The Battle of Bosworth – a Day-By-Day Account

Johannes Siedersleben, Oxford, July 2014

The Battle of Bosworth marked the end of Richard III, the end of the Plantagenet dynasty and the beginning of the Tudors. Three weeks from Henry’s landing till the battle changed the course of English history. Our knowledge is mainly based on two sources: the Croyland Chronicle and the Anglia Historica. The Croyland Chronicle covers the period from 655 to 1486. The part that describes the years 1459 till 1486 was written as early as April 1486 by an anonymous writer. The Anglia Historica was written by Polydor Vergil (1470 – 1555), an Italian scholar, historian, priest and diplomat. It first appeared in 1513, covering events until that date.

The Battle of Bosworth is the historical background of Act V of Shakespeare’s play on Richard III. We will present the events in chronological order and explain when and how Shakespeare comes in.

The March

Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond, landed at Milford Haven at sunset on Sunday 7 th August 1485 accompanied by a small army consisting mainly of 2000 French convicts lured by the promise of a free pardon. Henry’s captains included Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Oxford and some participants of Buckingham’s unsuccessful rebellion. In his final speech to his army (Scene iii), Richard refers to them as “a sort of vagabonds, rascals, runaways, a scum of Bretons, and base lackey peasants”. Henry marched towards Nottingham where Richard was. The towns Henry came through were happy to open their gates, towns Richard had been at pains to insure. Henry was also joined by the Welsh captain Rhys ap Thomas and by Sir George Talbot followed by 500 Shropshire men.

Richard knew about Henry’s landing four days later, on Thursday 11th August, being correctly reported that Henry’s army was pitifully small and ill-equipped. As he was also unaware of the Welsh captain’s treason, he completely underestimated the danger.

It was only on Monday 15th August that Richard learnt what was really going on. He was “sore moved and broiled with melancholy” (Vergil) about the defection of his Welsh alleys. A total of 3000 additional troops had joined Henry. On the other side, Richard’s captains were Northumberland, Norfolk, Surrey, Lovell, Brackenbury and Stanley. Lord Thomas Stanley was Yorkist and, at the same time, Henry’s stepfather. Lord Thomas and his brother, Sir William, were supposed to fight for the King, and to make sure they did, Richard held Lord Strange, Thomas’ son, a hostage.

On Wednesday 17th August, Sir William Stanley met Henry secretly. They discussed how they could cooperate during the battle, but their plans were vague and no concrete decisions were taken. This corresponds roughly to Scene iii when Henry, the Earl of Richmond receives a comforting and encouraging letter from his stepfather Stanley. The same day, two messengers arrived in Nottingham to cast doubts on Northumberland too. There is an allusion to this defection in Scene iii, when Richard asks Ratcliff if he saw “the melancholy Northumberland”.

On Thursday 18th August, messengers reported to Richard that the Lancastrian army had changed their direction. Henry now headed towards Atherstone, where Lord Stanley lay, which lets us assume that there probably was at least some vague intention to cooperate.

On Friday 19th August, the royal army took the road for Leicester with Henry looking “truculent”. About 10,000 men were collected on behalf of one single person, the King. The same evening, Henry paused at the roadside, accompanied by a bodyguard of twenty men and expecting to join his army soon. But he effectively lost his troops and spent a sleepless night straying around and fearing to be spotted by the enemy.

The morning of Saturday 20th August, Henry was reunited with his army and was thus able to have another secret meeting, this time with Lord Thomas Stanley, William’s brother. Again, the outcome is not clear, apparently because Stanley was delaying his decision until the very last moment. Shakespeare sees it more optimistically, letting Stanley (also called Earl of Derby) say to Henry in Scene iii: “But on thy side I may not be too forward lest, being seen, thy brother, tender George, be executed in his father’s sight”. Stanley withdrew his troops to Stoke Golding near Market Bosworth, about 30 miles south of Nottingham and north of Redmore Plain. The exact location of the battle is still debated: no convincing evidence of a former battlefield such as cannon balls, swords or skeletons has been found.

The 21st August being a Sunday, a battle could only be prepared, not fought. Richard placed his troops near Sutton Cheney, at the eastern end of a ridge and in visual contact with both Stanleys. At first sight, his position wasn’t too bad: His captains were finally assembled, and the location on the ridge was favourable. But the chronicles unanimously attribute a sleepless night to Richard. In Scene iii, Richard’s night is not only sleepless but haunted by the ghosts of Richard’s eleven victims: from Prince Edward, son of Henry VI, to Buckingham. When Richard starts out of his dream, he is in black despair: “Have mercy Jesus!” he laments and then goes on to a painful self-analysis. On the other side, Henry, who had already had his share of bad nights, “has slept the sweetest sleep” and has had “the fairest-boding dreams that ever entered in a drowsy head”.

The Battle

The next morning, the morning of Monday 22nd August, Richard sent a last message to Lord Stanley, asking him to declare for the King now, “lest his son George fall into the blind cave of eternal night” as is said in Scene iii. But Stanley “doth deny to come”, and Richard wasn’t able to carry out his threat, because “the enemy is past the march”. Stanley, who had received a similar, however nonblackmailing request from Henry, refused a second time, a fact Shakespeare doesn’t mention. Unsurprisingly, Henry was “no little vexed” as Vergil put it.

The battle started with a shower of arrows sent by Norfolk’s bowmen on Oxford’s close-packed formation, who wavered but didn’t break. And then the Yorkists gave ground, Norfolk was killed, but Northumberland refused to fill the gap because he had no intention of risking his head. Richard didn’t give up: Henry’s red dragon banner had been spotted less than a mile off; the battle would be won if Henry was killed.

Richard rode forward and was able to slay Sir William Bandon, Richmond’s standard bearer and to unhorse the huge Sir John Cheyney. But then, Sir William’s horsemen were colliding with the rear of Richard’s force. The King was overwhelmed, pulled to the ground and had the rear of his head cut off. Scene iv and the stage direction of Scene v give an abridged report of these events, Shakespeare having Henry (Richmond) himself fighting victoriously against Richard. And that was the end of the Battle of Bosworth.

References

[1] Cheetham, Anthony: The Life and the Time of Richard II, reprinted and reissued in 1992

[2] Lander, J.R.: The War of the Roses. Alan Sutton, reprinted in 1993