Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor Dynasty by Norton Elizabeth

Author:Norton, Elizabeth [Norton, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: History
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2012-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

He marryed my mother, a lady bright;

That is long sith I saw her with sight;

I trust in Iesu [Jesus] wee shall meete with winne,

& I shall maintaine her honor right

Ouer all England when I am Kinge.

Although still undecided about what action to take, Lord Stanley left Lathom on 15 August, where it is likely that he took his leave of Margaret. Margaret had seen her third husband leave for battle and return seriously wounded, and she must have been apprehensive about the safety of her fourth husband. She would have recognised how torn Stanley was by the danger that his son was in, although, for Margaret, her focus was always on her own son, and it is likely that she took the opportunity to once again try to persuade Stanley to go to Henry’s aid. On 20 August, Henry reached Lichfield, where he heard that, only three days earlier, Lord Stanley had arrived with a force of 5,000 men. Sir William Stanley arrived the same day and once again had a conference with Henry. The following day, Henry, who commanded a force considerably smaller than the King’s and was anxious to make use of his stepfather’s men, went in person to meet with the two Stanleys. It appears that the meeting was largely satisfactory, and whilst Stanley refused to commit himself, he undertook not to support the King. Further evidence of his sympathy for his stepson was shown when he sent four knights and their men to reinforce Henry’s vanguard. This was the best that Henry could hope for, and he returned to his troops to prepare for battle.

Richard had been at Nottingham when he heard of Henry’s landing, and gathering his forces, he moved to cut off the pretender’s route to the capital. He soon arrived at Leicester and, on 21 August, moved to a field near Atherstone that had been chosen as the site of the battle, which would later be called the Battle of Bosworth Field. Richard had a larger army than Henry, but his camp was disorganised, and when he woke from a night of bad dreams on the morning of 22 August, he found that no breakfast had been prepared for him and there was no priest available for him to hear Mass.

Henry’s army included Margaret’s half-brother, John, Lord Welles, as well as Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Oxford, Sir Edward Woodville and the Bishop of Exeter, and the group must have been apprehensive as they prepared to face Richard in battle on the morning of 22 August. Henry himself apparently showed no fear, and according to Hall’s Chronicle, he rode up and down his line, encouraging his troops and urging them forward. As Richard watched the display, he commanded that Lord Strange, who was imprisoned in his camp, be brought to him. He then ordered the young man’s execution as a warning to his father, and it was only through luck that, at that moment, the battle commenced, and Lord Strange was granted a temporary reprieve, being ordered back to the camp under guard.

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