Timeline of Events_ 1483-1485

Timeline of Events, 1483-1485 Date March 1483 Event Edward IV catches a bad cold after a fishing trip. It steadily grows worse in the following weeks. Edward IV dies of heart failure after a bout with lung fever (pneumonia). A codicil to his will names his brother Richard, duke of Gloucester, as Lord Protector (i.e., regent) of the kingdom until twelve-year-old Edward V reaches maturity. Messengers are sent at once to Wales, to bring Edward V to London. Queen Elizabeth and her supporters deliberately ignore the 1483 codicil and, based on the provisions of Edward IV’s previous will of 1475, move to make her the regent and to give themselves power over the government. 9 April 1483 11 April 1483 Edward IV’s best friend and Lord Chamberlain, Lord William Hastings—long an enemy of the Woodville family—objects during a council meeting to the Woodvilles’ plans to ignore the king’s will. To buy time, he threatens to withdraw to Calais and raise the forces there in rebellion against any Woodville government. The Woodvilles, to avoid this, agree to negotiate a deal. Hastings secretly writes to Gloucester, who is in Yorkshire, telling him of the queen’s plans and urging Gloucester to come to London immediately. Negotiations between the queen’s supporters and Hastings’s supporters ensue, with the queen’s faction wanting to crown her son king right away and declare him an adult as soon as he has been crowned, despite his age. Hastings argues to delay the coronation until all the kingdom’s nobles can arrive in London and to obey the terms of Edward IV’s will. The law regarding the appointment and powers of a Lord Protector in such a case is not at all clear, so both factions have good arguments for their respective positions. 29 April 1483 Having come south with a small army, in response to Hastings’s warning, Gloucester meets up with his cousin the duke of Buckingham at the town of Northampton, on the road to London. They had been informed that Edward V should be there, en route to London; but they find that the boy king’s guardian, Queen Elizabeth’s brother Anthony Woodville, earl Rivers, has sent him ahead to the town of Stony Stratford, in an attempt to get him to London before Gloucester can arrive there. Rivers himself comes to Northampton to try to delay Gloucester and Buckingham, who have quickly formed an alliance. The three of them have an apparently amicable dinner together that evening. Gloucester and Buckingham stay up late, discussing the situation. The decision is reached to take custody of the boy king and arrest Rivers and his immediate entourage. 30 April 1483 At the crack of dawn, Gloucester’s and Buckingham’s forces arrest Rivers at Northampton, having first cordoned off the town to prevent any of Rivers’s men from reaching Stony Stratford with a warning. This accomplished, Gloucester and Buckingham hasten to Stony Stratford and seize Edward V, arresting his half-brother Sir Richard Grey and another Woodville supporter, Vaughan. The two dukes explain to the boy king that their actions are for his own good and in accordance with his father’s will. Edward nonetheless is sullen and resentful, as he has been raised by his Woodville relatives and hardly knows Gloucester or Buckingham. He has, however, no choice but to cooperate with them. Rivers’s forces are dismissed and left to go their ways. Gloucester sends word to Hastings in London, who is delighted. Gloucester also sends Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan under arrest to castles he controls in the north. He and Buckingham then set out for London with the boy king. subsequently— Word of these developments independently reaches London. Queen Elizabeth’s brother Sir Edward Woodville puts out to sea with 20 ships of the royal navy, destination unknown. After an unsuccessful attempt to rally support for their cause, the queen and her eldest son, the marquess of Dorset, go into sanctuary at Westminster Abbey, taking with them the younger prince, Richard, and the five princesses: Elizabeth, Cecily, Anne, Katherine, and Bridget. The only important person to support them is the archbishop of York, who is Lord Chancellor of England. He gives the queen the Great Seal to take into sanctuary with her. The next day, however, the council—now under Hastings’s control— demands that the chancellor hand the seal over to them. Sheepishly, he goes to sanctuary and gets it back for Hastings. The archbishop is then dismissed from the office of Lord Chancellor and replaced by the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bourchier. 