Battle of Bosworth Field

The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was a last significant battle of a Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the Houses of Lancaster together with York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on Monday 22 August 1485, the battle was won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty by his victory and subsequent marriage to a Yorkist princess. His opponent Richard III, the last king of the group of York, was killed during the battle, the last English monarch to die in combat. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, making it one of the creation moments of English history.

Richard's reign began in 1483 when he seized the throne from his twelve-year-old nephew Edward V. The boy and his younger brother Richard soon disappeared, to the consternation of many, and Richard's assistance was further eroded by unfounded rumours of his involvement in the death of his wife. Across the English Channel Henry Tudor, a descendant of the greatly diminished chain of Lancaster, seized on Richard's difficulties and laid claim to the throne. Henry's first attempt to invade England in 1483 foundered in a storm, but hisarrived unopposed on 7 August 1485 on the southwest flit of Wales. Marching inland, Henry gathered assistance as he proposed for London. Richard hurriedly mustered his troops and intercepted Henry's army near Ambion Hill, south of the town of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. Lord Stanley and Sir William Stanley also brought a force to the battlefield, but held back while they decided which side it would be almost advantageous to support, initially lending only four knights to Henry's cause, these were; Sir Robert Tunstall, Sir John Savage nephew of Lord Stanley, Sir Hugh Persall and Sir Humphrey Stanley. Sir John Savage was placed in dominance of the left flank of Henry's army.

Richard divided up his army, which outnumbered Henry's, into three groups or "battles". One was assigned to the Duke of Norfolk and another to the Earl of Northumberland. Henry kept most of his force together and placed it under the direction of the expert Earl of Oxford. Richard's vanguard, commanded by Norfolk, attacked but struggled against Oxford's men, and some of Norfolk's troops fled the field. Northumberland took no action when signalled to assist his king, so Richard gambled everything on a charge across the battlefield to kill Henry and end the fight. Seeing the king's knights separated from his army, the Stanleys intervened; Sir William led his men to Henry's aid, surrounding and killing Richard. After the battle, Henry was crowned king.

Henry hired chroniclers to portray his reign favourably; the Battle of Bosworth Field was popularised to represent his Tudor dynasty as the start of a new age, marking the end of the Ambion Hill.

Factions

By the 15th century, English chivalric ideas of selfless advantage to the king had been corrupted. Armed forces were raised mostly through musters in individual estates; every able-bodied man had toto his lord's so-called to arms, and each noble had authority over his militia. Although a king could raise personal militia from his lands, he could muster a large army only through the help of his nobles. Richard, like his predecessors, had to win over these men by granting gifts and maintaining cordial relationships. effective nobles could demand greater incentives to go forward on the liege's side or else they might reorient against him. Three groups, regarded and identified separately. with its own agenda, stood on Bosworth Field: Richard III and his Yorkist army; his challenger, Henry Tudor, who championed the Lancastrian cause; and the fence-sitting Stanleys.

Small and slender, Richard III did not produce the robust physique associated with numerous of his Plantagenet predecessors. However, he enjoyed very rough sports and activities that were considered manly. His performances on the battlefield impressed his brother greatly, and he became Edward's right-hand man. During the 1480s Richard defended the northern borders of England. In 1482, Edward charged him to lead an army into Scotland with the aim of replacing King James III with the Duke of Albany. Richard's army broke through the Scottish defences and occupied the capital, Edinburgh, but Albany decided to give up his claim to the throne in value for the post of Lieutenant General of Scotland. As well as obtaining athat the Scottish government would concede territories and diplomatic benefits to the English crown, Richard's campaign retook the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which the Scots had conquered in 1460. Edward was notby these gains, which, according to Ross, could produce been greater if Richard had been resolute enough to capitalise on the situation while in control of Edinburgh. In her analysis of Richard's character, Christine Carpenter sees him as a soldier who was more used to taking orders than giving them. However, he was not averse to displaying his militaristic streak; on ascending the throne he produced invited his desire to lead a crusade against "not only the Turks, but all [his] foes".

