in London, the men having already ransacked Westminster and Southwark. So she withdrew north, and the Earl of March simply rode in from the west and was proclaimed King Edward IV, aged only 18.
This was in many ways a war of north v south. The Yorkists did have some support in the northern counties, and the Lancastrians in the south, but most of their soldiers came from different ends of the country, and this helps explain the savagery of the fighting. That the Yorkists won was down to the support of London, which was vastly richer than anywhere else in England, due to its role in the export of wool. In the nine months before Towton the city provided £13,000 for the Yorkist cause, enough to pay 26,000 archers for 20 days’ service. xxiv When in late 1460 the royal army headed south from Wakefield there was a genuine terror in the capital that the northerners would sack the city. Songs of the period recall the threats of northern men violating southern women and of ‘the lords of the North’ coming to ‘destroy the south country’.
Edward now brought an enormous army, 48,000 men, to Towton, facing at least 40,000 of the queen’s men. The Lancastrians were forced against the River Cock, in what became known as Bloody Meadow, and by the end of the day there were up to 28,000 dead, among them Andrew Trollope, leader of the Lancastrian forces. Another baron, Lord Clifford’s kinsman Lord Dacre, was killed when he went to take a drink and took off his helmet, and a sniper perched in a tree hit him in the neck with a crossbow bolt (Clifford had been killed a week earlier in a skirmish). The battle was followed by numerous executions, forensic evidence has suggested, with at least two dozen knights and countless more men put to death. Others were chased through the blizzard, and many on both sides were killed when pursuing Yorkists chased Lancastrians on to a bridge that collapsed, the heavily armoured men plunging to an icy death. It was said afterwards that a trail of blood marked the 23-mile road from Towton to York.
The new king then marched on York where he was greeted with the heads of his father and brother, which the people of the city had not had the wit to take down. They were buried, and in their place were put the heads of Devon, Wiltshire and various other Lancastrian aristocrats.
A sad trail of Lancastrians headed towards Scotland, and close to Banburgh, site of the old royal house of the north, Queen Margaret and her son were separated from the rest of the group. According to one (admittedly rather dubious) story a gang of robbers attacked and were ready to cut her throat when Margaret fell to her knees and pleaded: ‘I am the daughter and wife of a king, and was in past time recognized by yourselves as your queen. Wherefore if you now stain your hands with my blood, your cruelty will be held in abhorrence by all men in all ages.’
It turned out that Black Jack, as the man was called, was a former Lancastrian soldier and it was now his turn to get on his knees and swear to take her to safety, which he did, to the Scottish border at Kirkcudbright. In Scotland, Margaret would remain for the time being, so poor that she had to borrow a groat from an archer to make an offering on her saint’s day. Two more uprisings the following year were crushed, and led to the deaths of some of the last few remaining Lancastrians, among them Ralph Percy, Hotspur’s grandson, and the third Duke of Somerset, whose father had died at St Albans. He left a bastard son, who became the ancestor of the Dukes of Beaufort, but with him dead, the Lancastrian cause was too.
The Red Wedding
The former King Henry was finally captured in 1465 and left a prisoner in the Tower, where he was given five marks a week pocket money, as well as wine. More troubling for the new ruler was the thought of Margaret of Anjou abroad, and her son Edward of Westminster who would inevitably mount a challenge when he came of age. Her spies were
This was in many ways a war of north v south. The Yorkists did have some support in the northern counties, and the Lancastrians in the south, but most of their soldiers came from different ends of the country, and this helps explain the savagery of the fighting. That the Yorkists won was down to the support of London, which was vastly richer than anywhere else in England, due to its role in the export of wool. In the nine months before Towton the city provided £13,000 for the Yorkist cause, enough to pay 26,000 archers for 20 days’ service. xxiv When in late 1460 the royal army headed south from Wakefield there was a genuine terror in the capital that the northerners would sack the city. Songs of the period recall the threats of northern men violating southern women and of ‘the lords of the North’ coming to ‘destroy the south country’.
Edward now brought an enormous army, 48,000 men, to Towton, facing at least 40,000 of the queen’s men. The Lancastrians were forced against the River Cock, in what became known as Bloody Meadow, and by the end of the day there were up to 28,000 dead, among them Andrew Trollope, leader of the Lancastrian forces. Another baron, Lord Clifford’s kinsman Lord Dacre, was killed when he went to take a drink and took off his helmet, and a sniper perched in a tree hit him in the neck with a crossbow bolt (Clifford had been killed a week earlier in a skirmish). The battle was followed by numerous executions, forensic evidence has suggested, with at least two dozen knights and countless more men put to death. Others were chased through the blizzard, and many on both sides were killed when pursuing Yorkists chased Lancastrians on to a bridge that collapsed, the heavily armoured men plunging to an icy death. It was said afterwards that a trail of blood marked the 23-mile road from Towton to York.
The new king then marched on York where he was greeted with the heads of his father and brother, which the people of the city had not had the wit to take down. They were buried, and in their place were put the heads of Devon, Wiltshire and various other Lancastrian aristocrats.
A sad trail of Lancastrians headed towards Scotland, and close to Banburgh, site of the old royal house of the north, Queen Margaret and her son were separated from the rest of the group. According to one (admittedly rather dubious) story a gang of robbers attacked and were ready to cut her throat when Margaret fell to her knees and pleaded: ‘I am the daughter and wife of a king, and was in past time recognized by yourselves as your queen. Wherefore if you now stain your hands with my blood, your cruelty will be held in abhorrence by all men in all ages.’
It turned out that Black Jack, as the man was called, was a former Lancastrian soldier and it was now his turn to get on his knees and swear to take her to safety, which he did, to the Scottish border at Kirkcudbright. In Scotland, Margaret would remain for the time being, so poor that she had to borrow a groat from an archer to make an offering on her saint’s day. Two more uprisings the following year were crushed, and led to the deaths of some of the last few remaining Lancastrians, among them Ralph Percy, Hotspur’s grandson, and the third Duke of Somerset, whose father had died at St Albans. He left a bastard son, who became the ancestor of the Dukes of Beaufort, but with him dead, the Lancastrian cause was too.
The Red Wedding
The former King Henry was finally captured in 1465 and left a prisoner in the Tower, where he was given five marks a week pocket money, as well as wine. More troubling for the new ruler was the thought of Margaret of Anjou abroad, and her son Edward of Westminster who would inevitably mount a challenge when he came of age. Her spies were
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