4 May 1483 Edward V, Gloucester, and Buckingham make a formal entrance into London. Featured in the parade are four cartloads of weapons bearing the Woodville crest, which Gloucester declares were intended to be used to murder him en route to the city. Not everyone believes this statement. All the nobles present, as well as the city government of London, swear fealty to Edward V as king. Gloucester summons the council to discuss Edward V’s upcoming coronation. They confirm him as Lord Protector and give him full custody of the young king. Gloucester wants to have Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan charged with treason, but the council refuses: treason can only be committed against a king, not against a Lord Protector (and Gloucester wasn’t even that at the time). Sir Edward Brampton is sent to sea to recover the ships taken by Edward Woodville. In other business, the council sets the date for Edward V’s coronation for 22 June. It also summons a parliament to meet on 25 June, to decide if the Lord Protector’s power should end once the young king is crowned or if it should continued until the king comes of age. Sir Edward Brampton locates the missing ships; after taking them by surprise by sneaking up on them where they are anchored offshore in the dark, he persuades 18 out of the 20 to come back and be loyal to the new Lord Protector. The other two, with Edward Woodville aboard, flee to Brittany and there join up with Henry Tudor’s exile group. Dr. Robert Stillington, the bishop of Bath and Wells, secretly makes contact with Gloucester. The substance of their conversations is known only to themselves. Gloucester announces to the council that Bishop Stillington has revealed some startling information: the late King Edward IV and his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, were never legally married. The bishop says he knows this because, several years before Edward married Elizabeth Woodville, Stillington presided over his solemn betrothal to another woman, Lady Eleanor Butler. According to both church and civil law at this time, a betrothal becomes a legal marriage if the engaged couple subsequently have sexual relations with each other, even if they have no further church service to formalize their union; and that is what Stillington says Edward and Lady Eleanor Butler did. Since Lady Eleanor was still alive when Edward subsequently went through a marriage ceremony with Elizabeth Woodville, Edward’s second marriage could not be 10 May 1483 subsequently— early June 1483 9 June 1483 valid, since he already had a legal wife. Therefore, all the offspring of Edward’s union with Elizabeth Woodville must be illegitimate. As a result, they cannot inherit their parents’ patrimony or titles— and this includes the kingship. And if Edward IV’s sons cannot inherit the throne, then his nearest legitimate male relative would become king instead. Coincidentally, that relative just happens to be the duke of Gloucester. (The son of the late duke of Clarence is disqualified from consideration, since his father was attainted of treason.) The council is thrown into an uproar by this announcement. Bishop Stillington is called in to present his evidence, which includes documentation. Several experts in church and civil law are summoned to examine this evidence and give their legal opinions. Lady Eleanor Butler cannot be called in because she has been dead since 1468, after spending the last years of her life in a convent. After much discussion, a number of the councillors are either convinced by Stillington’s evidence or at least willing to consider the possibility that it is true. Three councillors, however, adamantly refuse to accept Stillington’s story: Lord Hastings, Lord Thomas Stanley, and John Morton, bishop of Ely. They insist that no one but Edward V can be the rightful king. The council’s discussions become quite heated, and no decision is yet reached. Later that day, Lord Hastings and Bishop Morton issue council orders about various routine matters. The orders themselves are not important, except for the fact that they are issued in the name of King Edward V alone—without any mention of the Lord Protector. Hastings and Morton secretly also send messages to the representatives summoned for the upcoming parliament, telling them not to come. Needless to say, both of these actions are illegal. 10 June 1483 Gloucester writes to the city government of York, telling them that he needs their military aid against the former Queen Elizabeth and her supporters, who are plotting to assassinate him and the duke of Buckingham. Hastings, Morton, and Stanley plot how they might prevent what looks increasingly to them like an attempt by Gloucester to seize power from the rightful king, Edward V. With guidance from Stanley’s politically astute wife, Margaret Beaufort countess of Richmond, they secretly get in touch with Elizabeth Woodville and her son Dorset, still in sanctuary at Westminster. Lord Hastings’s trusted legal adviser, Sir William Catesby, betrays 10-12 June 1483 —at the same time his master’s plotting with Stanley and Morton to Gloucester and Buckingham. The plotters are unaware that Catesby is betraying them and continue to confide all their plans in him. 12 June 1483 Gloucester sends out summonses for two separate council committee meetings to be held the next day in the morning. One is to meet at Westminster Palace, the other at the