Introduction
The battle of Bosworth was a battle fought in the year 1485 during the month of august in England. According to Knight (206), the battle of Bosworth was fought at the market of Bosworth, a large flat plain field between the towns of Shenton, Sutton Dadlington, and Stoke.
King Henry Tudor marched forward with his fighting force from the Haven of Milford in the region of Wales where he sought to fight the battle with two thousand soldiers.
The Battle of Bosworth rose to become one of the major Battles in the history of England, which marked the beginning of the reign of Henry VII after the downfall of the reign of Richard III. Indeed, the reign of Henry VII marked the reign the most famous monarchs that lasted for significantly a long time in England.
Bosworth Battle History
The beginning of the battle was stimulated by Henry Tudor’s use of money he received from Charles III from France to launch his battle against Richard III. Funding from Charles VIII was as a result of his hope that an English battle would come in handy in distracting focus from his plans to capture Brittany.
Henry Tudor sailed to Milford Haven from Harfleur at a period when he had approximately five hundred followers, who were loyal to his rule with an addition of approximately one thousand five hundred soldiers from France. Henry’s next destination was the Cambrian Mountains through the Cardigan coast, a journey that was meant to position his battalion, ready for the battle.
During this period, Henry Tudor gained a lot of support from the Rhys Thomas, the most influential landowner from the South Wales. Henry also sought more support from England by turning to Sir William Stanley, his brother, and Lord Stanley, his step father who supported him financially, although secretly. Moreover, he received a reinforcement of five hundred men from Gilbert Thomas (Hutton 10-90).
When Henry was gathering support, Richard III did not make any preparations prior to the battle, since he made assumptions that the battle would not materialize. Richard III had assumed that the landowners in England would not allow such invasions though he later realized that the battle was coming up and sought to march his forces towards the battlefield at Leicester.
The two troops matched towards each other and locked horns at Bosworth market field in Leicestershire. By the time the two sides met at Bosworth market, Henry had managed to gather a fighting force of approximately five thousand men, while Richard III had approximately twelve thousand men, though some were unreliable.
The unreliable part of Richard’s army significantly weakened his power to fight, and thus gave Henry high expectations towards the battle, considering that Henry had gathered enough and able soldiers in his native Wales. Despite this, Richard fought courageously and with vigor; however, he not only lost the battle, but also his life (Myers 34).
The battle began even though the principle subjects of Richard who doubted his victory over the battle did not support him through the fight. The unreliable forces were those of Lord Stanley, who stayed away from the battle and left the forces of Richard III to battle it out alone with Henry’s strong force. During the fight, Richard army was at the crest of the Ambien Hill while Henry’s army was at the bottom where land was marshier.
Henry’s army charged up the Ambien hill to fight Richards’s with strength of the long bow soldiers recruited from Wales, though they sustained serious casualties.
The longbow soldiers recruited by Henry from Wales contributed hugely to the victory, as they inflicted deep wounds on Richards’s army, despite the latter having the advantage of fighting from uphill. The battle generally resulted to heavy casualties from both Richard’s and Henry’s army.
Lord Stanley’s forces generally weakened Richards’s army, which was propagated by Henry’s move to influence and convince Stanley to rally his army against Richard’s army. Richard III worsened the situation by targeting to kill Henry himself, rather than concentrating on fighting Henry’s forces.
Richard targeted Henry with the support of a few of his trusted soldiers, where he nearly achieved his target of getting to Henry, were it not for Henry’s bodyguards.
During the actual fight, the forces of Lord Stanley did not participate in the fight; however, they stood aside watching the battle. Henry came out victorious in the battle, owing his success to Lord Stanley’s support at a critical moment of the battle. Upon the killing of Richard III, his soldiers surrendered the fight and fled away from the battle, leaving Sir Henry victorious.
However, Richard’s death came out as a vigilant death, which was the main feature in the battle of Bosworth, where Richard fought resolutely in the thickest of the war (Richmond 1). Lord Stanley took up Richard’s crown and declared Henry the King. Henry’s victory at the Bosworth battle marked the beginning of the Tudors reign, with the unity of Lancaster and York being indicated by his marriage to Elizabeth of the York.
Henry presented his victory of the battle of Bosworth by hiring the Chronicles to mark the country’s new beginning at the modern age. The modern day era in the new country was promoted by Tudor’s reign, which operated for consecutive periods with subsequent administrations.
Henry’s administration promoted the beginning of an era that marked the end of civil war depicted by Henry victory in the battle of Bosworth Field. Moreover, Henry’s Portrait has been held as a sign for the uprising of the modern day reign.
Henry victory from the Battle of Bosworth is generally significant to England’s History of Middle Ages. The uprising of Henry’s reign portrays Richard as a tyrant who wielded power by killing people who held varying opinions to his rule. Henry’s victory from the battle of Bosworth was received as royal entry by the people of England.
He considered his victory as an achievement of liberty by all people, as he rode through the city to the cathedral church of ST. Paul (Withington157). The battle of Bosworth has been attached to myths that depict the struggle for power between the evil and the good. Lord Stanley has been widely recognized as a huge contributor of the modern day England through his determination not to join the fight until the critical moment of victory.
Conclusion
Although the outcome of the battle of Bosworth was claimed to be generally meant for change of reign, Henry’s victory can be tied to issues of loyalty. History in England has it that more to the myth of Richards rule being evil, there are substantial beliefs that Richard’s death and loss of the battle of Bosworth is attached to lack of loyalty and morale among his army.
The loss bases its claims on the fact that most of the soldiers found it difficult to trust Richard during the battle and even after his victory, thus opting to dethrone the reign of Richard.
Works Cited
Hutton, William. The Battle of Bosworth Field: Between Richard the Third and Henry Earl of Richmond, August 22, 1485… with plans of the battle, its consequences, the fall, treatment, and character of Richard. To which is prefixed… a history of his life till he assumed the regal power. London: Nichols, Son, and Bentley, 1813.
Knight, Charles. The Popular History of England: an illustrated history of society and government from the earliest period to our own times. Volume 2. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1857.
Myers, A. R. English Historical documents: 1327-1485. Volume 4. NY: Routledge, 1996.
Richmond, Colin. “The Battle of Bosworth.” History Today 35.8 (1985); 17. Web.
Withington, Robert. The English pageantry. A historical Outline. Volume 2. NY: Ayer Publishing, 1980.