Northumberland?

I'm trying to make sense of Northumberland's actions at Bosworth. Is there any real consensus on whether he:

1. Was a traitor a la the Stanleys

2. Had no physical room on the narrow field to act on Richard's order to engage his men

3. Had some other motive for ignoring Richard's order to join in the fight?

~Wednesday

Hi, Wednesday!

I just finished reading John Ashdown-Hill's book late last night (I stayed
up until 1:30 am (old time), because I couldn't put it down.)



But - I didn't recall A-H saying anything about Northumberland's action (or
inaction) during the Battle of Bosworth, funnily enough. I just went back
and did a search on my kindle, and there are only three mentions of
Northumberland in the whole book. The first speaks of him meeting up with
the King's force on Saturday Aug. 20. The second mentions the King marching
out of Leicester with Norfolk and Northumberland and the whole of the great
host on Sunday Aug. 21. Finally the third mentions Norfolk, Surrey,
Northumberland and Brackenbury along with the royal army in a discussion of
whether Richard rode a white horse called "White Surrey" or "White Syrie"
out of Leicester and into the battle.



I really like Ashdown-Hill's book, and I especially appreciate his work, as
I think it is the main impetus for the archeological dig at Leicester, which
is potentially portentous for Ricardians. But I think his reconstruction of
the battle might be considered controversial. I am going to try to write a
more comprehensive review of the book, maybe tomorrow, because there are
some aspects that are striking and I think merit fuller discussion.



Loyaulte me lie,



Johanne

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Johanne L. Tournier



Email - jltournier60@...

or jltournier@...



"With God, all things are possible."

- Jesus of Nazareth

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From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of wednesday_mc
Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 4:29 PM
To:
Subject: Northumberland?





I'm trying to make sense of Northumberland's actions at Bosworth. Is there
any real consensus on whether he:

1. Was a traitor a la the Stanleys

2. Had no physical room on the narrow field to act on Richard's order to
engage his men

3. Had some other motive for ignoring Richard's order to join in the fight?

~Wednesday

No real consensus, I'm afraid. That he had deliberately held aloof was the standard version, but we don't really know and it has been questioned recently.
Marie

--- In , "wednesday_mc" <wednesday.mac@...> wrote:
>
> I'm trying to make sense of Northumberland's actions at Bosworth. Is there any real consensus on whether he:
>
> 1. Was a traitor a la the Stanleys
>
> 2. Had no physical room on the narrow field to act on Richard's order to engage his men
>
> 3. Had some other motive for ignoring Richard's order to join in the fight?
>
> ~Wednesday
>