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
