nice timeline, but I am not sure that you are aware of the "war" that Stanley and Gloucester in the North West of England around the Ribble area in the early 1480's.
It was a war based upon the fight for supremacy of the Lancashire are, a traditional Stanley power base. Richard was the upstart using powers granted to him by his brother and backing the Harrington family in their fued with the Stanley's .
There are local traditions of captured Gloucester standards being displayed in a local church near Ribble till after the civil war.
So overall, his wife and his history with Richard............can't see him helping " The Usurper "
Thanks for the comments. As I said in the intro, this was mainly a writing exercise, as opposed to an attempt at a timeline able to stand up to serious historical scrutiny. If I were to write a "Richard wins at Bosworth" TL that was going on to look at the ramifications, I would not use this as the PoD, or would do significantly more to explain how such an event came about. I really wanted to see if I could write a story that people would enjoy reading, and most of the feedback has been rather supportive regarding this. Do you yourself have any comments or critiques about the writing?
That being said, Stanley must have been fairly inscrutable. My reading suggests that while Richard distrusted Stanley - with good reason, admittedly - Henry didn't exactly trust him either. Both tried bribery and blackmail to ensure he'd support them, but began the battle unsure of the man's loyalties. Of course, this could be because Richard was clutching at a desperate hope as his kingdom slipped from his hands, and a healthy dose of paranoia on Henry's part. Nevertheless, I thought there was enough doubt in their minds to let me wring a story out of it.
I certainly hadn't come across that snippet about the standards in the church, so thanks for that information. If nothing else, it could be a nice little thing to include in a Tudor or Stuart TL, given half the chance.
Thanks for reading my humble offering, and taking the time to write a reply, especially one as informative as this! It's always nice to know somebody else has taken a look at my little outburst of writing.
