Battle of Bosworth Field The Battle of Bosworth Field ( or Battle of Bosworth ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses , the civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century . Fought on 22 August 1485 , the battle was won by the Lancastrians . Their leader Henry Tudor , Earl of Richmond , by his victory became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty . His opponent , Richard III , the last king of the House of York , was killed in the battle . Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty , making it a defining moment of English and Welsh history . Richard ' s reign began in 1483 when he was handed the throne after his twelve - year - old nephew Edward V , for whom he was acting as Lord Protector , was declared illegitimate and ineligible for the throne . The boy and his younger brother disappeared in mysterious circumstances , and Richard ' s support was eroded by rumours of his involvement in the death of his wife . Across the English Channel in Brittany , Henry Tudor , a descendant of the greatly diminished House of Lancaster , seized on Richard ' s difficulties so that he could challenge Richard ' s claim to the throne . Henry ' s first attempt to invade England was frustrated by a storm in 1483 , but at his second attempt he arrived unopposed on 7 August 1485 on the southwest coast of Wales . Marching inland , Henry gathered support as he made for London . Richard mustered his troops and intercepted Henry ' s army south of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire . Thomas , Lord Stanley , and Sir William Stanley brought a force to the battlefield , but held back while they decided which side it would be more advantageous to support . Richard divided his army , which outnumbered Henry ' s , into three groups ( or " battles " ) . One was assigned to the Duke of Norfolk and another to the Earl of Northumberland . Henry kept most of his force together and placed it under the command of the experienced Earl of Oxford . Richard ' s vanguard , commanded by Norfolk , attacked but struggled against Oxford ' s men , and some of Norfolk ' s troops fled the field . Northumberland took no action when signalled to assist his king , so Richard gambled everything on a charge across the battlefield to kill Henry and end the fight . Seeing the king ' s knights separated from his army , the Stanleys intervened ; Sir William led his men to Henry ' s aid , surrounding and killing Richard . After the battle , Henry was crowned king below an oak tree in nearby Stoke Golding , now a residential garden . Henry hired chroniclers to portray his reign favourably ; the Battle of Bosworth was popularised to represent the Tudor dynasty as the start of a new age . From the 15th to 18th centuries the battle was glamorised as a victory of good over evil . The climax of William Shakespeare ' s play " Richard III " provides a focal point for critics in later film adaptations . The exact site of the battle is disputed because of the lack of conclusive data , and memorials have been erected at different locations . The Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre was built , in 1974 , on a site chosen based on a theory that has since been challenged by several scholars and historians . In October 2009 , a team of researchers , who had performed geological surveys and archaeological digs in the area from 2003 , suggested a location two miles ( 3 km ) southwest of Ambion Hill . Background . During the 15th century , civil war raged across England as the Houses of York and Lancaster fought each other for the English throne . In 1471 , the Yorkists defeated their rivals in the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury . The Lancastrian King Henry VI and his only son , Edward of Lancaster , died in the aftermath of the Battle of Tewkesbury . Their deaths left the House of Lancaster with no direct claimants to the throne . The Yorkist king , Edward IV , was in complete control of England . He attainted those who refused to submit to his rule , such as Jasper Tudor and his nephew Henry , naming them traitors and confiscating their lands . The Tudors tried to flee to France but strong winds forced them to land in Brittany , then a semi - independent duchy , where they were taken into the custody of Duke Francis II . Henry ' s mother , Lady Margaret Beaufort , was a great - granddaughter of John of Gaunt , uncle of King Richard II and father of King Henry IV . The Beauforts were originally bastards , but Henry IV legitimised them on the condition that their descendants were not eligible to inherit the throne . Henry Tudor , the only remaining Lancastrian noble with a trace of the royal bloodline , had a weak claim to the throne , and Edward regarded him as " a nobody " . The Duke of Brittany , however , viewed Henry as a valuable tool to bargain for England ' s aid in conflicts with France and kept the Tudors under his protection . Edward IV died twelve years after Tewkesbury on 9 April 1483 . His twelve - year - old elder son succeeded him as King Edward V ; the younger son , nine - year - old Richard of Shrewsbury , was next in line to the throne . Edward V was too young to rule and a Royal Council was established to rule the country until the king ' s coming of age . The royal court was worried when they learned that the Woodvilles , relatives of Edward IV ' s widow Elizabeth , were plotting to seize control of the council . Having offended many in their quest for wealth and power , the Woodville family was not popular . To frustrate the Woodvilles ' ambitions , Lord Hastings and other members of the council turned to the new king ' s uncle — Richard , Duke of Gloucester , brother of Edward IV . The courtiers urged Gloucester to assume the role of Protector quickly , as had been previously requested by his now dead brother . On 29 April , Gloucester , accompanied by a contingent of guards and Henry Stafford , 2nd Duke of Buckingham , took Edward V into custody and arrested several prominent members of the Woodville family . After bringing the young king to London , Gloucester had two of the Woodvilles ( Anthony Woodville , 2nd Earl Rivers and Richard Grey ) executed , without trial , on charges of treason . On 13 June , Gloucester accused Hastings of plotting with the Woodvilles and had him beheaded . Nine days later , Gloucester convinced Parliament to declare the marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth illegal , rendering their children illegitimate and disqualifying them from the throne . With his brother ' s children out of the way , he was next in the line of succession and was proclaimed King Richard III on 26 June . The timing and extrajudicial nature of the deeds done to obtain the throne for Richard won him no popularity , and rumours that spoke ill of the new king spread throughout England . After they were declared bastards , the two princes were confined in the Tower of London and never seen in public again . Discontent with Richard ' s actions manifested itself in the summer after he took control of the country , as a conspiracy emerged to displace him from the throne . The rebels were mostly loyalists to Edward IV , who saw Richard as a usurper . Their plans were co - ordinated by a Lancastrian , Henry ' s mother Lady Margaret , who was promoting her son as a candidate for the throne . The highest - ranking conspirator was Buckingham . No chronicles tell of the duke ' s motive in joining the plot , although historian Charles Ross proposes that Buckingham was trying to distance himself from a king who was becoming increasingly unpopular with the people . Michael Jones and Malcolm Underwood suggest that Margaret deceived Buckingham into thinking the rebels supported him to be king . The plan was to stage uprisings within a short time in southern and western England , overwhelming Richard ' s forces . Buckingham would support the rebels by invading from Wales , while Henry came in by sea . Bad timing and weather wrecked the plot . An uprising in Kent started 10 days prematurely , alerting Richard to muster the royal army and take steps to put down the insurrections . Richard ' s spies informed him of Buckingham ' s activities , and the king ' s men captured and destroyed the bridges across the River Severn . When Buckingham and his army reached the river , they found it swollen and impossible to cross because of a violent storm that broke on 15 October . Buckingham was trapped and had no safe place to retreat ; his Welsh enemies seized his home castle after he had set forth with his army . The duke abandoned his plans and fled to Wem , where he was betrayed by his servant and arrested by Richard ' s men . On 2 November , he was executed . Henry had attempted a landing on 10 October ( or 19 October ) , but his fleet was scattered by a storm . He reached the coast of England ( at either Plymouth or Poole ) , and a group of soldiers hailed him to come ashore . They were , in truth , Richard ' s men , prepared to capture Henry once he set foot on English soil . Henry was not deceived and returned to Brittany , abandoning the invasion . Without Buckingham or Henry , the rebellion was easily crushed by Richard . The survivors of the failed uprisings fled to Brittany , where they openly supported Henry ' s claim to the throne . At Christmas , Henry Tudor swore an oath to marry Edward IV ' s daughter , Elizabeth of York , to unite the warring houses of York and Lancaster . Henry ' s rising prominence made him a great threat to Richard , and the Yorkist king made several overtures to the Duke of Brittany to surrender the young Lancastrian . Francis refused , holding out for the possibility of better terms from Richard . In mid - 1484 , Francis was incapacitated by illness and while recuperating , his treasurer , Pierre Landais , took over the reins of government . Landais reached an agreement with Richard to send back Henry and his uncle in exchange for military and financial aid . John Morton , a bishop of Flanders , learned of the scheme and warned the Tudors , who fled to France . The French court allowed them to stay ; the Tudors were useful pawns to ensure that Richard ' s England did not interfere with French plans to annex Brittany . On 16 March 1485 , Richard ' s queen , Anne Neville , died , and rumours spread across the country that she was murdered to pave the way for Richard to marry his niece , Elizabeth . The gossip alienated Richard from some of his northern supporters , and upset Henry across the English Channel . The loss of Elizabeth ' s hand in marriage could unravel the alliance between Henry ' s supporters who were Lancastrians and those who were loyalists to Edward IV . Anxious to secure his bride , Henry assembled approximately 2 , 000 men and set sail from France on 1 August . Commanders . By the 15th century , English chivalric ideas of selfless service to the king had been corrupted . Armed forces were mostly raised through musters in individual estates ; every able - bodied man had to respond to their lord ' s call to arms , and each noble had exclusive authority over his militia . Although a king could raise personal militia from his lands , he could only muster a significantly large army through the support of his nobles . Richard , like his predecessors , had to win over these men by granting gifts and maintaining cordial relationships . Powerful nobles could demand greater incentives to remain on the liege ' s side or else they might turn against him . Three groups , each with its own agenda , stood on Bosworth Field : Richard III and his Yorkist army ; his challenger , Henry Tudor , who championed the Lancastrian cause ; and the fence - sitting Stanleys . Yorkist . Small and slender , Richard III did not have the robust physique associated with many of his Plantagenet predecessors . However , he enjoyed very rough sports and activities that were considered manly . His performances on the battlefield impressed his brother greatly , and he became Edward ' s right hand man . During the 1480s , Richard defended the northern borders of England . In 1482 , Edward charged him to lead an army into Scotland with the aim of replacing King James III with the Duke of Albany . Richard ' s army broke through the Scottish defences and occupied the capital , Edinburgh , but Albany decided to give up his claim to the throne in return for the post of Lieutenant General of Scotland . As well as obtaining a guarantee that the Scottish government would concede territories and diplomatic benefits to the English crown , Richard ' s campaign retook the town of Berwick - upon - Tweed , which the Scots had conquered in 1460 . Edward was not satisfied by these gains , which , according to Ross , could have been greater if Richard had been resolute enough