The Social Composition of the Participants of the Battle of Bosworth 22 August 1485

The research object is the social structure of participants of the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485. The purpose is to study the connections between participants and their role models in the times of social political crisis widely referred as the Wars of the Roses. The research is based on prosopographic method and the sources containing participants’ names. The sources include official Parliamentary Rolls, Croyland Сhronicle, Virgil’s English History, poem Ballad of Bosworth Field. After a great deal of extensive reading on the subject, 191 people have been listed, including 147 of Richard III and 44 of Henry Tudor. 136 of them are knights. However, there are some other noblemen (27), gentlemen, clerics and others. The sources containing personal data on the participants (mostly on the basis of Patent Rolls and Fine Rolls) helped to restore their biographies. A number of family relations and matrimonial ties between the participants and liege-vassal relationships have been revealed. Four models of social behavior have been revealed in the present research. A smaller part of the Yorkists (14 persons) died or were willing to fight against Tudor even after Bosworth. Most have come to terms with the new regime. But only some knights (9 Yorkists and 9 Lancastrians) made a career in the years that followed. Only in individual cases (Stanley-brothers and their retainers, count Northumberland) can we talk about betrayal

Ancient history · Art · Ballad · Battle · Betrayal · Composition (language · Library science · Linguistics · Literature · Object (grammar · Poetry · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Sociology · Subject (documents · Historical and Archaeological Studies · Historical and Cultural Studies of Poland · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology