Editing Henry VII of England (section)

==Rise to the throne==
[[File:Younghenry7.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Young Henry VII, by a French artist ([[Musée Calvet]], [[Avignon]])]]
By 1483, Henry's mother was actively promoting him as an alternative to [[Richard III]], despite her being married to [[Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley]], a Yorkist. At [[Rennes Cathedral]] on Christmas Day 1483, Henry pledged to marry [[Elizabeth of York]], the eldest daughter of Edward IV. She was Edward's heir since the presumed death of her brothers, the [[Princes in the Tower]], King [[Edward V]] and [[Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York]].<ref>{{harvnb|Chrimes|1977|p=65}}</ref> With money and supplies borrowed from his host, Francis II of Brittany, Henry tried to land in England, but his conspiracy unravelled resulting in the execution of his primary co-conspirator, [[Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham]].<ref name="Williams25">{{harvnb|Williams|1973|page=25}}</ref> Now supported by Francis II's prime minister, [[Pierre Landais]], Richard III attempted to extradite Henry from Brittany, but Henry escaped to France.<ref>{{harvnb|Kendall|1973|p=297}}</ref> He was welcomed by the French, who readily supplied him with troops and equipment for a second invasion.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}
Henry gained the support of the Woodvilles, in-laws of the late Edward IV, and sailed with a small French and Scottish force, landing at Mill Bay near [[Dale, Pembrokeshire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Henry Tudor's landing site |url=https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=henry-tudor-s-landing-site |access-date=14 January 2019 |website=History Points}}</ref> He marched toward England accompanied by his uncle Jasper and [[John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford]]. Wales was historically a Lancastrian stronghold, and Henry owed the support he gathered to his Welsh birth and ancestry, being [[agnatic]]ally descended from [[Rhys ap Gruffydd]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rees, David |title=The Son of Prophecy: Henry Tudor's Road to Bosworth |publisher=Black Raven Press |date=1985 |isbn=978-0-85159-005-9}}</ref> He amassed an army of about 5,000–6,000 soldiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Kendall|1973|p=361}}; {{harvnb|Williams|1973|page=31}}</ref>

Henry devised a plan to seize the throne by engaging Richard quickly because Richard had reinforcements in [[Nottingham]] and [[Leicester]]. Though outnumbered, Henry's Lancastrian forces decisively defeated Richard's Yorkist army at the [[Battle of Bosworth Field]] on 22 August 1485. Several of Richard's key allies, such as [[Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland]], and also Lord Stanley and his brother [[William Stanley (Battle of Bosworth)|William]], crucially switched sides or left the battlefield. Richard III's death at Bosworth Field effectively ended the Wars of the Roses.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}