This Day in History

[u/Lord-Chronos-2004]

1485 - The Battle of Bosworth Field is fought near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire between the Yorkist forces of King Richard III of England and the Lancastrian forces of Henry Tudor. Henry defeats Richard, whose death terminates the rule of the Plantagenet dynasty and the British Middle Ages. Consequently, the Battle of Bosworth is one of the definitive moments in English history. Henry is crowned King as Henry VII, taking as his wife Elizabeth of York. From this union is forged the Tudor dynasty, which would rule over England for the next 118 years.

[u/Lemmy-Historian]

Well it were Lancastrian-Yorkist forces on Henry‘s side. The House of York was divided between Edwardian loyalists now backing Elizabeth of York and therefore Tudor - and those backing Richard.

Richard fought bravely on that day. But he had none other to blame than himself. He had snubbed Margaret Beaufort when she asked him to fulfill the deal she had reached with Edward IV regarding Henry‘s return. He had made de Vere a mortal enemy of his. He had taken Stanley‘s son as a hostage before the battle. If he had said yes to Margaret Beaufort his descendants might still be on the throne.

[u/Sea_Assistant_7583]

Whatever people may think of him bad or good he died one of the most bravest deaths of any English King along with Harold .

[u/ChateauDIfEnjoyer → u/Sea_Assistant_7583]

Same energy as “he might have killed my entire family but he was a lion” (derogatory)

[u/Sea_Assistant_7583 → u/ChateauDIfEnjoyer]

Not really . All the various reports inc from his biggest critics ( except Shakespeare )and the various chroniclers in the Tudor era praise the way he went out . It is possible to be an asshole and die bravely .

[u/DPlantagenet]

The Plantagenets really went out and led their armies in battle - Warrior Kings. That trend died with Richard.

Richard had a 777-day reign (unless I'm misremembering) but was fast-tracking reforms and modernization. The alternate timeline of Lord Stanley either abstaining or fighting for the Yorkists is an interesting mental exercise. No doubt Richard would have faced another rebellion, and then another.

[u/t0mless]

An interesting fact for me regarding this is that based on the analysis of his skeleton back in 2012, Richard lost his helmet at some point during the battle and sustained at least eight or nine head injuries, but kept on fighting. There were also two injuries to his rib bone and pelvis, but I think those might’ve been some postmortem disrespect.

When he led his fatal charge against Henry, he took two much more severe blows to head; one from a halberd (or similar weapon) that cut through the base of his skull and removed part of it, and a sword slicing through the side.

[u/oldbutnotgrey → u/t0mless]

Wild. I’ve also read he was extremely brave in battle. But how can one know these many skull injuries were during, say, the middle battle and he kept on fighting vs sustained during the final scrum that hacked him to death?

[u/t0mless → u/oldbutnotgrey]

Good point! My original comment is a little misleading. I think it could go either way but, at least to my knowledge, there’s no definitive answer. Only thing that seems fairly certain is that before or during his final charge at Henry Tudor he lost his helmet and sustained those eight or nine blows before the other two certainly brought him down.

The Croyland Chronicle said Richard was “pierced with many mortal wounds” while Polydore Vergil (Henry VII’s official historian) says he was “killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies.” Neither describes a man lingering on after a grievous head blow and they imply a sudden, brutal end once he was cut off. The sheer number of head wounds makes sense if you imagine a group of soldiers hacking at a dismounted king whose helmet is gone, all desperate to be “the one who struck down Richard.”

[u/TheRedLionPassant]

I've been to Bosworth. It's a lovely town.

[u/Lopsided-Resort-4373]

It's wild how close Richard got to victory - supposedly he cut down Henry's standard bearer, who would have been only feet from Henry himself.

And I'm always intrigued by Northumberland's inaction. There's a theory that the battle line changed and he either couldn't maneuver his men in time or doing would have exposed them to an attack from Stanley. But I think most believe he just turned on Richard, either for family vengeance or he'd decided Henry would make a better king. I can never decide what I think, and it's a fun mystery to revisit every year.

[u/GandalfTheJaded]

My Kingdom for a horse!

[u/Michael-Broadway]

What if Richard and Henry both die at Bosworth? Who would have claimed the throne?

[u/Lord-Chronos-2004 → u/Michael-Broadway]

Tudor propaganda, my friend.