Tower of London. Hastings, Stanley, and Morton are requested to attend the one at the Tower. At the Tower meeting, Gloucester accuses Hastings of betraying him and plotting with the Woodvilles to assassinate him and Buckingham. Hastings, naturally, denies it. At a prearranged signal from Gloucester, armed men led by Lord Thomas Howard (later to become earl of Surrey) burst into the room and forcibly arrest Hastings, Stanley, Morton, and the archbishop of York, who has been plotting with them; Stanley is slightly wounded in the process. Hastings, accused of masterminding the plot, is given no trial. He is hustled out of the council room and executed in the Tower yard, barely given time beforehand to make a last confession to a priest. Public criers are in the streets by afternoon, announcing Hastings’s execution and that it was for treason in planning to assassinate the Lord Protector and the duke of Buckingham. Lord Stanley is placed under house arrest only, as he manages to persuade Gloucester and Buckingham that he was only peripherally involved in the plot and never in the assassination aspect of it. Bishop Morton and the archbishop of York also are kept under house arrest. —subsequently Hastings is buried at Windsor, near the tomb of his old friend Edward IV. His widow and heirs are treated well and allowed to inherit his property. Gloucester is heard to express his regret that Hastings, by his actions, “forced” him to kill him. Lord Stanley convinces Gloucester that his involvement in Hastings’s plot was minimal. He is pardoned and restored to favor. The archbishop of York is released and sent home to his diocese. Bishop Morton is entrusted to Buckingham’s custody. The duke of Buckingham hires most of Hastings’s now unemployed retainers (i.e., private army), although the remainder are taken on by Lord Stanley. 13 June 1483 The marquess of Dorset, on his mother’s advice, secretly leaves sanctuary at Westminster Abbey and goes into hiding. 16 June 1483 A council delegation led by the aged archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Bourchier, goes to the Westminster sanctuary on behalf of the Lord Protector, to demand that the former queen give up her younger son, ten-year-old Prince Richard, into the Lord Protector’s custody. The archbishop argues that it is proper for the prince to be with his older brother, to keep him company, and also that it would look bad if the boy king’s brother did not attend his upcoming coronation. To try to persuade her, the archbishop gives his personal word that the little prince will be safe and treated well. The truly convincing argument, however, is the armed men under the command of Lord John Howard, who have surrounded the sanctuary; it is made clear to the former queen that, if she does not voluntarily release her son to the archbishop, these soldiers will come in and take him by force, and that people might get hurt in the process. Given little real choice, Elizabeth Woodville relinquishes Prince Richard to the archbishop, who takes him to join his elder brother Edward V in the royal apartments of the Tower. The personal servants of Edward V and Prince Richard are dismissed with full severance pay and replaced with servants chosen by the Lord Protector. The two princes are moved from the royal apartments to another part of the Tower of London. This was to have been the day of Edward V’s coronation. There is no coronation. A famous preacher, Dr. Ralph Shaw, brother of London’s mayor, gives a startling sermon at St. Paul’s Cross in the city (the closest equivalent to a national news broadcast available in late 15thcentury England). His sermon is based on the Biblical text “Bastard slips shall not take root” (Wisdom 4:3), and declares publicly for the first time that Edward IV was not legally married to Elizabeth Woodville and therefore their children are illegitimate and unable to inherit. He urges that the duke of Gloucester be recognized as king instead. Buckingham and other nobles attend this sermon, and Gloucester himself shows up near the end of it. 23 June 1483 In Yorkshire, earl Rivers, Lord Richard Grey, and Vaughan are tried for treason by a panel presided over by the earl of Northumberland, on orders of the Lord Protector. They are found 18 June 1483 —subsequently 22 June 1483 guilty. Rivers draws up his will, rather ironically naming Gloucester his executor. 24 June 1483 The duke of Buckingham gives a non-sermonical presentation of the same arguments to London’s civic government and leading citizens at the Guildhall, again urging them to recognize Gloucester as the rightful king. A parliamentary-type assembly convenes at London to discuss the problem of who is the rightful king of England. Bishop Stillington presents to this assembly his evidence that Edward IV was betrothed to Lady Eleanor Butler years before he went through a marriage ceremony with Elizabeth Woodville. Others present allegations that Elizabeth Woodville and her female relatives practiced witchcraft to cause Edward IV to marry her and to achieve various other goals, and allegations that Edward IV’s reign in recent years had become corrupt due to the king’s evil advisors (i.e., the late Lord Hastings and the Woodvilles). The assembly concludes by drawing up a document declaring that Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid and its issue therefore illegitimate. Outside the assembly there are some less than peaceful protests by common people (and perhaps others) objecting to the removal of Edward V from the throne. Arrests are made and order restored. In Yorkshire, Rivers, Lord Grey, and Vaughan are executed. 