Following the death of Edward IV in April 1483 Richard of Gloucester, his brother, became Lord Protector. Edward’s true successor, also called Edward, was a minor and never became king. He and his brother Richard were declared illegitimate. Gloucester had them removed to the Tower for their “safety”. They never emerged. On 6th July 1483 Gloucester was crowned Richard III.
Richard’s short reign was beset with unrest and strife possibly resulting from his dubious assumption of the crown. The chief focus of the unrest centred on Henry Tudor. Henry’s claim to the throne derived from his mother, Margaret Beaufort, who was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of Edward III and his third wife Katherine Swynford. Katherine had previously been John’s mistress and John was one of the issues of that union. They did marry in 1396 and so John had a sort of legitimacy. Thus Henry’s claim was somewhat tenuous, and legally doubtful, but it was the best the Lancastrian's could come up with; Lancastrian heirs were few and far between.
Henry had tried to land in England in 1483 but bad weather had aborted the attempt. Undaunted he persisted and in 1485 a second attempt was prepared aided by the French king who was happy to promote disunity in England. Richard was aware of events across the Channel and he moved from London to Nottingham in the Midlands. There he prepared to gather troops. This central location placed him in a position from which he could respond to any landing along the English or Welsh coast. He knew that Henry had two options open to him upon landing, move on London and claim the crown or move against him and defeat him in battle.
Henry landed at Milford Sound in southwest Wales on 7th August 1485 with about 500 exiled supporters and 1,500 French troops. He proceeded to march across Wales gathering strength and supporters as he went. One of the nobles whose support he sought out was Thomas Lord Stanley his stepfather who had married his mother Margaret Beaufort. Stanley did not reject Henry’s approaches but he was placed in an invidious position when Richard got wind of his possible treason. Richard had directed Stanley to oppose Henry’s march through Wales but Stanley merely shadowed Henry’s progress. When Richard became frustrated by Stanley’s lack of action he summoned him to appear before him. Stanley begged off pleading sickness. Richard was not deceived and ordered Stanley’s eldest son, George Stanley, Lord Strange, arrested and made it known that he was a hostage to Stanley’s loyalty.
Henry marched 225 miles in 14 days to reach Atherstone on the 21st August there he had a clandestine meeting with Thomas Stanley. Richard received news of Henry’s landing on the 11th August. On the 20th he moved to Leicester and joined John Howard, Duke of Norfolk who had been mustering his forces there. On 21st August Richard left Leicester and marched west twelve miles to confront Henry. He camped that night on Ambion Hill a few miles east of Atherstone. On the morning of the 22nd Richard broke camp and moved west. He took up a position on a low ridge on Brown Heath covering Fenn Lane. Through the low ground west of the ridge ran a small stream. This steam broadened to form a fen or marsh across most of Richard’s front. Henry approached this position from the west along Fenn Lane. When he drew near he deployed in line. Thomas Stanley and his brother William took post between the two forces.