Why did the bosworth battle happen

Again they contain information found elsewhere, but like The Ballad of Bosworth Field are considered suspect by some historians. Another poetic account of the battle was written by Baronet, Sir John Beaumont around and is called Bosworth Field.

He was a descendant of both William Hastings, who was controversially executed by Richard III, and the earls of Oxford, whilst his father was a judge of the Common Pleas. It was written in the style of the heroic poems of old and much of what he wrote is found in other sources such as Hall, although there are a few interesting sections that go into extraordinary detail and are not recorded anywhere else. For many years the location of the battle was thought to be on Ambion Hill, close to the village of Sutton Cheney in Leicestershire.

In , after a major archaeological project, the actual site of the battle was announced to the public as being 3km from Ambion Hill, close to Fenn Lane. Although the site of the famous battle is now known, there are still many more unanswered questions: the dispositions of the three armies; their locations before and during the battle; the location of the artillery; and how events unfolded that day.

All of these questions are open to a number of interpretations due to the scarcity and ambiguities of the sources. In one version of events, it was later claimed that Rhys ap Thomas was the Welshman who killed him, although he was not a halberdier. Another version is that Ralph of Rudyard, which is near Leek in Staffordshire, dealt the fatal blow. Where this was has been lost in time, but it was most likely south of the marsh at a crossing point on one of the streams that fed the marsh.

Without the rest of the letter, we do not know in what context this was said; however, it is generally accepted that it implies that Henry retired behind a wall of French pikes when Richard charged. As the French were fighting on the flank, it probably means that Henry simply wanted to be part of the main flanking attack and it was because of this attack that the battle was won. According to Vergil, with the battle over, Henry gave thanks to God for his victory and withdrew to the nearest hill.

From here he thanked his commanders and nobles, knighted Gilbert Talbot, Rhys ap Thomas and Humphrey Stanley, and gave orders that all the dead should be given an honourable burial. We do not know how true this story is, although Henry did take the image of a crown and thorn bush as one of his badges soon after. His body was then taken back to Leicester.

Hall says that he was on the horse of his Blanc Sanglier Pursuivant , an officer of arms ranking below a herald but having similar duties, but the Great Chronicle of London says that it was a Pursuivant called Norroy. John Moore was the Norroy King of Arms, a senior herald with jurisdiction north of the River Trent Nottingham , and his son was at some point Blanc Sanglier , so it could have been either.

One of the legends associated with the battle says that as Richard rode across Bow Bridge en route to Bosworth, his spur clipped a stone pillar. One of those ubiquitous wise women who witnessed this supposedly announced that where his spur struck, his head would be broken. Unlike their Stanley rivals the Harringtons sided with the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses and remained staunchly loyal. Unfortunately, at the battle of Wakefield in , disaster struck. The Stanleys managed, as ever, to miss the battle.

They were very keen, however, to pick up the pieces of the Harrington inheritance and take their seat at Hornby, a magnificent castle that dominated the valley of the River Lune in Stanley country.

When John Harrington had been killed at Wakefield the only heirs he left behind were two small girls. They had the legal right to inherit the castle at Hornby, but this would pass to whomever they married. Stanley immediately sought to take them as his wards and to marry them as soon as possible to his only son and a nephew.

To make good his claim he took possession of the girls, and fortified Hornby against the Stanleys. Unfortunately for Harrington, King Edward IV — striving to bring order to a country devastated by civil strife — simply could not afford to lose the support of a powerful regional magnate, and awarded the castle to Stanley.

However, this was by no means the end of the matter. James Harrington refused to budge and held on to Hornby, and his nieces, regardless. In the archive of the letters patent and warrants, issued under the duchy of Lancaster seal, we can see the King struggling — and failing — to maintain order in the region.

While James Harrington fortified his castle and dug his heels in, Stanley refused to allow his brother, Robert Harrington, to exercise the hereditary offices of bailiff in Blackburn and Amounderness, which he had acquired by marriage.

Stanley falsely indicted the Harringtons, packed the juries and attempted to imprison them. The size of medieval armies is notoriously hard to establish, but it is generally believed Richard had between 8, and 10, men and Tudor between 5, and 8, The Stanley family had brought between 4, and 6, men. Norfolk was killed, and Richard took matters into his own hands, charging across the field to confront Tudor. Henry Tudor, an exile for half of his 28 years, was the new king of England.

One element of the Battle of Bosworth that is frequently overlooked is its international aspect and importance. Henry Tudor had secured French funding and military support not because they believed in his cause but because it suited their political aims.

France was dealing with a minority crisis and a feud over the regency that would spill into a civil war known as the Mad War between and Richard refused to accept the generous annual pensions offered by the French king to Edward and his nobles. From then on, France kept an eye on Richard. Next article. The First Battle of St Albans. Battle of Blore Heath.

Battle of Northampton The Second Battle of St Albans. Battle of Towton.