position. In the event Wenlock failed to advance;

Richard turned to face Somerset, who was now faced by the entire Yorkist

left; and at the same time some 200 spearmen, placed on the extreme flank

by Edward to guard against such a move, advanced to attack Somerset in the

flank. Somerset's force gave ground, then broke and fled. Somerset escaped

to confront Wenlock, and in a rage slew him with his battleaxe. The 'main

battle' now began to give ground, and when Edward's center began a general

advance the Lancastrian army broke and ran.

Most of the Lancastrian nobles were captured and slaughtered, among them

Prince Edward and Edmund, Duke of Somerset, the last male Beaufort. Queen

Margaret was captured and placed in the Tower, where she remained for five

years until ransomed by her father. Henry VI was murdered in the Tower

shortly after the battle.

Edward proclaimed his seven-month-old son Edward Prince of Wales and

sent Hastings with a strong force to take possession of Calais. Richard of

Gloucester was rewarded with Warwick's lands and offices, while Clarence

received the lands of Courtenay in the West Country and the Lieutenancy of

Ireland.

1483-1487

Bosworth, Stoke, Blackheath and Exeter

Edward IV died in April 1483 when his son and heir, Edward V, was only

twelve. Inevitably rival factions immediately emerged – the boy king and

the court controlled by the queen mother and her relations, and Edward's

favorites Lord Hastings and Thomas Lord Stanley, opposed by Richard, Duke

of Gloucester, now the most powerful man in the kingdom, whom Edward IV had

intended should be regent.

Richard acted swiftly. Moving south, he joined forces with Henry

Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and seized Edward V en route to London in the

care of Lord Rivers, the queen mother's brother. Her son, Dorset, at once

fled the country, while the queen mother sought sanctuary in Westminster

Abbey. Within a month of Edward IV's death, Richard was Protector of the

Realm.

In June Hastings was suddenly arrested and executed. Two weeks later

Richard informed Parliament that Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville

was invalid due to an earlier marriage, and therefore Edward V was a

bastard – which left Richard the rightful successor. Richard became Richard

III, Lord Rivers was executed, and Edward V and his younger brother

Richard, Duke of York, were placed in the Tower.

That autumn there was a revolt in the West Country, led by Buckingham,

apparently in conspiracy with the exiled Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and

now head of the House of Lancaster. (Henry could claim the throne, in right

of his mother, Margaret Beaufort, as surviving male representative of the

House of Lancaster, the Beauforts being descended from John of Gaunt.)

Buckingham was supported by the Woodvillcs and Courtenays. Richard quickly

and efficiently crushed the revolt, and Buckingham was executed. Henry

Tudor withdrew to France, but in 1485, with about 3,000 French mercenaries,

he landed in Pembrokeshire, where his uncle Jasper was earl. He marched

quickly through Wales and the Marches, picking up considerable support on

the way, and confronted Richard in battle for the throne at Bosworth in

Leicestershire on 22 August 1485.

The two main forces drew up facing each other but both Henry Tudor and

Richard III looked anxiously for support from the forces of the two

brothers Stanley: those of Sir Willaim Stanley were visible to the north-

west of the battlefield, and those of Lord Stanley to the southeast.

The battle commenced without the Stanleys, the opposing forces both

making a bid for Ambien Hill. Richard's troops reached the ridge first, and

his 'vaward battle' deployed on it in a defensive position. The 'main

battle' followed, while the 'rearward battle' was ordered to take position

on the left of this line as soon as possible, and to face due south.

Henry advanced to engage in an archery duel at long range, and Richard

looked in vain for his 'rearward battle': the Earl of Northumberland had

decided to avoid action until the Stanleys showed their hands.

As the archers began to run out of arrows, the two armies advanced to

melee, and only now did the Stanleys move – to attack both flanks of

Richard's line, while Northumberland remained immobile. Richard mounted,

collected his bodyguard around him, and rode into the center of the enemy,

intent on killing Henry Tudor or dying like a king. Unhorsed in the marsh,

Richard was soon overwhelmed by superior numbers and killed. The battle

ceased when his death became known, and his army melted away with little or

no pursuit. Lord Stanley took the circlet indicating Richard's rank from

the dead king's helmet and, placing it on Henry Tudor's head, proclaimed

him King Henry VII.

