100 Year War & War of The Roses
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The conflict at Agincourt followed a period of relative peace, during which negotiations with the French failed. The subsequent campaign took a toll on the English, with many soldiers succumbing to disease, and their numbers dwindled. Their intended retreat to English-held Calais was thwarted by a considerably larger French army. Despite being outnumbered, the battle concluded with a resounding victory for the English.
King Henry V of England personally led his troops into the fray and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. King Charles VI of France, incapacitated by mental illness, did not command the French forces. Instead, the French were under the leadership of Constable Charles d'Albret and various prominent French nobles from the Armagnac party.
Notably, the Battle of Agincourt featured the extensive use of English longbows, with English and Welsh archers making up nearly 80 percent of Henry's army. William Harrington served as Henry's standard-bearer, holding the esteemed position of Standard Bearer of England.
The Battle of Agincourt stands as one of England's most celebrated victories and ranks among the pivotal English successes in the Hundred Years' War, alongside the Battle of Crécy (1346) and the Battle of Poitiers (1356). Notably, it is a remarkable example of an outnumbered force achieving victory, leaving an enduring legacy in historical scholarship and public imagination. It has inspired notable works like William Shakespeare's play "Henry V," written in 1599.
In 1430, Joan was captured by the Burgundians, who were allies of the English. She was sold to the English, and they held her in captivity.
Following the "Hundred Years' War" with France, the "Wars of the Roses" ensued, pitting the House of York, symbolised by a white rose, against the House of Lancaster, represented by a red rose.
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England was at war with France during Henry’s reign. In an effort to end the conflict between the two nations, Henry married Margaret of Anjou in 1445. She was the niece of the French king, Charles VII. This plan failed, as Henry was strongly criticised by English nobles for losing land in France that England had previously ruled.
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King, Charles VII of France and his niece Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI of England
Henry experienced severe mental health problems, which meant he was not able to rule the country on his own. Following a period of poor mental health, powerful English nobles decided that Richard, Duke of York should rule the country as Lord Protector in March 1454. (Lord protector is a leader who takes charge of ruling the kingdom while the monarch is absent or unable to rule. For example, if they are too young when they become the king or queen.)
Henry declared he was fit to rule the country again at the end of 1454.
Richard of York, the 3rd Duke of York (21st September 1411 – 30th December 1460), known as Richard Plantagenet, was a prominent English nobleman and contender for the throne in the midst of the Wars of the Roses. His connection to the ruling House of Plantagenet stemmed from his direct paternal lineage, tracing back to Edmund of Langley, the fourth surviving son of King Edward III. Yet, his most compelling claim to the throne came through his mother, Anne Mortimer, who descended from Lionel of Antwerp, Edward III's second surviving son.
Confronted with this sudden shift in allegiance, Richard and the Nevilles promptly abandoned their forces and made their escape. The following day, the outnumbered and leaderless Yorkist army surrendered.
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Lancastrian efforts to regain control over Ireland and Calais proved unsuccessful, while Richard, the Duke of York, and his allies were branded as traitors and stripped of their titles and estates. The victorious Lancastrians faced public outrage for the looting of Ludlow town following the Yorkist surrender at Ludford Bridge and the oppressive measures passed by a compliant Parliament of Devils. These actions stirred fear among many uncommitted peers about the safety of their own properties and titles, leaving the country in a state of turmoil.
(The Parliament of Devils was a specific session of the Parliament of England held at Coventry within the precincts of the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary's. Its principal purpose was to enact bills of attainder for high treason against Yorkist nobles in the aftermath of the Battle of Ludford Bridge.)
Following the disintegration of the Yorkist army at Ludford Bridge in 1459, many Yorkist leaders chose to go into self-imposed exile. Richard, the Duke of York, along with his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, retreated to the relative safety of Dublin, Ireland. His key supporters, the Earl of Warwick and his father the Earl of Salisbury, as well as Richard's son Edward, Earl of March, arrived in Calais, France on November 2, 1459. In Calais, Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, also reunited with his uncle, Lord Fauconberg.
Back in England, the Lancastrians swiftly capitalised on the flight of the Yorkists. The Earl of Wiltshire was appointed as Lieutenant of Ireland, while the Duke of Somerset took on the role of Captain of Calais. However, both failed to assume their new positions. The Irish refused to remove the Yorkists from Dublin, and the gates of Calais remained firmly shut to their new "Captain."
The Lancastrians provided the Duke of Somerset, Henry Beaufort, with an army to attack Calais, but before they could do so, they needed to cross the English Channel. Consequently, they initiated the construction of a fleet in Sandwich, Kent. In January and May of 1460, Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, launched raids on Sandwich, seizing the ships.
In June, the Lancastrian invasion was pre-empted by an attack on Sandwich, which had received reinforcements of several hundred Lancastrian troops led by Osbert Mundford.
The Yorkist contingent, led by Lord Fauconberg, Sir John Wenlock, and John Dynham, took control of the port, capturing both soldiers and weaponry. Mundford was apprehended, brought to Rysbank tower, and subsequently executed. Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, left his uncle, Lord Fauconberg, stationed in Sandwich with a modest force of Yorkists to serve as a bridgehead for his planned invasion of England.
On June 26, Warwick, Salisbury, and Edward arrived at Sandwich with a force of 2,000 men-at-arms. Meanwhile, King Henry VI and Queen Margaret of Anjou were situated in Coventry with their limited army. Warwick entered London on July 2, accompanied by an army of supporters numbering approximately 10,000.
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The royal forces assumed a defensive stance at Northampton, within the grounds of Delapré Abbey. They had established an artillery fortification in what is currently a blend of a public park and a golf course. This position was encircled by natural watercourses, the tributaries of the River Nene, and was reinforced with a palisade and artillery positions.
The defending army was around 5,000 strong, consisting mainly of men-at-arms. The Lancastrians also had some field artillery. (This was the first time artillery had ever been used in battle in England)
While advancing, the Duke of Warwick dispatched an envoy to negotiate with the king on his behalf. The Lancastrian commander, the Duke of Buckingham, retorted, "The Earl of Warwick shall not come to the King's presence, and if he comes, he shall die." On Warwick's approach to Northampton, he was twice more denied access to the king. Once in his position, he sent a message to the king, stating that "at two hours past noon, he would speak with him, or else die in the field."
At two o'clock, the Yorkists pressed forward. They marched in formation, but the heavy rain blowing in their faces somewhat impeded their progress. As they closed in on the Lancastrians, Warwick's men faced a fierce barrage of arrows, but the rain had rendered the Lancastrian artillery mostly ineffective. When Warwick reached the Lancastrian left flank, under the command of Lord Grey of Ruthin, treachery occurred. Grey ordered his men to lay down their arms and let the Yorkists easily breach the camp. This betrayal resulted from a secret message from Lord Grey to March, stating that he would switch sides if the Yorkists supported him in a property dispute with Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, his maternal cousin. Warwick had instructed his men not to harm ordinary soldiers, especially those bearing the black ragged staff emblem of Lord Grey's troops. There might have also been promises and offers of high office from Warwick. Grey later became Treasurer of England in 1463. Following this act of treachery, the battle lasted a mere thirty minutes. The defenders, unable to manoeuvre within their fortifications, fled as the attacking Yorkists rolled up their line.
The Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Egremont, and Lord Beaumont all died while attempting to protect Henry from the encroaching Yorkists. Three hundred other Lancastrians lost their lives in the battle. King Henry VI was captured by an archer named Henry Mountfort.
Henry was discovered in his tent by Warwick, March, and Fauconberg. Treating him with due respect, they escorted him to Delapré Abbey, then to Northampton, and finally to London, where the tower garrison surrendered shortly thereafter.
Henry was taken to London and confined in the Bishop of London's palace. George Neville, Bishop of Exeter, was appointed Chancellor of England, and Viscount Bourchier, another of Richard, Duke of York's brothers-in-law, was appointed Treasurer.
Several weeks later, the Duke of York arrived in Chester and proceeded to London with great pomp. Upon his arrival in Parliament, he made an audacious claim to the throne, only to be met with stunned silence. Even his most loyal supporters were not ready to endorse such a radical move. Instead, after extensive deliberation in the House of Lords, they enacted the Act of Accord. According to this act, Henry would retain his title as king, but York would serve as the country's Lord Protector. Henry's son was disinherited, and the throne would pass to York or his heirs upon Henry's demise. Henry, in his weakened and apprehensive state, was coerced into accepting these terms.
Confronted with these challenges to his authority as Protector, Richard, the Duke of York, dispatched his eldest son Edward to the Welsh Marches with the aim of containing the Lancastrians in Wales. He entrusted the oversight of London to the Earl of Warwick. Meanwhile, Richard himself led an expedition to the north of England on 9 December, accompanied by his second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and the Earl of Salisbury. They attempted to bring a train of artillery under the command of a gentleman from Kent named Lovelace, but adverse weather conditions forced the artillery to return to London.
