There was only one man left with any ground on which to challenge Richard III from the Lancaster side: Henry Tudor. 25 Oct 2020. His special interests include pottery, architecture, world mythology and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share in common. Loyal followers were rewarded such as Stanley who was made Earl of Derby, Constable of England, and allowed to keep the rich hangings from Richard’s tent at Bosworth. Richard III divided his army into the three groups, positioned in strategic locations at the top of Ambien Hill. The king fought bravely and perhaps a little foolishly in his efforts to kill Henry Tudor with his own sword. They rushed Richard’s charge and cut it short. Here, Chris Skidmore, author of Bosworth: The Birth of the Tudors, brings you 10 facts about one of the most famous battles in English history. They drove their charge directly toward Henry himself. Cite This Work Stanley commanded 3,000 men at Bosworth and so his support would prove vital to whoever he gave it to. On April 28, 1489, a mob hunted him down and tore him from limb to limb. Henry Tudor was crowned King Henry VII of England under a nearby oak tree in Stoke Golding, not far from where the Battle of Bosworth had taken place. Cheney was the tallest soldier in all of England and one of the most feared men on the battlefield. He had been named Protector of England by his elder brother, Edward IV, who had asked him to lead the country until his 12-year-old son became old enough to inherit the throne. The whole history of England, of the Americas, of Christianity, and of the whole world would have followed down an entirely different path. The landscape would have been a marshy plainland (later to be drained), across which ran a Roman road. The king’s army consisted of a similar mix of troops to Henry’s but with slightly better equipment and certainly more cavalry. Now with an army of perhaps 5,000 men, Henry had at least a chance of toppling the king and his much larger army if he could persuade some of Richard’s men to defect either before or during the forthcoming battle. The First Battle of St Albans: 22 May, 1455: Battle of Blore Heath: 23 September, 1459: Battle of Northampton (1460) 10 July, 1460: The Second Battle of St Albans: 17 February, 1461: Battle of Towton: 29 March, 1461: Battle of Barnet: 14 April, 1471: Battle of Tewkesbury: 4 May, 1471: Battle of Bosworth Field: 22 August, 1485: Battle of Stoke Field: 16 June, 1487 Neither were they particularly well-equipped and so were mostly archers or spearmen. It may also have been the case that Richard preferred to engage Henry as soon as possible before he had a chance to swell his numbers with even more defectors from the Crown. Edward V of England (r. Apr-Jun 1483 CE) was only 12 years of age and so he had a regent, his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Richard then made his threat against the Stanleys explicit. What happened the battle of Bosworth? "Battle of Bosworth." For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. License. The War of the Roses had already seen 32 bloody years before the Battle of Bosworth Field. Other names for the battle included ‘Brownheath’ and ‘Sandeford’. Wikimedia CommonsThe Battle of Bosworth Field, as painted by Philip James de Loutherbourg in 1804. Henry’s force met the king’s army at Market Bosworth, a small village near Leicester on 22 August 1485 CE. My kingdom for a horse!" Battle of Bosworth. Please support Ancient History Encyclopedia Foundation. Several gouge marks in the front of the skull seem to have been caused by a dagger, perhaps in a struggle. In particular, his ‘rear guard’ – 7,000 men led by Henry Percy, the earl of Northumberland – stood still, and ‘no blows were given or received’, suggesting that Northumberland’s men were kept out of the action. Mere minutes before, Richard III had outnumbered his enemy nearly three-to-one. They stampeded through England toward Richard III. Richard III and Henry Tudor fight in the center of Bosworth Field, as painted by Abraham Cooper in 1825. Listen to historian Nicola Tallis exploring the life of Tudor matriarch Margaret Beaufort, in this lecture recorded at BBC History Magazine’s 2019 History Weekend. Richard may have preferred to engage Henry as soon as possible before he had a chance to swell his numbers with even more defectors from the Crown. The story of Bosworth, 529 years on, remains very much alive. The crown is placed atop Henry VII’s head, by Richard Caton Woodville in 1902. Even with Henry VII in power, the Great Chronicle of London declared that Northumberland had been killed for his “deadly malice” in “the disappointing of King Richard at Bosworth Field.”. Books Despite the dubious hand that fate had dealt him on this day, the king did have one ace to play: himself. What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The king was killed when Sir William Stanley finally decided who to support and directed his 500-cavalry force to further encircle Richard, cutting him off from his own troops. So for anyone interested in knowing as far as possible ‘what happened’, here are 10 key things to bear in mind…. The Battle of Bosworth was fought on August 22nd 1485. Meanwhile the Stanley brothers (Henry Tudor’s step-father, Thomas Lord Stanley, and Sir William Stanley) had around 6,000 men between them. Henry VII’s heir, Henry VIII, would cut ties with the Roman Catholic Church and start the Church of England. Then they knocked him off of his horse. Another weakness of Henry’s army, besides numerical inferiority, was the fact that many of his fighting men were conscripted tenant farmers with only limited battle experience. Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. The king ran straight into the fray and even took on Henry Tudor’s giant, the 6’8″ tall John Cheney. Deciding the quickest way to end the battle was to head straight for Henry and cut him down, Richard charged down the hill with his heavy cavalry. Written by Mark Cartwright, published on 20 February 2020 under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. The boys then disappeared in 1483. In conclusion, Bosworth remains a battle with an enduring appeal: it is not simply a tale of defeat and victory, but also of treachery and intrigue. When Edward IV of England (r. 1461-1470 CE & 1471-1483 CE) died unexpectedly on 9 April 1483 CE, his young son became king. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please enter your number below. That shouldn’t stop anyone knowing the basic facts of one of the most famous battles in English history, however. The spot commanded the whole battlefield and had the added advantage of marshland protecting the king’s flank. He was going to lose the Battle of Bosworth – and the war. Richard signaled to Northumberland to defend his king and bring him victory at the Battle of Bosworth. It is hard to imagine the scale of battle. Henry won the day, largely because some of Richard’s allies either switched sides or remained inactive during the battle. When Richard III called for his horse to charge Henry, in that instant, the entire world changed. "Battle of Bosworth." On this podcast, historian and politician Chris Skidmore offers his take on pivotal moments such as Richard’s seizing of the throne, his death at Bosworth and the disappearance of the princes in the tower: “God forbid I yield one step”, he is reported to have said. Everything you ever wanted to know about... Treachery at Bosworth: what really brought down Richard III, The 5 greatest mysteries behind the Wars of the Roses, The Regency era: everything you wanted to know, What was the Roman Empire’s greatest defeat? Was the skeleton in the Leicester car park really Richard III? The boys were never seen again and Duke Richard made himself king in July 1483 CE. Even Yorkists supporters were shocked at this turn of events, and the old foe the Lancastrians had not gone away completely. Richard III had been ‘overjoyed’ to hear of his landing, confident that he would defeat the ‘rebel’. Another advantage was that Richard had some heavy artillery pieces while Henry had only a number of light field guns. Battle Lines, Battle of Bosworthby Jappalang (CC BY-SA). Thanks! Richard III was a powerful warrior. The duplicitous Northumberland, as it turned out, would remain inactive throughout. Richard III was killed during the brutal battle. War, consequently, was all those two men had ever known. They pressed on until the armies met in the moors and the war became then a brutal clash of steel, skin, and blood. Perhaps they were unable to cross the marsh. The king’s army, which had arrived first, had formed at the top of Ambian Hill with Richard himself in command and wearing his battle crown and royal arms. Taking advantage of the discontent at Richard’s court, Henry gathered around him some impressive support: the Woodvilles (family of Edward IV’s queen, Elizabeth Woodville), nobles not happy with Richard’s distribution of estates or favours, and Charles VIII of France (r. 1483-1498 CE), eager to cause any disruption that limited England’s power abroad, particularly in Brittany. With infant blood on the hands of the king, one last revolt rose up against Richard III and the York dynasty. Henry... Richard III of England ruled as king from 1483 to 1485 CE. For 32 years, England was torn apart in a brutal civil war between the Lancasters and the Yorks. (Act 5, Scene IV). Skeleton of Richard III of Englandby R.Buckley et al (CC BY). Edward V of England (r. Apr-Jun 1483 CE) was only 12 years of age and so he had a regent, his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester. But how did Richard III die? Cartwright, Mark. It was to be a decisive engagement in the long-running dynastic dispute known to history as the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487 CE). He had a thin claim to the throne, but he was England’s only hope to overthrow the onerous Richard III. The back of his skull was cut clean off. Richard spotted Henry Tudor’s standards and decided to charge towards him with his mounted cavalry, perhaps some 200 men in total, wearing the crown over his helmet. This was a king more than capable of defending his throne on the battlefield, and even Shakespeare has Richard perk up a bit on the morning of the battle: "Conscience is but a word that cowards use…Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law" (ibid). They waited to gauge the winner before they made a move. “This day I will die as a king or win”. Henry’s troops stood their ground but reformed into a wedge shape which pushed back Richard’s first attack. He stated "God forbid I yield one step. Henry still had to face some challenges, notably, a Yorkist revival centred around the pretender Lambert Simnel, but this was quashed at the Battle of Stoke Field in June 1487 CE.
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