Succession to the British throne branch of the royal house of Lancaster, the House of Beaufort, assumed the English crown as Henry VII, after defeating Richard III, who was killed at the battle of Bosworth when leading a charge against Henry's standard. Richard was the last king of the House of York, and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. Henry declared himself king retroactively from 21 August 1485, the day before his victory over Richard at Bosworth Field, and caused Richard's "Titulus Regius" to be repealed and expunged from the Rolls of Parliament. After Henry's coronation in London in October that year, his first parliament,
Battle of Flodden last monarch from the British Isles to die in battle. This conflict began when James IV, King of Scots declared war on England to honour the Auld Alliance with France by diverting Henry VIII's English troops from their campaign against the French king Louis XII. Henry VIII had also opened old wounds by claiming to be the overlord of Scotland, which angered the Scots and their King. At this time, England was involved as a member of the "Catholic League" in the War of the League of Cambrai—defending Italy and the Pope from the French (see Italian Wars). Pope Leo