Overview

Battle of Bosworth Field

22 August 1485

The Battle of Bosworth Field, fought on 22 August 1485, was one of the most consequential battles in English history. It brought the reign of King Richard III to a violent end, placed Henry Tudor on the English throne as King Henry VII, and marked the beginning of the Tudor dynasty. Traditionally regarded as the decisive confrontation of the Wars of the Roses, Bosworth transformed a long-running dynastic struggle into a new era of English monarchy.

The battle was not simply a confrontation between the houses of Lancaster and York. By 1485, the political divisions of England had become considerably more complicated. Richard III was the Yorkist king, while Henry Tudor represented a coalition of Lancastrian exiles, dissatisfied Yorkists, and other opponents of Richard's government. The loyalties of several powerful noble families remained uncertain until the battle itself.

The Road to Bosworth

Richard III became king in 1483 following the death of his elder brother, King Edward IV. Edward's twelve-year-old son initially succeeded as Edward V, with Richard, Duke of Gloucester serving as Lord Protector.

Before Edward V could be crowned, however, the validity of Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was challenged. Edward V and his siblings were declared illegitimate, and Richard accepted the crown as Richard III.

Edward V and his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York, subsequently disappeared after being housed in the Tower of London. Their fate remains unknown. The disappearance of the boys, remembered as the Princes in the Tower, became one of the greatest controversies surrounding Richard's reign.

Richard faced rebellion within months of becoming king. Among his opponents emerged Henry Tudor, who had spent much of his life outside England.

Henry possessed royal ancestry through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of King Edward III. His hereditary claim to the crown was considerably weaker than those of many earlier contenders, but years of dynastic warfare had eliminated numerous individuals with stronger claims.

Henry also promised to marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV. The proposed marriage helped him attract Yorkists who had become hostile to Richard III.

Henry Tudor Invades England

Henry sailed from France in August 1485 and landed at Mill Bay in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on 7 August.

His initial army was relatively small. As Henry marched through Wales and into England, however, additional supporters joined him.

Richard III learned of the invasion and assembled his own army. The king had greater military resources than his challenger, but the loyalty of some of England's most powerful nobles was uncertain.

Particularly important were the Stanley family.

Thomas Stanley and his brother Sir William Stanley commanded substantial forces but did not immediately commit themselves to either side. Thomas Stanley was also married to Margaret Beaufort, making him Henry Tudor's stepfather.

Richard attempted to ensure Stanley loyalty by holding Thomas Stanley's son Lord Strange as a hostage.

Nevertheless, the Stanleys approached the coming battle independently.

The Armies Meet

Richard's forces occupied a position near Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. Henry's army approached the royal forces on the morning of 22 August 1485.

The exact size of the armies remains uncertain. Richard probably commanded the larger force.

Richard's army included troops commanded by John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland.

Henry entrusted much of the tactical command of his army to the experienced soldier John de Vere, Earl of Oxford.

Meanwhile, the Stanley forces remained separate.

Their refusal to immediately declare for either Richard or Henry meant that both commanders entered the battle uncertain about what the Stanleys would ultimately do.

The Battle Begins

The fighting began with exchanges of artillery and arrows before the opposing forces engaged at close quarters.

Oxford maintained relatively tight control over Henry's troops. Norfolk's division fought against Oxford's men, and the battle became increasingly intense.

The Duke of Norfolk was killed during the fighting.

Northumberland's forces, positioned with Richard's army, apparently failed to provide the king with the support he required. Historians continue to debate whether this resulted from deliberate disloyalty, battlefield circumstances, or an inability to engage effectively.

Richard could see that the battle was becoming dangerous.

Then he saw an opportunity.

Richard III's Final Charge

Henry Tudor was not an experienced battlefield commander. He remained somewhat removed from the main fighting with a relatively small personal guard.

Richard apparently spotted Henry's position and made an extraordinarily bold decision.

Rather than allow the battle to continue indefinitely, Richard personally led a mounted charge directly toward Henry Tudor.

