Another Bosworth..
Extract from "Years of Turmoil" Chapter 6...
The terrible bloodletting of the mid-15th Century vitually extinguished the royal houses of England. The final triumph at Tewkesbury and the subsequent death of Henry VI seemed to have assured the Yorkist line of dominance but the internal schisms of that family brought new turmoil in the 1480s. The death of Edward IV and the murders of his sons Edward and Richard soon after seemed to be a clever coup d'etat by Richard III, brother of the late king.
However, his victory proved short-lived as Edward's surviving daughter, Margaret, rose in revolt against him in 1485. Her not unwilling accomplice was Henry Tudor and his forces landed at Milford Haven on 7 August 1485. Fifteen days later, the two armies met in Leicestershire at Bosworth. In the ferocious fighting that followed, thousands died and in fact both armies were virtually annihilated with only scattered survivors leaving the field.
The bloodiest battle in English history ended with both protagonists, Richard III and Henry Tudor dead. Shakespeare's apocryhal account of a final battele between Richard and Henry and the desperate "A sword, a sword, my kingdom for a sword" as Richard is disarmed and killed by Henry seconds before Henry himself is killed with the dying words "O shining angel, for a moment the kingdom was mine but tis not to be, I die..." have enraptured theatre audiences down the centuries. However, the truth is more prosaic. The bodies of the two leaders were found well apart from each other. Henry was killed by a sword blow from the front but Richard III was killed by a blow from behind.
With both armies shattered, the way was clear for Margaret but she had no ambition to be Queen but to be Regent for the young Edward Plantagenent, son of Clarence, murdered by Richard III. Whether Henry Tudor, had he lived, would have accepted this is debatable but the coronation of Edward VI and the Regency of Margaret was to usher in a period of much-needed peace and consolidation for England.