Battle of Wakefield

Battle of Wakefield
Part of the Wars of the Roses
Date 30 December 1460 Location Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England Result Decisive Lancastrian victory
Belligerents
House of Lancaster	House of York
Commanders
Duke of Somerset, Earl of Northumberland, Lord Clifford et al.	Duke of York† Earl of Salisbury† Edmund, Earl of Rutland†
Strength
possibly up to 18,000	"a few hundred" to 9,000
Casualties and losses
perhaps 200	700 - 2,500

The Battle of Wakefield took place at Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, on 30 December 1460. It was one of the major battles of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were a Lancastrian army, loyal to the captive King Henry VI, his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, and their infant son Edward, Prince of Wales on the one side, and the army of Richard, Duke of York, the rival claimant to the throne, on the other. York's army was destroyed and he himself was killed in the battle.

Background

The House of Lancaster was established on the throne of England in 1399, when Henry Bolingbroke, the Duke of Lancaster, deposed his cousin, the unpopular King Richard II, and was crowned Henry IV.

Bolingbroke's grandson, Henry VI, became King in 1422 when only nine months old. He grew up to be an ineffective King, and prone to spells of mental illness. There were increasingly bitter divisions among the Regents and councillors who governed in Henry's name, mainly over the conduct of the Hundred Years' War with France. By the late 1440s, two opposing factions had formed behind Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, and Richard of York, who was the wealthiest magnate in the land.^[1] York had held several offices of state, in particular that of Lieutenant in France. While holding this post, he believed that Somerset had deprived him of authority and funds by launching a failed expedition of his own to Gascony. York was forced to use the revenues from his own feudal estates to support his office, and the absence of troops with Somerset's force led to the loss of castles and territories.

York's own descent from King Edward III also became a cause of conflict about the same time. He was the son of Richard, Earl of Cambridge, who was the son of Edward III's fifth son Edmund of Langley, and Anne de Mortimer, who was descended from Edward III's third son Lionel of Antwerp. When he was only four years old, his father was executed and attainted for treason for his part in the Southampton Plot, an attempt to depose Bolingbroke's son Henry V early in his reign. In the same year however, Cambridge's elder brother Edward, 2nd Duke of York, died fighting alongside Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt. Edward of York was childless, and the young Richard subsequently inherited his titles and estates, and those of his maternal uncle Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.

Richard's seemingly distant claims to the throne became important by 1450 as Henry was childless after several years of marriage, and had no close surviving relatives. Richard sought to become heir apparent, to succeed Henry if he died without issue. Richard's rival, Somerset, belonged to the Beaufort family, who were distant relatives of Henry and also had a claim to the throne. (Both were descended from John of Gaunt, Edward III's fourth son, but the Beauforts were supposedly barred from succeeding to the crown by the Act of Parliament which legitimated the children of Gaunt and his former mistress Katherine Swynford.)

In the aftermath of a violent popular revolt in Kent in 1450 (Jack Cade's rebellion), York marched on London in 1452 to demand a reform of Henry's government and the dismissal of Somerset from the council. At this stage, York lacked support among the peers and after an armed standoff at Blackheath, he was forced to submit and take an oath not to take arms against the King.^[2]

The next year however, Henry suffered a complete mental breakdown, during which York governed as Lord Protector. He imprisoned Somerset, but Henry recovered his sanity the next year, dismissed York from the office of Protector and restored Somerset to his offices. During Henry's madness, his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, had given birth to a son, which dashed York's hopes of becoming King on Henry's death. York feared that his opponents at Henry's court would seek his execution for treason, and resorted again to armed force in 1455. At the First Battle of St Albans, many of York's rivals and personal enemies were killed, including Somerset, the 2nd Earl of Northumberland, and 8th Lord Clifford. King Henry, although present, took no part in the battle, and was found abandoned in a house in the town.

After the battle, York reaffirmed his loyalty to King Henry, and was reappointed Lord Protector and Lieutenant of Ireland, but most of the court were as hostile to him as they had been previously, or even more so. Queen Margaret suspected York of wishing to supplant her infant son Edward as Henry's successor, and the heirs of the Lancastrian nobles who were killed at St Albans remained at deadly feud with York.