In the early years of his reign Henry VII was in continual danger, and

it is erroneous to regard Bosworth as the end of the Wars of the Roses. The

first of the king's troubles was a rising in 1486 in the North Riding of

Yorkshire, where Richard III had been very popular. It was led by Lord

Lovel, Richard's chamberlain and admiral, but the rebels dispersed when

Henry marched against them with a large force. Lovel fled to Flanders.

In May 1487 Lovel landed in Ireland with some 2,000 Swiss and 1,500

German mercenaries, supplied by Margaret of Burgundy and commanded by the

Swiss captain Martin Schwarz, accompanied by John, Earl of Lincoln, and

about 200 other exiled Yorkists. This revolt was in the name of Edward,

Earl of Warwick, son of Clarence, but as he was a prisoner in the Tower a

'double' named Lambert Simnel played his part.

The invaders were welcomed by most of the Irish lords and 'Clarence' was

crowned Edward VI at Dublin. Within a few weeks Lincoln had recruited some

4,000 – 5,000 Irish soldiers under Thomas Fitzgerald. These forces now

sailed for England, landing in Lancashire. However, few Yorkists had joined

the invaders by the time Henry VII brought them to battle at Stoke, near

Newark, on 17 July 1487. Despite fierce resistance by the foreign

mercenaries the rebels were routed, Lincoln and Fitzgerald killed, and

Simnel captured. Lovel disappeared.

For the next four years Henry enjoyed a relatively peaceful reign, but

then Yorkist conspiracies began once more to thicken. Ever since 1483 it

had been rumored that one or both of Edward IV's sons had escaped from the

Tower: Henry Tudor claimed they had been murdered by Richard HI, but no

bodies had ever been found or displayed as proof of their death. One Perkin

Warbeck, a citizen of Tournai, was chosen for his similarity of appearance

to Edward IV, and declared to be Richard, Duke of York.

He gained some support in Ireland, and was recognized as York by

Margaret of Burgundy and Maximilian of Austria. For two years Warbeck

followed the Imperial court while his patrons intrigued with English

malcontents; but in the winter of 1494-5 Henry's spies infiltrated the

conspiracy and large numbers of the conspirators were arrested, including

Lord Fitz Walter and Sir William Stanley. The latter was beheaded, as were

several others, while the remainder were hanged or imprisoned.

Nevertheless, in July 1495 Warbeck sailed from Flanders with 2,000

exiles and German mercenaries. He attempted to land at Deal, but his

vanguard was destroyed by Kentish levies and he drew off and made for

Ireland. Henry had anticipated such a move, and had already sent to Ireland

Sir Edward Poynings, who had suppressed the Irish supporters of Warbeck.

Warbeck landed at Munster, but only the Earl of Desmond came to his

support. Unable to face Poynings' forces, Warbeck sailed to Scotland. With

James IV he raided Northumberland in 1496, but a pretender backed by

Scottish spears was not acceptable to the English borderers, and not one

man rallied to the Yorkist banner.

However, discontent over the taxes imposed to pay for the war with

Scotland did lead to rioting in the south-east counties, and in Cornwall

open rebellion broke out. A rebel army marched on Eondon, sweeping over

five counties unopposed and collecting recruits en route, and was only

stopped by a hard fight at Blackheath.

Warbeck, hearing of the rising, landed in Devon in August. Gathering

together 8,000 rebels, he marched on Exeter. The city closed its gates

against him and, after an attempt to besiege the city, Warbeck had to march

away to confront a royal army dispatched to relieve Exeter. When he reached

Taunton Warbeck found his followers so dispirited that disaster was

inevitable. He took sanctuary on the abbey of Beaulieu, and later confessed

his fraud in exchange for his life. In 1498 Warbeck escaped from the Tower

but was recaptured and thereafter confined in a dungeon. The next year he

planned another escape, together with the unfortunate Edward of Clarence,

but spies in the Tower betrayed this. Henry allowed the plot to proceed

almost to completion, then had both Edward and Warbeck executed for

planning rebellion.

The last real fighting of the Wars of the Roses had taken place at

Blackheath and the siege of Exeter, but Clarence had been a true male heir

of the House of Plantagenet and all the time he lived he was a threat to

the House of Tudor. His death truly marked the end of the Wars of the

Roses, and thereafter Henry VII’s reign was peaceful apart from a few minor

and futile plots by the exiled Edmund, Earl of Suffolk, younger brother of

John, Earl of Lincoln, and the last possible Yorkist claimant to the throne

of England.

