York Guides

Conflict at Bosworth

On April 9th 1483, King Edward IV died, commending his twelve-year-old son and heir Edward to the care of Richard of Gloucester as "Protector". Richard set out from Middleham to attend his nephew's entry into London, and never returned to the North except as king.

The young king was entirely under the influence of the Woodvilles, Richard's bitter enemies. As a matter of survival, it was he or they. He struck first. Three of their party, Rivers, the queen's brother, Grey, her son, and Vaughan, her chief adviser, were arrested and sent to northern castles. Rivers, self-seeking but a cultured man of letters, a prisoner in Sheriff Hutton under sentence of death, wrote a melancholy little ballad on the mutability of life -
"...... Methinks truly
Bounden am I,
And that greatly,
To be content;
Seeing plainly
Fortune doth wry
All contrary
From mine intent ....."

All three were executed at Pontefract Castle.

Richard put forward his own claim to the throne on the grounds of the invalidity of his brother's marriage, and consigned Edward's two sons to the Tower. When and by whom they were murdered is an unsolved mystery.

Anne joined him for the coronation. He sent for several thousand north-country troops to guard against any outbreak of violence. A request to his "right trusty and well beloved" citizens of York was answered by the despatch of three hundred men under their two members of Parliament. The men were stationed at Moor Fields, outside the city walls. Londoners jibed at their rough appearance and rusty armour. Memories of Queen Margaret's advance with her wild plundering northerners died hard. But there were no disorders. The coronation took place with great magnificence and the troops were sent back soon after. Richard preferred to win over his subjects, not to terrorise them.

Among ordinary people, he was popular. A feature of his reign were the "progresses" he made, dispensing justice and listening to grievances. "He contents the people where he goes as well as ever did prince ... On my truth I liked never the condition of any prince so well as this; God hath sent him for the weal of us all." In York, at a ceremony in the Minster, the eleven-year-old Prince Edward was invested as Prince of Wales.

For nearly a year, all went well. In April 1484, the first blow fell. Prince Edward, always a delicate child, died at Middleham. A chronicler wrote, "You might have seen his father and mother in a state almost bordering on madness, by reason of their sudden grief." His tomb, with an effigy, and mutilated remains of armorial bearings, is in Sheriff Hutton church.

The uncertainty as to the succession led to the appearance of claimants for the throne. The Duke of Buckingham found some support in the south-west, but his rebellion was easily put down. The danger from Henry Tudor was far greater. His father was a Welsh nobleman. His mother traced her descent through the Beauforts to John of Gaunt. She was now married to Lord Stanley, the virtual ruler of Lancashire, and "King" of the Isle of Man. From his exile in Brittany, Henry Tudor began gathering together all the threads of opposition to Richard . . . old Lancastrians, the remnants of the Wood-ville party, magnates who disliked the Yorkist reliance on middle-class officials, or suspected Richard of doing away with his nephews, or who were alienated by the uncompro¬mising "Man of the North".

For a year, the menace was delayed. The country was well governed, and the people wanted no change. In March 1485, another hard blow fell, in the death of Richard's dearly-loved queen Anne. On August 7th, Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven. He marched through Wales collecting support, and into the heart of England, where he was joined by the disaffected magnates. But his main hopes rested on the defection of the Stanleys, who had raised their Lancashire and Cheshire followers and joined the king.

From Nottingham, Richard hastily issued "commissions of array", calling up the able-bodied men of the shires. The earlier battles of the Roses had been fought by the magnates and their personal followers. This was an appeal to the people. In practice, it meant little if the gentry were not willing to lead them. In Yorkshire, the response was immediate. The Lords Scrope of Bolton, Scrope of Upsall, Dacre and Greystoke, experienced fighters, raised gentry and commons and led them south. Northumberland commanded his own forces. Richard's friend Lord Lovell brought in the Midland levies. Next in importance to the northern men were the levies from East Anglia, led by Richard's solid supporter, John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. The armies met at Bosworth, near Leicester. Richard's was the more numerous, and to outward appearances victory seemed assured.

As the battle opened, Lord Stanley led his forces over to Henry Tudor, thus redressing the balance in numbers. In the Yorkist rear, Northumberland stood aloof. He had never willingly accepted Richard's preponderance in northern affairs. The defections changed the whole aspect of the battle. Norfolk was surrounded and died fighting, with many of his followers. Richard noted Henry Tudor, standing a little apart with some of his supporters. In the midst of treachery, he decided to risk everything on getting to grips with his chief opponent. With only his personal bodyguard, he cut his way through, and was almost upon his enemy when Sir William Stanley closed in behind. The little band was overwhelmed. "King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies."

The eighty men of York, "defensibly arrayed", arrived too late. They returned with the heavy news. The York records note that "King Richard, late mercifully reigning upon us, was piteously slain and murdered, to the great heaviness of this City".