Richard did not manage to recover from the usurpation of Edward and after allegedly murdering the two Princes in the tower his reputation had fallen greatly. He had lost a lot of respect from nobles and from the populus. Killing the Princes could be seen as one of the major factors of his downfall. It was common place in monarchical families to have brothers and sisters “put out of the picture”, but even in these primitive times, the murder of innocent children was a taboo. Richard knew that his popularity had been diminished and was desperately clinging to any attempt to strengthen his claim to the throne. Richard made several different reasons for why he was the rightful king, rather than concentrating on his strongest point. This meant that his numerous reasons were tarnished by the sheer number, and sometimes, circumstantial evidence.
Henry Tudor did not have much to do to secure the throne other than succeed at Bosworth. This did not prove such a task as previously thought due to the fact that he had much assistance and Richard proved a lesser opponent.
Henry Tudor arrived in Wales with 2, 000 of his supporters. He also brought with him over 2, 000 mercenaries recruited from French prisons. While in Wales, Henry also persuaded many skilful longbow men to join him in his fight against Richard. By the time Henry Tudor reached England the size of his army had grown to 5,000 men.
When Richard heard about the arrival of Henry he marched his army to meet his rival for the throne. On the way, Richard tried to recruit as many men as possible to fight in his army, but by the time he reached Leicester he only had an army of 6,000 men. The earl of Northumberland also brought 3,000 men but his loyalty to Richard was in doubt.
Richard sent an order to Lord Thomas Stanley and Sir William Stanley, two of the most powerful men in England, to bring their 6,000 soldiers to fight for the king. Richard had been informed that Lord Stanley had already promised to help Henry Tudor. In order to persuade him to change his mind, Richard arranged for Lord Stanley's eldest son to be kidnapped.
On 21 August 1485, King Richard's army positioned themselves on Ambien Hill, close to the small village of Bosworth in Leicestershire. Henry arrived the next day and took up a position facing Richard. When the Stanley brothers arrived they did not join either of the two armies. Instead, Lord Stanley went to the north of the battlefield. King Richards armies took up a 3 Battle placement, one often used by armies in the period. This layout is displayed below. As shown Richard undoubtedly had a strategic advantage being placed on higher ground above Henry Tudor’s Forces. Richard had a larger army with vast support from Northumberland (shown at the back of the forces) and from Norfolk (as the vanguard). Richard instead of striking a good defensive position, attacked down the hill, sacrificing his position. Richard did not think and consider his options before he made the offensive, he acted rashly and launched the offensive in a heat of rage.
Northumberland is seen at the back of the battle, which was poor planning seeing as Richard should have doubted his loyalty. If he wanted to make sure Northumberland was involved in the battle and actually fought for him, he should have placed him at the front of the forces, to ensure he was in the conflict. Northumberland had been plotting against Richard since he had over looked him for the post of Leader of the North. Instead John De La Pole was appointed and this made Northumberland very jealous. Northumberland recognised his fortunate chance to deceive Richard and did not join in the fighting, leaving Richard open at the back, and with much less men than previously assumed. This was the deciding event that lost Richard his throne.
