battle of Bosworth

Bosworth, battle of (1485), the culmination of a three-week campaign by Henry Tudor in his bid for the throne of England. Having marched from Milford Haven into the heart of England, he was intercepted by Richard III near the small Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth. The armies met on the plain called Redemore on the morning of 22 August. The sparse sources make it difficult to reconstruct its course or to be sure of its precise location, but it is likely that Richard drew up his much larger army in the customary three ‘battles’ (large divisions of troops) across Henry's line of advance, protected by a marsh. Probably attempting to turn his enemy's flank, Tudor's vanguard under the Earl of Oxford was attacked by the Duke of Norfolk commanding Richard's right. At first Oxford's mainly French contingent gave way, but then re-forming they counter-attacked and drove Norfolk back. At this moment, seeing Tudor standing a little way off with only a small guard, Richard charged. The velocity of his attack carried him close to his enemy, but Sir William Stanley, who had held his contingent back and was in collusion with Tudor, chose this moment to show his hand. Richard was cut down and killed, having thrown away a battle he should have won. The Earl of Northumberland on the king's left was never engaged. It is possible that he deliberately held back, but it is equally possible that the course of the battle, and the king's reckless charge at Henry Tudor, left him stranded. In time, the battle came misleadingly to mark the end of the Wars of the Roses, and to signify the establishment of the Tudor dynasty. Although its traditional location is very well commemorated, in 1990 Peter J. Foss argued convincingly in The Field of Redemore that the battle's actual site was further to the south.

— A. J. Pollard/Richard Holmes