Editing Battle of Bosworth Field (section)

==Background==
{{further|Wars of the Roses|Princes in the Tower}}
<!-- This section is neither for determining Richard's involvement in the Princes' death, nor his motivations behind his taking the throne or the actions in doing so. [[Richard III of England]] and [[Princes in the Tower]] are the proper articles for that. -->
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During the 15th century civil war raged across England as the [[House of York|Houses of York]] and [[House of Lancaster|Lancaster]] fought each other for the English throne. In 1471 the Yorkists defeated their rivals in the battles of [[Battle of Barnet|Barnet]] and [[Battle of Tewkesbury|Tewkesbury]]. The Lancastrian [[Henry VI of England|King Henry VI]] and his only son, [[Edward of Westminster]], died in the aftermath of the Battle of Tewkesbury. Their deaths left the House of Lancaster with no direct claimants to the throne. The Yorkist king, [[Edward IV]], was in complete control of England.{{sfn|Ross|1997|pp=172–173}} He [[attainted]] those who refused to submit to his rule, such as [[Jasper Tudor]] and his nephew [[Henry VII of England|Henry]], naming them traitors and confiscating their lands. The Tudors tried to flee to France but strong winds forced them to land in [[Duchy of Brittany|Brittany]], which was a semi-independent duchy, where they were taken into the custody of [[Francis II, Duke of Brittany|Duke Francis II]].{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|p=17}} Henry's mother, [[Lady Margaret Beaufort]], was a great-granddaughter of [[John of Gaunt]], uncle of [[King Richard II]] and father of [[Henry IV of England|King Henry IV]].{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|p=3}} The Beauforts were originally [[Bastard (Law of England and Wales)|bastards]], but Richard II legitimised them through an Act of Parliament, a decision quickly modified by a royal decree of Henry IV ordering that their descendants were not eligible to inherit the throne.{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|p=21}} Henry Tudor, the only remaining Lancastrian noble with a trace of the royal bloodline, had a weak claim to the throne,{{sfn|Ross|1997|pp=172–173}} and Edward regarded him as "a nobody".{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=192}} The Duke of Brittany, however, viewed Henry as a valuable tool to bargain for England's aid in conflicts with France, and kept the Tudors under his protection.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=192}}

Edward IV died 12 years after Tewkesbury in April 1483.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=21}} His 12-year-old elder son succeeded him as King [[Edward V]]; the younger son, nine-year-old [[Richard of Shrewsbury]], was next in line to the throne. Edward V was [[Regency (government)|too young to rule]] and a [[Royal Council]] was established to rule the country until the king's coming of age. Some among the council were worried when it became apparent that the relatives of Edward V's mother, [[Elizabeth Woodville]], were plotting to use their control of the young king to dominate the council.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=65}} Having offended many in their quest for wealth and power, the Woodville family was not popular.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=35–43}} To frustrate the Woodvilles' ambitions, [[William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings|Lord Hastings]] and other members of the council turned to the new king's uncle—Richard, [[Richard III of England|Duke of Gloucester]], brother of Edward IV. The courtiers urged Gloucester to assume the role of Protector quickly, as had been previously requested by his now dead brother.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=40–41}} On 29 April Gloucester, accompanied by a contingent of guards and [[Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham]], took Edward V into custody and arrested several prominent members of the Woodville family.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=71–72}} After bringing the young king to London, Gloucester had the Queen's brother [[Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers]], and her son by her first marriage [[Richard Grey]] executed, without trial, on charges of treason.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=63}}

On 13 June, Gloucester accused Hastings of plotting with the Woodvilles and had him beheaded.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=83–85}} Nine days later the Three Estates of the Realm, an informal [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] declared the marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth illegal, rendering their children illegitimate and disqualifying them from the throne.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=88–91}} With his brother's children out of the way, he was next in the line of succession and was proclaimed King Richard III on 26 June.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=93}} The timing and extrajudicial nature of the deeds done to obtain the throne for Richard won him no popularity, and rumours that spoke ill of the new king spread throughout England.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=94–95}} After they were declared bastards, the two princes were confined in the [[Tower of London]] and never seen in public again.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=99–100}}