Appendix 1 Armies

In 1341 Edward III had revolutionized the structure of European armies

by instituting in England a system of written indentured contracts between

the Crown and prominent military leaders. Under this system the military

leaders, or 'captains' and 'lieutenants', contracted with the king to

provide an agreed number of men for military service, promising to bring

them to a place of assembly by a certain date. The indenture set out

precisely how long the men would have to serve, their rate of pay,

obligations and privileges. The captains were responsible for paying these

men, the king giving securities to repay the money at a later date.

These captains raised their companies by making a series of similar

contracts with knights and man-at-arms, again stipulating the terms of

service and the types of soldiers they would be expected to contribute. The

captains usually sought these 'sub-contractors' amongst their friends,

kinsmen, tenants and neighbors.

These companies, composed entirely of volunteers, created in effect a

royal standing army; for the men were professional soldiers who, although

raised, led and paid by their captains, regarded themselves firstly as

English soldiers, owing allegiance to their king and fighting only his

enemies.

Inevitably, many of the most powerful captains were of the nobility, for

they had the position at court, the wealth, and the connections to raise

large contingents. In order to be able to satisfy at once any request by

the king for a company, such lords frequently maintained a permanent force,

contracting their sub-contractors for life with annuities. These men often

held offices (such as chamberlain or steward) in the magnate's household or

on his estates, and probably provided in their turn the key contingents in

his company.

This system was introduced to deal with the demand for expeditionary

forces to invade France during the Hundred Years' War, and the need to

maintain permanent royal garrisons in the castles and towns across the

channel. But it had the effect of creating large forces commanded by the

great barons, and during the course of the Hundred Years' War these

magnates became virtually petty kings within their own domains: the great

northern families of Percy and Neville, for example, fought each other in

the Wars of the Roses as much for supremacy in the North as for who should

control the government of all England.

The three greatest landowners of the second half of Henry VI's reign

were the Earl of Warwick and the Dukes of Buckingham and York. Humphrey

Stafford (died 1460), 1st Duke of Buckingham, had a personal retinue often

knights and 27 esquires, many of whom were drawn from the Staffordshire

gentry. These men were paid annuities to retain their loyalty (hence

'retainers'), the best-paid in Buckingham's retinue being Sir Edward Grey

(died 1457) who was retained for life in 1440 at Ј40 per annum. Two knights

(Sir Richard Vernon and Sir John Constable) received annuities of Ј20 p.e.,

but Ј10 was the customary annuity for a knight, with esquires paid from Ј10

to Ј40 marks per annum.

These knights and esquires were the subcontractors, and each would have

provided a contingent of archers and men-at-arms. When their contingents

were amalgamated, considerable armies could be gathered. For example, in

January 1454, 2,000 badges of the Stafford knot were produced for

distribution to Buckingham's men; in 1469 the Duke of Norfolk fielded 3,000

men and some cannon; while a great soldier and statesman of the ability and

ambition of Warwick would have been able to count on thousands of men

scattered over no fewer than 20 shires.

Note the predominance of archers. The contemporary Paston letters give a

good idea of the value of the longbowman during the Wars of the Roses. When

Sir John Paston was about to depart for Calais, he asked his brother to try

to recruit four archers for him: 'Likely men and fair conditioned and good

archers and they shall have 4 marks by year and my livery', (i.e. they were

to be permanent retainers, on annuities).

These were ordinary archers, as opposed to an elite or 'de maison'

archer who would serve permanently in the household troop of a great lord.

Warwick considered such men to be worth two ordinary soldiers – even

English ones! In 1467 Sir John Howard hired such an archer, offering him

Ј10 a year – the annuity paid to knights – plus two gowns and a house for

his wife. As an extra inducement he gave the man 2s. 8d., two doublets

worth 10s. and a new gown (a term often applied to the livery coat). When

Sir John bought himself a new bow, for which he paid 2s., he bought for

this elite archer four bows costing 5s. 11.5d. each, a new case, a shooting

glove, bowstrings, and a sheaf of arrows which cost 5s.: at that price they

were probably the best target arrows available.

Edward IV's leading captains for his 1475 expedition to France had the

following retinues:

|Duke of Clarence |10 knights 1,000 archers |

|Duke of Gloucester |10 knights 1,000 archers |

|Duke of Norfolk |2 knights 300 archers |

|Duke of Suffolk |2 knights 300 archers |

|Duke of Buckingham |4 knights 400 archers |

This contract system still existed in the mid-15th century, and the end

of the Hundred Years' War in 1453 flooded England with large numbers of men

who had no trade other than that of soldier. Returning to England, these

men now assumed the aspect of mercenaries, unemployed and troublesome.