Reports on the size of York's and Salisbury's army varied, with some suggesting it numbered 8,000 to 9,000 men, while others claimed it was only a few hundred strong. York had intended to bolster his forces by recruiting local troops through a Commission of Array. (A Commission of Array was a mandate granted by English monarchs to officers or local gentry in a particular region, authorising them to assemble and prepare the local inhabitants for military service or to organise soldiers for military duty. The term "arrayers" referred to officers holding such a commission.)
York had likely underestimated both the Lancastrian army's strength in the north and the level of opposition he had stirred with his claim to the throne. During an earlier expedition to the north in 1454, he and the Nevilles had effectively quelled a rebellion led by the Percys and the Duke of Exeter. However, in 1460, nearly every other northern peer had joined the Lancastrian army, and even York's nominal supporters were divided. The Nevilles, being one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the North, controlled extensive estates, and the Earl of Salisbury had served as the Warden of the Eastern March for several years. Yet, in the Neville–Neville feud, the cadet branch led by Salisbury had largely dispossessed and overshadowed the senior branch (sometimes referred to as the "northern Nevilles"), represented by his great-nephew, the Earl of Westmoreland. Westmoreland had spent several years attempting to reclaim his estates but had since become too ill, possibly suffering from some mental disorder, to play an active role. His younger brother, John Neville of Raby, stood to gain significantly from the downfall of York and Salisbury.
(The Neville–Neville feud refers to a major inheritance dispute in the northern regions of England during the early fifteenth century, involving two branches of the noble Neville family.)
The Lancastrians continued to receive reinforcements. On 16 December, at the Battle of Worksop in Nottinghamshire, York's vanguard clashed with Somerset's forces from the West Country, who were moving north to join the Lancastrian army, resulting in a defeat for York's forces.
Somerset had set out from Corfe Castle in Dorset and was enroute to join the main Lancastrian army, previously stationed in Hull before moving to Pontefract. The exact size of Beaufort's contingent at Worksop remains uncertain, as he had divided his cavalry and footmen at Exeter in an attempt to expedite their journey northward. It is assumed that York's men had deviated from the Great North Road on their way to Sandal Castle, although the reason for passing through Worksop is unclear. The area was under Lancastrian control, with the nearest secure Yorkist territory located in Doncaster. Furthermore, widespread flooding at the time would have made travel difficult and obtaining food supplies challenging. It's possible that scouting parties were sent to Worksop to search for provisions, but the most likely motive may have been to assess the Lancastrian forces around the town or to seek retribution regarding Worksop Manor. This was where the Earl of Shrewsbury and his younger brother Christopher Talbot had been killed at the Battle of Northampton on 10 July that year. (Christopher Talbot had met a violent end at Caus Castle in 1443.) Revenge was certainly on the agenda, as the Earl of Shrewsbury had been granted Richard of York's land in Wakefield in 1459.
(No tangible evidence of the battle remains, except for a section of a skull in Worksop Priory with a bodkin arrowhead firmly lodged in it. This artifact is visible to the public and can be found in the north aisle of the church towards the west end.)
On 21 December, Richard, Duke of York arrived at his fortified stronghold, Sandal Castle near Wakefield. He dispatched scouting parties toward the Lancastrian camp in Pontefract, situated 9 miles (14 km) to the east, but these were repelled. Richard, Duke of York summoned his son Edward for assistance, yet before any reinforcements could reach him, he made a sortie from the castle on 30 December.
The exact reason for Richard, Duke of York's move remains uncertain. One theory, recounted later in Edward Hall's chronicle, written a few decades after the event but partly based on firsthand sources, and the contemporary Burgundian Jean de Waurin's chronicle, suggests a stratagem, possibly devised by the experienced Andrew Trollope. According to this theory, Trollope, who had allegedly sent messages to Richard, Duke of York via feigned deserters expressing his readiness to change sides once more, led half of the Lancastrian army under Somerset and Clifford in a conspicuous advance toward Sandal Castle, crossing the open terrain known as "Wakefield Green" between the castle and the River Calder. Meanwhile, the remaining Lancastrian forces under Ros and the Earl of Wiltshire concealed themselves in the surrounding woods. It's probable that Richard, Duke of York was running low on provisions in the castle and, observing that the enemy appeared no more numerous than his own army, he seized the opportunity to engage them in the open rather than endure a siege while awaiting reinforcements. Other accounts suggest that, perhaps in addition to Trollope's deception, Richard, Duke of York was misled by some of John Neville of Raby's forces displaying false colours into believing that reinforcements sent by Warwick had arrived. According to another contemporary source, William Worcester's Annales Rerum Anglicorum, John Neville had secured a Commission of Array from Richard of York to raise 8,000 men to fight on Richard, Duke of York's side under the Earl of Westmoreland. After amassing this force and enticing Richard, Duke of York to leave the castle to meet with him, John Neville defected to the Lancastrians.
Another theory was that Richard, Duke of York and Somerset had agreed to a truce during Christmas until 6 January, the Feast of Epiphany, but the Lancastrians had no intention of honouring the truce. On three successive days, they dispatched heralds to provoke Richard, Duke of York into premature action with insulting messages, and when he moved into the open, the Lancastrians treacherously attacked earlier than agreed. This caught Richard, Duke of York at a disadvantage, as many of his men were absent foraging for supplies. The simplest suggestion was that York acted recklessly. For instance, historian John Sadler asserts that there was no Lancastrian deception or ambush. Instead, York led his men from the castle on a foraging expedition (or according to popular belief, to rescue some of his foragers who were under attack). As successive Lancastrian contingents joined the battle (the last being Clifford's division, encamped to the south and east of Sandal Magna), York's forces found themselves outnumbered, surrounded, and overwhelmed.
The Yorkists departed Sandal Castle, moving along the present-day Manygates Lane toward the Lancastrians located to the north of the castle. It is generally agreed that as Richard, Duke of York engaged the Lancastrians to his front, others attacked him from the flanks and rear, effectively cutting him off from the castle. In the words of Edward Hall:
"... but when he was in the plain ground between his castle and the town of Wakefield, he was surrounded on every side, like a fish in a net, or a deer in a buckstall; so that he fought valiantly but was slain and dead within half an hour, and his entire army was defeated."
One near-contemporary source, Gregory's Chronicle, claimed that 2,500 Yorkists and 200 Lancastrians were killed, but other sources provide widely varying figures, ranging from 2,200 to as few as 700 Yorkists killed.
Richard, the Duke of York, met his fate in one of two accounts. Some later works support the legend that he suffered a crippling knee injury, was unhorsed, and fought to the death at that very spot, along with his closest supporters. Alternatively, other accounts suggest that he was captured (potentially by Sir James Luttrell of Devonshire), subjected to mockery by his captors, and then beheaded.
His son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, made an attempt to escape by crossing Wakefield Bridge but was overtaken and killed, possibly by Clifford, seeking revenge for his father's death at St Albans.
In the battle, Sir Thomas Neville, Salisbury's second son, also met his demise. Additionally, William, Lord Harington, Salisbury's son-in-law, and Harington's father, William Bonville, were captured and promptly executed after the battle. (The Bonvilles had been embroiled in a feud with the Earl of Devon and the Courtenay family in Devon and Cornwall.) Salisbury himself managed to escape the battlefield but was apprehended during the night and taken to the Lancastrian camp. Although the Lancastrian nobles might have been open to Salisbury ransoming himself, he was forcibly removed from Pontefract Castle and beheaded by local commoners, who had suffered under his harsh rule. The mob may have been led by the "Bastard of Exeter," an illegitimate son of the Duke of Exeter.
Following the battle, the heads of Richard, Duke of York, Rutland, and Salisbury were put on display atop Micklegate Bar, the southwestern gate in the York city walls. The Duke of York's head was adorned with a paper crown and bore a sign that read "Let York overlook the town of York."
The death of Richard, Duke of York, did not bring an end to the wars, nor did it extinguish the House of York's claim to the throne. The triumphant northern Lancastrian army, bolstered by Scots and borderers with a thirst for plunder, began its march southward.
This victorious Lancastrian force advanced toward London, led by relatively young nobles like the Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland, and Lord Clifford. These nobles' fathers had met their fates at the hands of Richard, Duke of York, and Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, at the First Battle of St Albans. The army included substantial contingents from the West Country and the Scottish Borders and primarily sustained itself through looting as it made its way south.
The death of Richard of York left his 18-year-old son, Edward, Earl of March, as the Yorkist claimant for the throne. He led one Yorkist army in the Welsh Marches while Warwick led another in London and the south-east. Naturally, they intended to combine their forces to face Margaret's army, but Edward was delayed by the need to confront another Lancastrian army from Wales.
The Battle of Mortimer's Cross was fought on 2 February 1461 near Kingsland, Herefordshire (between Leominster and Leintwardine, by the River Lugg), not far from the Welsh border. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were an army led by Jasper Tudor and his father, Owen Tudor, and other nobles loyal to King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster, his wife, Margaret of Anjou, and their seven-year-old son, Edward, Prince of Wales, on one side, and the army of Edward, Earl of March.
