1487 - The Battle of Stoke Field

This battle is considered by many to be the true end of the Wars of the Roses, and came about due to one Yorkist - John de la Pole's - dissatisfaction with the result of the Battle of Bosworth (i.e. that the Yorkists lost). De la Pole took it upon himself to try and reverse this outcome.

In January of 1487 (so the story goes) he took a ten-year-old boy called Lambert Simnel and presented him as Edward, the Earl of Warwick and nephew of Richard III. This was a bold move seeing as the real Earl of Warwick, with a real claim to the throne, was alive and kicking in the Tower of London.

Upon being taken to Ireland, Simnel was crowned as Edward VI of England and an army was raised in support of his claim. They set off to England to meet Henry VII.

Henry's army, led by John de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, was made up of 12,000 men. Simnel's entourage made up of 8,000 men, was led by Edward Woodville.

Meeting at Stoke Field, the Yorkists initially held a stronger position on top of the hill and their Lancastrian opponents, though greater in number, were surrounded on three sides by water.

However, the excellent archers on team Lancaster proved fatal to many of the unarmored Yorkist troops who were forced down a ravine, and slaughtered.

After this Lancastrian victory, Simnel (again, so the story goes) was brought to court and worked in Henry's kitchens.

And so the War of the Roses ended, and years of speculation over the validity of this tale began.