Events of the year preceding Wakefield

After an uneasy peace during which attempts at reconciliation failed, hostilities broke out again in 1459. After the Battle of Ludford, York and his most prominent allies, the Nevilles (York's brother in law, the Earl of Salisbury and his son, the Earl of Warwick, later known as the "Kingmaker") were forced to flee the country. York fled to Ireland where he had support from the Irish Parliament, while Salisbury, Warwick and York's eldest son Edward, Earl of March made their way via the West Country to Calais, where Warwick was Constable. Lancastrian attempts to reassert their authority over Ireland and Calais failed, but York and his supporters were declared traitors and attainted. Only a successful invasion would restore their titles and property.

The country remained in disorder, increased by piratical raids launched by the Nevilles from Calais. In 1460, the Nevilles invaded England and rapidly secured London and the South of England, before advancing north to engage Henry's and Margaret's army in the Midlands. At the Battle of Northampton, part of the Lancastrian army defected and the rest were decisively defeated. For the second time, Henry was captured on the battlefield. He was taken to London, and confined in the Bishop of London's palace.^[3]

York landed in North Wales and made his way to London with much pomp. Entering Parliament, he attempted to claim the throne, but was met with stunned silence. Even his close allies were not prepared to support such a drastic step. Instead, after the House of Lords had considered his claim, they passed the Act of Accord, by which Henry would remain King, but York would govern the country as Lord Protector. Henry's son was disinherited, and York or his heirs would become King on Henry's death.^[4] The powerless and frightened Henry was forced to assent.

Lancastrian moves

In the aftermath of the Battle of Northampton, Queen Margaret and her seven-year-old son Edward had fled with many adventures with brigands and outlaws^[5] into Cheshire and subsequently to Harlech Castle in North Wales, where she joined Lancastrian nobles (including Jasper Tudor and the Duke of Exeter) who were recruiting armies in Wales and the West Country. She subsequently proceeded by ship to Scotland, where she gained troops and other aid for the Lancastrian cause from the Queen, Mary of Guelders, in return for the surrender of the town and castle of Berwick upon Tweed.^[6]

At the same time, other Lancastrians were rallying in Northern England. Those whose estates were there (the Earl of Northumberland, Lords Clifford and Ros, and John Neville of Raby who represented a northern branch of the Neville family who had been eclipsed by the southern branch headed by the Earl of Salisbury), were joined by the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Devon from the West Country.^[5] Northumberland, Clifford and Somerset were the sons of Richard's rivals who had been killed at St. Albans.

The Lancastrian forces first mustered near Kingston upon Hull, and were said (in Gregory's Chronicle, a near-contemporary account) to number 15,000. A substantial part of these forces encamped at Pontefract and began pillaging York's and Salisbury's estates nearby.

York's response

Faced with these challenges to his authority as Protector, York despatched his eldest son Edward to the Welsh Marches to contain the Lancastrians in Wales and, leaving Warwick in charge in London, he himself marched north on 9 December accompanied by his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and the Earl of Salisbury. His force was said by some to number 8,000 to 9,000 men, but by others to be only a few hundred strong, as York intended to recruit local forces with a Commission of Array.

York had almost certainly underestimated the numbers of the Lancastrian army in the north, which was still being reinforced. On 16 December, near Worksop in Nottinghamshire, York's vanguard clashed with a contingent from the West Country moving north to join the Lancastrian army, and was defeated.^[7]

Battle

The remains of the motte of Sandal Castle

On 21 December, York reached his immediate destination, his own fortress of Sandal Castle near Wakefield. He sent probes towards the Lancastrian camp at Pontefract 9 miles (14 km) to the east, but these were repulsed. York sent for help to his son Edward, but before any reinforcements could arrive, he sortied from the castle on 30 December.

It is not known for certain why York did so. It was later recounted in Edward Hall's chronicle, written a few decades after the event but partly at least from first-hand sources, and the contemporary Burgundian Jean de Waurin's chronicle, that in a stratagem possibly devised by the experienced captain Andrew Trollope, half the Lancastrian army under Somerset and Clifford advanced openly towards Sandal Castle, over the open space known as "Wakefield Green" between the castle and the River Calder, while the remainder under Ros and the Earl of Wiltshire were concealed in the woods surrounding the area.^[8] York was probably short of provisions in the castle and seeing that the enemy were apparently no stronger than his own army, eagerly seized the opportunity to engage them in the open rather than withstand a siege while waiting for reinforcements.^[9]

Other sources suggest that York was deceived by some of Neville of Raby's forces displaying false colours into thinking that reinforcements under Warwick had arrived; or that York and his opponents had agreed a day for battle after a Christmas truce and when York moved into the open the Lancastrians treacherously attacked earlier than had been agreed, catching York at a disadvantage while many of his men were absent foraging for supplies; or simply that York acted rashly.

