The first phase of the Wars of the Roses concluded with the battle of Towton and the ascension
of Edward IV of the house of York to the English Throne.
Yet, his Lancastrian enemies still had supporters and allies, and the power of the nobles was
not curbed.
Intrigue and backstabbing would change the situation many times before the second part
of the Wars of the Roses peaked at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury.
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After the decisive victory at Towton in 1461, Edward IV returned to London for his coronation,
while Henry VI alongside his wife Margaret and son Edward fled to Scotland.
The Lancastrian party still controlled part of Northumberland and Edward left Richard
of Warwick, aptly nicknamed the Kingmaker for his role in the rise of the Yorks, to
deal with the last remnants of the resistance.
By 1463, Warwick retook all of the castles belonging to the Lancastrian nobles and returned
to the South.
As Edward’s position was strong and he decided to forgive some of his past enemies, among
them Henry Somerset and Ralph Percy.
King Edward was wary that the Scots supported the Lancasters throughout the first phase
of the war, so in 1463 he asked James III to sign a treaty.
The Scots agreed and sent their diplomats to York in 1464.
To prevent the agreement from happening, Lancastrian nobles nudged by queen Margaret rebelled in
1464 under the leadership of Somerset and Percy in Northumberland.
Edward sent a force led by Warwick’s brother John Neville to the north, and in May he defeated
Somerset at Hexham.
All Lancastrian leaders were killed, which ended the rebellion for good.
The treaty with the Scots was signed and queen Margaret and Prince Edward escaped to France
to their relative – king Louis XI.
In 1465 Henry VI was captured in Lancashire and brought to London, which ushered in a
short period of peace in England.
During this time Richard Warwick became even more powerful, assuming many offices and taking
lands from the Lancastrians.
He tried to assert influence over the young king, and he saw the negotiations with Louis
in 1466 as one of the ways to do it.
Warwick tried to marry Edward with the daughter of the French king - Anne and this is when
a secret came out: the king had privately married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464, and the
fact that she was from the lower nobility shocked the magnates.
On top of that, Edward entered a secret alliance with the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold
negating Warwick’s negotiations with Louis and embarrassing him.
Warwick left the court in 1467 and started plotting against the king.
In 1469 one of his captains started a rebellion in the North.
Edward moved to Nottingham in the early days of July, but upon learning that the rebels
outnumbered him decided to wait for reinforcements.
However, Warwick entered London a few days after and declared for the rebels alongside
his son-in-law, the king’s brother George.
The rebels managed to bypass Nottingham and attacked the royal reinforcements at a place
called Edgecote Moor.
Supported by Warwick’s troop the rebels routed the forces of the king.
Edward was captured on his way back to London.
Warwick’s attempt to rule in the king’s name or even dethrone him failed, as Edward
was still very popular among the nobility and the commoners.
Rebellions forced Warwick to release the king, and he ended up with even less influence over
governance than before.
So, Warwick decided to instigate another rebellion in Lincolnshire, in March of 1470.
This time the king moved swiftly, not allowing the rebels to connect with Warwick.
At Losecoat Field Edward’s outnumbered army defeated and routed the rebels.
This forced Warwick to flee to France, where Louis reconciled him with Queen Margaret.
Kingmaker was going to restore Henry VI, who by now wasn’t in possession of his faculties,
to the English throne, using French support.
In September Warwick landed in Devon.
Initially, Edward was planning to march against him, but Warwick’s brother John, who had
remained loyal to the king until now, finally rebelled, and Edward had no other choice but
to leave England.
In October Warrick entered London and restored Henry to the throne.
Meanwhile, Edward found refuge in Flanders, which was under the control of Charles the
Brave.
Although the help he received from Burgundy was minimal, Edward returned to England in
March of 1471.
Edward used deceit, stating that he was not vying for the throne and had come back to
reclaim the Duchy of York.
The city of York allowed him to enter and soon he started his march towards London,
receiving reinforcements along the way.
Even his disloyal brother George rejoined him.
It seems that Warrick was waiting for aid from his allies in England and France, so
he avoided battle, as it was expected that Edmund Somerset would defend the capital.
However, the Londoners preferred Edward, and Somerset was forced to leave either to avoid
rebellion or to unite with Margaret, who was going to land in Dorset.
Edward took control of the city and captured Henry VI yet again.
Edward had between 10 and 15 thousand and was outnumbered by Warwick’s army, which
had more than 20 thousand, but he knew that he needed to attack before the more reinforcements
could join his enemy from the south.
Warwick was probably hoping to block the road to the North, as on the 12th of April his
troops took a position to the north of London at a place called Barnet.
The Yorkist army arrived on the evening of the 13th and Edward positioned his troops
in the dark, planning to take his stand at dawn.
It is said that Edward made a mistake in the dark, underestimating the distance between
the two armies, and moved his troops closer to those of Warwick than he had intended.