to capitalise on the situation while in control of Edinburgh . In her analysis of Richard ' s character , Christine Carpenter sees him as a soldier who was more used to taking orders than giving them . However , he was not averse to displaying his militaristic streak ; on ascending the throne he made known his desire to lead a crusade against " not only the Turks , but all [ his ] foes " . Richard ' s most loyal subject was John Howard , 1st Duke of Norfolk . The duke served Richard ' s brother for many years and was one of Edward IV ' s closer confidantes . He was a military veteran , having fought in the Battle of Towton in 1461 and served as Hastings ' deputy at Calais in 1471 . Ross speculates that he may have borne a grudge against Edward for depriving him of a fortune . Norfolk was due to inherit a share of the wealthy Mowbray estate on the death of eight - year - old Anne de Mowbray , the last of her family . However , Edward convinced Parliament to circumvent the law of inheritance and transfer the estate to his younger son , who was married to Anne . Consequently , Howard supported Richard III in deposing Edward ' s sons , for which he received the dukedom of Norfolk and his original share of the Mowbray estate . Henry Percy , 4th Earl of Northumberland , also supported Richard ' s seizure of the throne of England . The Percys were loyal Lancastrians , but Edward IV eventually won the earl ' s allegiance . Northumberland had been captured and imprisoned by the Yorkists in 1461 , losing his titles and estates ; however , Edward released him eight years later and restored his earldom . From that time Northumberland served the Yorkist crown , helping to defend northern England and maintain its peace . Initially the earl had issues with Richard III as Edward groomed his brother to be the leading power of the north . Northumberland was mollified when he was promised he would be the Warden of the East March , a position that was formerly hereditary for the Percys . He served under Richard during the 1482 invasion of Scotland , and the allure of being in a position to dominate the north of England if Richard went south to assume the crown was his likely motivation for supporting Richard ' s bid for kingship . However , after becoming king , Richard began moulding his nephew , John de la Pole , 1st Earl of Lincoln , to manage the north , passing over Northumberland for the position . According to Carpenter , although the earl was amply compensated he despaired of any possibility of advancement under Richard . Lancastrian . Henry Tudor was unfamiliar with the arts of war and a stranger to the land he was trying to conquer . He spent the first fourteen years of his life in Wales and the next fourteen in Brittany and France . Slender but strong and decisive , Henry lacked a penchant for battle and was not much of a warrior ; chroniclers such as Polydore Vergil and ambassadors like Pedro de Ayala found him more interested in commerce and finance . Having not fought in any battles * , Henry recruited several experienced veterans on whom he could rely for military advice and the command of his armies . John de Vere , 13th Earl of Oxford , was Henry ' s principal military commander . He was adept in the arts of war . At the Battle of Barnet , he commanded the Lancastrian right wing and routed the division opposing him . However , as a result of confusion over identities , Oxford ' s group came under friendly fire from the Lancastrian main force and retreated from the field . The earl fled abroad and continued his fight against the Yorkists , raiding shipping and eventually capturing the island fort of St Michael ' s Mount in 1473 . He surrendered after receiving no aid or reinforcement , but in 1484 escaped from prison and joined Henry ' s court in France , bringing along his erstwhile gaoler Sir James Blount . Oxford ' s presence raised morale in Henry ' s camp and troubled Richard III . Stanleys . In the early stages of the Wars of the Roses the Stanleys of Cheshire were predominantly Lancastrians . Sir William Stanley , however , was a staunch Yorkist supporter , fighting in the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459 and helping Hastings to put down uprisings against Edward IV in 1471 . When Richard took the crown , Sir William showed no inclination to turn against the new king , refraining from joining Buckingham ' s rebellion , for which he was amply rewarded . Sir William ' s elder brother , Thomas Stanley , 2nd Baron Stanley , was not as steadfast . By 1485 , he had served three kings , namely Henry VI , Edward IV , and Richard III . Lord Stanley ' s skilled political manoeuvrings — vacillating between opposing sides until it was clear who would be the winner — gained him high positions ; he was Henry ' s chamberlain and Edward ' s steward . His non - committal stance , until the crucial point of a battle , earned him the loyalty of his men , who felt he would not needlessly send them to their deaths . Even though Lord Stanley had served as Edward IV ' s steward , his relations with the king ' s brother , the eventual Richard III , were not cordial . The two had conflicts with each other that erupted into violence around March 1470 . Furthermore , having taken Lady Margaret as his second wife in June 1472 , Stanley was Henry Tudor ' s stepfather , a relationship which did him nothing to win Richard ' s favour . Despite these differences , Stanley did not join Buckingham ' s revolt in 1483 . When Richard executed those conspirators who were unable to flee England , he spared Lady Margaret . However , he declared her titles forfeit , and transferred her estates to Stanley ' s name , to be held in trust for the Yorkist crown . Richard ' s act of mercy was calculated to reconcile him with Stanley , but it may have been to no avail — Carpenter has identified a further cause of friction in Richard ' s intention to reopen an old land dispute that involved Thomas Stanley and the Harrington family . Edward IV had ruled the case in favour of Stanley in 1473 , but Richard planned to overturn his brother ' s ruling and give the wealthy estate to the Harringtons . Wary of Stanley , Richard took his son , Lord Strange , as hostage to discourage him from joining Henry . Prelude . Henry ' s crossing of the English Channel in 1485 was without incident . He sailed from Harfleur on 1 August and , with fair winds , landed