The following day the petition was read in Richard’s presence at Baynard’s Castle, London. He assented to it, and then rode to Westminster Hall where he usurped the throne by sitting on the royal chair in the court of king’s bench. As he sat at Westminster Richard knew that Rivers, Grey and Vaughan, were almost certainly dead for he had ordered their execution: instructions which were carried out at Pontefract on, or about, 25 June.
Richard was subsequently crowned on 6 July. It was a splendid occasion well attended by the nobility, and after it the new king began travelling about his realm to meet and impress his subjects.
And what of his nephews in the Tower? According to a contemporary source, the Great Chronicle of London, the boys had been seen ‘shooting and playing in the garden by the Tower’ but were then seen ‘more rarely behind the bars ands windows’ until they were viewed no more. According to Mancini, by the time of Richard’s coronation many Londoners believed that the boys were no longer in the realm of the living, or that if they still breathed, it would not be long before they ceased doing so.
Rumours that the boys were dead, or as good as, spread into the home counties and beyond and turned many people against Richard, who nonetheless enjoyed much support in the north where he had long served loyally as the lieutenant of his late brother. Thus in October, by which date Richard’s nephews had very probably been done away with, most likely on his orders, the king heard that a serious revolt had broken out in the south with the intention of overthrowing him and installing a Lancastrian claimant to the throne, an exile by the name of Henry Tudor, a descendant of Edward III. At the rebellion’s head was Buckingham, who had turned against Richard. However, the insurrection was suppressed, for magnates such as the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Stanley rallied to the king’s cause. Buckingham was captured and executed on 2 November, by which date Tudor had made an abortive attempt to land in Dorset before returning to Brittany.
After the revolt Richard attained many people. Their confiscated estates were granted to northerners ‘to the disgrace and lasting sorrow of all the people of the south’ states the Croyland Chronicle, ‘who daily longed more and more for the return of their ancient rulers, rather than the present tyranny of these people.’ As J.R. Lander has observed, Richard’s government had ‘contravened one of the most deeply rooted conventions of power, that local government should be the preserve of local families.’
Among the northerners who benefitted greatly from the king’s largesse was Sir Richard Ratcliffe, one of the men referred to in the seditious rhyme dating from 1484 quoted at the beginning of this chapter. The other men with whom he was linked in the rhyme were William Catesby and Viscount Lovell, other prominent figures in the regime of Richard.
As noted, in 1484 the hopes of diehard Lancastrians rested with Henry Tudor. They did so by default. In 1471 the House of Lancaster had become extinct when Henry VI was murdered shortly after his only son the Prince of Wales was slain at Tewkesbury where another Lancastrian, the last Beaufort Duke of Somerset, (a descendant of Edward III’s fourth son, John of Gaunt), likewise perished.
Lancastrians were not the only ones now pinning their hopes on exiled Henry. So too were many Yorkists who had become disenchanted with Richard, for in the event of a successful invasion of England, Tudor had promised to marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest sister of the king’s ill-fated young nephews: a promise he made at Rennes Cathedral on Christmas Day 1483.
Richard was well aware that Henry remained a threat despite the failure of the recent insurrection and so took steps to thwart his adversary. For example, early in 1484 he wrote to Elizabeth Woodville, who was still in sanctuary at Westminster, promising to guarantee her safety and that of her daughters and to give her an annuity of £700 if they left Westminster. The letter, witnessed by the lords spiritual and temporal and the mayor and aldermen of London, resulted in Elizabeth going to Richard’s court where she reneged on the agreement made with Tudor—via intermediaries—that he marry her daughter Elizabeth of York.
Richard also moved directly against Henry. In June he made an agreement with the Duke of Brittany’s treasurer (the duke was temporarily mentally deranged), whereby he would give Francis II the annual revenues of the earldom of Richmond if Tudor were handed over. However, Henry heard of this scheme and fled to the protection of the French court, as did English exiles who had gathered round him in Brittany. Moreover he was subsequently joined by others opposed to Richard, among whom was the Earl of Oxford, an experienced and able soldier.
