Battles that changed England

By the summer of 1485, England had spent decades trapped in a bitter struggle between rival branches of the royal family. Kings had been deposed. Princes had strangely disappeared. Noble families had changed sides repeatedly. Nobody seemed entirely sure who would be in charge from one year to the next. Then came Bosworth, which saw the death of a king and beginning of a new dynasty that would forever change England.

By Chris Livemore If medieval warfare had a moment when everyone realised the old rules no longer applied, it happened on a hillside in northern France in 1346. The Battle of Crécy should not have gone the way it did. King Edward III's English army was tired, outnumbered and deep inside enemy territory. The French army was larger, wealthier and commanded by King Philip VI himself. On paper, the result looked obvious, the French would have been supremely confident before the b

By Chris Livemore On the morning of 14 October 1066, King Harold Godwinson stood on a ridge in Sussex facing an invading army led by William, Duke of Normandy. By sunset, Harold was dead. England would never be the same again. Sacré bleu! What makes Hastings so, so interesting is how close it was. William was not conquering a weak kingdom. Harold was an experienced commander who had already won one of the most remarkable victories in English history just weeks earlier at Stam