in his native Wales , at Mill Bay ( near Dale ) on the north side of Milford Haven on 7 August , easily capturing nearby Dale Castle . Although hailed by contemporary Welsh bards as the native prince to bring their country back to glory , Henry received a muted response from the local population . No joyous welcome awaited him on shore , and few individual Welshmen joined his army as it marched inland . Historian Geoffrey Elton suggests only Henry ' s ardent supporters felt pride over his Welsh blood . It was a different story when Henry moved to Haverfordwest , the county town of Pembrokeshire . Richard ' s lieutenant in South Wales , Sir Walter Herbert , failed to move against Henry , and two of his officers , Richard Griffith and Evan Morgan , deserted to Henry with their men . Another prominent local figure , Rhys Fawr ap Maredudd , also joined Henry . However , the most important defector to Henry in this early stage of the campaign was probably Rhys ap Thomas , who was the leading figure in West Wales . Richard had appointed Rhys Lieutenant in West Wales for his refusal to join Buckingham ' s rebellion , asking that he surrender his son Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Thomas as surety , although by some accounts Rhys had managed to evade this condition . However , Henry successfully courted Rhys , offering the lieutenancy of all Wales in exchange for his fealty . Henry marched via Aberystwyth while Rhys followed a more southerly route , recruiting 500 Welshmen " en route " to swell Henry ' s army when they reunited at Welshpool . By 15 or 16 August , Henry and his men had crossed the English border , making for the town of Shrewsbury . Since 22 June 1485 Richard had been aware of Henry ' s impending invasion , and had ordered his lords to maintain a high level of readiness . News of Henry ' s landing reached Richard on 11 August , but it took three to four days for his messengers to notify his lords of their king ' s mobilisation . On 16 August , the Yorkist army started to gather ; Norfolk set off for Leicester , the assembly point , that night . The city of York , a traditional stronghold of Richard ' s family , asked the king for instructions , and receiving a reply three days later sent 80 men to join the king . Simultaneously Northumberland , whose northern territory was the most distant from the capital , had gathered his men and ridden to Leicester . Although London was his goal , Henry did not move directly towards the city . After resting in Shrewsbury , his forces went eastwards and picked up Gilbert Talbot and other English allies , including deserters from Richard ' s forces . Although its size had increased substantially since the landing , Henry ' s army was not yet large enough to contend with the numbers Richard could muster . Henry ' s pace through Staffordshire was slow , delaying the confrontation with Richard so that he could gather more recruits to his cause . Henry had been communicating on friendly terms with the Stanleys for some time before setting foot in England , and the Stanleys had mobilised their forces on hearing of Henry ' s landing . They ranged themselves ahead of Henry ' s march through the English countryside , meeting twice in secret with Henry as he moved through Staffordshire . At the second of these , at Atherstone in Warwickshire , they conferred " in what sort to arraign battle with King Richard , whom they heard to be not far off " . On 21 August , the Stanleys were making camp on the slopes of a hill north of Dadlington , while Henry encamped his army at White Moors to the northwest of their camp . On 20 August , Richard reached Leicester , joining Norfolk . Northumberland arrived the following day . The royal army proceeded westwards to intercept Henry ' s march on London . Passing Sutton Cheney , Richard moved his army towards Ambion Hill — which he thought would be of tactical value — and made camp on it . Richard ' s sleep was not peaceful and , according to the " Croyland Chronicle " , in the morning his face was " more livid and ghastly than usual " . Engagement . The Yorkist army , numbering about 10 , 000 men , deployed on the hilltop along the ridgeline from west to east . Norfolk ' s group ( or " battle " in the parlance of the time ) of spearmen stood on the right flank , protecting the cannon and about 1 , 200 archers . Richard ' s group , comprising 3 , 000 infantry , formed the centre . Northumberland ' s men guarded the left flank ; he had approximately 4 , 000 men , many of them mounted . Standing on the hilltop , Richard had a wide , unobstructed view of the area . He could see the Stanleys and their 6 , 000 men holding their position at Dadlington Hill , while to the southwest was Henry ' s army . Henry had very few Englishmen — fewer than a thousand — in his army . Between three and five hundred of them were exiles who had fled from Richard ' s rule , and the remainder were Talbot ' s men and recent deserters from Richard ' s army . Historian John Mackie believes that 1 , 800 French mercenaries , led by Philibert de Chandée , formed the core of Henry ' s army . John Mair , writing thirty - five years after the battle , claimed that this force contained a significant Scottish component , and this claim is accepted by some modern writers , but Mackie reasons that the French would not have released their elite Scottish knights and archers , and concludes that there were probably few Scottish troops in the army , although he accepts the presence of captains like Bernard Stewart , Lord of Aubigny . In total , Henry ' s army was around 5 , 000 strong , a substantial portion of which was made up by the recruits picked up in Wales . Rhys ap Thomas ' s Welsh force was described as being large enough to have " annihilated " the rest of Henry ' s force . In their interpretations of the vague mentions of the battle in the old text , historians placed areas near the foot of Ambion Hill as likely regions where the two armies clashed , and thought up possible scenarios of the engagement . In their recreations of the battle , Henry started by moving his army towards Ambion Hill where Richard and his men stood . As Henry ' s army advanced past the marsh at the southwestern foot of the hill , Richard sent a message to Stanley , threatening to execute his son , Strange , if Stanley did not join the attack on Henry immediately . Stanley replied that