This, however, proved fortunate, as the Lancastrians, who were using their artillery to weaken their
enemy, were overshooting Edward’s troops, who moved through most of the night to take
up positions.
He deployed Hastings on the left and his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, aged eighteen
at the time, on the right, while George was to stay with him in the center.
A small reserve was stationed behind the main line.
Opposite them, Warwick and his brother John Neville commanded the center, with Exeter
on the right, and Oxford on the left side.
The Lancastrian knights were dismounted, as that usually showed that they weren’t going
to retreat and would fight among the commoners until the very end.
As the morning of April 14 dawned, a mist engulfed the battlefield.
The armies failed to line-up parallel to each other, with both ending up in a slight oblique
formation in relation to the enemy.
The Lancastrians had numbers, so this at first worked to their advantage – Oxford’s unit
attacked the flank of Edward’s army.
Hastings’ troops were soon overwhelmed.
Many of them died during the retreat, while the remainder fled all the way to London,
claiming that Edward had already lost the battle.
Unfortunately for Warwick, a big part of Oxford’s unit remained detached from the battle, as
they attempted to loot their fallen enemies, with only part of it returning to the fight.
As visibility was still poor, neither side knew about these events.
Meanwhile, Gloucester repeated Oxford’s maneuver, attacking the Lancastrian left and
pushing Exeter’s troops back.
This shifted the lines yet again.
Warwick, aware of this, ordered his reserves to support Exeter and restore the formation,
while his forces moved against the enemy’s center, and the lines finally joined.
It is said, that the remainder of Oxford’s troops returned to the battle at this point
and in the mist ended up behind the reserves commanded by John Neville, which were sent
to support Exeter.
Apparently, Oxford’s coat of arms with stars on it was mistaken for Edward’s banner with
the sun on it.
The panicked forces of Neville turned towards Oxford’s troops and unleashed their bows
killing many of their comrades.
As backstabbing was so common during this period, Oxford and his soldiers cried “Treason!”
and started retreating to the north.
This cry resonated across the Lancastrian line, which ended up in disarray.
At this point the fog started to dissipate and Edward, seeing his enemies panicked, sent
his in his reserves to move across the right side and attack the Lancastrians from the
flank and rear.
Soon Warwick and Neville were killed, while Exeter was captured.
Between 5 and 10 thousand Lancastrians were dead, while the Yorkists lost less than a
thousand.
Unfortunately for Edward, while this battle was raging, Queen Margaret and her son - Prince
Edward landed in Dorset and were greeted by Somerset.
Edward dismissed most of his troops and returned to London then learned about the arrival of
Margaret 2 days later.
The queen knew about the death of Warwick at Barnet, so she decided to move towards
Wales with her 6 thousand strong army to connect with one of her supporters – Jasper Tudor.
A few of her units were sent to the east to deceive Edward, but the king was not fooled
and moved swiftly to the west with his remaining 5 thousand.
By the time Margaret reached Bristol on the 30th of April, Edward was at Cirencester,
some 60 kilometers to the Northeast.
He attempted to block the Lancastrian route to the north but was outmaneuvered.
It was becoming clear that Margaret was trying to move across the River Severn to reach Wales,
so Edward sent a message to the governor of Gloucester, the city which controlled the
nearest crossing, ordering him not to let Margaret pass.
The Lancastrian army had no other choice but to move to the north and cross near Tewkesbury.
However, Edward was moving as swiftly as usual, and his speed made it impossible for the Lancastrians
to cross the bridge.
On the 4th of May, they were forced to fight him at Tewkesbury.
The battlefield was full of small woods, hedges, and marshes which was favorable for the Lancastrians,
who assumed a defensive position, dividing their army into three equal parts.
Their left and rear were protected by a river, while the center was positioned on a hill.
Similarly, Edward divided his troops into three groups, but a small cavalry ambush was
placed in the woods to the extreme left.
The Yorkists also had a decided advantage in artillery, as the army of the queen was
forced to abandon its cannons during the march.
The battle started with a Yorkist advance supported by artillery volleys, but as the
terrain was broken, it was impossible for Edward to move in a coherent line.
Somerset attempted to use the divide in the enemy forces and attacked the unit commanded
by Edward.
Initially, this charge surprised the king and his troops, and they were pushed back.
However the charging Lancastrians ended up with the ambushing horsemen to their rear,
and a charge routed them.
Most of this unit was cut down.
According to the legend, Somerset managed to return to his main line and killed the
commander of the center, who failed to support him.
It was clear that the Lancastrians has lost and their retreat ended up in a massacre.
Most of the Lancastrian commanders, among them Summerset and Prince Edward were executed,
while Margaret was taken captive.
Edward IV won 2 impressive battles in a short span, but the war was hardly over, as Lancastrian
allies were lurking nearby…
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