It is the night before the battle. You’re in your camp, sharpening your sword
in preparation. You know full well that tomorrow will bring
you one of two different outcomes. Either you will win and conquer the throne
to become the next king of England or you will die trying. This is as an all or nothing fight in a very
high stakes gamble. You know your fleet is small compared to the
current King Richard III’s army and the odds are stacked against you. But you’re in way too deep now and there’s
no turning back. All you can do is hope and pray that fate
is on your side. This is exactly what Henry VII went through
on his quest to claim the English throne during The Battle of Bosworth and he would later
come to be known as a very dark, paranoid king. The Battle of Bosworth would be one that would
alter the course of history forever. On the day that we are writing this, it is
the 534th anniversary of that fateful battle, August 22. Funny enough, this was by coincidence, not
by design. The Battle of Bosworth can be better understood
by explaining, as briefly as we can, the history of the War of The Roses, a conflict which
took place from 1455 until The Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Before that, there was another war, known
as The Hundred Years War, fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453 – longer than
a hundred years as its name implies. Now, this long-term conflict is very complicated
and can probably only be summed up in its entirety through its own episode. Basically, all you need to know for the sake
of this episode is that there was a long, drawn out civil war between two different
groups, the Yorkists represented by a white rose and the Lancastrians represented by a
red rose. The main reason for the formation of these
two different groups had to do with the family line that was split between the sons of King
Edward III’s reign back in the 1300’s. For a long time, there was a fluctuation between
the two groups, a sort-of tug-of-war over who claimed power. Towards the end, it seemed that the Yorkists
had won and Edward IV secured the throne a second time after having lost it before. He was king from April 11, 1471 until his
death in 1483. Now, let’s talk a little about Edward IV’s
successor and Henry VII’s foe, Richard III, so we can know more about what Henry was dealing
with. King Richard III was the brother of the late
king, Edward IV, so he was a Yorkist king. The rightful heirs to the throne, however,
were actually Edward’s two sons but they were not yet of age when their father died
so Richard stepped in to act as regent. Wanting to claim power for himself, he had
the two young princes locked away in the tower of London, where they disappeared. Many historians suspect they were secretly
killed by order of Richard. It sort-of-kind-of reminds you of Scar from
the Lion King, doesn’t it? An evil uncle willing to kill to consolidate
power. Well, Richard III was actually a big source
of inspiration for Shakespeare, including the play Richard III as well as Hamlet. And as many of you might already know, Shakespeare’s
Hamlet was what greatly inspired The Lion King. So, in a way, Scar was designed based off
Shakespeare’s depiction of Richard III – just to add a little, interesting tid-bit of information
for you. Henry Tudor, otherwise known as Henry VII,
had spent most of his life in exile and did not have a strong connection or claim to the
throne. He was related to Lancastrian royal blood
only through his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. She was the daughter of John Beaufort, Duke
of Somerset, who was the great-grandson of King Edward III through his third surviving
son, John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford. Typically, those proclaimed kings were the
eldest son and the one secured through male issue. So not only was Henry’s royal line far diverted
down the family tree, but it was also carried by a thread through a woman, which wasn’t
considered strong since the male line was more favorable back then. He was, however, the last remaining Lancastrian
by that time. Some followers of Henry included those who
resented Richard III for the disappearance of the true heirs, the princes in the tower. Because Henry’s claim to power was very
weak, the loyalty of his other followers relied on the intent for Henry to marry Elizabeth
of York, daughter of the dead King Edward IV, in order to secure a tighter claim to
the throne. This union would also bring together the red
and white rose of Lancaster and York, which was meant to bring peace to the long dispute. Richard had only been king for two years when
Henry VII challenged him for the crown. He had a force of infantry around 3,000 in
number. Many nobles supporting Richard only did so
because their children were being held hostage. Henry’s forces, on the other hand, included
1,800 troops gifted by the French king who was on the side of the Lancastrians though
they were also considered the worst of the French troops. Among those also fighting alongside him were
a number of Welsh and Englishmen who had joined Henry during his time in exile. A third army included that of the Stanley
brothers who refused to commit to either side. Instead, their strategy was to watch from
the sidelines and join forces with the winning army. Luckily for Henry, they jumped to his defense
while he had the upper hand. Some of Richard III’s army also turned on
Richard in betrayal. It was a vicious battle with which Henry’s
forces won. Richard III was struck down from his horse
and brutally killed. When his skeleton was finally found and unearthed
by archeologists from beneath a parking lot in 2012, Richard was shown to have a lot of
slash wounds to his skull and throughout the rest of his body. The discovery of his remains showed that he
wasn’t killed instantly and that he was still probably alive while being battered
to death by men with swords. Upon defeat, his dead, naked body was then
paraded on a donkey in a humiliating manner. Though Henry VII won the throne by right of
conquest, which was an enormous achievement, he may have been scarred from witnessing the
death and undignified treatment of Richard’s body. He was more than fully aware that if it could
happen to King Richard, it could happen to him too. Thus, winning The Battle of Bosworth was only
the first hurdle in a long, difficult reign that would be filled with nonstop paranoia
and anguish. One may wonder whether it was worth the trouble. One of the first courses of action that Henry
took as king was to date his reign starting on August 21st, 1485. As we already discussed, the Battle of Bosworth
didn’t take place until August 22. This was purposefully done. He wanted to emphasize that he was king before
