6. The Betrayal That Ended a Feud and a Dynasty
King Richard III and Henry Tudor met at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22nd, 1485, but the king’s reluctant ally, Thomas Stanley, was still undecided. So he kept his armed contingent to one side of field, and waited to see who looked like a winner. Richard sent Stanley a message that ordered him to immediately attack the Lancastrians, and threatened to execute his son if he did not. The earl coolly replied: “Sire, I have other sons“. A livid Richard ordered the execution of Stanley’s son, but the order was not immediately carried out, and before long, it was too late. As the afternoon wore on, Stanley made up his mind that Richard was losing the battle, so he ordered an attack – against Richard and the Yorkist forces.
Stanley’s betrayal decisively tipped the scales in favor of Henry Tudor, and against Richard III. The king launched a fierce attack in a desperate attempt to reach and cut down his rival, but was cut down himself. After Richard’s death, Stanley found his fallen crown in some bushes, and personally placed it on the head of Henry Tudor, henceforth King Henry VII. Stanley’s stepson and new king of England brought the intra-Plantagenet feud to end when he ended the Plantagenet dynasty and replaced it with his own House of Tudor. As to Stanley, treachery paid well, and he was handsomely rewarded by his son-in-law for his betrayal of King Richard.