In October 1483, a conspiracy emerged to displace him from the throne. The rebels were mostly loyalists to Edward IV, who saw Richard as a usurper.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=105–111}} Their plans were coordinated by a Lancastrian, Henry's mother Lady Margaret, who was promoting her son as a candidate for the throne. The highest-ranking conspirator was Buckingham. No chronicles tell of the duke's motive in joining the plot, although historian [[Charles Ross (historian)|Charles Ross]] proposes that Buckingham was trying to distance himself from a king who was becoming increasingly unpopular with the people.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=116}} Michael Jones and Malcolm Underwood suggest that Margaret deceived Buckingham into thinking the rebels supported him to be king.{{sfn|Jones|Underwood|1993|p=64}}

[[File:Elizabeth of York, right facing portrait.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=A blond woman with rosy cheeks holds a white rose. She wears a gilded black shawl over her head and a red robe trimmed in white spotted fur.|[[Elizabeth of York]]: rumours of her marriage launched Henry's invasion.]]
The plan was to stage uprisings within a short time in southern and western England, overwhelming Richard's forces. Buckingham would support the rebels by invading from Wales, while Henry came in by sea.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=112–115}} Bad timing and weather wrecked the plot. An uprising in [[Kent]] started 10&nbsp;days prematurely, alerting Richard to muster the royal army and take steps to put down the insurrections. Richard's spies informed him of Buckingham's activities, and the king's men captured and destroyed the bridges across the [[River Severn]]. When Buckingham and his army reached the river, they found it swollen and impossible to cross because of a violent storm that broke on 15 October.{{sfn|Ross|1999|pp=115–116}} Buckingham was trapped and had no safe place to retreat; his Welsh enemies seized his home castle after he had set forth with his army. The duke abandoned his plans and fled to [[Wem]], where he was betrayed by his servant and arrested by Richard's men.<ref name="dnb">{{cite DNB |last=Tait |first=J. |display=Stafford, Henry, second Duke of Buckingham (1454?–1483) |volume=53 |wstitle=Stafford, Henry (1454?–1483) |author-link=James Tait (historian)}} p. 450.</ref> On 2 November he was executed.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=117}} Henry had attempted a landing on 10 October (or 19 October), but his fleet was scattered by a storm. He reached the coast of England (at either [[Plymouth]] or [[Poole]]) and a group of soldiers hailed him to come ashore. They were, in fact, Richard's men, prepared to capture Henry once he set foot on English soil. Henry was not deceived and returned to Brittany, abandoning the invasion.{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|pp=26–27}} Without Buckingham or Henry, the rebellion was easily crushed by Richard.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=117}}

The survivors of the failed uprisings fled to Brittany, where they openly supported Henry's claim to the throne.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=118}} At Christmas, Henry Tudor swore an oath in [[Rennes Cathedral]] to marry Edward IV's daughter, [[Elizabeth of York]], to unite the warring houses of York and Lancaster.{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=196}} Henry's rising prominence made him a great threat to Richard, and the Yorkist king made several overtures to the Duke of Brittany to surrender the young Lancastrian. Francis refused, holding out for the possibility of better terms from Richard.{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|p=19}} In mid-1484 Francis was incapacitated by illness and while recuperating, his treasurer [[Pierre Landais]] took over the reins of government. Landais reached an agreement with Richard to send back Henry and his uncle in exchange for military and financial aid. John Morton, a bishop of [[Flanders]],<!--not [[John Morton (archbishop)|John Morton]], who was Bishop of Ely at this time --> learned of the scheme and warned the Tudors, who fled to France.{{sfn|Lander|1981|p=324}} The French court allowed them to stay; the Tudors were useful pawns to ensure that Richard's England did not interfere with French plans to annex Brittany.{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|p=31}} On 16 March 1485 Richard's queen, [[Anne Neville]], died,{{sfn|Ross|1999|p=144}} and rumours spread across the country that she was murdered to pave the way for Richard to marry his niece, Elizabeth. Later findings though, showed that Richard had entered into negotiations to marry [[Joanna, Princess of Portugal|Joanna of Portugal]] and to marry off Elizabeth to [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel, Duke of Beja]].{{sfn|Ashdown-Hill|2013|pp=25–35}} The gossip must have upset Henry across the [[English Channel]].{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|p=38}} The loss of Elizabeth's hand in marriage could unravel the alliance between Henry's supporters who were Lancastrians and those who were loyalists to Edward IV.{{sfn|Chrimes|1999|p=39}} Anxious to secure his bride, Henry recruited mercenaries formerly in French service to supplement his following of exiles and set sail from France on 1 August.{{sfn|Lander|1981|p=325}}