26 June 1483 A committee of assembly members present the Lord Protector with the assembly’s document. The duke of Buckingham reads it aloud before a large audience and formally requests Gloucester to assume the throne. Gloucester accepts, and the persons present acclaim him as King Richard III. Lord John Howard is made duke of Norfolk by the new king. His son, Lord Thomas Howard, is made earl of Surrey. The troops that Gloucester had requested from York to help protect him from alleged Woodville assassination attempts finally arrive in London and bivouac outside the city. Contrary to Londoners’ expectations, they are fewer in number (only several thousand) and much less intimidating than it had been presumed they would be. They seem more like a supplemental security force than an occupying army. The new king and his wife, Anne Neville, move into the royal 25 June 1483 28 June 1483 early July 1483 4 July 1483 apartments of the Tower, as is traditional for an English king and his consort before their coronation. 6 July 1483 The coronation of Richard III and his queen goes off without a hitch. It is widely attended by the aristocracy; about the only individual who had been expected to attend, but does not, is the former king, now merely “Lord Edward.” The troops from York are sent home again. Richard III and his queen leave London to go on a tour of their new kingdom. Some nobles accompany them, while others, including the duke of Buckingham, remain behind. Several persons, none of them more than commoners, are arrested in London in connected with what it rumored to be an attempt to rescue Edward IV’s sons from the Tower. There are also rumors that more powerful persons were behind such an attempt, but none of them is named, much less arrested. At the city of Gloucester, Buckingham briefly joins King Richard on his tour of the kingdom, then proceeds to his estate at Brecknock, in Wales. Duke François of Brittany requests that King Richard send him a force of 4000 English archers for six months, to help him defend his dukedom from being conquered by France. He argues that this aid would be in England’s best interests and that therefore England should pay for the archers. Otherwise, he warns (somewhat disingenuously), if the French overrun Brittany, they will get custody of the Tudors and in all likelihood use them against Richard. For his part, King Richard considers this request tantamount to blackmail, and since he is experiencing budget difficulties anyway, he refuses it. Angered at Richard’s refusal of his request, Duke François releases Henry Tudor from custody and gives him funds with which to hire mercenaries and three small ships for the purpose of invading England. King Louis XI of France dies. He is succeeded by his thirteen-year-old son, now Charles VIII, although Louis’s daughter Anne de Beaujeu rules as regent during her brother’s minority. Several leading French nobles are disgruntled that Anne was made regent instead of one of them and —subsequently 20 July 1483 —subsequently 29 July 1483 August 1483 —subsequently 30 August 1483 —subsequently attempt to dislodge her from power. Other French nobles try to seize this opportunity to regain some of the autonomy that King Louis previously had taken away from them in his efforts to centralize government. Civil strife ensues in France, although mostly stopping short of actual warfare. Autumn 1483 A rebellion, widespread in the south and west of England, is plotted against Richard III. Many of its adherents are Yorkists angered by Richard’s usurpation of the throne from his nephew, whom they still consider to be the rightful king. The plotters’ plan is for several uprisings to take place simultaneously so that Richard cannot fight them all at once. Unknown to them, however, Richard’s agents have infiltrated their conspiracy and are reporting their plans to him. Around this time, also, rumors spread that the princes are dead. They are vague and contradictory, however, as to exactly what is supposed to have happened to them and who was responsible for it. King Richard neither confirms nor denies the rumors and makes no attempt to produce his nephews in public to disprove them. The boys, in fact, have not been seen in public since the summer. 