Battle of Stoke Field

Battle of Stoke Field
Part of the Wars of the Roses
Date 16 June 1487 Location East Stoke, Nottinghamshire, England 53°02′06″N 0°53′17″W / 53.035°N 0.888°W / 53.035; -0.888 Result Tudor victory
Belligerents
House of Tudor (Lancastrian)	House of York
Commanders and leaders
Henry VII Earl of Oxford Duke of Bedford Earl of Shrewsbury Baron Strange Baron Scales Sir John Savage	Earl of Lincoln † Viscount Lovell Sir Thomas FitzGerald † Martin Schwartz †
Strength
12,000	8,000
Casualties and losses
300–3,000	4,000

The Battle of Stoke Field on 16 June 1487 may be considered the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, since it was the last major engagement between contenders for the throne whose claims derived from descent from the houses of Lancaster and York respectively. The Battle of Bosworth Field, two years previously, had established Henry VII on the throne, ending the last period of Yorkist rule and initiating that of the Tudors. The Battle of Stoke Field was the decisive engagement in an attempt by leading Yorkists to unseat him in favour of the pretender Lambert Simnel.

Though it is often portrayed as almost a footnote to the major battles between York and Lancaster, it may have been slightly larger than Bosworth, with much heavier casualties, possibly because of the terrain which forced the two sides into close, attritional combat. In the end, though, Henry's victory was crushing. Almost all the leading Yorkists were killed in the battle.