One of Sir Richard Croft's suggestions to Richard of York was to position archers at the crossroads, where the Roman Road intersected with Ogilby Road, with the aim of impeding the Lancastrian advance. Pembroke's army, although smaller by about a thousand men compared to Richard of York's forces, initially may not have intended to engage in combat. However, as noon approached, it became evident that they had no choice but to fight, as crossing the Lugg River was imperative.
The Lancastrians initiated the attack, with Butler's division leading the first assault, forcing Edward's right wing to retreat across the road, ultimately causing that flank to collapse. Pembroke confronted Edward's central division and held them off. However, the pivotal moment came when Owen Tudor attempted to encircle the Yorkist left wing, only to have his division defeated, leading to a general rout.
Pembroke's centre also disintegrated, sealing the Yorkists' victory. Owen Tudor's men fled the battlefield, with some being pursued as far as Hereford, roughly seventeen miles (27 km) away. It was in Hereford that Owen was apprehended and subsequently executed. Before his execution, Owen had a sudden realisation that he would not be spared, contrary to his earlier belief that he would be imprisoned. He is said to have whispered, "That head shall lie on the stock that was wont to lie on Queen Katherine’s lap."
Owen Tudor's severed head was displayed either on the market cross or on the highest step. A chronicle records an account of a mentally disturbed woman combing his hair and cleansing the blood from his face. She then lit one hundred candles around the cross. His final resting place was in the chapel on the north side of Greyfriars Church in Hereford.
Warwick, with the captive King Henry in his train, meanwhile moved to block Queen Margaret's army's route to London. He took up position north of St Albans astride the main road from the north (the ancient Roman road known as Watling Street), where he set up several fixed defences, including cannon and obstacles such as caltrops and pavises studded with spikes. Part of his defences used the ancient Belgic earthwork known as Beech Bottom Dyke. Warwick's forces were divided into three "Battles", as was customary at the time. He himself led the Main Battle in the centre. The Duke of Norfolk led the Forward (or Vaward) Battle on the right and Warwick's brother John Neville commanded the Rear Battle on the left. Although strong, Warwick's lines faced north only. Margaret knew of Warwick's dispositions, probably through Sir Henry Lovelace, the steward of Warwick's own household. Lovelace had been captured by the Lancastrians at Wakefield but had been spared from execution and released and believed that he had been offered the vacant Earldom of Kent as a reward for betraying Warwick. Late on 16 February, Margaret's army swerved sharply west and captured the town of Dunstable. About 200 local people under the town butcher tried to resist them but were easily dispersed. Warwick's "scourers" (scouts and patrols and foraging parties) failed to detect the move.
In the cover of night, Margaret's troops from Dunstable advanced south eastward towards St Albans. At the break of dawn, the vanguard of Lancastrian forces launched an assault on the town. They ascended the hill past the Abbey, only to be met by Yorkist archers positioned in the town centre, who fired upon them from the windows of houses. The initial attack was thwarted. Regrouping by the ford across the River Ver, Lancastrian commanders sought an alternate route into the town, which they soon found. A second assault was then initiated, proceeding along the route of Folly Lane and Catherine Street. This time, the second attack encountered no resistance, and the Yorkist archers within the town found themselves outflanked. Nevertheless, they valiantly fought on a house-to-house basis, and it took several hours before they were finally overcome.
With control of the town secured, the Lancastrians turned their attention northward, moving towards John Neville's Rear Battle, positioned on Bernards Heath. The damp conditions affected the Yorkists, causing many of their cannons and handguns to misfire due to dampened powder. Warwick faced challenges in extricating his other units from their fortifications and reorienting them to confront the Lancastrians. Consequently, the Yorkist battles entered the fray individually, rather than in a coordinated manner. The Rear Battle, while attempting to reinforce the town's defenders, became engaged and scattered. Some accounts suggest that the Kentish contingent within the Yorkist army, under Lovelace, may have defected at this point, adding to the confusion in Yorkist ranks. However, later historians propose that Warwick portrayed Lovelace as a scapegoat to cover his own mismanagement of the battle. Notably, Lovelace was not attainted after the Battle of Towton.
By late afternoon, the Lancastrians moved northeast from St Albans to confront the Yorkist Main and Vaward battles commanded by Warwick and Norfolk. As dusk descended, which would have been early evening at that time of year and in adverse weather conditions, Warwick realised that his forces were outnumbered and demoralised. He subsequently withdrew with his remaining troops, numbering around 4,000 men, to Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
Various sources estimate the total casualties at different figures, with one annalist suggesting 2,000 men and an anonymous chronicler providing the precise count of 1,916.
King Edward IV of England.
Norfolk was too old to participate and his contingent was commanded by Walter Blount (Steward of the High Peak in Derbyshire, who you might remember from the start of this blog with Elvaston Castle) and Robert Horne; this may have been an advantage, since he was regarded as an unpredictable ally.
Edward relied heavily on Warwick's uncle, Lord Fauconberg, a veteran of the Anglo-French wars, highly regarded by contemporaries for his military skills. He demonstrated this in a wide range of roles, having captained the Calais garrison, led naval piracy expeditions in the Channel, and commanded the Yorkist vanguard at Northampton.
The principal Lancastrian commander was Henry Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset, an accomplished leader often credited with the victories at Wakefield and St Albans, although some argue that these successes were primarily due to the tactics of Sir Andrew Trollope. Trollope, a highly skilled and shrewd commander, had previously served under Warwick in Calais before defecting to the Lancastrians at Ludford Bridge in 1459. Other noteworthy Lancastrian leaders included Henry Holland, the Duke of Exeter, and prominent northern nobles such as the Earl of Northumberland, Lord de Ros, and Lord Dacre. Lord Clifford, another key Lancastrian figure, would have been present if not for his unfortunate demise, having been struck by an arrow in the throat at Ferrybridge.
Scant historical sources provide detailed accounts of the battle, and they do not offer precise information about the army's deployments. The limited availability of primary sources led early historians to rely primarily on Hall's chronicle as their primary reference for the battle, despite its compilation occurring 70 years after the event and lingering doubts about the source of Hall's information. The Burgundian chronicler Jean de Waurin (c. 1398 – c. 1474) provided a more contemporaneous source, but his chronicle only became publicly accessible in 1891, and numerous errors in it discouraged historians of that era from using it. Subsequent reconstructions of the battle primarily depended on Hall's account, with minor details drawn from other sources.
Gravett and fellow military enthusiast Trevor James Halsall argued that Somerset's choice to confront the Yorkist army on this plateau was a judicious one. It effectively blocked any enemy advance towards the city of York, whether they followed the London–Towton road or an old Roman road to the west. The Lancastrians took up their position just before Towton, utilising the valley as a kind of "protective ditch." However, a drawback of this location was their limited visibility beyond the southern ridge of the dale. The Lancastrian flanks were safeguarded by marshes, and their right was further fortified by the steep banks of the Cock Beck. The narrow width of their deployment area prevented them from forming an extended front line, depriving them of the opportunity to make full use of their numerical advantage.
Waurin's account raised the possibility that Somerset directed a contingent of mounted spearmen to conceal themselves in Castle Hill Wood, prepared to charge into the Yorkist left flank at an opportune moment during the battle. The Yorkists came into view as the Lancastrians were completing their deployment. Successive lines of soldiers emerged over the southern ridge of the dale, forming ranks opposite their adversaries as snowflakes began to fall. Edward's army was outnumbered, and Norfolk's troops had yet to arrive to reinforce them. The Yorkist vanguard was under the command of Lord Fauconberg, while Hall listed John Wenlock, John Dinham, and others as leaders of the Yorkist rearguard.
Various sources mention the Duke of Somerset, Trollope, the Earl of Northumberland, and the Duke of Exeter as commanders of the Lancastrian forces, but there is little consensus regarding the specific roles assigned to each of them. Since Somerset chose a defensive stance, the opening move of the battle was initiated by the Yorkists. Recognising the direction and strength of the wind, Fauconberg ordered all Yorkist archers to step forward and release a volley of arrows from the maximum range of their longbows, aided by the favourable wind behind them. This allowed the Yorkist arrows to reach deeper into the masses of soldiers on the hill slope than usual.
The response from the Lancastrian archers was ineffective as the heavy wind blew snow in their faces. They found it difficult to judge the range and pick out their targets and their arrows fell short of the Yorkist ranks; Fauconberg had ordered his men to retreat after losing one volley, thus avoiding any casualties. Unable to observe their results, the Lancastrians lost their arrows until most had been used, leaving a thick, prickly carpet in the ground in front of the Yorkists.