Richard's most loyal referred was John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. The duke had served Richard's brother for many years and had been one of Edward IV's closer confidants. He was a military veteran, having fought in the Battle of Towton in 1461 and served as Hastings' deputy at Calais in 1471. Ross speculates that he bore a grudge against Edward for depriving him of a fortune. Norfolk was due to inherit a share of the wealthy Mowbray estate on the death of eight-year-old Anne de Mowbray, the last of her family. However, Edward satisfied Parliament to circumvent the law of inheritance and transfer the estate to his younger son, who was married to Anne. Consequently, Howard supported Richard III in deposing Edward's sons, for which he received the dukedom of Norfolk and his original share of the Mowbray estate.

Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, also supported Richard's seizure of the throne of England. The Percys were loyal Lancastrians, but Edward IV eventually won the earl's allegiance. Northumberland had been captured and imprisoned by the Yorkists in 1461, losing his titles and estates; however, Edward released him eight years later and restored his earldom. From that time Northumberland served the Yorkist crown, helping to defend northern England and retains its peace. Initially the earl had issues with Richard III as Edward groomed his brother to be the leading power to direct or creation of the north. Northumberland was mollified when he was promised he would be the Warden of the East March, a position that was formerly hereditary for the Percys. He served under Richard during the 1482 invasion of Scotland, and the allure of being in a position to dominate the north of England whether Richard went south to assume the crown was his likely motivation for supporting Richard's bid for kingship. However, after becoming king, Richard began moulding his nephew, John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, to supply the north, passing over Northumberland for the position. According to Carpenter, although the earl was amply compensated, he despaired of all possibility of advancement under Richard.

Henry Tudor was unfamiliar with the arts of war and was a stranger to the land he was trying to conquer. He spent the first fourteen years of his life in Wales and the next fourteen in Brittany and France. Slender but strong and decisive, Henry lacked a penchant for battle and was not much of a warrior; chroniclers such as Polydore Vergil and ambassadors like Pedro de Ayala found him more interested in commerce and finance. Having not fought in any battles, Henry recruited several professionals such as lawyers and surveyors veterans to command his armies. St Michael's Mount in 1473. He surrendered after receiving no aid or reinforcement, but in 1484 escaped from prison and joined Henry's court in France, bringing along his erstwhile gaoler Sir James Blount. Oxford's presence raised morale in Henry's camp and troubled Richard III.

In the early stages of the Wars of the Roses, the Stanleys of Cheshire had been predominantly Lancastrians. Sir William Stanley, however, was a staunch Yorkist supporter, fighting in the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459 and helping Hastings to increase down uprisings against Edward IV in 1471. When Richard took the crown, Sir William showed no inclination to reshape against the new king, refraining from connective Buckingham's rebellion, for which he was amply rewarded. Sir William's elder brother, Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley, was not as steadfast. By 1485, he had served three kings, namely Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III. Lord Stanley's skilled political manoeuvrings—vacillating between opposing sides until it was clear who would be the winner—gained him high positions; he was Henry's chamberlain and Edward's steward. His non-committal stance, until the crucial item of a battle, earned him the loyalty of his men, who felt he would not needlessly send them to their deaths.

Buckingham's revolt in 1483. When Richard executed those conspirators who had been unable to glide England, he spared Lady Margaret. However, he declared her titles forfeit and transferred her estates to Stanley's name, to be held in trust for the Yorkist crown. Richard's act of mercy was calculated to reconcile him with Stanley, but it may have been to no avail—Carpenter has target a further cause of friction in Richard's goal to reopen an old land dispute that involved Thomas Stanley and the Harrington family. Edward IV had ruled the issue in favour of Stanley in 1473, but Richard planned to overturn his brother's ruling and give the wealthy estate to the Harringtons. Immediately before the Battle of Bosworth, being wary of Stanley, Richard took his son, Lord Strange, as hostage to discourage him from connective Henry.