the battle over the throne even took place. This meant that anybody who fought against
Henry on that day could be treated as traitors. Doesn’t sound fair, does it? Well, it wasn’t meant to be fair. This was by design so that Henry could imprison
many of the Yorkists who had a better claim to the throne than he did. Out of fear, he figured it was better to get
them all out of the way so that he wouldn’t end up being overthrown and killed like Richard
III. Upon becoming king, Henry VII married Elizabeth
of York out of obligation to fulfill his promise to his followers. This was also a propaganda move to fuse the
two roses of the different houses together and create the Tudor rose that was both red
and white. Elizabeth was probably not too happy with
this arrangement. Since her loyalties were tied to the Yorkist
side, she could not have been thrilled that a Lancastrian mutt won the throne in the end. In her book, White Princess, author and historian,
Phillipa Greggory, depicts the marriage as being a rocky one in the beginning. Henry VII would remain suspicious of her for
a long time, wondering if Elizabeth secretly planned to overthrow him. Maybe she would assassinate him in the night
while he was asleep, crush a cold, hard pillow against his face. He couldn’t be too careful. Thus, the marriage started off brimming with
mistrust and resentment. Henry couldn’t trust his own wife and there
were very few people in his court that he felt he could trust. The one person he could confide in was his
mother who proclaimed herself My Lady the King's Mother, and she had great influence
over his governing. In this way, Henry VII was one of history’s
biggest momma’s boys. Soon after he took power, Henry needed a son
and heir as quickly as possible. This was vitally important for securing the
Tudor dynasty. He also wanted to prove to his kingdom that
God was on his side and that he was the rightful king. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long
because Elizabeth soon gave birth to a boy named Arthur. They would have more children, including another
son, the future King Henry VIII. It was probably around this point that their
marriage grew a little easier. Henry was grateful to his wife for giving
him the sons that were desperately needed to secure his position on the throne. At the same time, Elizabeth was probably more
open to the idea of Lancastrians winning the rose battle since, as a good mother, she desired
to see her sons in power. Still, life was not without its difficulties
for the king. With threat of rebellion around every corner,
Henry utilized many propaganda techniques to try to force his rightful claim onto the
minds of the English people. He had his face plastered across the currency
on coins along with the Tudor red and white rose being displayed everywhere in full view. He was constantly working to push the idea
that he was their lawful king. He had dealt with many rebellions and pretenders
during his reign but one that lasted a long time was the threat of a man named Perkin
Warbeck. Perkin Warbeck would end up costing Henry
a great deal of money because he was persistent in his cause and had a lot of support from
the English people. The reason for this was that Perkin claimed
to be Richard of York, one of the two princes lost in the tower by Richard III, Edward IV’s
son and rightful heir to the throne. He was a plausible pretender because he looked
and dressed just like one of the two princes. Thus, many of those who believed Perkin was
really one of the lost princes, stood by him and wanted to see a Yorkist take back the
throne. While all of this was going on, Henry and
Elizabeth also wanted to secure an alliance with Spain because, frankly, they needed all
the friends they could get. Thus, they tried to procure a betrothal of
their son, Prince Arthur, to the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon. The King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and
Isabella, denied the initial request since Henry VII’s position on the throne was precarious
at best. He would need to eliminate any and all threats
against him, anyone who could potentially overthrow him. There could be no question or shadow of a
doubt that Henry’s reign was legitimate. This would have to be done before Spain would
agree to marry their princess to Arthur. Thus, Henry VII had Perkin Warbeck executed
before an army could be raised against him. He also had Elizabeth of York’s cousin,
Edward Plantagenet, executed at the age of 24, after he’d been locked away in the tower
of London since the age of 10. Because he’d been arrested at such a young
age, it was said that the boy had developmental deficits and wasn’t quite sure what was
going on when he was placed under the axe. It was a pretty ruthless and heartless solution
to the impending threat. At last, Arthur would be betrothed to Catherine
of Aragon, but the marriage would not last because he would die early of the sweating
sickness. Arthur’s death would shatter the hearts
of his parents. Henry became overprotective over his second
son now that he only had one heir left. Elizabeth assured Henry that she would give
him another son, but then she died from childbirth complications and the baby would not make
it. Henry was heartbroken over his wife’s death,
as he had grown to love her madly in the end. He sheltered himself in seclusion, desiring
to be left alone with his grief while his mother mostly took over with governing for
the most part. At the end of Henry VII’s reign, he was
a broken and disheveled man. He was skinny, pale and had white hair from
a life full of never-ending stress. He was nothing but an empty shell, a man who
had never known a moment’s peace. Paranoia had been his constant companion throughout
the years. He was constantly on edge, looking over his
shoulder, never trusting anybody. Perhaps he wished he had never won the Battle
of Bosworth. Henry was planning on remarrying his son’s
widowed wife, Catherine of Aragon, but died of tuberculosis on April 21st, 1509 before
this happened. He was buried next to his beloved wife, Elizabeth
of York, in the chapel that he commissioned for her. He had ruled over England for 23 years, but
England wasn’t too saddened by the loss. Henry VII’s reign had been a dark and paranoid
one and the people now had hope for a brighter future with the promising, new King Henry
VIII. Catherine of Aragon may have also been relieved
by his death because she was then able to marry a much younger and more attractive king
in his son. Was Henry VII’s victory during the Battle
of Bosworth worth the trouble? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other video
called The Worst Breakup In HistoryX! Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!
