The War Of The Roses

flocked to the standard of the popular Warwick, and on 2 July he entered

London with 5,000 men. Only the Tower, commanded by Lord Scales, held out

for the king and, hearing that London had gone over to the Yorkists, the

king halted at Northampton and took up a defensive position to await

reinforcements.

Pausing only to establish a siege force round the Tower, Warwick led his

army northwards, arriving between Towcester and Northampton on the 9th.

Early the next morning - 10 July 1460 – he deployed for battle, but first

attempted to negotiate a settlement. At 2pm, no agreement having proved

possible, Warwick gave the order to advance, with the three 'battles' in

'line astern'.

It was raining hard as the Yorkists arrived and Edward's 'battle',

consisting entirely of men-at-arms, made slow progress over the sodden

ground. As they came within bow range they were met by a fierce barrage of

arrows and this, together with a ditch and stakes, prevented the Yorkists

from getting to close quarters. At this critical moment Lord Grey suddenly

displayed Warwick's ragged staff badge and ordered his men to lay down

their weapons. Indeed, the men of Grey's command actually assisted their

enemies over the defenses and, once established within the defenses in

sufficient numbers, Edward and Warwick led their men-at-arms behind the

king's archers in the center to strike Buckingham in flank and rear. Unable

to maneuver within the narrow confines of the defenses, the Lancastrians

soon broke and fled, many being drowned in the shallow but wide river at

their backs. The Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Shrewbury, Thomas Percy, Lord

Beaumont and Lord Egremont were among the Lancastrian dead. The king was

captured again, taken to London, and compelled to sanction a Yorkist

government.

York arrived from Ireland in mid-September and in October put forward a

claim to the throne. The peers rejected his claim (while Henry lived) but

made him Protector in view of the king's periods of insanity.

The queen and her son, who had remained at Coventry, fled to north

Wales, then to the North, where she began to gather a new army. With these

forces she overran Yorkshire, and a large number of Lancastrian supporters

from the West Country began to march across the Midlands to join her. York

sent his son Edward, Earl of March, to the Welsh borders to recruit an army

and to handle the minor local troubles stirred up by the Earl of Pembroke.

He left Warwick in London to ensure the capital's support and guard the

king; and on 9 December he led the Yorkist army northwards to deal with the

queen. He took with him his younger son Edmund and all the artillery then

available at the Tower of London.

On the 16th York's 'vaward battle' clashed with the West Countrymen,

suffered heavy losses, and was unable to prevent the Lancastrians from

moving on to join the queen. Learning that Margaret's main force was at

Pontefract Castle, York marched to his castle at Sandal, two miles south of

Wakefield and only nine from Pontefract. He arrived at Sandal Castle on the

21st and, learning that the queen's army was now almost four times as

numerous as his own, remained in the castle to await reinforcements under

Edward. The Lancastrian forces closed round the castle to prevent foraging.

On 30 December 1460 half the Lancastrian army advanced against Sandal

Castle as if to make an assault, but under cover of this movement the

'vaward battle', commanded by the Earl of Wiltshire, and the cavalry under

Lord Roos, unobtrusively took up positions in the woods flanking the open

fields.

York, believing the entire Lancastrian army to be before him, and much

smaller than he had been told, deployed for open battle, and led his troops

straight down the slope from the castle to launch an attack on Somerset's

line. The Lancastrians fell back before the advance, drawing the Yorkists

into the trap, finally halting to receive the charge.

The Yorkist charge almost shattered Somerset's line and the Lancastrian

reserve under Clifford had to be committed to stem the advance. But then

Wiltshire and Roos charged from the flanks, and the battle was over. York,

his son Edmund, his two uncles Sir John and Sir Hugh Mortimer, Sir Thomas

Neville (son of Salisbury), Harington, Bourchier and Hastings were among

those killed. The Earl of Salisbury was captured, and subsequently beheaded

by the Percies because of their feud with the Nevilles.

The death of Richard of York was a severe blow to the Yorkists; but

Warwick in London and Edward, now Duke of York, in the Welsh Marches, were

both raising new armies. In the Welsh Marches, in particular, men flocked

to Edward's banner to avenge Richard and their own lords who had died with

him, and by the end of January 1461 Edward had a fair-sized army gathered

round Hereford.

