Bosworth Field and Flodden Field: The History and Legacy of the Decisive Battles that Ended the Middle Ages in the British Isles

Today, roses are a sign of love and luxury, but for over 30 years, they provided the symbols for two houses at war for control of England. Thousands of people died and many more were injured fighting beneath the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster, and the noble families ruling England tore each other apart in a struggle that was as bitter as it was bloody. 

As a result, few battles in English history are as famous as Bosworth Field. Fought on August 22, 1485, it was the one which decided the outcome of that long and messy conflict. English king Richard III, who had only recently taken the throne, had superior numbers at the battle, but an army fighting under future king Henry VII proved to have the better fighters. When forces near the field under Lord Stanley sided with Henry during the battle, they surrounded and killed Richard. The last York King went down fighting, but as news of the king's death spread, his army turned and ran, and with that, Henry Tudor was now King Henry VII. 

At the time of Flodden, England and Wales were ruled by the Tudor dynasty, founded by Henry VII in 1485. Henry had ended the seemingly endless war between the Yorkist and Lancaster factions of the House of Plantagenet when he defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 2, 1485, but his own claim to the throne of England was shaky and easily subject to challenge. His mother was Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III, and his father, Edmund Tutor, was the son of the Dowager Queen of England, Catherine of Valois. At the time, there were numerous other candidates with stronger claims to the throne, so to strengthen his hold he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of King Edward IV. Even so, Henry was constantly looking over his shoulder to guard against the surviving Plantagenets, and he suppressed rebellions and discovered conspiracies over most of his 12 years in power.