Once the Lancastrians had ceased firing their arrows, Fauconberg issued the order for his archers to step forward once more and resume shooting. As their ammunition ran dry, the Yorkists resorted to plucking arrows from the ground in front of them—arrows that had been fired by their Lancastrian adversaries—and continued their volleys. With no effective response to the ongoing arrow assault, the Lancastrian army abandoned its position and advanced towards the Yorkists, preparing for close combat. As they witnessed the advancing mass of Lancastrian soldiers, the Yorkist archers managed to release a few additional volleys before retreating behind their lines of men-at-arms. In their wake, they left thousands of arrows embedded in the ground, creating obstacles for the Lancastrian onslaught.
As the Yorkists reorganised their ranks to brace for the Lancastrian charge, their left flank found itself under assault by the mounted men from Castle Hill Wood as mentioned by Waurin. The Yorkist left wing fell into disarray, and some men began to flee the battlefield. To restore order and prevent further chaos, Edward took command of the left wing. He actively engaged in the fight, encouraging his followers, and his example inspired many to stand their ground. The two armies clashed, and archers fired into the densely packed ranks at close range. The Lancastrians continually introduced fresh troops into the melee, gradually forcing the numerically inferior Yorkist army to yield ground and retreat up the southern ridge.
The combat persisted for a duration of three hours, according to research conducted by English Heritage, a government organisation responsible for the preservation of historic sites.
The situation remained indecisive until the arrival of Norfolk's men. As they advanced up the Old London Road, Norfolk's contingent remained concealed from view until they reached the crest of the ridge and launched an assault on the Lancastrian left flank. The Lancastrians continued to resist, but the advantage had shifted in favour of the Yorkists. By the day's end, the Lancastrian line had disintegrated, with small groups of men fleeing for their lives. Polydore Vergil, the chronicler for Henry VII of England, noted that the battle lasted a total of 10 hours.
Exhausted Lancastrians cast off their helmets and armour in an effort to run faster. However, this made them far more vulnerable to the attacks of the Yorkists. Norfolk's troops, being fresher and swifter, took advantage of this. As they fled across the area that would later become known as Bloody Meadow, many Lancastrians were cut down from behind or even killed after they had surrendered. Both sides had issued orders not to spare anyone before the battle, and the Yorkists were in no mood to show mercy after the protracted and gruelling fight. Several Lancastrians, including Trollope, had substantial bounties on their heads. Gregory's chronicle recorded that 42 knights were killed after being taken captive.
In the late 20th century, archaeological discoveries shed light on the final moments of the battle. In 1996, construction workers in the village of Towton unearthed a mass grave believed to contain the remains of individuals who perished during or after the 1461 battle. The bodies displayed severe upper torso injuries, including cracked or shattered arms and skulls. One of these remains, identified as Towton 25, exhibited a bisected front skull caused by a slashing weapon that deeply cut the bone. Additionally, the skull bore another deep wound—a horizontal blade cut across the back.
The Lancastrians suffered more casualties during their retreat than on the battlefield itself. Men struggling to cross the Cock Beck were pulled underwater by the currents and drowned. As they floundered, they were trampled and pushed under the water by their comrades rushing to escape the pursuing Yorkists. Yorkist archers positioned themselves on high vantage points and launched arrows at the struggling Lancastrians. The dead began to pile up, and historical accounts describe how the Lancastrians eventually fled across these macabre "bridges" of bodies. The pursuit continued northward across the River Wharfe, which was more substantial than the Cock Beck. A bridge over the river collapsed under the weight of the fleeing men, leading to many drowning in the attempt to cross. Those who sought refuge in Tadcaster and York were relentlessly hunted down and killed.
The Lancastrian nobility suffered significant losses. The Earl of Northumberland, along with Lords Welles, Mauley, and Dacre, and Sir Andrew Trollope, fell in battle. The Earls of Devon and Wiltshire were subsequently captured and executed. Lord Dacre, it is said, met his end by an arrow fired by an archer perched in a "bur tree," a local term for an elder tree. In contrast, the Yorkists lost only one notable member of the gentry, Horne, at Towton.
Upon learning of his army's defeat, Henry sought refuge in exile in Scotland along with his wife and son. They were later joined by Somerset, Ros, Exeter, and the few Lancastrian nobles who managed to escape from the battlefield. The Battle of Towton had a profound impact on the House of Lancaster's influence in England; the key figures who upheld their authority at court, such as Northumberland, Clifford, Ros, and Dacre, had either perished or fled the country, thus bringing an end to the house's control over the northern regions of England. Edward took advantage of the situation, denouncing 14 Lancastrian peers as traitors. Furthermore, around 96 Lancastrians of knightly rank and below were attained, including 24 who were members of parliament.
The new king prioritised reconciliation with his adversaries over their punishment. Those nobles he had attainted had either perished in battle or refused to yield to his authority. While the crown confiscated the estates of a few of these nobles, the majority remained untouched and under the care of their families. Edward also extended pardons to many of those he had previously attainted, provided they acknowledged his rule.
With Henry in Scotland with his son, the Battle of Towton temporarily resolved the disputes over the country's leadership since the Act of Accord. The English people were assured that Edward was the one true king, putting an end to the leadership uncertainty. He then shifted his focus to solidifying his rule across the nation, garnering support from the populace and quelling any rebellions raised by the remaining Lancastrian loyalists. Several of his supporters were knighted, and some gentry supporters were elevated to the peerage, such as Fauconberg, who became the Earl of Kent. Warwick also reaped the rewards of Edward's reign after the battle. He received portions of Northumberland's and Clifford's holdings and was appointed as "the king's lieutenant in the North and admiral of England." Edward granted him various positions of authority and wealth, further augmenting the earl's substantial influence and riches.
By 1464, the Yorkists had effectively quashed all Lancastrian opposition in the north of England. Edward's unbroken reign continued until 1470. He decisively dealt with uprisings and exerted pressure on the Scottish government to expel Margaret of Anjou, leading the House of Lancaster, into exile in France. As the Yorkists tightened their grip on England, Edward generously rewarded his supporters, notably his chief adviser, Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick, granting them higher titles and confiscated lands from their defeated adversaries. However, over time, tensions strained the relationship between the King and the Earl.
Warwick had devised a plan for Edward to marry a French princess, Bona of Savoy, who was the sister-in-law of Louis XI of France, with the intention of forging an alliance between the two nations. Nevertheless, the young king preferred an alliance with Burgundy and, in 1464, caused further discord by secretly marrying Elizabeth Woodville. The Yorkists considered her an unsuitable queen, given her Lancastrian background. Edward bestowed land and titles upon her family and arranged advantageous marriages with wealthy and influential families, reducing marriage prospects for Warwick's daughters. Furthermore, the Earl was offended by two particular marriages involving his relatives. The first was the union of his elderly aunt, Lady Katherine Neville, with Elizabeth's younger brother, John Woodville, a pairing deemed unconventional by many. The other was the betrothal of his nephew's fiancée, the daughter of Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, to the Queen's son, Thomas Grey, with Edward's consent. These actions left Warwick exasperated, and he believed the Woodvilles were exerting a harmful influence on the king. Feeling marginalised and seeing his influence wane, Warwick decided to take drastic measures to compel Edward's compliance. His alternative plan involved replacing the King with his co-conspirator, George Plantagenet, the Duke of Clarence, who was Edward's younger brother.
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Raglan Castle
During the ensuing rout, both commanders, Sir Robert Welles and his foot commander Richard Warren, were captured. They faced execution a week later on March 19. Welles confessed to his treason and implicated Warwick and Clarence as the "partners and chief instigators" of the rebellion. Incriminating documents were also discovered, forcing Warwick and Clarence to flee the country.
in an arrangement facilitated by the French king, Louis XI, the Earl agreed to serve Margaret and the Lancastrian cause. Warwick led a Lancastrian army in an invasion of England, and in October 1470, he compelled Edward to seek sanctuary in Burgundy, ruled by Edward's brother-in-law Charles the Bold. The throne of England was temporarily restored to Henry VI, and on March 14, 1471, Edward returned to England with an army, leading to the Battle of Barnet a month later.
Edward IV typically assumed a prominent position at the front of his armies. Standing at a height of 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 meters), he cut an imposing figure in combat, often engaging foes while adorned in gilded armour. Medieval accounts describe him as handsome, well-built, and possessing a broad chest. He was known for his charm and charisma, readily winning people over to his cause. Edward was a skilled tactician and leader in battles, with a knack for identifying and exploiting weaknesses in enemy defences, often with decisive results. By 1471, the young king had established himself as a highly respected field commander. While he received some criticism for his indecisiveness in suppressing rebellions after ascending to the throne in 1461, Edward was admired for his leadership and prowess in close combat. His good looks and capable leadership made him popular among the common people, particularly in comparison to Henry VI. His trade policies, aimed at expanding and safeguarding markets for English commerce, pleased local merchants who were won over by his personality. However, by 1469, Edward's earlier widespread popularity had waned. The initial enthusiasm for the change in government had diminished, and people held Edward responsible for failing to bring the realm of England into a state of great popularity and stability, allowing Yorkist nobles to go unpunished for their abuses. When Edward invaded England in 1471, there were not many overt celebrations among the common people.