By this date Richard had experienced a major personal setback. In April his only legitimate son, the young Prince of Wales, had died at Middleham in Yorkshire: a loss which devastated the king.
Then in March of the following year, 1485, Richard lost his wife Anne, a daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, and rumours spread that he had poisoned her in order to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York. The king may have contemplated such a match. What is certain is that his close associates objected to such a move and Richard proceeded to publicly disown entertaining thoughts of marrying Elizabeth and denied, likely in good conscience, poisoning his wife for the rumour that he had done so had added to the repugnance many felt towards him and, significantly, had damaged his standing somewhat in the north.
To a large extent Richard must have felt an embattled and isolated figure. He seems to have longed to come to blows with Tudor, whom he well knew had for months been planning an invasion of England. To deal with such a threat, and aware that his opponent could land anywhere, the king made Nottingham Castle his headquarters for it was situated in the middle of England. Moreover, he established a system of mounted scouts so that news of an invasion could reach him quickly, while beacons were set up to signal such news from hill to hill across the land.
Aware that an invasion was imminent, Richard alerted his commissioners of array on 22 June. He ordered them to muster able-bodied men and commanded them to inform nobles and other persons of note that they were to put aside any quarrels they had and unite in a national effort so that Richard could deal effectively with the ‘rebels and traitors...purposing the destruction of us, the subversion of this our realm and disinheriting of all our true subjects.’
Henry sailed from the mouth of the Seine on 1 August. His destination? Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. On the afternoon of Sunday 7 August the splendid coastline of this Welsh county came into view, and at sunset the invaders entered Milford Haven and proceeded to come ashore.
Henry did not arrive at the head of a formidable army. With him were his uncle Jasper Tudor, Oxford, and a few hundred other exiles. The bulk of his following was a force of about 2,000 French mercenaries. Clearly he expected that people would rally to his cause once they heard that he had landed, and before embarking on the venture, had written to persons of consequence encouraging them to do just that.
After landing Henry made his way to Haverfordwest, and then pressed on into Cardiganshire. He made his way along the coast, then turned inland at Machynlleth. So far he had received little support and his progress was being flanked by a force under Rhys ap Thomas and Sir Walter Herbert. Therefore it must have been with a great sense of relief that he greeted the news that these two important men, upon whom Richard was relying, wished to join forces with him. They evidently did so before Tudor reached Welshpool.
On 15 August Henry crossed into England and demanded the surrender of Shrewsbury, which soon capitulated. He then moved on eastward at the head of a growing force towards Newport. Here he received his first significant English support for he was joined by Gilbert Talbot, the uncle of the young Earl of Shrewsbury, with a Shropshire contingent 500 strong. He then made for Stafford, where he arrived on the 17th and was joined by Sir William Stanley, the brother of Tudor’s stepfather, Lord Stanley, a member of a powerful family in the northwest of England. Sir William stage-managed Henry’s entry into Lichfield on the morning of the 19th and then, to T
udor’s dismay, departed. Nonetheless, that afternoon Henry made for Tamworth. His army arrived there that evening, but the pretender only did so the following morning after becoming separated from his men and spending the night a short distance away with his bodyguard.
By now, of course, Richard had heard of Tudor’s landing. He did so on the 11th and reacted promptly. Summonses were rapidly sent to the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Northumberland among others, instructing them to join him promptly with their men under pain of forfeiture and death. Richard then moved south to Leicester on the 20th, aware that men such as Rhys ap Thomas whom he had expected to oppose Tudor had in fact gone over to him. He arrived in Leicester late on the 20th, no doubt a bitter and anxious man.
Among those who evidently caused Richard concern was Lord Stanley, who was at the head of a strong force. He had been summoned to join the king but had failed to comply—excusing himself on grounds of illness— and by this date was in the country to the west of Leicester, most probably near Higham on the Hill. Though Stanley had not openly committed himself to the pretender (his son, Lord Strange, was a hostage in the royal camp), his behaviour was nevertheless not such as would be conducive to Richard’s peace of mind.
