# Rowland York > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rowland_York > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rowland_York.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_York > Source revision: 1286879589 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|English soldier of fortune and defector to Spain}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} '''Rowland York''' or '''Yorke''' (died 1588) was an English [soldier](/source/soldier) of fortune and defector to Spain. ==Early life== Rowland York was the ninth of eleven sons of [Sir John York](/source/John_York_(Master_of_the_Mint)).Sarah Clayton, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30236 ‘Yorke, Rowland (d. 1588)’], ''[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)'', Oxford University Press, 2004, retrieved 31 January 2011''Visit. of Yorkshire'', ed. Foster, p. 382. He volunteered for the [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands) under [Thomas Morgan of Llantarnam](/source/Thomas_Morgan_of_Llantarnam) in 1572. He embarked at [Gravesend](/source/Gravesend%2C_Kent) on 19 March that year with his two companions, the poet [George Gascoigne](/source/George_Gascoigne) and William Herle, but the ship in which they sailed was nearly lost on the coast of Holland owing to the incompetence of the Dutch pilot.[Samuel Egerton Brydges](/source/Samuel_Egerton_Brydges), ''Censura Literaria'', i. 111 Reaching the English camp in safety, he took part in August that year in the attack on [Goes](/source/Goes) under Captain (afterwards Sir) [Humphrey Gilbert](/source/Humphrey_Gilbert) and [the Prince of Orange](/source/William_the_Silent)'s agent Jerome Tseraerts.[Clements Markham](/source/Clements_Markham), ''Fighting Veres'', p. 46 ==Plots and equivocal reputation== Opinions differed about York. By some, he was held "bolde of courage, provident in direction, industrious in labour, and quick in execution".William Blandy, ''The Castle'', p. 26 But his profligacy and the fact that he was a [Roman Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholic) caused him from the first to be distrusted by the states.[Emanuel van Meteren](/source/Emanuel_van_Meteren), ''Historia Belgica'', lib. xiv. 430. In October 1580 he was reported by [William Herle](/source/William_Herle_(spy)) to [Francis Walsingham](/source/Francis_Walsingham) to have been arrested on a charge of felony.''Cal. State Papers'', Dom. 1547–80, p. 684 Four years later York was detected in a plot with John Van Imbyss to betray [Ghent](/source/Ghent) to [the Duke of Parma](/source/Alexander_Farnese%2C_Duke_of_Parma).Edward Grimstone, ''History of the Netherlands'', p. 82. Against the advice of the Prince of Orange, who would have preferred a more summary punishment, he was clapped in prison in [Brussels](/source/Brussels), whence he was released when the city fell into Parma's hands in 1585. He served at the [siege of Antwerp](/source/Siege_of_Antwerp_(1584-1585)), but by the intercession of his friends, he was allowed to return to England. Joining the expedition under [the Earl of Leicester](/source/Robert_Dudley%2C_1st_Earl_of_Leicester) that year, he succeeded in ingratiating himself with [Sir Philip Sidney](/source/Sir_Philip_Sidney). Appointed by Leicester to the command of the [Zutphen](/source/Zutphen) [sconce](/source/sconce_(fortification)), he, according to [William Camden](/source/William_Camden), took the opportunity thus offered him of paying back a grudge he had against the earl by surrendering the sconce to the Spaniards and inducing Sir [William Stanley](/source/William_Stanley_(Elizabethan)) to do the same for [Deventer](/source/Deventer).Mattingley, Garret ''The Armada'' He was appointed captain of a troop of lancers in the Spanish service; but was not, as he thought, sufficiently rewarded. Since he was known to be a bold and determined villain,Tozen, i. 357 it is said the Spaniards took precautions to prevent any double treachery by causing him to be poisoned. ==Death== He died in [Zutphen](/source/Zutphen) on a Sunday in February 1588, having first 'received sacraments, unction, and all'.Bertie, ''Five Generations of a Loyal House'', p. 120; but cf. ''Cal. State Papers'', Dom. 1581–90, p. 466, where he is said to have died of the smallpox. Three years later his body was exhumed and [gibbeted](/source/gibbeting) in Zutphen by order of the states. His heir was Edmund Yorke, who was executed at [Tyburn](/source/Tyburn) in 1595 for attempting to assassinate [Queen Elizabeth](/source/Queen_Elizabeth_I). Edmund had been persuaded by his uncle's associate Sir William Stanley, and Stanley's rather mysterious lieutenant Jacques de Francesci (Captain Jacques), that the assassination would be a meritorious act. On returning to England he quickly fell under suspicion, due perhaps to his association with the Irish fencing master [Patrick O'Collun](/source/Patrick_O'Collun). They were both arrested, along with Richard Williams, and all three were convicted of treason and executed. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{DNB|wstitle=York, Rowland}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:York, Rowland}} Category:Year of birth unknown Category:16th-century births Category:1588 deaths Category:Immigrants to Spain Category:16th-century English soldiers Category:English mercenaries Category:Deaths by poisoning Category:Posthumous executions --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rowland York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_York) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_York?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.