he had other sons . Incensed , Richard gave the order to behead Strange but his officers temporised , saying that battle was imminent , and it would be more convenient to carry out the execution afterwards . Henry had also sent messengers to Stanley asking him to declare his allegiance . The reply was evasive — the Stanleys would " naturally " come , after Henry had given orders to his army and arranged them for battle . Henry had no choice but to confront Richard ' s forces alone . Well aware of his own military inexperience , Henry handed command of his army to Oxford and retired to the rear with his bodyguards . Oxford , seeing the vast line of Richard ' s army strung along the ridgeline , decided to keep his men together instead of splitting them into the traditional three battles : vanguard , centre , and rearguard . He ordered the troops to stray no further than from their banners , fearing that they would become enveloped . Individual groups clumped together , forming a single large mass flanked by horsemen on the wings . The Lancastrians were harassed by Richard ' s cannon as they manoeuvred around the marsh , seeking firmer ground . Once Oxford and his men were clear of the marsh , Norfolk ' s battle and several contingents of Richard ' s group started to advance . Hails of arrows showered both sides as they closed . Oxford ' s men proved the steadier in the ensuing hand - to - hand combat ; they held their ground and several of Norfolk ' s men fled the field . Recognising that his force was at a disadvantage , Richard signalled for Northumberland to assist but Northumberland ' s group showed no signs of movement . Historians , such as Horrox and Pugh , believe Northumberland chose not to aid his king for personal reasons . Ross doubts the aspersions cast on Northumberland ' s loyalty , suggesting instead that Ambion Hill ' s narrow ridge hindered him from joining the battle . The earl would have had to either go through his allies or execute a wide flanking move — near impossible to perform given the standard of drill at the time — to engage Oxford ' s men . At this juncture Henry rode off towards the Stanleys . Seeing this , Richard decided to end the fight quickly by killing the enemy commander . He led a charge of mounted men around the melee and tore into Henry ' s group ; several accounts state that Richard ' s force numbered 800 – 1000 knights , but Ross says it was more likely that Richard was accompanied only by his household men and closest friends . Richard killed Henry ' s standard - bearer Sir William Brandon in the initial charge and unhorsed burly John Cheyne , Edward IV ' s former standard - bearer , with a blow to the head from his broken lance . Henry ' s bodyguards surrounded their master and succeeded in keeping him away from the Yorkist king . On seeing Richard embroiled with Henry ' s men and separated from his main force , William Stanley made his move . He led his men into the fight at Henry ' s side . Outnumbered , Richard ' s group was surrounded and gradually pressed back against the marsh . Richard ' s banner man — Sir Percival Thirwell — lost his legs but held the Yorkist banner aloft until he was hacked to death . The king ' s horse got mired in the soft ground and he was forced to continue the fight on foot . His followers offered him their horses to escape but Richard refused . All chroniclers agree that Richard fought bravely to the end ; overwhelmed by the masses of Welsh spearmen around him , the last Yorkist king died on the battlefield . Richard ' s forces disintegrated as news of his death spread . Northumberland and his men fled north on seeing the king ' s fate , and Norfolk was killed . Post - battle . After the battle , Richard ' s circlet was found and brought to Henry , who was crowned king at the top of Crown Hill , near the village of Stoke Golding . According to Vergil , Henry ' s official historian , Lord Stanley found the circlet . Historian Stanley Chrimes and Professor Sydney Anglo dismiss the legend of the crown ' s finding in a hawthorn bush ; none of the contemporary sources reported such an event . Ross , however , does not ignore the legend . He opines that the hawthorn bush would not be part of Henry ' s coat of arms if it did not have a strong relationship to his ascendance . In Vergil ' s chronicle , 100 of Henry ' s men , compared to 1 , 000 of Richard ' s , died in this battle — a ratio Chrimes believes to be an exaggeration . The bodies of the fallen were brought to St James Church at Dadlington for burial . However , Henry denied any immediate rest for Richard ; instead the last Yorkist king ' s corpse was stripped naked and strapped across a horse . His body was brought to Leicester and openly exhibited in a church to show his death . After two days , the corpse was interred in a plain unmarked tomb , within the church of the Greyfriars . The location of Richard ' s tomb was long uncertain , as the church was demolished following its dissolution in 1538 . On 12 September 2012 archaeologists announced the discovery of a battle - damaged skeleton suspected to be Richard ' s in the remains of his burial church in Leicester . On 4 February 2013 , it was announced that DNA testing had conclusively identified ( " beyond reasonable doubt " ) the remains as those of Richard . Henry dismissed the mercenaries in his force , retaining only a small core of local soldiers to form the " Yeomen of his Garde " , and proceeded to establish his rule of England . Parliament reversed his attainder and recorded Richard ' s kingship as illegal , although the Yorkist king ' s reign remained officially in the annals of England history . The proclamation of Edward IV ' s children as illegitimate was also reversed , restoring Elizabeth ' s status to a royal princess . The marriage of Elizabeth , the heiress to the House of York , to Henry , the master of the House of Lancaster , marked the end of the feud between the two houses and the start of the Tudor dynasty . The royal matrimony , however , was delayed until Henry was crowned king and had established his claim on the throne firmly enough to preclude that of Elizabeth and her kin . Henry further convinced Parliament to backdate his reign to the day before the battle , effectively enabling those who fought against him at Bosworth Field to be declared traitors . Northumberland , who had remained inactive during the battle , was imprisoned but later released and reinstated to pacify the north in Henry ' s name . The purge of those who fought for Richard occupied Henry ' s first two years of rule , although later he proved prepared to accept those who submitted to him regardless of their former allegiances . Of his supporters , Henry rewarded the Stanleys the most generously . Aside from making William his chamberlain , he bestowed the earldom of Derby upon Lord Stanley along with grants and offices in other estates . Henry rewarded Oxford by restoring to him the lands and titles confiscated by the Yorkists and appointing him as Constable of the Tower and admiral of England , Ireland , and Aquitaine . For his kin , Henry created Jasper Tudor the Duke of Bedford . He returned to his mother the lands and grants stripped from her by Richard , and proved to be a filial son , granting her a place of honour in the palace and faithfully attending to her throughout his reign . Parliament ' s declaration of Margaret as " femme sole " effectively empowered her ; she no longer needed to manage her estates through Stanley . Elton points out that despite his initial largesse , Henry ' s supporters at Bosworth would only enjoy his special favour for the short term ; in later years , he would instead promote those who best served his interests . Like the kings before him , Henry faced dissenters . The first open revolt occurred two years after Bosworth Field ; Lambert Simnel claimed to be Edward Plantagenet , 17th Earl of Warwick , who was Edward IV ' s nephew . The Earl of Lincoln backed him for the throne and led rebel forces in the name of the House of York . The rebel army fended off several attacks by Northumberland ' s forces , before engaging Henry ' s army at the Battle of Stoke Field on 16 June 1487 . Oxford and Bedford led Henry ' s men , including several former supporters of Richard III . Henry won this battle easily , but other malcontents and conspiracies would follow . A rebellion in 1489 started with Northumberland ' s murder ; military historian Michael C . C . Adams says that the author of a note , which was left next to Northumberland ' s body , blamed the earl for Richard ' s death . Legacy . Contemporary accounts of the Battle of Bosworth can be found in four main sources , one of which is the English " Croyland Chronicle " , written by a senior Yorkist chronicler who relied on second - hand information from nobles and soldiers . The other accounts were written by foreigners — Vergil , Jean Molinet , and Diego de Valera . Whereas Molinet was sympathetic to Richard , Vergil was in Henry ' s service and drew information from the king and his subjects to portray them in a good light . Diego de Valera , whose information Ross regards as unreliable , compiled his work from letters of Spanish merchants . However , other historians have used Valera ' s work to deduce possibly valuable insights not readily evident in other sources . Ross finds the poem , " The Ballad of Bosworth Field " , a useful source to ascertain certain details of the battle . The multitude of different accounts , mostly based on second - or third - hand information , has proved an obstacle to historians as they try to reconstruct the battle . Their common complaint is that , except for its outcome , very few details of the battle are found in the chronicles . According to historian Michael Hicks , the Battle of Bosworth is one of the worst - recorded clashes of the Wars of the Roses . Henry tried to present his victory as a new beginning for the country ; he hired chroniclers to portray his reign as a " modern age " with its dawn in 1485 . Hicks states that the works of Vergil and the blind historian Bernard André , promoted by subsequent Tudor administrations , became the authoritative sources for writers for the next four hundred years . As such , Tudor literature paints a flattering picture of Henry ' s reign , depicting the Battle of Bosworth as the final clash of the civil war and downplaying the subsequent uprisings . For England the Middle Ages ended in 1485 , and English Heritage claims that other than William the Conqueror ' s successful invasion of 1066 , no other year holds more significance in English history . By portraying Richard as a hunchbacked tyrant who usurped the throne by killing his nephews , the Tudor historians attached a sense of myth to the battle : it became an epic clash between good and evil with a satisfying moral outcome . According to Reader Colin Burrow , André was so overwhelmed by the historic significance of the battle that he represented it with a blank page in his " Henry VII " ( 1502 ) . For Professor Peter Saccio , the battle was indeed a unique clash in the annals of English history , because " the victory was determined , not by those who fought , but by those who delayed fighting until they were sure of being on the winning side . " Historians such as Adams and Horrox believe that Richard lost the battle not for any mythic reasons , but because of morale and loyalty problems in his army . Most of the common soldiers found it difficult to fight for a liege whom they distrusted , and some lords believed that their situation might improve if Richard was dethroned . According to Adams , against such duplicities Richard ' s desperate charge was the only knightly behaviour on the field . As fellow historian Michael Bennet puts it , the attack was " the swan - song of [ mediaeval ] English chivalry " . Adams believes this view was shared at the time by the printer William Caxton , who enjoyed sponsorship from Edward IV and Richard III . Nine days after the battle , Caxton published Thomas Malory ' s story about chivalry and death by betrayal — " Le Morte d ' Arthur " — seemingly as a response to the circumstances of Richard ' s death . Elton does not believe Bosworth Field has any true significance , pointing out that the 20th - century English public largely ignored the battle until its quincentennial celebration . In his view , the dearth of specific information about the battle — no - one even knows exactly where it took place — demonstrates its insignificance to English society . Elton considers the battle as just one part of Henry ' s struggles to establish his reign , underscoring his point by noting that the young king had to spend ten more years pacifying factions and rebellions to secure his throne . Mackie agrees that