11 October 1483 —subsequently Richard officially receives intelligence that Buckingham is involved in the planned rebellion. The rebellion misfires. One uprising mistakenly begins ahead of schedule, probably as a result of miscommunications; panicked, the others join in when they hear the rebellion has begun, even though most of them are not ready yet. Extremely stormy weather in the west of England and in Wales prevents Buckingham from meeting up with his forces as planned, to assume leadership of the rebellion. The king’s forces easily divide and conquer the wouldbe rebels; some of the locally prominent leaders are executed, but most of the commoners are pardoned for their participation. Buckingham decides to flee and goes into hiding. Henry Tudor arrives off the English coast with his mercenaries and three ships but soon realizes that the rebellion has collapsed; he returns to Brittany without ever setting foot on shore. Buckingham’s whereabouts are betrayed to the authorities by a neighbor he had offended in the past, and he is arrested and brought to Salisbury. The king sends Sir James Tyrell to interrogate him. Following Tyrell’s investigations, Buckingham is tried for treason and found guilty. There are rumors that he begged to be permitted to speak to King Richard in person—although his reasons for wanting to do so vary, in different versions of the late October 1483 story—but that the king refused to see him. Dorset escapes the general round-up of rebels and joins Tudor in Brittany. Bishop Morton, who had been in Buckingham’s custody at Brecknock, takes advantage of the confusion to flee the country as well and goes to Burgundy. From there, he gets in touch with Tudor and the other exiles in Brittany and agrees to act as their representative to the papacy. Lord Thomas Stanley, having assisted Richard III in putting down the rebellion, is rewarded by being made Constable of England in place of Buckingham. His wife, the countess of Richmond, has been implicated in the rebellion; but out of consideration for her husband’s services, the king merely confiscates her property, then presents it to her husband, with instructions to keep his wife under control in the future. Sir James Tyrell receives some of Buckingham’s properties and offices in Wales as a reward for his service. 2 November 1483 —subsequently Buckingham is executed at Salisbury. Buckingham’s widow, Catherine Woodville, is given permission to join her sister, the former queen, in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. Despite their father’s conviction for treason, Buckingham’s children are allowed to inherit his property, and his eldest son, Edward Stafford, succeeds to the title of duke of Buckingham. Angry at the duke of Brittany’s supplying Henry Tudor with funds to invade England, Richard authorizes naval raids on Breton shipping. Authorization is later expanded to include French and Scottish shipping. 25 December 1483 In Brittany, at the cathedral in Rennes, Henry Tudor publicly vows that he will marry Edward IV’s eldest daughter Elizabeth—now, in some people’s views, the heiress to the throne after her brothers’ deaths—and claim the throne of England for himself. Richard III holds a parliament, which formally ratifies him as king. After protracted negotiations, Elizabeth Woodville reaches agreement with Richard III. She, her daughters, and her sister come out of sanctuary and rejoin the court. Her part of the bargain is to formally accept his assertion—now recognized by parliament—that her marriage to Edward IV was invalid and her children by him are illegitimate. For his part, King Richard publicly swears to support them as befits his (illegitimate) January 1484 March 1484 kinswomen and to find nobles or gentlemen as husbands for the girls. The former princesses now are known as Lady Elizabeth, Lady Cecily, etc., and their mother as Dame Elizabeth Grey (the name she would have had as Sir John Grey’s widow). 30 March 1484 Sir Richard Woodville, one of Elizabeth Woodville’s brothers, is pardoned for his role in the previous year’s rebellion. King Richard’s only legitimate son dies unexpectedly after a brief illness, leaving him without a direct heir. Many people view this as as a judgment from God for Richard’s having murdered his nephews—in their minds, his son’s death is actual evidence that he is guilty. It remains unclear whom King Richard will designate as his heir, in the wake of his son’s death. The leading candidates seem to be his nephew Edward Plantagenet, earl of Warwick—although this boy technically is barred from inheriting because his father, the duke of Clarence, was attained of treason in 1478—and another nephew, John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, son of Richard’s elder sister Elizabeth and her husband the duke of Suffolk. Richard makes no official pronouncement on who is to succeed him. Tudor agent William Colyngbourne is arrested and executed for treason in England. Richard III attempts to extradite Henry Tudor from Brittany. Duke François has suffered a mental breakdown, and the duchy is being administered in the interim by his treasurer, Pierre