The main gate of Sandal Castle was on the south side. To engage Lancastrians to the north, York's men had to march around the western circuit of the castle. It is generally accepted that, as York engaged the Lancastrians to his front, others attacked him from the flank and rear, cutting him off from the castle. The Yorkist army was surrounded and destroyed. One source (Gregory's Chronicle) claimed that 2,500 Yorkists and 200 Lancastrians were killed, but other sources give wildly differing figures, from 2,200 to only 700 Yorkist dead.

The Duke of York himself was killed in the fighting. Rutland attempted to escape over Wakefield Bridge, but was overtaken and killed, quite possibly by Clifford himself in revenge for his own father's death at St Albans. Salisbury's second son Sir Thomas Neville, and his son in law William, Lord Harrington, also died in the battle. Salisbury himself escaped but was captured during the night, and taken to the Lancastrian camp and beheaded.

Aftermath

After the battle the heads of York, Rutland and Salisbury were stuck on poles and displayed over Micklegate Bar, the western gate through the York city walls, the Duke wearing a paper crown and a sign saying "Let York overlook the town of York".

The death of Richard of York did not end the wars, or the House of York's claim to the throne. After defeating the Welsh Lancastrians at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, Richard's eldest son Edward, Earl of March, was proclaimed King Edward IV of England. The northern Lancastrian army which had been victorious at Wakefield was reinforced by Scots and borderers eager for plunder, and marched south. They defeated Warwick's army at the Second Battle of St Albans and recaptured the feeble King Henry, who had been abandoned on the battlefield for the third time, but failed to occupy London and later were decisively defeated by Edward and Warwick at the Battle of Towton.

A monument erected on the spot where the Duke of York is supposed to have 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.

The battle in literature and folklore

Many people are familiar with William Shakespeare's melodramatic version of events in Henry VI, Part 3, notably the murder of Edmund of Rutland, although Edmund is depicted as a small child, and following his unnecessary slaughter by Clifford, Margaret torments his father, York, before murdering him also. In fact, York was killed during the battle, and Rutland, at seventeen, was more than old enough to be an active participant in the fighting. Margaret was almost certainly still in Scotland at the time.

The battle is said by some to be the source for the mnemonic for remembering the traditional colours of the rainbow, Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain, and also the mocking nursery rhyme, The Grand Old Duke of York although this much more likely refers to the eighteenth century duke, son of George III.

Notes

References

• Churchill, Winston (1956). A History of the English-speaking Peoples. 1. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-29500-0. 
• Haigh, Philip A. (1995). Military campaigns of the Wars of the Roses. Stroud, Gloucestershire: A. Sutton. 
• Rowse, A.L. (1966). Bosworth Field & the Wars of the Roses. Wordsworth Military Library. ISBN 1-85326-691-4. 
• Warner, Philip (1972). British Battlefields: The North. Osprey. ISBN 0-00-633823-2. 

External links

• The Battle of Wakefield in great detail
• wars-of-the-roses.com

v • d • e Wars of the Roses Red Rose of Lancaster · White Rose of York Key figures Monarchs of England Henry VI · Edward IV · Edward V · Richard III · Henry VII Lancastrian Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England · Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland · Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland · Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick · Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset · Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset · Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset · George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence Yorkist Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York · Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick · Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury · John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu · William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent · Thomas Neville Battles Lancastrian victories Battle of Ludford Bridge · Battle of Wakefield · Second Battle of St Albans · Battle of Ferrybridge (Indecisive) · Battle of Edgecote Moor · Battle of Bosworth Field · Battle of Stoke Field Yorkist victories First Battle of St Albans · Battle of Blore Heath · Battle of Sandwich · Battle of Northampton · Battle of Mortimer's Cross · Battle of Ferrybridge (Indecisive) · Battle of Towton · Battle of Hedgeley Moor · Battle of Hexham · Battle of Lose-coat Field · Battle of Barnet · Battle of Tewkesbury See also Act of Accord · Percy-Neville feud · Issue of Edward III of England

Coordinates: 53°40′48.5″N 1°29′32″W / 53.680139°N 1.49222°W / 53.680139; -1.49222