On 19th August 1485, over a week since Henry Tudor’s landing in Wales, Richard III, lord of Sandal, rode the twenty-five miles from his celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary at Nottingham to his army’s muster station at Leicester. Amongst his assembled forces were the men and materiel of the Earl of Northumberland, John Howard and Robert Brackenbury. Noticeably absent were Thomas, Lord Stanley and his brother Sir William. Richard was eager for the final confrontation with his elusive enemy.

On 11th August 1485, messengers arrived at Beskwood Lodge, outside Nottingham, where Richard III, lord of Sandal, was hunting. Henry Tudor, as prophecy had foretold, had landed with an invasion force, at Milford Haven.

On 1st August 1485, Lord Strange, son and heir of Thomas, Lord Stanley, arrived at court in Nottingham. Lord Strange’s attendance was regarded as surety by Richard III, lord of Sandal, for his father’s leaving the royal household and returning to his Lancashire base at Lathom. Albeit Stanley had shown his loyalty to Richard in the tumultuous events of 1483 and had kept his wife, Margaret Beaufort, under house arrest, the king did not entirely trust him.

On 10th March 1485, at Westminster Palace, Richard III, lord of Sandal, wrote a letter to Archbishop Bourchier and other bishops about a matter constantly on his mind. In line with his ‘fervent desire….to promote virtue and cleanness of living’ throughout the realm, he believed it essential that those of high rank set an example to the lower orders. He asked the archbishop to identify those in his jurisdiction who were guilty of ‘sin and vices’ and ensure ‘their sharp punishment.’ This letter became a hostage to fortune for later developments in Richard’s life.

On 12th August 1484, on the orders of Richard III, lord of Sandal, Henry VI’s remains were disinterred at Chertsey Abbey and royally re-buried in the near-completed chapel of St George at Windsor close to his nemesis, Edward IV. John Rous recorded that the corpse was found almost perfectly preserved thirteen years after his death. A re-examination of his remains in 1910 revealed a disarticulated collection of bones re-packed in a small lead casket.

On 18th July 1484, after Richard III, lord of Sandal, had issued orders two months before to put the country on high alert because of murmurs of impending invasion by Henry Tudor, seditious rhymes were posted in prominent locations around London. One memorable and treasonous couplet pinned to the doors of St Paul’s ran: ‘The Cat, the Rat, and Lovell our Dog, Rule all England under a hog.’ The implications were clear: The Cat was Richard’s counsellor, William Catesby; the Rat being Sir Richard Ratcliffe, an influential figure in the northeast; Francis Lovell, Richard’s childhood friend and chamberlain; the hog, a scathing reference to Richard’s white boar emblem.

In the first days of July 1483, Richard III’s (lord of Sandal) northern forces of around four thousand men under the command of the Earl of Northumberland and Richard Ratcliffe arrived In London with Richard greeting them bareheaded as a sign of respect. Richard was preparing to avoid/avert any troubles surrounding his coronation days later.

On 27th June 1483, Piers Curteys, the Keeper of the Great Wardrobe, signed indentures for work to be completed by 3rd July for the coronation of Richard III, lord of Sandal. Amongst the honoured guests listed with sumptuous clothes to be supplied, was the recently deposed Edward V now styled ‘lord Edward, son of late King Edward the Fourth.’ Unsurprisingly, Edward did not attend the coronation nine days later.

On 13th June 1483, Richard, Duke of Gloucester and lord of Sandal, convened a meeting at the Tower of London ostensibly to discuss the impending reign of the young Edward V. The meeting included the Duke of Buckingham, Lord William Hastings, William Catesby, Thomas Rotherham (Edward IV’s former chancellor), John Morton (an executor of Edward IV’s will amongst other roles) and Thomas, Lord Stanley (Edward IV’s household steward). Quite unexpectedly, Richard accused Hastings of plotting with Elizabeth Woodville ‘to destroy me, that am so near of blood unto the king’ and no longer supportive of Richard’s protectorate. Hastings was summarily forced onto Tower Green, shriven by a priest from the Tower chapel of St Peter ad Vincula and beheaded.

On 4th May 1483, the day of Edward V’s postponed coronation, Edward V was escorted into London by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester and lord of Sandal, accompanied by the city’s reception committee, clad in Yorkist mulberry. Proclamations declared that the young king had been rescued from his scheming Woodville family, with four cartloads of weaponry confiscated from Anthony Woodville as proof.