BOSWORTH: ‘A MOST SAVAGE BATTLE’

The battle lasted around two hours, it was all over before noon. So ferocious was the fighting that in that short time around a thousand men had died. One man of note lay lifeless on the bloodied ground, he had been dismounted, his helmet removed then hacked about around the back of the head: the King was dead. 

The Fate of the King
The body of King Richard was found in the “thick of the fight, and not in the act of flight. King Richard fell in the field, struck by many mortal wounds, as a bold and most valiant prince.” [The Continuation of the Crowland Chronicle]

At least eleven injuries have been identified on the body of Richard III. The king suffered multiple blows to the head from a number of different bladed weapons which inflicted wounds to his skull, right cheek, lower jaw, with further injuries to his pelvis and rib. The order in which the injuries were inflicted has not been determined yet there is no indication of healing on any of these wounds, it is therefore certain that they happened at the time of death. It is also likely that the King suffered additional injuries such as flesh wounds, that have left no trace. 

The interpretation of the wounds has been determined by experts with knowledge of medieval weapons and armour. The trauma suggests he was attacked from all sides, the injuries inflicted certainly by more than one person, with two fatal wounds to the back of the skull being the cause of death. Contemporary sources credit the men who dealt the fatal blows as a group of Welsh foot soldiers armed with halberds. A halberd is a two-handed polearm, essentially an axe blade topped with a spike with a hook on the back mounted on a 6ft long shaft, typically used by foot soldiers against mounted warriors.

The dagger wound to the cheek was delivered from above suggesting the King was kneeling, perhaps inflicted in a rushed effort to cut the chinstrap of his helmet. It seems likely Richard was kneeling down with his head bent forward as the time he was struck with the halberd, a single massive blow to the base of the skull. He would not have survived this strike. The man said to have dealt the death blow was Rhys ap Thomas, a Welsh lord, master of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, later knighted on the battlefield that day by Henry Tudor as a reward.

It has been determined that none of the skull injuries could have been inflicted if Richard had been wearing a helmet, he either lost it, or as seems more likely it was forcibly removed during the battle. The head injuries are consistent with near-contemporary accounts of the battle, which suggest that Richard abandoned his horse when it became stuck in the marsh.1

Prelude to Disaster
On 22nd August 1485 the armies of Henry Tudor and King Richard III met between Atherstone and Leicester in the penultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses, a series of engagements that had witnessed a dynastic conflict between the houses of Lancaster and York for thirty years. The Battle of Bosworth was the last time an English King was killed on the battlefield, ended three hundred years of Plantagenet rule and heralded the beginning of the Tudor dynasty.

Alongside the battles of Hastings and Naseby, Bosworth had a decisive outcome that resulted in a turning point in the history of England. The death of Richard III was a significant event; it is considered to mark the end of the Middle Ages and saw the beginning of the Tudor period and the expansion of British territories culminating in colonies in the New World.

From the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton in March 1461, said to have been the bloodiest battle on English soil, Edward IV reigned until 1483, but for a six month spell from October 1470 to March 1471. Following his unexpected death in April 1483 his young son Edward V was due to inherit the throne. He was escorted to London and held in the Tower by his uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester in preparation for his coronation but disappeared along with his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, and Gloucester was crowned Richard III on 6th July. The disappearance of the so-called Princes in the Tower led to widespread suspicion that Richard had been complicit in their murder. He never denied this or produced the Two Princes to prove they were still alive.

Henry, the Second Duke of Buckingham had been a close ally of Richard and instrumental in putting him on the throne but something made him turn against the king. Buckingham led a rebellion against Richard in October 1483 but the rebellion collapsed and he was captured and executed. This rebellion started as an attempt to restore Edward V to the throne but it seemed to be accepted that the Two Princes were dead and it soon turned into a rebellion to oust Richard with the intention to install Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond on the throne.

Halberd

Following the apparent death of the Two Princes, Henry Tudor’s mother Margaret Beaufort was promoting her son as an alternative to Richard III, despite her being married to the Yorkist Lord Stanley. Henry Tudor was born in Pembroke Castle in 1457. His mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a descendant of John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III, and founder of the House of Lancaster. Henry had been living in Brittany since 1471 when Edward IV regained the throne.

By now Elizabeth Woodville must have accepted that her two sons, Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, the so-called Princes in the Tower, were now dead which made her daughter Elizabeth of York the heir to Edward IV. Beaufort and Woodville were in agreement that Henry Tudor should marry Elizabeth of York when he became king and unite the houses of York and Lancaster which would of course also validate Henry’s tenuous claim to the throne. Indeed, in September 1483 the Duke of Buckingham, on behalf of both Yorkist and Lancastrian supporters of the rebellion, wrote to Henry Tudor inviting him to invade England and deliver the realm from tyranny, on condition that he married Elizabeth of York and together take possession of the throne. 

In October 1483, Henry set sail for south England to link up with the Duke of Buckingham’s rebellion. He had taken out a loan from the Duke of Brittany sufficient to fund 5,000 mercenaries and fit out ships for an invasion force. However the weather was particularly bad in the south-west of England and the Channel. The River Severn was high and burst its banks, destroying buildings and bridges preventing Buckingham, who was based at his castle at Brecknock (Brecon), from crossing into England with his army and joining the rebels in the south. Henry Tudor was delayed owing to the storms in the Channel, and finally sailed on 18th October but by time he arrived in England the rebellion had collapsed.

Even though the rebellion had crumbled by this time, Henry kept his word and swore an oath on Christmas Day 1483 at Rennes Cathedral to marry Elizabeth of York when he became King of England, he clearly had plans to return and oust Richard III.