Bored and hungry, they eagerly sought employment with the great barons.

Such large private armies were extremely dangerous to the king. Lacking a

standing army of his own, he could now only control unruly or even disloyal

barons by using the private armies of those barons who remained loyal. Of

course, loyal barons were rewarded with valuable offices and vast estates –

which enabled them to hire even larger armies until, as with Warwick, they

became powerful enough to attempt the overthrow of their benefactor.

This weakness in the royal authority led to corruption in high offices,

and especially in the judiciary system. Whenever the interests of a

landowner were involved in a legal case, rival bodies of armed men, wearing

the liveries and badges of the lords who maintained them, would ride into

the county town and bribe or intimidate judge and jury.

During the regency of Henry VI's reign the legal system finally

collapsed, and the barons began to resolve their quarrels over land and

inheritances by making war against each other: might was right, and it

became commonplace for heiresses to be abducted, minor lords to be

imprisoned or even murdered, and for 'evidence' to be procured by bribery

or threat.

Since justice was no longer obtainable by fair means, many of the yeoman

farmers and smaller landowners of the lesser gentry now turned to the

barons for their personal protection and for the protection of their lands

and rights. This led to the polarization, which is such a feature of the

Wars of the Roses.

The yeomen and lesser gentry entered into another form of contract,

known as 'livery and maintenance', whereby they undertook to wear the

baron's livery – i.e. a tunic in his colors and bearing his household badge

– and to fight for him in times of need. In return they received his

protection whenever they needed it.

From the above can be seen that an 'army' of the Wars of the Roses might

consist of a magnate's personal or household troops (or bodyguard – usually

of knights, sergeants and archers), plus his tenants, together with paid

mercenaries or contract troops – both English and foreign specialists such

as gunners and hand gunners – and 'livery and maintenance' men who were

unpaid but who had a personal stake in the fighting.

The only forces under the king's personal command were his bodyguard of

knights and sergeants and the large, professional body of men who formed

the royal garrison at Calais. Edward IV also had a permanent bodyguard of

archers, and one of Henry VII's first actions on seizing the throne was to

found the Yeomen of the Guard, a body of some 2,000 archers under a

captain. These first saw active service in 1486, when they were used in the

suppression of northern rebels.

Finally, in times of great need, the king might also use Commissions of

Array to call out the local militia. In theory the king's officials chose

the best-armed men from each village and town to serve the king for up to

40 days, the men's provisions being provided by their community. In

practice, the king's authority was frequently misused, and great landowners

often sent letters to the lesser landowners and councils of towns where

they had influence, reminding those in authority of past favors and hinting

at benefits yet to come.

An example is given in the contemporary Stonor letters and papers for

the Oxfordshire half-hundred of Ewelme, which provided from its 17 villages

a total of 85 soldiers, 17 of whom were archers. Eweime itself produced six

men: 'Richard Slythurst, a harness [i.e. armored] and able to do the king

service with his bow. Thomas Staunton [the constable], John Hoime, whole

harness and both able to do the king service with a bill. John Tanner, a

harness and able to do the king service with a bill. John Pallying, a

harness and not able to wear it [presumably it did not fit him]. Roger

Smith, no harness, an able man and a good archer'. Other men without

harness are described as 'able with a staff.

Muster rolls are another source of such information. The muster on 4

September 1457 before the king's officials at Bridport, Dorset, shows that

the standard equipment expected was a sallet, jack, sword, buckler and

dagger. In addition, about two-thirds of the men had bows and a sheaf or

half a sheaf of arrows. There was a sprinkling of other weapons – poleaxes,

glaives, bills, spears, axes and staves; and some odd pieces of armour –

hauberks, gauntlets, and leg harness. Two men also had pavises, and the

officials recommended more pavises be made available.

In May 1455 the mayor of Coventry was ordered by royal signet letter to

supply a retinue for the king. The town council decided to supply a hundred

men with bows, jacks and sallets, and a captain was elected to lead them.