On the evening of 20 August Henry arrived at Atherstone, a short distance northwest of Higham on the Hill. His army evidently encamped in the neighbourhood for he subsequently recompensed a local landowner, the Abbot of Merevale, for ‘the destruccioun of his cornes and pastures.’ Sir William Stanley had likewise moved south separately with his own force, and appears to have encamped for the night a short distance to the north of Atherstone.
The following day, Sunday 21st, Tudor and the Stanley brothers met at Atherstone or somewhere in its vicinity, and Henry was evidently assured that they would support him in the impending battle.
On the same day Richard moved west from Leicester at the head of a substantial army which included contingents brought to his side by the country’s most powerful nobles, Norfolk and Northumberland, and according to Raphael Holinshed’s chronicle (published in 1577), ‘pitched his field on a hill called Anne Beame, refreshed hys Souldiours and tooke his rest.’ The hill in question, Ambion Hill, is 11.5 miles west of Leicester and just to the west of Sutton Cheney.
Tudor now moved east towards the king and apparently encamped somewhere beyond Fenny Drayton, most probably along, or in close proximity to, a Roman road from Mancetter to Leicester. He subsequently compensated Atherstone, Witherley, Mancetter, Atterton and Fenny Drayton for the loss of corn and grain evidently taken by foraging parties prior to the army’s setting up camp for the night.
On the other hand, Lord Stanley does not appear to have moved to a new encampment on the 21st. However it seems that Sir William did so, and that as a result was not far from his brother.
Thus the respective forces spent the night in fairly close proximity to each other. During the hours of darkness Richard’s army was weakened somewhat by desertion for Sir John Savage junior, Sir Brian Sandford and Sir Simon Digby, slipped away with their men and defected to Tudor.
Reportedly, Richard slept badly. This may well have been the case but Henry, with a smaller army, uncertain allies, and himself a stranger to battle, probably did not sleep well either.
Before discussing the site of the ensuing engagement, and the course of battle, something needs to be said about the character and careers of the principal protagonists.
Richard III and Henry Tudor
Many people are familiar with Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard as a man deformed in both body and mind, an ambitious monster with a string of heinous crimes to his discredit—a man whose hands were stained with blood. Others have maintained likewise, before and since. Conversely, Richard has been portrayed as one of England’s noblest sons by those who have tried to exonerate him of all the crimes with which he has been associated. Then, again, some have viewed Richard with moderation. Ernest Jacob for instance, while acknowledging that he behaved ruthlessly after Edward IV’s death, declared: ‘That there was a sound constructive side to Richard III is undoubted. He was very far from being the distorted villain of tradition.’
Richard was born on 2 October 1452 at Fotheringhay, and was the youngest son of the Duke of York. His youth was marred by the Wars of the Roses. When only eight, for example, his father and one of his brothers were slain at Wakefield after which Richard and another brother, George, were sent abroad for their safety. They returned several months later after their elder brother, Edward, had secured the throne.
From 1465 until early 1469 Richard was a member of the household of Warwick and when the latter rebelled in 1469, he stood by Edward—in marked contrast to George—and thus accompanied Edward when he fled to the Low Countries in 1470. The following year, after returning, Richard helped Edward defeat Warwick at Barnet and fought courageously at Tewkesbury.
His consistent loyalty did not go unrewarded for, among other things, he was granted estates formerly held by Warwick. During the course of the 1470s Richard emerged as the principal figure in the north: a great landowner, and in effect, Edward’s lieutenant in the region. Then, in early 1483, he had a palatinate created for him by parliament consisting of Cumberland and as much of adjacent Scotland as he could conquer.