If Richard could kill Henry, the rebellion might collapse immediately.

The king and his household knights crashed toward Henry's position.

During the attack, Richard reportedly killed or unhorsed men close to Henry and came remarkably near his rival.

For a brief moment, the entire future of the English monarchy may have depended upon the distance separating the two men.

But the Stanley forces finally intervened.

Sir William Stanley's troops entered the battle on Henry's side, surrounding Richard and his remaining supporters.

Richard's horse became trapped or was lost during the fighting. According to later accounts, he continued fighting on foot rather than attempting to escape.

Richard III was killed.

He was 32 years old.

The last Plantagenet king of England had fallen on the battlefield.

A Crown Changes Hands

Richard's death effectively ended the battle.

Henry Tudor's supporters proclaimed their leader king.

Later tradition claims that Richard's crown was discovered near the battlefield and placed upon Henry's head. Whether the famous story occurred exactly as later writers described it is uncertain, but its symbolism endured.

Henry became King Henry VII.

Rather than claiming that his right to rule came solely through conquest, Henry presented himself as the lawful king and dated the beginning of his reign to 21 August 1485 — the day before Bosworth. This had an important political consequence: men who had fought for Richard on 22 August could technically be treated as having fought against their lawful king.

Henry nevertheless needed more than victory on a battlefield to secure his new dynasty.

Richard III After Bosworth

Richard's body was taken from the battlefield to Leicester.

He was eventually buried at the church of the Greyfriars, a Franciscan religious house in Leicester. During the Reformation the friary disappeared, and the precise location of Richard's grave was eventually forgotten.

More than five centuries later, an archaeological excavation beneath a parking lot in Leicester uncovered a skeleton in 2012.

Scientific examination, archaeological evidence, and genetic analysis identified the remains as those of Richard III.

His remains were reinterred at Leicester Cathedral in 2015.

The discovery became one of the most remarkable archaeological investigations involving an English monarch.

Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

Henry VII followed his victory by consolidating his authority.

On 18 January 1486, he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.

The marriage was politically significant because it symbolically joined the competing dynastic traditions associated with Lancaster and York.

The union eventually became represented by the Tudor Rose, combining the red rose associated with Lancaster and the white rose of York.

Henry and Elizabeth's children included Arthur, Prince of Wales; Margaret Tudor; Henry VIII; and Mary Tudor.

Through them, the consequences of Bosworth extended far beyond Henry VII's own reign.

Was Bosworth the End of the Wars of the Roses?

Bosworth is frequently described as the battle that ended the Wars of the Roses, but this is an oversimplification.

Yorkist opposition to Henry VII continued.

In 1487, supporters of the pretender Lambert Simnel mounted a major rebellion. Henry's army defeated them at the Battle of Stoke Field on 16 June 1487.

For this reason, Stoke Field is often regarded as the final major battle of the Wars of the Roses.

Other threats to Henry's throne continued afterward, most notably the appearance of Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the missing Princes in the Tower.

Nevertheless, Bosworth remains the decisive dynastic turning point.

Legacy of Bosworth Field

The Battle of Bosworth Field changed the course of English history.

Richard III became the last English king to die in battle. His death ended the reign of the House of York and the rule of the Plantagenet kings, whose dynasty and branches had dominated the English monarchy for more than three centuries.

Henry VII's victory established the Tudor dynasty, which ruled England from 1485 until 1603.

The dynasty produced some of England's most famous monarchs, including Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Bosworth therefore represents more than the death of one king and the accession of another. It stands at the intersection of medieval and Tudor England: the culmination of decades of dynastic conflict and the beginning of a monarchy that would oversee enormous political, religious, cultural, and international change.

On the morning of 22 August 1485, Henry Tudor was an exiled claimant attempting to overthrow an anointed king. By the end of the day, Richard III lay dead and Henry possessed the English crown.

Few single days altered the direction of the English monarchy so dramatically.