Landois. Richard authorizes his agents to offer not only English archers for Brittany’s defense, but also a large personal bribe to Landois, to hand Tudor over to them. Landois agrees. While preparations for the fulfillment of this bargain are under way, however, Tudor is warned by his contacts of what is afoot. Richard also negotiates a temporary peace with Scotland. One of his negotiators is Sir James Tyrell. September 1484 Pretending merely to ride out hunting, Tudor evades his Breton companions and rides hard for the French border. He quickly is pursued by Landois’s men and Richard III’s agents. Nevertheless, Tudor’s head start is enough for him to get across the border into France, barely an hour or two ahead of his pursuers. The French duke of Orléans, a close kinsman of Charles VIII, has been attempting to overthrow Anne de Beaujeu’s regency and 9 April 1484 —subsequently July 1484 Summer 1484 —subsequently seeks English and Breton aid for this purpose. So far, Richard III has responded negatively to Orléans’s requests; and Duke François, as noted above, has been prevented by ill health from even responding. Nevertheless, the French regent’s preoccupation with this challenge means she is not presently at leisure to give a cause as shaky as Tudor’s any substantial assistance. She does, however, extend to him permission to reside in Paris with his followers. 11 October 1484 —subsequently The French council of regency officially extends a formal, honorable reception to Henry Tudor. Soon after Tudor’s flight to France, Duke François recovers from his breakdown and becomes very angry upon discovering Landois’s attempt to sell his long-time honored guest out to Richard III. The duke therefore gives Tudor’s followers safeconduct to join him in Paris, which they quickly do. The Lancastrian earl of Oxford, who has been held prisoner at Hammes Castle in Calais since the end of the last civil war, manages to suborn a large percentage of the Hammes garrison, as well as its lieutenant commander; taking advantage of the increasing negligence of the commander, the aged Lord Mountjoy, they seize the castle. Loyal forces from the Guisnes Castle garrison surround Hammes, and negotiations ensue. These result in an agreement that Oxford and those who wish to follow him may leave Hammes under truce. They do so and quickly make their way to join Henry Tudor in Paris. Tudor and his companions are overjoyed, as Oxford is the first nobleman of any major stature or military experience to join their cause. Oxford’s temporary capture of Hammes Castle and defection to Henry Tudor provides Tudor’s cause with considerably more credibility in the eyes of the French government. Elizabeth Woodville writes to her son Dorset, now in Paris with Tudor, urging him to return to England and promising that King Richard will pardon him and restore him to favor if he does. Dorset slips away from Paris one night and heads for the Burgundian border, with the intent of finding passage to England. Tudor, however, discovers the defection and sends others of his men in pursuit. They catch up to Dorset in the town of Compiègne and force him to return to Paris. Sir James Tyrell is sent to Burgundy on an unspecified diplomatic mission. late October 1484 —subsequently 7 December 1484 Richard III issues the first proclamation officially declaring Henry Tudor and his adherents traitors. Sir James Tyrell is appointed commander of both Guisnes and Hammes Castles, in place of Lord Mountjoy, who is obliged to retire. Sir James is provided with an immense sum of cash. The duke of Orléans attempts actual armed rebellion but is defeated by Anne de Beaujeu’s forces. With the threat from Orléans thereby eliminated, the French regency government then agrees to loan Tudor funds to hire and equip mercenaries for an invasion of England. Tudor and his supporters move their headquarters, first to Rouen and then to the coast of Normandy, to prepare their forces for this undertaking—except for Dorset, who is left behind in Paris as a hostage for Tudor’s eventual repayment of this loan. Richard III’s queen, Anne Neville, dies after a brief illness. Rumors soon spread that Richard had his wife poisoned, so that he might marry his niece Elizabeth, in order to prevent Henry Tudor from doing so. Even some of Richard’s most loyal followers appear to believe at least the second part of this allegation and threaten to withdraw their support if he marries Elizabeth. King Richard publicly denies that he has any intention of marrying his niece. Richard decides to seek the hand of the Portuguese princess Joana in marriage. That summer, he dispatches Sir Edward Brampton to the Portuguese court to negotiate this marriage and also a marriage between his niece Elizabeth and a cousin of Portugal’s king. Richard issues another proclamation declaring Henry Tudor and certain named adherents of his traitors. Dorset’s name does not appear on this list. Lord Thomas Stanley seeks King Richard’s permission to retire to his estates