Edward was accompanied at the Battle of Barnet by his brothers, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and George, Duke of Clarence. Unlike his elder brother, Gloucester was slender and appeared delicate. He was 18 years old during the Battle of Barnet, which was his first significant military engagement. Despite his youth, Gloucester's military capabilities were well-regarded, and many historians consider him a capable warrior and military leader. Clarence was not as highly regarded as his brothers, particularly concerning matters of loyalty. Upon Edward's ascension to the throne, Clarence became his heir. However, Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville posed a threat to Clarence's position in the line of succession to the throne. Consequently, Clarence became involved in Warwick's schemes, including marrying the Earl's daughter, Isabel, with the belief that he could secure his brother's throne. Clarence lost faith in Warwick when the Earl defected to the Lancastrians and married off his other daughter, Anne, to the Lancastrian prince, cementing his new allegiance. When Edward launched his campaign to reclaim England, Clarence accepted his brother's offer of pardon and rejoined the Yorkists in Coventry on April 2, 1471. The final of the Yorkist commanders was William, Lord Hastings, a loyal subject from the outset of the Wars of the Roses. Hastings had accompanied the young king during his exile and supported his return. This loyal courtier was rewarded for his faithfulness, attaining the lieutenancy of Calais in 1471 and becoming Edward's lord chamberlain and primary confidant.
Warwick had been a staunch supporter of the House of York since the early stages of the Wars of the Roses, often fighting alongside his cousin, Edward IV, in various battles. His years of loyalty earned him the trust of the Yorkists, and his victories, both on the battlefield and in politics, contributed to his popularity among the common people. Warwick wielded significant influence over the line of succession, earning him the moniker "The Kingmaker." Early historians praised him as a military genius, although in the 20th century, his tactical skills were re-evaluated, with some historians suggesting that his victories, such as the First Battle of St Albans, were in part due to being in the right place at the right time.
John Neville, the 1st Marquess of Montagu, possessed less ambition than his brother Warwick but excelled as a warrior and tactician. In 1464, he led a Yorkist force that turned the tables on a Lancastrian ambush at the Battle of Hedgeley Moor and launched a surprise attack at the Battle of Hexham. These victories marked the culmination of Neville's extensive service in the north, and as a reward, Edward granted him the Earldom of Northumberland, a title with substantial income. This gesture held particular significance for Neville as his family had a longstanding feud with the former Earls of Northumberland, the Percys, who supported the House of Lancaster. However, in March 1470, Edward, in an effort to secure the support of the Percys, reinstated Henry Percy to the earldom. In return, Neville received the more prestigious title of Marquess of Montagu, but the associated lands were much less lucrative than those he had lost. The new marquess regarded this as an insult, considering it an insufficient acknowledgment of his years of loyal service. Initially, Montagu did not join Warwick's rebellion, but he later defected when his brother invaded England.
Not much is known about the early history of John de Vere, the 13th Earl of Oxford, another Lancastrian commander. Chronicles provide limited information about him until the Battle of Losecoat Field. His father, the previous earl and a loyal Lancastrian, was executed for involvement in a failed plot to assassinate Edward IV. Despite the Yorkist king's attempts to secure Oxford's loyalty through knighthood and pardons for past actions, Oxford remained faithful to the Lancastrian cause. He participated in Warwick's campaign to depose Edward and is described by historians as a competent military leader, as demonstrated in the Battle of Barnet.
Henry Holland, the 3rd Duke of Exeter, though of royal blood, had a reputation for criminality, violence, and foolishness. He held a deep grudge against the Nevilles, particularly Warwick, who had removed him from his hereditary role as Lord High Admiral in 1457. Exeter, while an enemy of the Nevilles, had family ties to the House of York as he was married to Anne of York, Edward's sister. When Warwick joined the Lancastrians, Exeter followed Margaret's orders and served under the earl during the invasion of England. Although he supported the Lancastrian cause, Exeter's connections to the House of York created a complex web of loyalties.
On March 14, 1471, Edward's army landed at Ravenspurn. As they moved inland toward York, their march remained unopposed initially because they traversed lands owned by the Percys, who owed a debt of gratitude to the Yorkist king for the return of their northern territory. Additionally, Edward publicly claimed that he was returning only to assert his father's title of Duke of York and had no intention of contesting the English crown. This ruse succeeded, and Montagu, who monitored Edward's progress, could not persuade his men to oppose the Yorkist king.
Once Edward's force had gathered sufficient strength, he abandoned the pretence and began moving south toward London. Despite attacks by Exeter and Oxford, he laid siege to Warwick at Coventry, hoping to draw the earl into battle. Although Warwick's force outnumbered Edward's, the earl declined the challenge, waiting for Clarence, who aimed to combine their forces and overwhelm the Yorkists. When Edward learned of this, he sent Gloucester to persuade Clarence to re-join the House of York. Clarence readily accepted this offer, and the reconciled brothers advanced toward Coventry, urging Warwick to surrender. Warwick, infuriated by his son-in-law's betrayal, refused to communicate with Clarence. Unable to engage the earl at that moment, Edward redirected his course toward London.
With the reinforcements of Montagu, Oxford, and Exeter a few days later, Warwick pursued the Yorkists. He hoped that London, under Somerset's control, would refuse entry to Edward, allowing him to engage the Yorkist army in open battle. However, the city warmly welcomed Edward; Somerset had left London, and the citizens preferred the young Yorkist king to Henry VI.
King Edward welcomed his deposed predecessor and assured him that his life was not in danger. Lancastrian scouts explored Barnet, located 12 miles north of London, but were repelled. On April 13, the main Lancastrian army positioned itself on a ridge north of Barnet in preparation for the battle on the following day. Warwick arranged his troops in a line that stretched from east to west, flanking the Great North Road that passed through Barnet. Oxford led the right flank, Exeter commanded the left, Montagu oversaw the centre, and Warwick himself prepared to lead from the reserves. The earl shifted his entire line slightly to the west, possibly due to a depression behind the left flank that could obstruct Exeter's forces if they needed to retreat.
Warwick's army outnumbered Edward's, although historical sources provide varying figures. Lancastrian strength ranges from 10,000 to 30,000 troops, with 7,000 to 15,000 on the Yorkist side. Despite this numerical disadvantage, Edward swiftly moved to engage the Lancastrians in a surprise attack. He brought Henry VI along to prevent the Lancastrians from recovering their king. Edward reached Barnet in the evening, and, unaware of the exact location of the Lancastrian army, prepared for battle. The Yorkist king placed Hastings on the left, entrusted Gloucester with the right flank, and fought alongside Clarence in the centre, not because he believed in Clarence's abilities but because it was easier to keep an eye on the prince in that position. A reserve contingent was held at the rear, ready to deploy as needed at Edward's command. As night fell, Edward initiated his plan for a surprise morning attack. Under strict orders of silence, the Yorkist army silently approached the Lancastrians. During the night, neither side detected the presence of the other's army, a fact that would have a significant impact on the battle the following day.
Throughout the night, Warwick ordered his cannons to continue bombarding the perceived location of the Yorkists' camp. However, the Yorkists had managed to approach closely and remain concealed, while the Lancastrian artillery fired over their heads. To maintain their hidden position, the Yorkist cannons remained silent to avoid giving away their location. As the two armies prepared to rest for the night, Montagu suggested to his brother that the troops' morale was flagging. He proposed that, as the highest-ranking commanders, the Nevilles should fight on foot alongside their men throughout the battle. The soldiers believed that mounted commanders tended to abandon them when the situation deteriorated. By fighting on foot, the Nevilles would demonstrate their commitment to fighting alongside their troops, inspiring greater resolve. Warwick agreed, and the horses were tethered to the rear, near Wrotham Wood.
On April 14, 1471, around 4 o'clock in the morning, both armies awoke. Edward had planned for an early attack and quickly roused his men for combat with the Lancastrians. Both sides fired their cannon and arrows before engaging in hand-to-hand combat with polearms. The dense morning fog limited visibility, and the previous night's movements had left the two forces slightly misaligned
Edward found no respite after the Battle of Tewkesbury. Lancastrian forces under Jasper Tudor remained active in Wales, and there was an ineffective rising in the North. Edward travelled to Coventry in the Midlands to make preparations against the northern and Welsh Lancastrians and to provide his army with three days of rest. However, the most significant Lancastrian threat came from the Bastard of Fauconberg. As anticipated, he had landed at Sandwich and quickly raised an army from pro-Neville Kentishmen. His forces, which also included exiled Lancastrians and freebooters from various countries, may have numbered around 16,000 to 17,000 in total.
On May 14, Fauconberg's forces attacked London from the south. They set fire to a part of the suburb of Southwark but were repelled at London Bridge. The following day, they launched attacks on Aldgate and Bishopsgate from the east. The Tower of London's garrison, led by Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (Queen Elizabeth's brother who had been injured at Barnet), successfully defended the city. The citizens who defended their property played a significant role in repelling the attackers.
