The War of  the Roses had raged across England since 1377 when the Houses of York and Lancaster began their bid to rule England. Although the wars were not that devastating for the general population, they were very destructive for the Aristocracy. When Edward the IV died in early 1485 his son and heir, Edward V was only 12 years old. Edward the IV's brother Richard was proclaimed as Lord Protector until the young king was old enough to rule on his own but Richard had both of Edward the IV's sons imprisoned in the Tower of London. The two young boys mysteriously disappeared one night and were not heard of again until Victorian times when the skeletons of the two royals were found under a staircase when renovations were ongoing. Richard quickly claimed the throne and a reputation as an evil, power hungry opportunist. It is likely that Richard had the boys murdered.

By August of 1485 the chess game of real politics cumulated in a confrontation between King Richard III (from the House of York) and Henry Tudor who had invaded England through Wales with 2000 French mercenaries and some Lancastrian lords and had made his way east via Shrewsbury and Strafford. Richard who was at Nottingham moved to meet Henry and they approached each other on August 21 just south of the Market Bosworth.

Henry had managed to gather another 3000 troops during his march across England which brought his army up to 5000 troops. Richard's army was over 12000 troops of which 4000 were under the command of the Stanley brothers who were of doubtful loyalty.

The two armies approached each other around Ambion Hill and deployed their troops accordingly. Henry's general Oxford was slow in getting his troops into position and was lucky Richard did not attack while he was vulnerable. Once in place Oxford issued the order to attack Richard's forces and quickly overran and killed the Duke of Norfolk and his contingent.

The battle ebbed and flowed for about an hour but the Stanley brothers suddenly launched an attack but not against Henry. They bore down on Richard's forces and the battle began to go in favour of Henry Tudor. Richard had two chances left to turn the tide. The first was that the Earl of Northumberland would bring Richard's reserves into the fray and throw back the Tudor forces. Northumberland however failed to do this when he saw the Stanleys attack Richard. Richard's second and last chance was a direct attack on Henry Tudor himself with his remaining forces. Richard launched his attack and just failed to achieve his objective. As he and his guard were closing in on Henry Richard was struck down and killed.

Richard was wearing his crown during the battle and upon his death it was retrieved and presented to Henry. It was important that Henry made it clear that he was already the rightful king before the crown was set upon his head and hence needed no mans approval to claim his throne form Richard. The battle was over and the kingdom had passed from the Yorkist Richard to Henry Tudor who had Lancastrian roots. Henry later married the eldest daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth who was descended from the House of York. The House of Tudor became the royal family of England. Henry spent the rest of his reign solidifying the Tudor hold on the throne and this insecurity played a role in decisions made by Henry VIII during his life. Most landowners, churchmen and aristocrats did not want a return to the uncertainty of the dynastic wars and the few uprising that did take place were easily suppressed. Richard III was the last English King who died on the field of battle.