contemporary historians , wary of the three royal successions during the long Wars of the Roses , considered Bosworth Field just another in a lengthy series of such battles . It was through the works and efforts of Francis Bacon and his successors that the public started to believe the battle had decided their futures by bringing about " the fall of a tyrant " . Mackie concludes that , in hindsight , Bosworth Field is notable as the decisive battle that established a dynasty which would rule unchallenged over England for more than a hundred years . Shakespearian dramatisation . William Shakespeare gives prominence to the Battle of Bosworth in his play , " Richard III " . It is the " one big battle " ; no other fighting scene distracts the audience from this action , represented by a one - on - one swordfight between Henry Tudor and Richard III . Shakespeare uses their duel to bring a climactic end to the play and the Wars of the Roses ; he also uses it to champion morality , portraying the " unequivocal triumph of good over evil " . Richard , the villainous lead character , has been built up in the battles of Shakespeare ' s earlier play , " Henry VI , Part 3 " , as a " formidable swordsman and a courageous military leader " — in contrast to the dastardly means by which he becomes king in " Richard III " . Although the Battle of Bosworth has only five sentences to direct it , three scenes and more than four hundred lines precede the action , developing the background and motivations for the characters in anticipation of the battle . Shakespeare ' s account of the battle was mostly based on chroniclers Edward Hall ' s and Raphael Holinshed ' s dramatic versions of history , which were sourced from Vergil ' s chronicle . However , Shakespeare ' s attitude towards Richard was shaped by scholar Thomas More , whose writings displayed extreme bias against the Yorkist king . The result of these influences is a script that vilifies the king , and Shakespeare had few qualms about departing from history to incite drama . Margaret of Anjou died in 1482 , but Shakespeare had her speak to Richard ' s mother before the battle to foreshadow Richard ' s fate and fulfill the prophecy she had given in " Henry VI " . Shakespeare exaggerated the cause of Richard ' s restless night before the battle , imagining it as a haunting by the ghosts of those whom the king had murdered , including Buckingham . Richard is portrayed as suffering a pang of conscience , but as he speaks he regains his confidence and asserts that he will be evil , if such needed to retain his crown . The fight between the two armies is simulated by rowdy noises made off - stage ( " alarums " or alarms ) while actors walk on - stage , deliver their lines , and exit . To build anticipation for the duel , Shakespeare requests more " alarums " after Richard ' s councillor , William Catesby , announces that the king is " [ enacting ] more wonders than a man " . Richard punctuates his entrance with the classic line , " A horse , a horse ! My kingdom for a horse ! " He refuses to withdraw , continuing to seek to slay Henry ' s doubles until he has killed his nemesis . There is no documentary evidence that Henry had five decoys at Bosworth Field ; the idea was Shakespeare ' s invention . He drew inspiration from Henry IV ' s use of them at the Battle of Shrewsbury ( 1403 ) to amplify the perception of Richard ' s courage on the battlefield . Similarly , the single combat between Henry and Richard is Shakespeare ' s creation . " The True Tragedy of Richard III " , a play earlier than Shakespeare ' s , has no signs of staging such an encounter : its stage directions give not a hint of visible combat . Despite the dramatic licences taken , Shakespeare ' s version of the Battle of Bosworth was the model of the event for English textbooks for many years during the 18th and 19th centuries . This glamorised version of history , promulgated in books and paintings and played out on stages across the country , perturbed humorist Gilbert Abbott à Beckett . He voiced his criticism in the form of a poem , equating the romantic view of the battle to watching a " fifth - rate production of " Richard III " " : shabbily costumed actors fight the Battle of Bosworth on - stage while those with lesser roles lounge at the back , showing no interest in the proceedings . In Laurence Olivier ' s 1955 film adaptation of " Richard III " , the Battle of Bosworth is represented not by a single duel but a general melee that became the film ' s most recognised scene and a regular screening at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre . The film depicts the clash between the Yorkist and Lancastrian armies on an open field , focusing on individual characters amidst the savagery of hand - to - hand fighting , and received accolades for the realism portrayed . One reviewer for " The Manchester Guardian " newspaper , however , was not impressed , finding the number of combatants too sparse for the wide plains and a lack of subtlety in Richard ' s death scene . The means by which Richard is shown to prepare his army for the battle also earned acclaim . As Richard speaks to his men and draws his plans in the sand using his sword , his units appear on - screen , arraying themselves according to the lines that Richard had drawn . Intimately woven together , the combination of pictorial and narrative elements effectively turns Richard into a storyteller , who acts out the plot he has constructed . Shakespearian critic Herbert Coursen extends that imagery : Richard sets himself up as a creator of men , but dies amongst the savagery of his creations . Coursen finds the depiction a contrast to that of Henry V and his " band of brothers " . The adaptation of the setting for " Richard III " to a 1930s fascist England in Ian McKellen ' s 1995 film , however , did not sit well with historians . Adams posits that the original Shakespearian setting for Richard ' s fate at Bosworth teaches the moral of facing one ' s fate , no matter how unjust it is , " nobly and with dignity " . By overshadowing the dramatic teaching with special effects , McKellen ' s film reduces its version of the battle to a pyrotechnic spectacle about the death of a one - dimensional villain . Coursen agrees that , in this version , the battle and Richard ' s end are trite and underwhelming . Battlefield . Officially the site of the battle