Editing Battle of Bosworth Field (section)

===Historical depictions and interpretations===
[[File:Battle of Bosworth Field re-enactment.jpg|thumb|left|alt=An armoured and mounted man leads a small party, similarly dressed in mediaeval attire, along a road.|[[Newport, Shropshire|Newport]] History Society re-enacts Henry's march through Wales to Bosworth Field during the battle's quincentenary celebration.]]
Henry tried to present his victory as a new beginning for the country;{{sfn|Burrow|2000|p=11}} he hired chroniclers to portray his reign as a "modern age" with its dawn in 1485.{{sfn|Carpenter|2002|p=219}} Hicks states that the works of Vergil and the blind historian [[Bernard André]], promoted by subsequent Tudor administrations, became the authoritative sources for writers for the next four hundred years.{{sfn|Hicks|1995|pp=28, 39}} As such, Tudor literature paints a flattering picture of Henry's reign, depicting the Battle of Bosworth as the final clash of the civil war and downplaying the subsequent uprisings.{{sfn|Hicks|1995|p=23}} For England the [[Middle Ages]] ended in 1485, and [[English Heritage]] claims that other than [[William the Conqueror]]'s successful [[Battle of Hastings|invasion]] of 1066, no other year holds more significance in English history. By portraying Richard as a hunchbacked tyrant who usurped the throne by killing his nephews, the Tudor historians attached a sense of myth to the battle: it became an epic clash between good and evil with a satisfying moral outcome.{{sfn|English Heritage|1995|p=11}} According to [[Reader (academic rank)|Reader]] Colin Burrow, André was so overwhelmed by the historic significance of the battle that he represented it with a blank page in his ''Henry VII'' (1502).{{sfn|Burrow|2000|p=12}} For Professor Peter Saccio, the battle was indeed a unique clash in the annals of English history, because "the victory was determined, not by those who fought, but by those who delayed fighting until they were sure of being on the winning side."{{sfn|Saccio|2000|p=183}}

Historians such as Adams and Horrox believe that Richard lost the battle not for any mythic reasons, but because of morale and loyalty problems in his army. Most of the common soldiers found it difficult to fight for a liege whom they distrusted, and some lords believed that their situation might improve if Richard were dethroned.{{sfn|Adams|2002|p=19}}{{sfn|Horrox|1991|p=318}} According to Adams, against such duplicities Richard's desperate charge was the only knightly behaviour on the field. As fellow historian Michael Bennet puts it, the attack was "the swan-song of [mediaeval] English chivalry".{{sfn|Adams|2002|p=20}} Adams believes this view was shared at the time by the printer [[William Caxton]], who enjoyed sponsorship from Edward IV and Richard III. Nine days after the battle, Caxton published [[Thomas Malory]]'s story about chivalry and death by betrayal—''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''—seemingly as a response to the circumstances of Richard's death.{{sfn|Adams|2002|p=20}}

Elton does not believe Bosworth Field has any true significance, pointing out that the 20th-century English public largely ignored the battle until its quincentennial celebration. In his view, the dearth of specific information about the battle—no-one even knows exactly where it took place—demonstrates its insignificance to English society. Elton considers the battle as just one part of Henry's struggles to establish his reign, underscoring his point by noting that the young king had to spend ten more years pacifying factions and rebellions to secure his throne.{{sfn|Elton|2003|p=78}}

Mackie asserts that, in hindsight, Bosworth Field is notable as the decisive battle that established a dynasty which would rule unchallenged over England for more than a hundred years.{{sfn|Mackie|1983|p=8}} Mackie notes that contemporary historians of that time, wary of the three royal successions during the long Wars of the Roses, considered Bosworth Field just another in a lengthy series of such battles. It was through the works and efforts of [[Francis Bacon]] and his successors that the public started to believe the battle had decided their futures by bringing about "the fall of a tyrant".{{sfn|Mackie|1983|p=7}}