War and Game

In December 1460, the Lancastrians mustered a new army, and killed Richard of York at Wakefield. This began a prolonged mid-winter campaign, involving most of the English nobility. Margaret brushed Warwick aside at St Albans, but failed to occupy London, allowing Edward of York to be declared king. He pursued the Lancastrians to Yorkshire, where two days of heavy fighting culminated in his victory. Although he was dilatory in snuffing out the last Lancastrians in Northumberland' they were not a serious threat.

The most intense fighting of the Wars of the Roses took place between 1460-61. While Margaret waited at Coventry for York to invade from Dublin, she failed to send adequate forces to defeat the Yorkists at Calais. Some 2,000 Yorkists seized a bridgehead at Sandwich (June 1460), and by promising good government attracted men in Kent, and cash and transport in London. Warwick advanced in two columns (4 and 5 July) until the Lancastrian position was known. Rain and negotiations slowed the advance. Although many contingents were still on the road, the Lancastrians were confident in their fortified camp near Northampton. But when the Yorkists attacked on 10 July, 'the ordnance of the king's guns availed not, for that day was so great rain that the guns...were quenched and might not be shot' (Anonymous London chronicler). The Kentish foot played a notable role in the assault. In barely half an hour, the Lancastrian army was in flight, betrayed by Lord Grey who let Warwick in. The casualties, around 300 in number, were mainly Lancastrian, and King Henry was captured.

York was no longer content to rule through Henry VI, but by claiming the throne himself (October 1460) he rallied support for Margaret and her son Edward. Margaret's army mustered at Hull (December), advancing to Pontefract . Rather than allow winter to discourage the Lancastrians, York and Salisbury marched north (9-21 December) to rescue their partisans in the north and to forestall defections. At York's castle of Sandal (Wakefield), they were dangerously isolated, and were surprised and defeated outside their defences in an obscure fight (30 December). York and Salisbury headed the list of the dead. Margaret's army then advanced menacingly southwards. Warwick's decision to fight close to London was wise, but at St Albans he first moved his army out of its fortified camp, then failed to locate the Lancastrian army. Somerset skilfully approached from the north-west to attack the Yorkist rear (17 February 1461) with his most reliable troops, the lords' retinues. In both armies food was scarce and the levies unreliable. The Yorkist vanguard put up a fight, but Warwick failed to rally the main body, and his Burgundian gunners could not get their cumbersome weapons into action. The Yorkists escaped into the dusk, abandoning Henry. Margaret then made a crucial error. Her withdrawal to Dunstable to await supplies from London allowed York's son Edward, victorious over the Welsh Lancastrians at Mortimer's Cross (2-3 February 1461), to reach the city, where he was proclaimed king as a last resort to justify continued rebellion. Margaret fell back in order to raise fresh troops in the north. Edward's vanguard followed on 9 March, the main division two days later, joined by contingents en route.

The armies raised for the March 146i campaign were the largest of the Wars of the Roses - possibly over 20,000 on each side, many of whom had been under arms since before Christmas. On 28 March, Yorkist patrols found the bridge over the river Aire destroyed and defended so, as the Yorkist bishop George Neville wrote 'our men could only cross by a narrow way which they themselves made and over which they forced a way at sword point, many men being slain on both sides'. Lancastrian failure to reinforce their vanguard, while Edward fed in his whole army, led to them losing a strategic obstacle. The Yorkists camped in snow and bitter cold, and next morning found the Lancastrians drawn up 6 miles (10km) away near Towton, anxious to settle the matter. A strong wind favoured the Yorkist archers, but the Lancastrian cavalry routed Edward's cavalry and pursued them. The battle was decided in their absence by the melee between the dismounted men-at-arms. The Lancastrian army, composed of many different retinues, may have lacked cohesion, and it broke after a long struggle. Many were killed as they fled, especially at Tadcastet, where the bridge had been broken to impede the Yorkists. Towton has the reputation as one of Britain's bloodiest battles, but even figures reported at the time of from 9,000 to 28,000 dead, would seem to be exaggerations. It effectively gave Edward control of England, but Henry VI escaped and Lancastrians maintained a foothold in Northumberland. Edward's inability to find reliable constables for border fortresses allowed the Lancastrian cause to revive, until his diplomacy ended Franco-Scottish support for Margaret. Then, in 1464, Warwick's brother, Lord Montagu, defeated the Lancastrians in two skirmishes. The royal siege guns, sent by sea from London, were needed only at Bamburgh. The execution of captured Lancastrian leaders, and the capture of Henry VI in 1465, extinguished support for the Lancastrian cause in England. Their last stronghold, Harlech, fell in 1468.