From here he set out to unite with Warwick, probably at Warwick Castle,

in order to halt the queen's march on the capital. However, shortly after

starting out he learned that the Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire were

moving towards Worcester from the west with a large force and, in order to

avoid being caught between two Lancastrian armies, Edward moved northwards

17 miles to Mortimer's Cross, not far from Ludlow and only three and a half

miles from his own castle at Wigmore, ancestral home of the Mortimers. Here

the River Lugg, flowing south to join the Wye, was bridged for the main

road from central Wales and the Roman road from Hereford, the two roads

meeting close by the bridge. Edward deployed his army at this important

crossroads and river crossing early on the morning of 2 February 1461.

The Lancastrians deployed for battle on the morning of the 2nd and

advanced against the Yorkist line about noon. After a fierce struggle the

Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond succeeded in forcing Edward's right flank back

across the road (see map), but at the same time Pembroke's 'main battle'

was completely defeated by Edward. Ormond's 'battle' reformed and moved on

to the center to support Pembroke but, finding him already defeated, for

some inexplicable reason halted and sat down to await the outcome of the

fighting on the other flank.

Owen Tudor's 'battle' was the last to become engaged, having swung right

in an attempt to outflank the Yorkist position. In carrying out this

maneuver the Lancastrians exposed their own left flank, and the waiting

Yorkists promptly seized the opportunity to charge, cutting the

Lancastrians in two and scattering them in all directions. A general

retreat by the Lancastrians in the direction of Leominstcr followed,

quickly transformed into a bloody rout by the Yorkists. Owen Tudor was

captured and later executed.

After the battle of Wakefield the queen's army of borderers, Scots,

Welsh and mercenaries had begun to march on London, pillaging as it went

and leaving a 30-mile-wide swathe of ruin in its wake: Margaret, whose aim

was now to rescue the king, was unable to pay her army and had promised

them the whole of southern England to plunder in compensation. London was

panic-stricken, and Warwick found himself faced with the problem of being

unable to raise enough men either to stop the Lancastrian advance or to

defend the city. Edward's victory at Mortimer's Cross solved this problem,

for men flocked to Warwick's banner when news of the battle reached London

on about 10 February; and on the 12th Warwick was able to leave London with

a force large enough to attempt to halt the queen, sending word to Edward

to join forces as soon as possible.

Warwick marched to St. Albans and began to prepare a defensive position

there with a three-mile front barring the two roads to London which passed

through Luton and Hitchin. Detachments were also placed in St. Albans and

Sandridge to watch the flanks, and in Dunstable to guard the Watling Street

approach to St. Albans.

The queen left York on 20 January, marching down Ermine Street towards

London. At Royston she swung left and moved south-west as if to prevent a

junction between Edward and Warwick. On 14 or 15 February the queen

received details of Warwick's deployment from Lovelace, who had commanded

the Yorkist artillery at Wakefield but who had been spared by the

Lancastrians. Margaret allowed the borderers to continue ravaging the

countryside due south from Hitchin to divert Warwick's attention, and took

the rest other army on a hard march south and west past Luton to Dunstable,

intending to follow this with another march against St. Albans from the

west, so turning Warwick's defensive line.

The queen's army arrived at Dunstable late on the 16th, took the

Yorkists detachment there by surprise, and killed or captured every man.

After a brief halt the Lancastrians set out on a 12-mile night march to St.

Albans, arriving on the south bank of the River Ver before dawn. After a

short pause to rest and organize an attack, at about 6am on 17 February

1461 the 'vaward battle' crossed the river and entered the town. The

Yorkists were again taken by surprise but, as the Lancastrians rushed up

George Street towards the heart of the town, they were halted by a strong

detachment of archers left in St. Albans by Warwick, and eventually were

driven back to St Michael's church.

Shortly afterwards scouts reported an unguarded entrance through the

defenses via Folly and Catherine Lanes, and at about loam the town fell to

the Lancastrians. The king was found in a house in the town.

Warwick's defense line had been rendered useless and he was now faced

with the task of re-aligning his army in the presence of the enemy. His

'rearward battle', stationed by Beech Bottom Ditch, was wheeled to face

south, and Warwick then rode off to bring up the 'main' and 'vaward

battles'.

The Lancastrian army now attacked the Yorkist 'rearward battle' which,

after a long and brave struggle, finally broke and fled towards the rest of

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