in the Firth of Forth, effectively severing the French lifeline.