The retinues supplied for Edward IV's expedition to France are divided

into 'lances' in the Continental manner, but it is most unlikely that the

forces engaged in the Wars of the Roses were ever formally divided in this

manner. Rather they were grouped by weapon and armour, by companies and

under the banners of their captains, and grouped into 'vaward', 'main' and

'rearward battles' under the standard of a major figure. The army as a

whole would often be commanded by the leading political figure, assisted by

military advisers. In the case of the king's armies the commander-in-chief

would be the lieutenant or captain of the region: officers such as the

Warden of the Marches, Lieutenant of Ireland, or Lieutenant of the North,

the latter post being granted to Fauconberg in 1461 and to Warwick in 1462.

Many of the commanders, particularly at company level, were not knights

but experienced soldiers, though many of them were subsequently knighted on

the field of battle. Lovelace was only an esquire, but rose to be Captain

of Kent through his military skills. Trollope was another soldier who rose

to high command, and was rewarded for his services by a knighthood at

Second St. Albans. Men such as Trollope were frequently the military brains

or 'staff officers' behind the magnates who led the 'battles'. On the other

hand, constables of towns played a key role in recruiting contingents, and

they may often have commanded companies, as may sheriffs. Such men may not

have had any military skill.

Although the wars started with small armies of experienced soldiers, as

time went on the proportion of veterans diminished and, generally speaking,

the armies had insufficient cohesion for elaborate tactics: most battles

began with an archery duel, which tended to cancel out the value of the

longbow, followed by a vast and contused melee on foot. The commander of an

army could do little once the melee commenced, though he might hold back a

small mounted reserve under his personal command, or detach a formation

prior to the battle to use in an outflanking maneuver.

Large numbers of the troops were mounted – not just the knights and

esquires, but many of the men-at-arms. Some of these 'mounted infantry'

were used as mounted scouts, flank guards and the like, but apart from an

occasional mounted reserve of only 100 men or so, the armies dismounted to

do battle, all horses being sent to the rear with the baggage. Primarily

this was because of the weapons used and the facts that few mounted men

were sufficiently experienced to fight effectively on horseback. However,

the fact that many men of all arms were mounted did tend to lead to the

formation of special vanguards of all-mounted troops, who were used to

spearhead movement prior to a battle.

Because of the fear of treachery, it was essential that the major

commanders fight on foot to indicate their willingness to stand and die

with their men. It was for this reason that so many of the nobles were so

easily killed or captured once their army was defeated. The mounted

reserves therefore tended to be composed of lesser knights or bodyguards,

and were led by minor commanders, such as Sir John Grey of Codnor, an

experienced soldier but a knight of low rank and position, who led the

Lancastrian cavalry reserve at Second St. Albans.

Appendix 2 Characters.

|Henry V (1387 - 1422) - King of England |

| |

| |

|Years lived: 1387 - 1422 |

| |

|Years ruled: 1413 - 1422 |

| |

|Son of: Henry IV and Mary de Bohun |

| |

|Married to: Catherine de Valois |

| |

|Children: Henry VI |

| |

|Henry V, a member of the House of Lancaster, was crowned king in 1413 at the |

|age of 26. Henry spent most of his reign campaigning in France in order to |

|regain territories claimed by his ancestors. The highlight of his three |

|invasions of France (1415, 1417-1421, and 1422) was the Battle of Agincourt |

|fought on October 25, 1415 during the Hundred Year's War. In a span of a few |

|short hours, Henry crushed a much larger French army leaving him in control of |

|Northern France. Henry died at the age of 35 of an unknown illness, leaving the|

|crown to his infant son, Henry VI. |

| |

|Richard III, King of England 1483 - 1485 |

| |

|Years lived: 1452 - 1485 |

| |

|Years ruled: 1483 - 1485 |

| |

|Son of: Richard, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville |

| |

|Married to: Anne Beauchamp Neville (1472) |

| |

|Children: Edward, Prince of Wales |

| | |

| | |

|Richard III, the younger brother of Edward IV, was made duke of Gloucester at |

|age nine. He fough for Edward at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury in 1471.|

|When Edward died in 1483 he took control of Edwards heirs, Edward V and his |

|brother Richard. The young brothers were held in the Tower of London and |

|murdered in June 1483. Richard III was crowned king that year. He was killed |

|by Henry VII at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. |

Appendix 3 Genealogies

House of Lancaster

The Lancastarian claim to the throne was via Edward III's third son John

of Gaunt. In October 1460, an Act of Accord designated that the royal

succession would move to the house of York after Henry VI's death. The

houses of Lancaster and York were united when Henry VII married the

Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV.

Sons of Edward III (1312-1377)

Страницы: 1, 2, 3