Henry Tudor tried to invade England during Buckingham’s rebellion but failed because he was supposed to be met by Buckingham but as the rebellion failed and Buckingham was executed he didn’t even manage to land on English soil and went back to exile in Brittany. This hopeful invasion made him a known threat to Richard III which he knew he had to exterminate, he also knew where to find Henry Tudor in Brittany and set into motion his plans to crush him. Richard III made a deal with the Duke of Brittany in which meant that the Duke would hand over Henry Tudor to Richard III so he could be executed and removed as a threat to the crown. The deal said that Richard III would have Henry Tudor in exchange for protection against France as Brittany is a small island between England and France which feared being invaded. However, Henry Tudor was warned about the deal and he fled from Brittany to France. This attributed to Henry’s eventual win because Richard underestimated the threat that Henry posed to the throne if he would have taken him more seriously then he would have been able to stop him before he launched his second invasion. When the French king heard about the alliance between Richard III and the Duke of Brittany he decided to back Henry Tudor as he felt they might have joined together against France.
At this point Henry is placed in a very good position as he now has the backing of the king of France. This shows the importance of foreign support; without the support of the king of France Henry Tudor would not have been able to invade England again. The king of France gave Henry Tudor a fleet of a few ships and 2000 men to take to England so that he could battle Richard III. However, it is said that the French only supported Henry Tudor because they were taking the attention away from themselves as their king had died and left a young heir which meant that they were vulnerable to attack or invasion to other countries. When Henry Tudor was in France he did not know if h had any support for when he arrived so the men he had been given by the French king were extremely important as they were the ones who would help him defeat Richard III at the battle of Bosworth. He had 2000 foreign men accompanying him which is a very small army, however although his army was small he had the advantage or foreign mercenaries they had battle tactics learnt from the Swiss which gave him an advantage. Tudor planned on picking up support as he marched from Wales were he landed from France to Leicester where he met Richard III for the battle.
Henry Tudor moved up the coast taking time to send messages to potential allies to build his numbers up it was important for him to do this because without the people joining his cause as he would not have enough men in his army and also if they didn’t join him they may depose him as King once he kills Richard. Though foreign support was extremely important in gaining him entry into the country and enabling him to fight with Richard III at the battle of Bosworth he still needed more men in order to win. He was joined by different people who swelled his army the barons and nobles who joined were important to his cause because with them they brought their supporters which made his army larger but also because if the more important nobles support him others are likely to follow. Around those who joined Henry in his march to Bosworth was Rhys ap Thomas who Tudor had promised the lieutenancy of Wales to if he were to become king; in this way it can b suggest that Tudor’s cunning is an important factor to him becoming king by using propositions to get people on his side. When Thomas joined he brought additional 1800-2000 men who would fight on Tudor’s behalf. Tudor continues to march and picked up support from Sir Richard Corbet who added 800 men (Corbet was Sir William Stanley’s step-son then his numbers increased again when Sir Gilbert Talbot added 500 men to the cause.
Along his way he managed to pick up around 3000 extra men which meant that his army had grown substantially but was but it was still only 5000 men. However, Richard III’s army was the same size, which evened the odds. This was a very important factor in letting Henry Tudor win as his army was very small and if Richard III had a big army then Henry Tudor would have been defeated and no doubt killed. Henry Tudors mother Margaret Beaufort was an important factor in Henry Tudor’s victory at the battle of Bosworth as while her son was in France in exile she worked hard to get him support she married Thomas Lord Stanley who was an influential figure and used this to promote her son to many different nobles this meant that he was joined by Wells and Oxford who were openly on his side. Also as his mother was married to Lord Stanley who was very popular this meant that if he joined in on Henry’s side he had a better chance of winning.
This shows the importance of the support of the barons and nobles because without the support of the Stanley’s who joined in on his side of the battle he could have easily lost as during the battle though at a crucial point when Richard led a chard down the hill because he saw an opening in Tudor’s body guards some believe he did this because his dad lead a march but was killed and he hoped that he could be hero of the day and lead a charge and beat Tudor however at this point the Stanley’s joined in on Tudors side and meant that he survived the attack.
Although Henry Tudor would not have been able to beat Richard III at the battle of Bosworth without the support he picked up from he’s march and the extra 3000 men added to his army and the involvement of key figures such as Sir Richard Corbet, Rhys ap Thomas and Sir Gilbert Talbot and the influence from Sir William Stanley and Thomas Lord Stanley and the fact that the Stanley’s joined in on Tudor’s side instead of Richards played a key role in him winning the battle; thanks to all these men Henry Tudor was able to build up an army which lead him to victory at Bosworth showing that support from the country was a necessary and important factor for him to win the battle. However, without the help of France in the situation and the gifts that Henry Tudor received such as a fleet and 200 men with the methods of war that had not been seen in Britain so British soldiers would have found it hard to fight against them then he wouldn’t have been able to get into the country. Also if France would have rejected him from his court to cause less trouble as they had their own problms with a young heir he would have been able to be captured by Richard III and wouldn’t have been able to fight at the battle of Bosworth. This means that the foreign support being the initial factor was the most important factor in explaining how Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the battle of Bosworth.