The Battle of Wakefield took place at Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, on December 30, 1460,
and was one of the major actions of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing factions were
a royal army, nominally commanded by Margaret of Anjou, and the supporters of
Richard, Duke of York, rival claimant to the throne. York's forces
were destroyed and he himself was killed in the battle.
Background
The House of Lancaster had established itself on the throne of England in
1399, when Henry Bolingbroke had deposed his cousin,
the unpopular King Richard II. There had always been doubts over the legitimacy of
their claim to rule. Bolingbroke's grandson, Henry VI of England, who became King as
an infant, proved as he grew up to be an ineffective King, and prone to spells of mental illness. Many nobles rallied behind the
Duke of York, who many felt had a better claim, and was respected as an administrator. But in 1460,
when his supporters captured the feeble-witted Henry at the Battle of
Northampton and he attempted to claim the throne, nobody was prepared to support such a drastic step.
Instead, York succeeded in obtaining a promise from Parliament that, on Henry's death, the crown would pass to him and his
heirs (The Act of Accord). Henry's Queen Margaret was unwilling to accept this promise,
which had been obtained by force, and was determined to protect the inheritance of her only son, Edward, Prince of Wales, then aged about six. She began gathering a large force in the north,
obviously preparing to challenge York openly.
Battle
To disperse this threat, York took his retainers north. He was accompanied by his second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and his brother in law, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury. His army occupied Sandal Castle, near Wakefield. Margaret's army advanced to offer battle. It is very unlikely that Margaret
was actually on the field of battle and she was more likely to have been in Scotland at the time. The Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Northumberland are much more likely to have led the Lancastrian forces.
Lord Ros also probably led a contingent.
Many people are familiar with William Shakespeare's melodramatic version of
events, notably the murder of York's second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland. In
reality nothing can be quite certain of what transpired, although it is known that York accepted battle in the open, rather than
remaining behind the walls of Sandal Castle. The actual date of the battle is not known for sure, nor is the exact location of
the battlefield itself, although the most likely site is the area to the north of Sandal Castle known as Wakefield Green, now
largely developed. The monument erected on the spot where the Duke of York perished is positioned slightly south of the more
likely spot where an older monument once stood, but which was destroyed during the English
Civil War.
In Shakespeare's play Henry VI Part 2, York's son Edmund is depicted as a small
child, and following his unnecessary slaughter by Lord Clifford,
Margaret torments his father, York, before murdering him also. In fact, the Duke of York was killed during the battle, and
Rutland, at seventeen, was more than old enough to be an active participant in the fighting. Salisbury was also captured, and
executed after the battle.
York's defeat was probably the result of his own over-confidence, as he apparently refused to wait for reinforcements to
arrive before sallying from Sandal Castle to meet the Lancastrians, although it is also likely that the Duke was tricked by
John Neville, 1st Baron Neville de Raby, riding under false
colours, into thinking his own force was greater than it actually was.
Aftermath
After the battle the heads of the Duke of York, Rutland and Salisbury were stuck on poles and displayed in York at
Micklegate Bar, the Duke wearing a paper crown and a sign saying "Let York overlook the
town of York".
York's death left his eldest son, Edward, as the Yorkist claimant to the throne. Salisbury's son, the Earl of Warwick, Edward's close ally, also became the wealthiest and most
influential landholder in England. Edward, though young, would prove an outstanding battle commander and a consummate politician,
and would eventually reign as King Edward IV of England.
The battle is said by some to be the source for the mocking nursery rhyme,
The Grand Old Duke of York, and the mnemonic for remembering the traditional
colours of the rainbow, Richard Of York Gave Battle In
Vain.
External links
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