The following January, Richard’s parliament named over a hundred rebel nobles in Acts of Attainder but only the ringleaders of Buckingham’s rebellion were executed. Margaret Beaufort had lands and property confiscated and placed under house arrest with her husband Thomas, Lord Stanley.

Many of the survivors of the Buckingham rebellion made their way to join Henry Tudor across the Channel. Two years later Henry Tudor had regrouped and assembled another invasion force and set sail for Wales. On 1st August 1485, Henry, accompanied by 2,000 French mercenaries, landed in Milford Haven in south Wales, where his family held influence and he hoped to raise support. The rebel army rapidly advanced through Wales picking up further support on the way. 

Henry was anxious to meet with his stepfather, Thomas, Lord Stanley, whose support was not guaranteed but would be critical to the rebellion’s success. However, King Richard had taken Lord Stanley’s son Lord Strange, hostage and demanded Stanley’s support for his son’s life.

Lord Stanley’s brother William had fought on the Yorkist side in many battles during he Wars of the Roses. However, Lord Stanley had swapped sides on several occasions; he raised troops for the Lancastrians at the battle of Blore Heath in 1459 then failed to commit his troops to battle, then he fought for the Yorkists in 1461 at Towton. Ten years later after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, he captured Margaret of Anjou, the Lancastrian Queen and wife of Henry VI. Tudor desperately needed the support of the Stanley’s as he was severely outnumbered without them.

After marching through Wales Henry’s rebel army arrived at Shrewsbury on 15th August. He then met with William Stanley at Stafford. By 19th August he had reached Lichfield marching south-easterly along Watling Street. King Richard’s scouts had been tracking Tudor’s progress. Richard and the Royalist army left his base at Nottingham and marched toward Leicester to intercept the rebels.

The Battle
On 21st August the opposing armies advanced towards each other and camped that night only a few miles apart.  Henry had 5,000 men with him, Richard between 10,000 and 15,000.  The Stanley’s were also in the vicinity with around 6,000 men from Lancashire and Cheshire but they were uncommitted and neither side could be certain of their support. 

Richard’s army divided into three groups (or "battles" from Old French “bataille”). The van guard commanded by the Duke of Norfolk, Richard held the main group, while the Earl of Northumberland commanded the rear guard. Henry placed his army under the command of the experienced Earl of Oxford who kept most of his force together.

Norfolk’s van guard was no match for Oxford, seeing the fight going against them some of Royalist troops fled the field. According to Polydore Vergil the Royalist van was composed of a large number of archers. Oxford was also facing an artillery barrage.The Ballad of Bosworth Field claims Richard had 140 cannon, this may have forced Oxford to attack Norfolk’s flank which appears to have been the decisive manoeuvre in the outcome of the battle.

For reasons unknown Northumberland failed to engage the rear guard when commanded to do so. Richard, seeing the battle was going against him, then decided to mount a charge with his knights across the battlefield directly at Henry; if he could kill the rebel leader he could bring the battle to a rapid conclusion. At some point Richard became dismounted, his horse possibly stuck in the marsh. He was offered another horse and advised to flee this battle and live to fight another day. But he refused and continued fighting on foot. Richard’s charge toward Henry’s position stirred the Stanley’s into action, Sir William brought his men to Henry’s aid cutting down Richard and his knights. After the battle, Henry was crowned King by one of the Stanley brothers on a spot today called ‘Crown Hill’.

It was a battle that the Yorkist army of Richard III should have won comfortably; the king’s forces outnumbered Henry’s rebel army by at least 2-1 (sources vary on the exact numbers); he had firepower of over a hundred canon; he had selected the site of the battle and surveyed the terrain the day before. Yet, the king was dead within a few short hours of the battle starting, with key commanders and troops deserting him at his greatest moment of need.

As noted above, examination of Richard’s skeleton revealed 11 perimortem injuries, consistent with the types of weapons from the late medieval period that would have been used in the battle, likely representing an attack by several assailants. At least three of the injuries could have killed Richard  quickly, the most likely fatal injuries are the two to the base of the skull. One post-mortem injury was noted to the pelvis, caused by a fine-bladed weapon that penetrated the right buttock and traversed the right side of the pelvic cavity. The angle of the injury to the pelvis is highly consistent with contemporary accounts which describe Richard's body as being stripped and slung over the back of a horse and suffering insults after the battle.2

“And thus by great fortune and grace upon the 22 August won this noble prince [Henry VII] possession of this land, and then was he conveyed to Leicester the same night, and there received with all honour and gladness. And Richard late King as gloriously as he by the morning departed from that town, so as irreverently was he that afternoon brought into that town, for his body despoiled to the skin, and nought being left about him, so much as would cover his privy member, he was trussed behind a pursuivant called Norroy as an hog or another vile beast, and so all besprung with mire and filth was brought to a church in Leicester for all men to wonder upon, and there lastly irreverently buried.” [The Great Chronicle of London]3

Notes & References:
1. Perimortem trauma in King Richard III: A Skeletal Analysis – The Lancet, Volume 385, Issue 9964, pp.253-259, January, 2015.
2. Ibid.
3. The earliest accounts of the Battle Bosworth can be found in Michael Bennett, The Battle of Bosworth, Sutton paperback edition 1993, pp.155-175.

Works Consulted:
David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower, The History Press, Reprint edition 2017.
Michael Bennett, The Battle of Bosworth, Sutton paperback edition 1993.
David Cohen, Battles of the Wars of the Roses, Pen & Sword, 2022.
Peter Hammond, Richard II and the Bosworth Campaign, Pen & Sword, 2013.
Michael Jones, Bosworth: Psychology of a Battle, John Murray publishers, 2014.
Alison Weir, Richard III and the Princes in the Tower, Vintage, 2014.

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