If Fauconberg had managed to capture the city, he might have also captured Edward's wife and children and released King Henry from the Tower. However, upon hearing that Edward's army was approaching, he retreated to Sandwich. Similar to Queen Margaret, Fauconberg appeared disheartened by the news of Tewkesbury and the death of the Prince of Wales. He later surrendered himself and his ships, and he was executed five months later after an escape attempt while in custody.
While on his way to suppress Fauconberg and the Kentish rebels, Edward triumphantly passed through London on May 21, with Queen Margaret as his captive, riding beside him in a chariot. King Henry VI died in the Tower of London that night, either at the hands of or by the order of Richard of Gloucester, according to several near-contemporary accounts. However, the most immediate account only mentions that Gloucester was present "along with many others," and the murder was likely carried out on the orders of the new king, Edward IV. The official public announcement declared that the deposed king had died "of pure displeasure and melancholy," but this explanation was met with scepticism.
Following these events, Gloucester later married Anne Neville, the younger daughter of Warwick and the widow of Henry and Margaret's son Edward.
With the deaths of Somerset and his younger brother, the House of Beaufort, who had a distant claim to succeed Henry VI, had been nearly extinguished. Only the female line of Somerset's uncle, the 1st Duke of Somerset, remained, represented by Lady Margaret Beaufort and her son Henry Tudor. Henry escaped from Wales with his paternal uncle, Jasper Tudor, and lived in exile in Brittany throughout the remainder of Edward's reign. The year following the Battle of Tewkesbury, Lady Margaret married Lord Stanley, one of Edward IV's supporters, who later turned against Edward's brother, Richard of Gloucester.
Margaret of Anjou was imprisoned until she was ransomed by Louis XI in 1475 and went to live in France for the rest of her life, passing away on August 25, 1482.
Following the defeats at Barnet and Tewkesbury, armed Lancastrian resistance appeared to come to an end. However, Edward IV's rule was increasingly marked by a growing feud between his brothers, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester. This feud came to a head when Clarence's wife, Isabel, passed away on December 22, 1476. Clarence accused one of the late Isabel's ladies-in-waiting, Ankarette Twynyho, of her murder and subsequently killed her. Edward's interference in this matter, such as issuing a retrospective pardon for Ankarette in 1478, illustrated Clarence's quasi-monarchical attitude, which Edward began to view with suspicion. Clarence was even proposed as a suitor for Mary, the newly appointed Duchess of Burgundy, but Edward opposed the match. This disagreement led to Clarence's departure from the royal court. Meanwhile, Gloucester married Anne Neville, and both Anne and Isabel were daughters of the Countess of Warwick, and thus heirs to their mother's substantial fortune. Many of the estates that the two brothers held had been granted to them through Edward's patronage, meaning that Edward could revoke them at will. However, properties acquired through marriage were not subject to such revocation, intensifying the conflict between the two brothers. Clarence's falling out of favour with Edward was exacerbated by widespread claims that he was involved in a revolt against Edward, which ultimately led to his imprisonment and execution at the Tower of London on February 18, 1478.
King Edward V was was de jure King of England from 9 April to 25 June 1483. De Jure describes practices that are legally recognised, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. He succeeded his father, Edward IV, upon the latter's death. Edward V was never crowned, and his brief reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle and Lord Protector, the Duke of Gloucester, who deposed him to reign as King Richard III; this was confirmed by the Act entitled Titulus Regius, which denounced any further claims through his father's heirs. Edward V and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, were the Princes in the Tower who disappeared after being sent to heavily guarded royal lodgings in the Tower of London. Responsibility for their deaths is widely attributed to Richard III, but the lack of solid evidence and conflicting contemporary accounts allow for other possibilities.
The council had originally hoped for an immediate coronation to avoid the need for a protectorate. This had previously happened with Richard II, who had become king at the age of ten. Another precedent was Henry VI, whose protectorate (which started when he inherited the crown aged 9 months) had ended with his coronation aged seven. Richard, however, repeatedly postponed the coronation.
On 22 June, Ralph Shaa preached a sermon declaring that Edward IV had already been contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler when he married Elizabeth Woodville, thereby rendering his marriage to Elizabeth invalid and their children together illegitimate. The children of Richard's older brother George, Duke of Clarence, were barred from the throne by their father's attainder, and therefore, on 25 June, an assembly of Lords and Commons declared Richard to be the legitimate king (this was later confirmed by the act of parliament Titulus Regius). The following day he acceded to the throne as King Richard III.
Dominic Mancini recorded that after Richard III seized the throne, Edward and his brother Richard were taken into the "inner apartments of the Tower" and then were seen less and less until the end of the summer to the autumn of 1483, when they disappeared from public view altogether. During this period Mancini records that Edward was regularly visited by a doctor, who reported that Edward, "like a victim prepared for sacrifice, sought remission of his sins by daily confession and penance, because he believed that death was facing him." The princes' fate after their disappearance remains unknown, but the most widely accepted theory is that they were murdered on the orders of their uncle, King Richard. Thomas More wrote that they were smothered to death with their pillows, and his account forms the basis of William Shakespeare's play Richard III, in which Tyrrell murders the princes on Richard's orders. In the absence of hard evidence a number of other theories have been put forward, of which the most widely discussed are that they were murdered on the orders of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, or by Henry Tudor. However, A. J. Pollard points out that these theories are less plausible than the straightforward one that they were murdered by their uncle who in any case controlled access to them and was therefore regarded as responsible for their welfare. In the period before the boys' disappearance, Edward was regularly being visited by a doctor; historian David Baldwin extrapolates that contemporaries may have believed Edward had died of an illness (or as the result of attempts to cure him). My own view is, this would not be true as there was no funeral following this for either the two princes.
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In 2021, researchers from "The Missing Princes Project" claimed to have found evidence that Edward may have lived out his days in the rural Devon village of Coldridge. They have linked the 13-year-old prince with a man named John Evans, who arrived in the village around 1484, and was immediately given an official position and the title of Lord of the Manor. Researcher John Dike noted Yorkist symbols and stained glass windows depicting Edward V in a Coldridge chapel commissioned by Evans and built around 1511, unusual for the location
Bones belonging to two children were discovered in 1674 by workmen rebuilding a stairway in the Tower. On the orders of King Charles II, these were subsequently placed in Westminster Abbey, in an urn bearing the names of Edward and Richard. The bones were re-examined in 1933, at which time it was discovered the skeletons were incomplete and had been interred with animal bones. It has never been proven that the bones belonged to the princes, and it is possible that they were buried before the reconstruction of that part of the Tower of London. Permission for a subsequent examination has been refused.
In 1789, workmen carrying out repairs in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, rediscovered and accidentally broke into the vault of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Adjoining this was another vault, which was found to contain the coffins of two children. This tomb was inscribed with the names of two of Edward IV's children who had predeceased him: George, Duke of Bedford, and Mary. However, the remains of these two children were later found elsewhere in the chapel, leaving the occupants of the children's coffins within the tomb unknown
After bringing the young king to London, Richard had the Queen's brother Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, and her son by her first marriage Richard Grey executed, without trial, on charges of treason.
What is known is that on 13 June Gloucester accused Hastings of plotting with the Woodvilles and had him beheaded. Nine days the Three Estate of the Realm, an informal Parliament declared the marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth illegal, rendering their children illegitimate and disqualifying them from the throne. With his brother's children out of the way, he was next in the line of succession and was proclaimed King Richard III on 26 June. The timing and extrajudicial nature of the deeds done to obtain the throne for Richard won him no popularity, and rumours that spoke ill of the new king spread throughout England. After they were declared bastards, the two princes were confined in the Tower of London and never seen in public again.
In October 1483 a conspiracy emerged to displace him from the throne. The rebels were mostly loyalists to Edward IV, who saw Richard as a usurper. Their plans were coordinated by a Lancastrian, Henry's mother Lady Margaret, who was promoting her son as a candidate for the throne. The highest-ranking conspirator was Buckingham. No chronicles tell of the duke's motive in joining the plot, although historian Charles Ross proposes that Buckingham was trying to distance himself from a king who was becoming increasingly unpopular with the people. Michael Jones and Malcolm Underwood suggest that Margaret deceived Buckingham into thinking the rebels supported him to be king.
The plan was to stage uprisings within a short time in southern and western England, overwhelming Richard's forces. Buckingham would support the rebels by invading from Wales, while Henry came in by sea. Bad timing and weather wrecked the plot. An uprising in Kent started 10 days prematurely, alerting Richard to muster the royal army and take steps to put down the insurrections. Richard's spies informed him of Buckingham's activities, and the king's men captured and destroyed the bridges across the River Severn. When Buckingham and his army reached the river, they found it swollen and impossible to cross because of a violent storm that broke on 15 October. Buckingham was trapped and had no safe place to retreat; his Welsh enemies seized his home castle after he had set forth with his army. The duke abandoned his plans and fled to Wem, where he was betrayed by his servant and arrested by Richard's men. On 2 November he was executed. Henry had attempted a landing on 10 October (or 19 October), but his fleet was scattered by a storm. He reached the coast of England (at either Plymouth or Poole) and a group of soldiers hailed him to come ashore. They were, in fact, Richard's men, prepared to capture Henry once he set foot on English soil. Henry was not deceived and returned to Brittany, abandoning the invasion. Without Buckingham or Henry, the rebellion was easily crushed by Richard.