to raise troops for the defense of the kingdom against Henry Tudor’s imminent invasion. Having received intelligence from his agents that causes him to suspect Lord Stanley’s loyalty— since Tudor is, after all, Lord Stanley’s stepson—Richard grants permission but requires Stanley to leave his eldest son, George, Lord Strange, as a hostage for his good behavior. Stanley has little choice but to comply. January 1485 March 1485 16 March 1485 —subsequently early April 1485 —subsequently June 1485 late July 1485 1 August 1485 7 August 1485 Tudor’s forces sail from Harfleur. Tudor’s forces land at Milford Haven in Wales. He is largely unopposed by local nobles and gentry who are supposed to be defending their territories from him, and he manages to avoid those who actually would oppose him. King Richard soon receives intelligence of Tudor’s landing and prepares his own forces. The two armies then maneuver gradually towards central England. Lord Strange, with Richard’s forces, attempts to escape but is caught in the act. Interrogated by the king, he explains that his escape attempt was motivated by his knowledge that his uncle, Sir William Stanley, secretly supports Tudor and intends to betray Richard; he swears, however, that his father, Lord Thomas Stanley, remains loyal. Lord Strange manages to convince King Richard of this and therefore does not suffer execution, although he continues to be Richard’s prisoner. Lord Stanley, meanwhile, delays joining his army to the king’s, claiming that illness prevents him from traveling. Having caught sight of one another the previous day, Tudor’s forces and King Richard’s join battle near the town of Leicester, at a place called Bosworth Field. (See below for details of the actual battle.) In the ensuing fight, Richard III is killed. Henry Tudor proclaims himself king of England as Henry VII; a crown (probably looted from Richard’s baggage train) is set on his head by his stepfather, Lord Stanley. Those of Richard’s followers who are not slain in the battle either flee or are taken prisoner by the victors. The earl of Northumberland and the earl of Surrey are arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. The earl of Lincoln escapes but later surrenders and is pardoned by Henry, although he is kept under close surveillance thereafter. Dorset is allowed to return to England and has his estates restored to him by the victorious Henry. Bishop Stillington is arrested at York, reportedly suffering from some degree of mental derangement due to stress. —subsequently 22 August 1485 —subsequently 30 October 1485 November 1485 Henry VII is crowned at Westminster Abbey. Henry VII summons a parliament, which confirms him as righful king of England. All copies of the previous parliamentary legislation recognizing Richard III as king are revoked and declared invalid. In contrast, Edward IV’s and Elizabeth Woodville’s marriage is declared valid once more, and their daughters are proclaimed to be legitimate princesses. Parliament also petitions the new king to marry Princess Elizabeth, and he promises to do so as soon as the necessary papal dispensation arrives. Elizabeth Woodville is given back her widow’s estate and recognized as queen-dowager of England, with full honors. Parliament furthermore petitions the king to put Bishop Stillington on trial for having “bastardized” the princesses in the first place, but Henry declines to do so, in light of Stillington’s advanced age and poor health. Instead, he pardons Stillington, requiring him, however, to resign from active duty as bishop of Bath and Wells and instead to live in semi-retirement at Oxford University. December 1485 King Henry sends a commission to Calais to demand that the garrison there submit to his authority and recognize him as king of England. While the commanders there do so, after some negotiation, 200 soldiers from the garrison who refused to recognize Henry are permitted to defect to Burgundy and depart under a safeconduct. Appendix: What Actually Happened at the Battle of Bosworth If one were to explain what happened when Richard III’s forces faced off against Henry Tudor’s at Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, in terms of the resource system used in this game, it would go something like this: King Richard initially began with a position of apparent overwhelming numerical strength. He had five armies: (a) his own personal household troops; (b) the private army of John Howard, duke of Norfolk; (c) the private army of Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland; (d) the private army of Lord Thomas Stanley; and (e) the private army of Sir William Stanley. In contrast, Henry Tudor had at best two armies: (a) the French and Scottish mercenaries he had hired with the help of a loan from the French government, and (b) the private army of the earl of Oxford. Yet the discrepancy in power between the respective sides was not as marked as it might have appeared on the surface. Sir William Stanley and his brother Lord