WARS OF THE ROSES THE LAST BATTLE STOKE FIELD, 16 JUNE 1487

Henry VII may have won the crown at Bosworth in 1485, but there was no guarantee that he would be able to hold onto it – especially as enough disgruntled supporters of the late Richard III remained to make yet another rebellion a distinct possibility.

One potential figurehead for such a rebellion was the ten-year old Edward, Earl of Warwick. As the son of Richard’s elder brother George, Duke of Clarence, Warwick had a valid claim to the throne, so Henry wasted no time in placing him in ‘protective custody’ in the Tower of London. Nevertheless, Henry was soon faced with two uprisings – one in the Midlands under Humphrey Stafford, and one in the north led by Richard III’s old friend Francis, Viscount Lovell.

As things turned out, neither rising attracted much support and both quickly collapsed. Stafford was dragged out of sanctuary and executed, but Lovell escaped to the Low Countries, where he made his way to the court of Margaret, the dowager