Imagine the final charge of a desperate Richard III \u2013 the\u00a0last English king to die in battle. <\/p>
The battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485 is one of the most famous in English history, as it ended the reign (and life) of our most controversial king \u2013 the Yorkist Richard III \u2013 and inaugurated the century-long rule of that ever-popular dynasty, the Tudors<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> It also effectively ended England\u2019s longest civil war: the bloody 30-year internecine struggle we call the Wars of the Roses<\/a>. <\/p> Richard mustered his 10,000-strong army at Leicester to crush an invasion by the obscure exiled Henry Tudor, a minor scion of the defeated House of Lancaster.<\/p> Henry\u2019s army was only half the size of Richard\u2019s when they met near Market Bosworth, and Richard should have had an easy win, but factors were against him. He was increasingly unpopular after usurping the throne from his own nephews, and generally behaving like a tyrant.<\/p> Sensing that events were moving against him, Richard plunged into the fight in a desperate effort to personally kill Tudor and his rebellion in a single stroke. He almost made it, cutting down Henry\u2019s standard bearer as he rode. But at the last minute the powerful Stanley family intervened on Henry\u2019s side, turning the tide.<\/p> Bogged down in marshy ground, Richard was unhorsed, surrounded and \u2013 as forensic examination of his skeleton revealed \u2013 stabbed and slashed to death. His naked corpse was slung over a horse, led back to Leicester, and flung into an unmarked grave for more than 500 years. Of course, his rival Henry took the crown.<\/p> Bosworth is a battlefield in two places. For centuries it was believed to have been fought on Ambion Hill, south-west of Market Bosworth. In the 1970s, Leicestershire County Council built a Battlefield Visitor Centre on the hill.<\/p> However in 2010, after this location had been challenged, a full archaeological and source survey found artefacts \u2013 including cannon shot and a silver boar badge, Richard\u2019s personal emblem \u2013 at a site two miles south-west of the hill, and this site was officially recognised as the battle\u2019s real location.<\/p> Imagine what it was like to make one last charge here by following one of several good walking routes, including a Battle Trail. The Visitors\u2019 Centre organises battlefield walks <\/a><\/p> By car, from the A5, take the A444 toward Fenny Drayton, turning onto Fenn Lane, then left on to Shenton Lane. By public transport, Leicester train station is served by most major cities, and the Arriva 153 bus stops at Market Bosworth.<\/p> Imagine the final charge of a desperate Richard III \u2013 the\u00a0last English king to die in battle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40135,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/how-the-battle-of-bosworth-caused-the-fall-of-richard-iii-and-the-rise-of-the-tudor-dynasty-who-went-on-to-shape-englands-future-like-no-other.jpg",496,345,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/how-the-battle-of-bosworth-caused-the-fall-of-richard-iii-and-the-rise-of-the-tudor-dynasty-who-went-on-to-shape-englands-future-like-no-other-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/how-the-battle-of-bosworth-caused-the-fall-of-richard-iii-and-the-rise-of-the-tudor-dynasty-who-went-on-to-shape-englands-future-like-no-other-300x209.jpg",300,209,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/how-the-battle-of-bosworth-caused-the-fall-of-richard-iii-and-the-rise-of-the-tudor-dynasty-who-went-on-to-shape-englands-future-like-no-other.jpg",496,345,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/how-the-battle-of-bosworth-caused-the-fall-of-richard-iii-and-the-rise-of-the-tudor-dynasty-who-went-on-to-shape-englands-future-like-no-other.jpg",496,345,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/how-the-battle-of-bosworth-caused-the-fall-of-richard-iii-and-the-rise-of-the-tudor-dynasty-who-went-on-to-shape-englands-future-like-no-other.jpg",496,345,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/how-the-battle-of-bosworth-caused-the-fall-of-richard-iii-and-the-rise-of-the-tudor-dynasty-who-went-on-to-shape-englands-future-like-no-other.jpg",496,345,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Imagine the final charge of a desperate Richard III \u2013 the\u00a0last English king to die in battle.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What happened at the Battle of Bosworth?<\/h2>
Where is Bosworth Battlefield?<\/h2>
How to get to the Bosworth Battlefield<\/h2>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"