Thomas Stanley had been secretly in communication with Henry. Sir William already had made the decision to betray King Richard and commit his private army to Henry’s side, and he remained ostensibly on Richard’s side merely so that he might have a better opportunity of doing this during the upcoming battle. On the other hand, as noted in the timeline above, Richard was aware that Sir William intended to betray him, so he knew he could not count on that army. So, in fact, Henry had three armies and Richard had four, which is a much more favorable balance than two to five. Furthermore, Lord Thomas Stanley originally also had planned to betray Richard and fight for Henry, under the persuasions of his wife the countess of Richmond, who was Henry’s mother. When Richard took Lord Stanley’s son George hostage, however, Lord Stanley had to change his plans, so as to prevent his son’s execution. Therefore, Lord Stanley secretly informed Henry that the best he could do for him during the battle was to remain neutral and not fight on either side. King Richard did not know about this development, since George Stanley had managed to convince him that his father still was loyal and only his uncle was a traitor. With Lord Stanley’s army remaining neutral on the day of battle, therefore, Richard actually only had three armies—exactly as many as Henry had. When the battle began, the duke of Norfolk’s and the earl of Oxford’s armies were in the vanguards of their respective sides and met in the first clash. Unfortunately for Richard, Norfolk was killed in this first attack; whereupon his private army, seeing its leader fall, became confused and directionless. Norfolk’s son, the earl of Surrey, attempted to rally his fallen father’s men, but he himself had been wounded in the attack that killed Norfolk and many of his father’s men mistakenly thought he also had died. Therefore his attempts to rally Norfolk’s army failed, and that army became largely ineffective. This reduced King Richard’s armies to two—although Richard, not knowing of Lord Stanley’s secret plans, thought he still had three. Seeing the trouble on the field, Richard sent word to Lord Stanley and to the earl of Northumberland to attack Henry’s forces. He did not command Sir William Stanley’s army to attack because, of course, he knew perfectly well it would not do so. Now, we know why Lord Stanley disobeyed Richard’s order and did nothing. It is less clear why Northumberland also failed to move. (And we can’t ask him in game because Northumberland was killed by angry peasants while trying to put down a revolt over high taxes in Yorkshire in 1489.) Probably it was due simply to disorganization or poor communications rather than any deliberate intention of betraying Richard—after all, Henry had Northumberland arrested and confined in the Tower after winning the battle, which he hardly would have done if Northumberland had secretly been an ally of his, as the Stanleys were. For whatever reason, though, Northumberland failed to come to Richard’s assistance. This left King Richard with only one army, his own personal household troops. When he realized that neither Stanley nor Northumberland was going to respond to his orders, he decided to bypass the confused fighting still going on on the field and lead his household troops in an all-out charge against Henry’s mercenary force, which also still had not entered the general fighting. Doing this necessarily involved riding right across the front of Sir William Stanley’s army, which Richard knew was planning to betray him. Nonetheless, Richard’s household troops were cavalry, and Sir William’s army was mostly infantry; so Richard calculated that his force could get past them and, with luck, reach and kill Henry before Sir William’s men could effectively attack them. Some of Richard’s advisors, learning of the king’s plans, urged him instead to flee the field and live to fight another day—after all, he could always raise more armies and come back against Henry again, as had happened many times during the previous English civil wars. Richard refused. He thought his plan was sound; and if successful, it would put an end to the problem of Henry Tudor once and for all. So Richard led his household troops in a charge that slammed into Henry’s mercenary force. The mercenaries put up a good fight; and although they gradually gave ground before Richard’s attack, it took longer for Richard and his men to cut through them than Richard had anticipated. This proved fatal, for it gave Sir William Stanley’s army enough time to come up and attack Richard’s men from the side and rear. Even so, Richard very nearly achieved his goal: he cut down Henry’s standard-bearer and one of his personal bodyguard before he and his men were engulfed by Sir William’s army and killed. And that is how one force, apparently consisting of just two armies, managed to defeat a much larger force that apparently consisted of five armies. Remember this when negotiating your alliances in the game!