It was June 16th of 1487 during the War of the Roses which the Battle of Stoke Field occurred. This was considered to be the final battle of the War of the Roses in which the House of York attempted once again to take the throne which they felt was rightfully theirs.
By this point in time, most of the true members of the House of York had either given their allegiance to the House of Lancaster King, Henry of Tudor, or they had perished either in battle or by execution. Most of the uprisings around the time of the Battle of Stoke Field were considered to be pretenders. These were people that of course were not part of the House of York, but rather just said that they were as a means of taking the glory should they win. The pretender responsible for the Battle of Stoke Field was that of Lambert Simnel.
In an attempt to gain the acceptance of the remaining survivors of the House of York, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York making her Queen and heiress to the throne of England. Edward, who was the Earl of Warwick was the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth and was kept confined in the Tower of London. It was during this period of time, that Lambert Simnel would make himself known to the Earl of Lincoln, John de la Pole. While the Earl of Lincoln had already reconciled with Henry VII and by the time that he had heard of Simnel, although already having his doubts of Lambert’s true identity, He saw this as a chance for revenge against the House of Lancaster.
The Earl of Lincoln then decided to flee the English Court and join up with the Court of Mechelen which was controlled by his aunt the Duchess of Burgundy. It was his aunt Margaret who would finance the battle. First off, the Duchess of Burgundy would supply the Earl along with Lambert 1500 German Mercenaries after which they would head to Ireland.
Upon arriving in Ireland, with the help of the loyal supporters of Richard II, including that of Sir Richard Harleston, Lord Lovell as well as Captain Thomas David. The Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Thomas Fitzgerald would supply Lambert with 4,500 Irish Mercenaries along with crowning him King Edward VI in 1487.
Once this crowning occurred, Lambert along with his band of mercenaries would head to Lancashire. Upon arriving, the band would perform a series of forced marches. By this time the army of York had grown to a size of more than 8,000 men that were able to cover the 200 mile journey in less than 5 days. Upon arriving in Bramham Moor, 2,000 Yorkists would perform a night time attack against 400 Lancastrians before moving to Doncaster.
Within the next couple of weeks, a number of skirmishes would occur in some infamous places like Sherwood Forrest and Nottingham. It was at this time that King Henry’s forces arrived in the area to down the final revolt of the War of the Roses. The Yorkist Army would make a bold move to surrender their high ground and start the attack against the Lancastrians. This was a major fault as most of the Yorkist’s Army was composed of Irish Mercenaries who were not very well armoured. As a result, their numbers would soon start to dwindle. Before long, The Yorkist Army would all fall marking the end of the War of the Roses.
Original Authors: Nick (Globel Team)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 15/08/2008
