Bosworth: The Archaeology of the Battlefield [Hardcover]

The Wars of the Roses came to a bloody climax at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485. In a few hours, on a stretch of otherwise unremarkable fields in Leicestershire, Richard III, Henry Tudor and their Yorkist and Lancastrian supporters clashed. This decisive moment in English history ought to be clearly recorded and understood, yet controversy has confused our understanding of where and how the battle was fought. That is why Richard Mackinders highly illustrated and personal account of the search for evidence of the battle is such absorbing reading. He shows how archaeological evidence, discovered by painstaking work on the ground, has put this historic battle into the modern landscape.Using the results of the latest research, he takes the reader through each phase of the battle, from the camp sites of the opposing armies on the night before, through the movements of thousands of men across the battlefield during the fight and the major individual episodes such as the death of the Duke of Norfolk, the intervention of Lord Stanley and the death of Richard III.At each stage he recounts what happened, where it happened and what physical evidence has survived. A vivid impression of the battle emerges from his narrative which is closely linked to the landscape that was fought over on that fateful day.The Wars of the Roses came to a bloody climax at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485.Highly illustrated account of the search for evidence of one of the most important battles in English historyDemonstrates how painstaking archaeological research has located this late medieval battle in the modern landscapeResolves many of the questions and controversies that have confused understanding of the battle since the 1980sTakes the reader through each phase of the battle, describing what happened, where it happened and the physical evidence that has survivedFocuses on key episodes such as the death of the Duke of Norfolk, the intervention of Lord Stanley and the death ol#&