The survivors of the failed uprisings fled to Brittany, where they openly supported Henry's claim to the throne. At Christmas, Henry Tudor swore an oath in Rennes Cathedral to marry Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, to unite the warring houses of York and Lancaster. Henry's rising prominence made him a great threat to Richard, and the Yorkist king made several overtures to the Duke of Brittany to surrender the young Lancastrian. Francis refused, holding out for the possibility of better terms from Richard. In mid-1484 Francis was incapacitated by illness and while recuperating, his treasurer Pierre Landais took over the reins of government. Landais reached an agreement with Richard to send back Henry and his uncle in exchange for military and financial aid. John Morton, a bishop of Flanders, learned of the scheme and warned the Tudors, who fled to France. The French court allowed them to stay; the Tudors were useful pawns to ensure that Richard's England did not interfere with French plans to annex Brittany. On 16 March 1485 Richard's queen, Anne Neville, died, and rumours spread across the country that she was murdered to pave the way for Richard to marry his niece, Elizabeth. Later findings though, showed that Richard had entered into negotiations to marry Joanna of Portugal and to marry off Elizabeth to Manuel, Duke of Beja. The gossip must have upset Henry across the English Channel. The loss of Elizabeth's hand in marriage could unravel the alliance between Henry's supporters who were Lancastrians and those who were loyalists to Edward IV. Anxious to secure his bride, Henry recruited mercenaries formerly in French service to supplement his following of exiles and set sail from France on 1 August.
By the 15th century, English chivalric ideas of selfless service to the king had been corrupted. Armed forces were raised mostly through musters in individual estates; every able-bodied man had to respond to his lord's call to arms, and each noble had authority over his militia. Although a king could raise personal militia from his lands, he could muster a large army only through the support of his nobles. Richard, like his predecessors, had to win over these men by granting gifts and maintaining cordial relationships. Powerful nobles could demand greater incentives to remain on the liege's side or else they might turn against him. Three groups, each with its own agenda, stood on Bosworth Field: Richard III and his Yorkist army; his challenger, Henry Tudor, who championed the Lancastrian cause; and the fence-sitting Stanleys.
Yorkist
Small and slender, Richard III did not have the robust physique associated with many of his Plantagenet predecessors. However, he enjoyed very rough sports and activities that were considered manly. His performances on the battlefield impressed his brother greatly, and he became Edward's right-hand man. During the 1480s Richard defended the northern borders of England. In 1482, Edward charged him to lead an army into Scotland with the aim of replacing King James III with the Duke of Albany. Richard's army broke through the Scottish defences and occupied the capital, Edinburgh, but Albany decided to give up his claim to the throne in return for the post of Lieutenant General of Scotland. As well as obtaining a guarantee that the Scottish government would concede territories and diplomatic benefits to the English crown, Richard's campaign retook the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which the Scots had conquered in 1460. Edward was not satisfied by these gains, which, according to Ross, could have been greater if Richard had been resolute enough to capitalise on the situation while in control of Edinburgh. In her analysis of Richard's character, Christine Carpenter sees him as a soldier who was more used to taking orders than giving them. However, he was not averse to displaying his militaristic streak; on ascending the throne he made known his desire to lead a crusade against "not only the Turks, but all [his] foes".
Richard's most loyal subject was John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. The duke had served Richard's brother for many years and had been one of Edward IV's closer confidants. He was a military veteran, having fought in the Battle of Towton in 1461 and served as Hastings' deputy at Calais in 1471. Ross speculates that he bore a grudge against Edward for depriving him of a fortune. Norfolk was due to inherit a share of the wealthy Mowbray estate on the death of eight-year-old Anne de Mowbray, the last of her family. However, Edward convinced Parliament to circumvent the law of inheritance and transfer the estate to his younger son, who was married to Anne. Consequently, Howard supported Richard III in deposing Edward's sons, for which he received the dukedom of Norfolk and his original share of the Mowbray estate.
Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, also supported Richard's ascension to the throne of England. The Percys were loyal Lancastrians, but Edward IV eventually won the earl's allegiance. Northumberland had been captured and imprisoned by the Yorkists in 1461, losing his titles and estates; however, Edward released him eight years later and restored his earldom. From that time Northumberland served the Yorkist crown, helping to defend northern England and maintain its peace. Initially the earl had issues with Richard III as Edward groomed his brother to be the leading power of the north. Northumberland was mollified when he was promised he would be the Warden of the East March, a position that was formerly hereditary for the Percys. He served under Richard during the 1482 invasion of Scotland, and the allure of being in a position to dominate the north of England if Richard went south to assume the crown was his likely motivation for supporting Richard's bid for kingship. However, after becoming king, Richard began moulding his nephew, John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, to manage the north, passing over Northumberland for the position. According to Carpenter, although the earl was amply compensated, he despaired of any possibility of advancement under Richard.
Lancastrians
Stanleys
In the early stages of the Wars of the Roses, the Stanley's of Cheshire had been predominantly Lancastrians. Sir William Stanley, (was an English soldier and the younger brother of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby.) however, was a staunch Yorkist supporter, fighting in the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459 and helping Hastings to put down uprisings against Edward IV in 1471. When Richard took the crown, Sir William showed no inclination to turn against the new king, refraining from joining Buckingham's rebellion, for which he was amply rewarded. Sir William's elder brother, Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley, was not as steadfast. By 1485, he had served three kings, namely Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III. Lord Stanley's skilled political manoeuvrings—vacillating between opposing sides until it was clear who would be the winner—gained him high positions; he was Henry's chamberlain and Edward's steward. His non-committal stance, until the crucial point of a battle, earned him the loyalty of his men, who felt he would not needlessly send them to their deaths.
Lord Stanley's relations with the king's brother, the eventual Richard III, were not cordial. The two had conflicts that erupted into violence around March 1470. Furthermore, having taken Lady Margaret as his second wife in June 1472, Stanley was Henry Tudor's stepfather, a relationship which did nothing to win him Richard's favour. Despite these differences, Stanley did not join Buckingham's revolt in 1483. When Richard executed those conspirators who had been unable to flee England, he spared Lady Margaret. However, he declared her titles forfeit and transferred her estates to Stanley's name, to be held in trust for the Yorkist crown. Richard's act of mercy was calculated to reconcile him with Stanley, but it may have been to no avail—Carpenter has identified a further cause of friction in Richard's intention to reopen an old land dispute that involved Thomas Stanley and the Harrington family. Edward IV had ruled the case in favour of Stanley in 1473, but Richard planned to overturn his brother's ruling and give the wealthy estate to the Harringtons. Immediately before the Battle of Bosworth, being wary of Stanley, Richard took his son, George Stanley, 9th Baron Strange, as hostage to discourage him from joining Henry.
Henry's initial force consisted of the English and Welsh exiles who had gathered around Henry, combined with a contingent of mercenaries put at his disposal by Charles VIII of France. The history of Scottish author John Major (published in 1521) claims that Charles had granted Henry 5,000 men, of whom 1,000 were Scots, headed by Sir Alexander Bruce. No mention of Scottish soldiers was made by subsequent English historians.
Henry's crossing of the English Channel in 1485 was without incident. Thirty ships sailed from Harfleur on 1 August and, with fair winds behind them, landed in his native Wales, at Mill Bay (near Dale) on the north side of Milford Haven on 7 August, easily capturing nearby Dale Castle.
Henry received a muted response from the local population. No joyous welcome awaited him on shore, and at first few individual Welshmen joined his army as it marched inland. Historian Geoffrey Elton suggests only Henry's ardent supporters felt pride over his Welsh blood. His arrival had been hailed by contemporary Welsh bards such as Dafydd Ddu and Gruffydd ap Dafydd as the true prince and "the youth of Brittany defeating the Saxons" in order to bring their country back to glory. When Henry moved to Haverfordwest, the county town of Pembrokeshire, Richard's lieutenant in South Wales, Sir Walter Herbert, failed to move against Henry, and two of his officers, Richard Griffith and Evan Morgan, deserted to Henry with their men.The most important defector to Henry in this early stage of the campaign was probably Rhys ap Thomas, who was the leading figure in West Wales. Richard had appointed Rhys Lieutenant in West Wales for his refusal to join Buckingham's rebellion, asking that he surrender his son Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Thomas as surety, although by some accounts Rhys had managed to evade this condition. However, Henry successfully courted Rhys, offering the lieutenancy of all Wales in exchange for his fealty. Henry marched via Aberystwyth while Rhys followed a more southerly route, recruiting a force of Welshmen enroute, variously estimated at 500 or 2,000 men, to swell Henry's army when they reunited at Cefn Digoll, Welshpool. By 15 or 16 August, Henry and his men had crossed the English border, making for the town of Shrewsbury.
