1461
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The Battle of Mortimer's Cross February 2 pits an estimated 8,000 Yorkists against an estimated 6,000 Lancastrians five miles northwest of Leominister, Herefordshire, as the Wars of the Roses continue (see 1460). Edward Plantagenet, 4th duke of York, avenges his father's and brother's deaths last year at Wakefield, inflicting 3,000 casualties (including some captured Lancastrians who are executed forthwith), but he is defeated at the second Battle of St. Albans February 17. An army of 12,000 Lancastrians has advanced on London under the command of the 2nd duke of Somerset, whose father was killed at the first Battle of St. Albans. The earl of Warwick has only 9,000 Yorkist troops to oppose him. The Lancastrians inflict 1,900 casualties while losing 1,000; recapture the deranged Henry VI; and take him to the Tower of London tied to his horse, a straw hat on his head, and a derisive placard on his back, his only possessions being a bible, a breviary, pet dog, and a sparrow. Margaret of Anjou invades England with the earl of Warwick and regains her husband, but the Lancastrians then withdraw north into Yorkshire. Edward, duke of York, reaches London, proclaims himself king, crosses the River Aire March 28, and defeats Somerset's Lancastrian army March 29 at the Battle of Towton, north of Yorkshire. Fighting in a blizzard, Somerset's Lancastrians are unable to use their archers effectively, and although Somerset has an estimated 20,000 men to Edward's estimated 16,000, Edward's archers are armed with heavy-shafted arrows that strike with deadly effect. Fresh troops under the command of John Mowbray, 3rd duke of Norfolk, arrive 10 hours after the fighting begins to support Edward. Most of the Lancastrian leaders are killed in battle or beheaded in the merciless slaughter that ensues. The bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil, Towton ends with 28,000 dead, among them Owen Tudor, whose 30-year-old son Jasper, earl of Pembroke, escapes to Ireland and thence to Scotland. Edward turns 19 April 28 and is crowned at London June 28 after Parliament calls the Lancastrians usurpers; he will reign until 1483 as Edward IV (see 1462).
Edward IV sends James Douglas, 9th earl of Douglas, to make a treaty with John, earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles. Now 34, Douglas has been conspiring for years with the Yorkist faction against the Scottish king, who gave asylum to the fugitive Henry VI.
Scotland's queen Mary of Guelders, 28, forces the surrender of Berwick. Given the support of troops supplied by Margaret of Anjou, she has continued the war against England following the death last year of her husband, James II.
France's Charles VII dies at Mehun-sur-Yèvre July 22 at age 58 after a 32-year reign in which his late mistress Agnès Sorel had a major influence, as, briefly, did Joan of Arc, in restoring the power of a nation that had been virtually destroyed by English invaders and internal wars between feudal lords. His son Louis, now 38, made unsuccessful attempts to take the throne in 1446 and 1456, was banished to the Dauphiné in 1447, and has not seen his father for 14 years, but he is crowned at Reims August 15 and will reign until 1483 as Louis XI. Some of the nobility organize the League of the Public Weal against him and the Spider (as he is called) begins by imposing restrictions on the nobility, even forbidding them to hunt without his permission, and forcing the clergy to pay long-neglected feudal dues. Louis will increase the power of the crown at the expense of local and provincial independence and urban liberty. His patient, submissive wife, Charlotte, surrounds herself with her sisters and ladies of the court at the Château d'Amboise on the Loire where she gives birth to a daughter, Anne.
Trebizond falls to Ottoman forces, who take over the last Greek state on the Black Sea and absorb the 257-year-old kingdom into their empire. They also seize the principality of Kastamonu.
A godson of Pope Pius II discovers a source of alum (aluminum potassium sulfate) in the papal states. The material is used as a mordant to fix dyes in textiles, and mining it will swell the coffers of the Church (see Medici family, 1466).
Japan has plague and famine that bring an uprising against the Ashikaga shōgun Yoshimasa.
France's new king Louis XI makes a rapprochement with the papacy by a formal revocation of his father's 1438 Pragmatic Sanction, but he sacrifices little royal power and keeps France's Church under the control of the crown.
Poetry: Le Grand Testament by François Villon is a lyric poem of 173 stanzas containing many ballads, or rondeaux. French authorities will banish Villon from Paris next year after arresting him for theft and brawling and then commuting his death sentence, but he will be quoted for centuries, especially for his line, "where are the snows of yesteryear?" ("ou sont les neiges d'antan?") from the "Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis."
Painter Domenico Veneziano dies at Florence May 15 at 55.
Sculpture: Judith and Holofernes by Donatello.
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