Evidently Richard was slightly built, and as Anthony Pollard has said of his appearance, ‘no one in his lifetime thought a physical deformity was worth reporting.’ Richard was able, courageous and ambitious. He loved music and jewels, was generous, and enjoyed the company of scholars. He was moreover very religious, was interested in the pursuit of justice, and showed concern for the lowly. Some maintain that such facets of his personality preclude the possibility that he could have behaved unwarrantably. This is not so. His concern for justice undoubtedly waned when his own interests were at stake. He had grown to manhood in a harsh and very uncertain world and had inevitably been affected by the spirit of the times.
And what of Henry Tudor? He was born at Pembroke in January 1457, shortly after the death of his father, the young Earl of Richmond. For a while he resided there with his mother, enjoying the protection of his Lancastrian uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke. But after the latter was forced to flee abroad in 1461 Henry became a ward of a Yorkist, Lord Herbert, and became separated from his mother.
Through his mother, Margaret, the daughter and heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Henry was descended from Edward III’s fourth son John of Gaunt, for the Beauforts sprang from an irregular union between the latter and Catherine Swinford. The three sons of this liason (born at Beaufort in Champagne), were subsequently legitimized in 1397 and this was confirmed by their half-brother, Henry IV, in 1407 at which time however it was specified that they were barred from any claim to the throne. Though the Beauforts and their offspring had been barred from the succession this did not matter overmuch to staunch Lancastrians for in reality the crown was a prize to be fought for by those, such as Tudor, who had royal blood in their veins.
In 1470, following the revival of Lancastrian fortunes, Henry and his uncle enjoyed the favour of the government and were awarded the custody of Herbert’s lands. But after the Yorkist victories of 1471 Henry fled abroad, accompanied by his mother and Pembroke.
They intended landing in France, but owing to misfortune, came ashore in Brittany where they were taken into custody by the duke. They remained in unfavourable circumstances for years but Henry then received Breton aid for his abortive expedition against Richard III in 1483. As stated earlier, the following year Henry had to flee to France and while there received the support which set him on the road to Bosworth.
Henry Tudor lacked panache and was certainly not over endowed with charisma. He was cool and judicious, a methodical man who did not love warfare. Indeed, as has been noted, he had never participated in battle. He was also untried in the field of government. Not surprisingly, then, many persons of conseque
nce in England who had been alienated by Richard’s regime thus remained aloof before Bosworth, unwilling to support the hazardous enterprise upon which the daring young man was engaged.
Description
The site of the Battle of Bosworth has been fiercely debated in recent years. The traditional site is Ambion Hill and its immediate vicinity, just west of Sutton Cheney.
According to this view, as it is generally maintained, Richard deployed his army on the hill in three battles. Norfolk led the van, which crowned the western slope, Richard the centre, and Northumberland the rearguard further to the east. Henry closed with Richard after marching east and then veering north to avoid a marsh normally said by historians to have been just to the south or west of Ambion Hill and drained during the sixteenth century. Fierce fighting occurred between Norfolk and Henry’s van under Oxford. Intent on slaying Henry, Richard then charged down the hill with his household troops and, after skirting the fighting, clashed with the isolated Tudor and his escort and was slain after Sir William Stanley rode to Henry’s aid. According to the proclamation issued after the battle by Tudor, the place where Richard died was ‘called Sandeford’ and this has been identified as a crossing of the Sutton brook a short distance northwest of Ambion Hill. Shortly after Richard’s charge, the resistance of his army as a whole collapsed. We are not told the direction of the ensuing flight, but some believe that the fugitives were chased south towards Dadlington and Stoke Golding.
However, in 1985 Colin Richmond argued against the traditional battlesite and suggested that Bosworth was fought on ground immediately overlooked by Dadlington a mile or so to the south of Ambion Hill: a position closer to Crown Hill (where according to tradition Henry was crowned after the battle), than is Ambion Hill. Among other things, Richmond cited the comment written early in the first half of the nineteenth century by the antiquary, John Nichols, that ‘indented spaces of ground’ he saw about Dadlington were ‘probably the graves of the victims’ of Bosworth.
Hastings to Culloden - Battles in Britain 1066-1746 Page 11