Since 22 June Richard had been aware of Henry's impending invasion, and had ordered his lords to maintain a high level of readiness. News of Henry's landing reached Richard on 11 August, but it took three to four days for his messengers to notify his lords of their king's mobilisation. On 16 August, the Yorkist army started to gather; Norfolk set off for Leicester, the assembly point, that night. The city of York, a historical stronghold of Richard's family, asked the king for instructions, and receiving a reply three days later sent 80 men to join the king. Simultaneously Northumberland, whose northern territory was the most distant from the capital, had gathered his men and ridden to Leicester.
Although London was his goal, Henry did not move directly towards the city. After resting in Shrewsbury, his forces went eastwards and picked up Sir Gilbert Talbot and other English allies, including deserters from Richard's forces. Although its size had increased substantially since the landing, Henry's army was still considerably outnumbered by Richard's forces. Henry's pace through Staffordshire was slow, delaying the confrontation with Richard so that he could gather more recruits to his cause. Henry had been communicating on friendly terms with the Stanleys for some time before setting foot in England, and the Stanleys had mobilised their forces on hearing of Henry's landing. They ranged themselves ahead of Henry's march through the English countryside, meeting twice in secret with Henry as he moved through Staffordshire. At the second of these, at Atherstone in Warwickshire, they conferred "in what sort to arraign battle with King Richard, whom they heard to be not far off". On 21 August, the Stanleys were making camp on the slopes of a hill north of Dadlington, while Henry encamped his army at White Moors to the northwest of their camp.
On 20 August, Richard rode from Nottingham to Leicester, joining Norfolk. He spent the night at the Blue Boar inn (demolished 1836). Northumberland arrived the following day. The royal army proceeded westwards to intercept Henry's march on London. Passing Sutton Cheney, Richard moved his army towards Ambion Hill—which he thought would be of tactical value—and made camp on it. Richard's sleep was not peaceful and, according to the Croyland Chronicle, in the morning his face was "more livid and ghastly than usual".
The Yorkist army, variously estimated at between 7,500 and 12,000 men, deployed on the hilltop along the ridgeline from west to east. Norfolk's force (or "battle" in the parlance of the time) of spearmen stood on the right flank, protecting the cannon and about 1,200 archers. Richard's group, comprising 3,000 infantry, formed the centre. Northumberland's men guarded the left flank; he had approximately 4,000 men, many of them mounted. Standing on the hilltop, Richard had a wide, unobstructed view of the area. He could see the Stanleys and their 4,000–6,000 men holding positions on and around Dadlington Hill, while to the southwest was Henry's army.
Henry's force has been variously estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 men, his original landing force of exiles and mercenaries having been augmented by the recruits gathered in Wales and the English border counties (in the latter area probably mustered chiefly by the Talbot interest), and by deserters from Richard's army. Historian John Mackie believes that 1,800 French mercenaries, led by Philibert de Chandée, formed the core of Henry's arm John Mair, writing thirty-five years after the battle, claimed that this force contained a significant Scottish component, and this claim is accepted by some modern writers, but Mackie reasons that the French would not have released their elite Scottish knights and archers, and concludes that there were probably few Scottish troops in the army, although he accepts the presence of captains like Bernard Stewart, Lord of Aubigny.
In their interpretations of the vague mentions of the battle in the old text, historians placed areas near the foot of Ambion Hill as likely regions where the two armies clashed, and thought up possible scenarios of the engagement. In their recreations of the battle, Henry started by moving his army towards Ambion Hill where Richard and his men stood. As Henry's army advanced past the marsh at the southwestern foot of the hill, Richard sent a message to Stanley, threatening to execute his son, Lord Strange, if Stanley did not join the attack on Henry immediately. Stanley replied that he had other sons. Incensed, Richard gave the order to behead Strange but his officers temporised, saying that battle was imminent, and it would be more convenient to carry out the execution afterwards. Henry had also sent messengers to Stanley asking him to declare his allegiance. The reply was evasive—the Stanleys would "naturally" come, after Henry had given orders to his army and arranged them for battle. Henry had no choice but to confront Richard's forces alone.
Well aware of his own military inexperience, Henry handed command of his army to Oxford and retired to the rear with his bodyguards. Oxford, seeing the vast line of Richard's army strung along the ridgeline, decided to keep his men together instead of splitting them into the traditional three battles: vanguard, centre, and rearguard. He ordered the troops to stray no further than 10 feet (3.0 m) from their banners, fearing that they would become enveloped. Individual groups clumped together, forming a single large mass flanked by horsemen on the wings.
The Lancastrians were harassed by Richard's cannon as they manoeuvred around the marsh, seeking firmer ground. Once Oxford and his men were clear of the marsh, Norfolk's battle and several contingents of Richard's group, under the command of Sir Robert Brackenbury, started to advance. Hails of arrows showered both sides as they closed. Oxford's men proved the steadier in the ensuing hand-to-hand combat; they held their ground and several of Norfolk's men fled the field. Norfolk lost one of his senior officers, Walter Devereux, in this early clash.
Recognising that his force was at a disadvantage, Richard signalled for Northumberland to assist but Northumberland's group showed no signs of movement. Historians, such as Horrox and Pugh, believe Northumberland chose not to aid his king for personal reasons. Ross doubts the aspersions cast on Northumberland's loyalty, suggesting instead that Ambion Hill's narrow ridge hindered him from joining the battle. The earl would have had to either go through his allies or execute a wide flanking move—near impossible to perform given the standard of drill at the time—to engage Oxford's men.
At this juncture Richard saw Henry at some distance behind his main force. Seeing this, Richard decided to end the fight quickly by killing the enemy commander. He led a charge of mounted men around the melee and tore into Henry's group; several accounts state that Richard's force numbered 800–1000 knights, but Ross says it was more likely that Richard was accompanied only by his household men and closest friends. Richard killed Henry's standard-bearer Sir William Brandon in the initial charge and unhorsed burly John Cheyne, Edward IV's former standard-bearer, with a blow to the head from his broken lance. French mercenaries in Henry's retinue related how the attack had caught them off guard and that Henry sought protection by dismounting and concealing himself among them to present less of a target. Henry made no attempt to engage in combat himself.
Oxford had left a small reserve of pike-equipped men with Henry. They slowed the pace of Richard's mounted charge, and bought Tudor some critical time. The remainder of Henry's bodyguards surrounded their master, and succeeded in keeping him away from the Yorkist king. Meanwhile, seeing Richard embroiled with Henry's men and separated from his main force, William Stanley made his move and rode to the aid of Henry. Now outnumbered, Richard's group was surrounded and gradually pressed back. Richard's force was driven several hundred yards away from Tudor, near to the edge of a marsh, into which the king's horse toppled. Richard, now unhorsed, gathered himself and rallied his dwindling followers, supposedly refusing to retreat: "God forbid that I retreat one step. I will either win the battle as a king, or die as one." In the fighting Richard's banner man—Sir Percival Thirlwall—lost his legs, but held the Yorkist banner aloft until he was killed. It is likely that James Harrington also died in the charge. The king's trusted advisor Richard Ratcliffe was also slain.
Polydore Vergil, Henry Tudor's official historian, recorded that "King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies". Richard had come within a sword's length of Henry Tudor before being surrounded by William Stanley's men and killed. The Burgundian chronicler Jean Molinet says that a Welshman struck the death-blow with a halberd while Richard's horse was stuck in the marshy ground. It was said that the blows were so violent that the king's helmet was driven into his skull. The contemporary Welsh poet Guto'r Glyn implies the leading Welsh Lancastrian Rhys ap Thomas, or one of his men, killed the king, writing that he "Lladd y baedd, eilliodd ei ben" ("Killed the boar, shaved his head"). Analysis of King Richard's skeletal remains found 11 wounds, nine of them to the head; a blade consistent with a halberd had sliced off part of the rear of Richard's skull, suggesting he had lost his helmet.
Richard's forces disintegrated as news of his death spread. Northumberland and his men fled north on seeing the king's fate, and Norfolk was killed by the knight Sir John Savage in single combat according to the Ballad of Lady Bessy.
Although he claimed fourth-generation, maternal Lancastrian descendancy, Henry seized the crown by right of conquest. After the battle, Richard's circlet is said to have been found and brought to Henry, who was proclaimed king at the top of Crown Hill, near the village of Stoke Golding. According to Vergil, Henry's official historian, Lord Stanley found the circlet. Historians Stanley Chrimes and Sydney Anglo dismiss the legend of the circlet's finding in a hawthorn bush; none of the contemporary sources reported such an event. Ross, however, does not ignore the legend. He argues that the hawthorn bush would not be part of Henry's coat of arms if it did not have a strong relationship to his ascendance.
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