is deemed by Leicestershire County Council to be in the vicinity of the town of Market Bosworth . The council engaged historian Daniel Williams to research the battle , and in 1974 his findings were used to build the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and the presentation it houses . Williams ' s interpretation , however , has since been questioned . Sparked by the battle ' s quincentenary celebration in 1985 , a dispute among historians has led many to suspect the accuracy of Williams ' s theory . In particular , geological surveys conducted from 2003 to 2009 by the Battlefields Trust , a charitable organisation that protects and studies old English battlefields , show that the southern and eastern flanks of Ambion Hill were solid ground in the 15th century , contrary to Williams ' s claim that it was a large area of marshland . Landscape archaeologist Glenn Foard , leader of the survey , said the collected soil samples and finds of mediaeval military equipment suggest that the battle took place two miles ( 3 km ) southwest of Ambion Hill ( 52°34 ′ 41 ″ N 1°26 ′ 02 ″ W ) , contrary to the popular belief that it was fought near the foot of the hill . English Heritage argues that the battle was named after Market Bosworth because the town was the nearest significant settlement to the battlefield in the 15th century . As explored by Professor Philip Morgan , a battle might initially be treated by society as an unremarkable event , deeming it of no memorable quality and therefore not requiring a name . As time passes , writers of administrative and historical records find it necessary to identify the battle , ascribing it a name that is usually toponymical in nature and sourced from combatants or observers . This official name becomes accepted by society and future generations without question . Early records associated the Battle of Bosworth with " Brownehethe " , " " bellum Miravallenses " " , " Sandeford " and " Dadlyngton field " . The earliest record , a municipal memorandum of 23 August 1485 from York , locates the battle " on the field of Redemore " . This is corroborated by a 1485 – 86 letter that mentions " Redesmore " as its site . According to historian Peter Foss , records did not associate the battle with " Bosworth " until 1510 . Foss is named by English Heritage as the principal advocate for " Redemore " as the battlesite . He suggests the name is derived from " " Hreod Mor " " , an Anglo - Saxon phrase that means " reedy marshland " . Basing his opinion on 13th - and 16th - century church records , he believes " Redemore " was an area of wetland that lay between Ambion Hill and the village of Dadlington , and was close to the Fenn Lanes , a Roman road running east to west across the region . Foard believes this road to be the most probable route that both armies took to reach the battlefield . Williams dismisses the notion of " Redmore " as a specific location , saying that the term refers to a large area of reddish soil ; Foss argues that Williams ' s sources are local stories and flawed interpretations of records . Moreover , he proposes that Williams was influenced by William Hutton ' s 1788 " The Battle of Bosworth - Field " , which Foss blames for introducing the notion that the battle was fought west of Ambion Hill on the north side of the River Sence . Hutton , as Foss suggests , misinterpreted a passage from his source , Raphael Holinshed ' s 1577 " Chronicle " . Holinshed wrote , " King Richard pitched his field on a hill called Anne Beame , refreshed his soldiers and took his rest . " Foss believes that Hutton mistook " field " to mean " field of battle " , thus creating the idea that the fight took place on Anne Beame ( Ambion ) Hill . To " [ pitch ] his field " , as Foss clarifies , was a period expression for setting up a camp . Foss brings further evidence for his " Redemore " theory by quoting Edward Hall ' s 1550 " Chronicle " . Hall stated that Richard ' s army stepped onto a plain after breaking camp the next day . Furthermore , historian William Burton , author of " Description of Leicestershire " ( 1622 ) , wrote that the battle was " fought in a large , flat , plaine , and spacious ground , three miles [ 5 km ] distant from [ Bosworth ] , between the Towne of Shenton , Sutton [ Cheney ] , Dadlington and Stoke [ Golding ] " . In Foss ' s opinion both sources are describing an area of flat ground north of Dadlington . English Heritage , responsible for managing England ' s historic sites , used both theories to designate the site for Bosworth Field . Without preference for either theory , they constructed a single continuous battlefield boundary that encompasses the locations proposed by both Williams and Foss . The region has experienced extensive changes over the years , starting after the battle . Holinshed stated in his chronicle that he found firm ground where he expected the marsh to be , and Burton confirmed that by the end of the 16th century , areas of the battlefield were enclosed and had been improved to make them agriculturally productive . Trees were planted on the south side of Ambion Hill , forming Ambion Wood . In the 18th and 19th centuries , the Ashby Canal carved through the land west and south - west of Ambion Hill . Winding alongside the canal at a distance , the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway crossed the area on an embankment . The changes to the landscape were so extensive that when Hutton revisited the region in 1807 after an earlier 1788 visit , he could not readily find his way around . Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre was built on Ambion Hill , near Richard ' s Well . According to legend , Richard III drank from one of the several springs in the region on the day of the battle . In 1788 , a local pointed out one of the springs to Hutton as the one mentioned in the legend . A stone structure was later built over the location . The inscription on the well reads : Northwest of Ambion Hill , just across the northern tributary of the , a flag and memorial stone mark Richard ' s Field . Erected in 1973 , the site was selected on the basis of Williams ' s theory . St James ' s Church at Dadlington is the only structure in the area that is reliably associated with the Battle of Bosworth ; the bodies of those killed in the battle were buried there . References . Bibliography . Books Periodicals Online sources