On the morning of August 22, 1485, in fields near Bosworth, two armies faced each other. Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor, a 28-year-old Welshman who had just arrived back on British soil after fourteen years in exile. Yet this was to be a fight to the death--only one man could survive; only one could claim the throne. This legendary battle marked the only successful invasion of England since Hastings, and the last time a king of England died on the battlefield. But this book is much more than an account of the events of that fateful day. It is a tale of brutal feuds and deadly civil wars, and the remarkable rise of the Tudor family from obscure Welsh gentry to the throne of England--a story that began sixty years earlier with Owen Tudor's affair with Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois. Drawing on newly discovered manuscripts and the latest archaeological evidence, including the recent discovery of Richard III's remains, Chris Skidmore vividly recreates this battle-scarred world.--From publisher description.

Originally published as: Bosworth. London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2013.

Fortune's wheel -- To conquer or die -- Exile -- Usurpation -- Rebellion -- The rat, the cat and the dog -- A confederacy of rebels -- The spiral of decline -- March to war -- Secret friends -- The Battle of Bosworth -- Our victorious field -- Reward, retribution and reconciliation -- Bosworth rediscovered.