Shakespeare's Kings (112 page)

And
there,
suddenly,
his
luck
turned.
The
gates
of
the
town
were immediately
opened
to
him;
to
Buckingham,
they
had
remained
closed. At
Newport,
on
the
Staffordshire
border,
Rhys
ap
Thomas
joined
him with
1,000
men;
a
day
or
two
later
there
appeared
Sir
Gilbert
Talbot
with another
500.
The
arrival
of
this
latter
force
was
particularly
significant
for Henry.
Apart
from
the
Norman
contingent,
the
vast
majority
of
his army
had
been
composed
of
Welshmen;
here,
for
the
first
time,
was
a substantial
body
of
local
Shropshire
yeomen.
If
they
were
ready
to
rally to
his
banner
of
the
red
dragon,
how
many
of
their
compatriots
might not
be
prepared
to
follow?
On
he
marched,
to
Lichfield
and
thence
to Tamworth,
where
his
numbers
swelled
still
further.
The
first
new arrivals
were
Sir
Walter
Hungerford
and
Sir
Thomas
Bourchier,
two former
members
of
Edward
IV's
household
who
had
been
implicated in
Buckingham's
rebellion.
Richard
had
formally
pardoned
them,
but had
not
yet
returned
to
them
their
confiscated
estates;
their
positions, if
he
continued
to
reign,
would
remain
uncertain
to
say
the
least.
Soon afterwards
arrived
the
long-awaited
Sir
John
Savage
of
Cheshire
-formerly
one
of
Richard's
closest
henchmen
-
with
another
sizeable retinue.

The
King
was
now
at
Nottingham.
Though
concerned
at
the
speed of
Henry's
advance,
he
still
seems
to
have
found
it
difficult
to
see
this unknown
Welshman
as
a
serious
threat
to
his
throne.
The
forces
against him
were
growing
rapidly;
but
they
were
still
only
a
fraction
of
what he,
as
England's
legitimate
King,
could
surely
summon
at
will.
The
first defection
to
bring
him
to
his
senses
was
that
of
Thomas,
Lord
Stanley. As
Henry's
stepfather
Stanley
might
have
been
an
obvious
suspect;
but Richard
had
loaded
him
with
honours
and
his
son,
Lord
Strange,
who was
being
kept
at
court
as
an
unofficial
hostage
for
his
father's
good behaviour,
never
ceased
to
assure
the
King
of
his
family's
loyalty.
Then, one
day
at
about
this
time,
Stanley
sent
word
to
Richard
that
he
was sick
of
a
fever
and
unable
to
join
the
royal
army
as
he
had
promised; and
a
day
or
two
later
Strange
was
caught
trying
to
escape.
Under torture,
he
quickly
admitted
that
he,
his
uncle
Sir
William
Stanley
and several
other
lords
had
indeed
been
planning
to
transfer
their
allegiance to
Richmond,
but
insisted
that
this
group
did
not
include
his
father. Richard
did
not
believe
him
for
a
moment.
To
his
ever-devious
mind it
was
plain
that
Strange
was
out
to
save
his
own
skin:
as
the
son
of
a rebel
he
would
be
worthless,
but
while
his
father's
position
remained ambiguous
he
would
continue
to
be
a
valuable
security.
Stanley
had refused
to
join
him;
that,
to
him,
was
treason
enough.

And
now,
as
he
marched
south
from
Nottingham
to
Leicester
where the
bulk
of
his
army
was
being
mustered,
he
realized
that
Stanley's example
was
being
all
too
widely
followed.
The
peers,
knights
and landed
gentry
of
England
might
not
be
going
over
to
the
Earl
of Richmond;
but
neither
were
they
rallying
to
the
colours
of
their
King. They
were,
quite
simply,
staying
at
home.
Thirty-three
noblemen
had attended
his
coronation,
only
two
years
before.
Now,
apart
from
Norfolk, Northumberland
and
the
obviously
unreliable
Strange,
the
only
others in
his
army
were
Norfolk's
son
the
Earl
of
Surrey
and
the
Lords
Lovell, Ferrers
and
Zouch
-
though
one
or
two
more
would
be
waiting
for him
at
Leicester.
With
the
knights
and
gentry
it
was
much
the
same story.
Emotionally,
most
of
them
sided
with
Henry
Tudor.
Even
though Richard
remained
their
King,
crowned
and
anointed,
they
were
terrified of
him:
of
his
ruthlessness,
his
cruelty
and
his
vengeance.

Early
in
the
morning
of
Sunday
21
August,
King
Richard
III
marched out
of
Leicester
at
the
head
of
an
army
of
about
12,000
men,
with
as much
pomp
and
ceremony
as
he
could
muster.
On
his
head,
as
so
often, was
a
slim
gold
crown.
It
was
a
symbol
not
only
of
his
royalty
but
of his
constant
insecurity;
no
other
English
ruler
has
ever
felt
the
need
to wear
the
badge
of
kingship
so
insiste
ntly
.
In
the
late
afternoon,
hearing that
Richmond
was
near,
he
chose
his
Battle
field
-
on
rising
ground, some
two
miles
south
of
the
present
town
of
Market
Bosworth.
¹
Henry was
in
fact
about
three
miles
away
to
the
south-east,
with
an
army
of perhaps
5,000.
He
knew
that
he
could
not
avoid
the
coming
encounter; overwhelmingly
outnumbered
as
he
was,
however,
he
cannot
have been
looking
forward
to
what
was
to
be
the
first
battle
of
his
life.
His only
hope
lay
in
Lord
Stanley
and
his
brother
Sir
William,
with
whom he
had
had
long
discussions
at
nearby
Atherstone
a
day
or
two
before. They
had
been
cordial
enough,
but
had
still
not
declared
themselves. (Their
son
and
nephew
Lord
Strange
was,
it
must
be
remembered,
still a
royal
hostage.)
Now
that
they
had
arrived
at
Bosworth
with
about 8,000
men,
they
might
easily
tip
the
scale
—
if
he
could
only
persuade them
to
join
him.