This day,' he said, 'decides our fate. My friends and loyal subjects remember that victory can be ours if we go into this fight with good hearts and the determination to win the day. At this day's end I will be King or a dead man, I promise you.'
The trumpets were sounding. The moment had come and Richard rode forth at the head of his army.
The battle waged. The sun was hot and the Lancastrians had the advantage because it was at their backs. The Stanleys waited. They would decide which side they were on when the decisive moment came. In the meantime they had no intention of fighting for Richard.
They were Henry Tudor's men and had worked hard for his success. They were ready now . . . waiting for the precise moment which would be best for them to depart.
That moment came. The Stanleys were riding out crying: 'A Tudor. A Tudor.'
Richard heard them and smiled grimly.
Catesby was urging him to fly. He laughed at that. He rode forward brandishing his axe.
He saw Ratcliffe go down and Brackenbury.
My good friends ... he thought. You gave your lives for me ... for truth ... for righteousness ... for loyalty.
A curse on the traitor Tudor!
Treason!' he shouted after the retreating Stanleys who were making their way to the Tudor lines.
He would find Henry Tudor. He should be his special prey. He would take him in single combat. It was their fate which was
being decided. Plantagenet against Tudor. If Richard did not succeed it would not only be the end of a King, it would be the end of a line. Glorious Plantagenet supreme for generations would give way to the new House of Tudor—^begotten by bastards . . . with none but the flimsiest claim to the throne. And the rule of the proud Plantagenets who had governed the land since the glorious days of Henry the Second would be over.
It must not be. It was for him to save it.
'God help me/ he cried. T must find Henry Tudor. The fight is between us two.'
In spite of his small stature he was an impressive figure as he rode forward, the sun glinting on his golden crown, his white horse galloping forward.
His friends called to him but he did not heed them.
'I shall find Henry Tudor,' he shouted.
With his small band of followers he rode right into the midst of the enemy's cavalry.
Now he had seen it—the Welsh banner held aloft by William Brandon, Henry Tudor's standard-bearer. There was the Tudor. He was well protected, surrounded by his men, by no means in the thick of the fight. Trust the Tudor for that.
'I have come to kill you, Tudor,' he muttered. 'It has to be one of us.'
It was folly he knew. There were too many of them but he was there. He had glimpsed Henry Tudor .... He struck at William Brandon, and the man went down.
He saw Ratcliffe who was trying to protect him. His horse had collapsed under him but he was immediately on his feet.
'My lord . . . my lord . . .'It was Ratcliffe again. But Richard did not hear. He had seen Henry Tudor. He had come close enough to strike down his standard-bearer. He was going to take Henry Tudor.
He went forward wielding his battle-axe.
'Treason!' he cried. 'Come, Henry Tudor .... Come out and
fight.'
His men were falling about him, Ratcliffe was down now, but Richard fought on valiantly, the crown on his head. He was determined to storm his way through to the Tudor. If he were going to die he would take him with him.
They were attacking him now. The blows were coming fast.
Then he was sinking into darkness. He fell to the ground and his crown rolled from his head.
It was the end. The battle was over. It was victory for Henry Tudor. Of Richard's loyal friends Norfolk, Ratcliffe and Brackenbury were slain. Catesby was captured and hanged; Lovell escaped to live on into the new reign.
It was Lord Stanley—to whose treachery Henry Tudor owed his victory—who found the golden crown in a hedge and placed it on Henry Tudor's head.
So ended the battle of Bosworth, the last in the Wars of the Roses. So ended the rule of the Plantagenets. A new reigning family had come to England with the Tudors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aubrey, William Hickman Smith
Clive, Mary
Costain, Thomas
Gairdner, James
Gairdner, James Green, John Richard Green, Mary Anne Everett Guizot, M. Translated by Robert
Black Halsted, Caroline
Hume, David
Jenkins, Elizabeth Kendall, Paul Murray Kendall, Paul Murray Kingsford, C. L.
Thomas More, Sir Oman, Charles Oman, Charles Ramsey, J. H. Ross, Charles Scofield, C. L. Stephen, Sir Leslie
and Lee, Sir Sydney Stratford, Laurence Strickland, Agnes Timbs, John and Gunn, Alexander
Vickers, K. H. Wade, John Walpole, Horace
National and Domestic History of
England This Sun of York
A Biography of Edward IV The Last Plantagenets
The Pageant of England 1377-1485 History and Life and Reign of
Richard III Life and Papers of Richard III History of England Lives of the Princesses of England History of France
Richard III, As Duke of Gloucester and
King of England History of England from the Invasion of
Julius Caesar to the Revolution The Princes in the Tower Richard III
Warwick, the Kingmaker Prejudice and Promise in the Fifteenth
Century Life of Richard III Political History of England Warwick, the Kingmaker Lancaster and York Edward IV
The Life and Reign of Edward IV The Dictionary of National Biography
Edward the Fourth
The Lives of the Queens of England
Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of
England and Wales England in the Later Middle Ages British History Historic Doubts on the Life of Richard
1%#
of the
Sale of this materia! benefits the Library
mmn"
I ^ n .r»
^?
^*uU/y1i
Boston Public Library
(•
SOUTH BOSTON BRANCH LIBRARY
FIC
Pe6015 .I3S9 1983
84 041104-67 SB
The Date Due Card in the pocket indicates the date on or before which this book should be returned to the Library.
Please do not remove cards from this pocket.
(Continfmrfrnrn rrnnr rlnpi
brother George, Duke of Clarence. George's perfidy brought him to a violent end in the Tower of London hut Richard lived on to become the Lord Protector and briefly to wear the crown.
At the center of events was Edward, splendid in appearance and beloved of the people. His favorite device was that of the sun in all its splendor surrounding the white rose of York. Two women he loved above all the others played their part in history — his cool, calculating queen and Jane Shore, the warmhearted goldsmith's wife.
He had lived recklessly and when, on his death, an incident from his past came to light its effect was to change the course of history.
Richard came to the throne but there was one other waiting to take the crown — a man whose very legitimacy was suspect. And so came the fatal confrontation on Bosworth Field which resulted in the coming of Tudor and the end of the long saga of Plantagenet kings.
JEAN PLAMis the pseudonym of a well-known author who resides in England and has captured the world with her writing.
G. R PUTNAM'S SONS Publishers Since 1838 200 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016