| With
the feeble King Henry VI ensconced in the Tower of London
and the Lancastrian cause stewing in exile in France,
the Yorkist King Edward IV should have enjoyed a relatively
peaceful reign, but for his alienation of Richard Neville,
Earl of Warwick, know to history as the "Kingmaker".
This along with Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville
and the absorption at court of her somewhat large family,
to the detriment of the also large Neville clan, did not
help matters. This led to the Neville backed rebellions
which Edward failed to control.
Edward's
Welsh allies, the Herberts and Humphrey Stafford, Earl
of Devon, were soundly beaten at the Battle of Edgecote
on July 26th 1469. Edward, with insufficient forces
to back his rule surrendered to the Earl of Warwick.
However, it soon became obvious to Warwick that without
a royal figurehead as a puppet for him to control, the
country was sliding into anarchy. Better a Yorkist king
than a Lancastrian one, so Edward was released.
Throwing
off his shackles, Edward again took a firm control of
the country. However, it was not long before another
rebellion, backed by Warwick, started in the north.
Edward marched north and put the rebels to rout at the
Battle of losecoat Field on March 12th 1470. Warwick
and Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, who had
sided with the Neville faction fled to France.
In
exile Warwick and Clarence were persuaded by the French
King Louis XI, to back Henry's Queen Margaret and her
son Edward Prince of Wales and take up the Lancastrian
cause in order to put Henry back on the throne.
In
mid September Warwick and Clarence landed in the West
Country. Heading inland the rapidly gained local support
and were joined by Warwick's brother John Neville, Marquis
of Montague with 6000 men. Together they forced Edward
and his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester into exile.
Edward escaping by sea to his brother in law and ally,
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. On 6th October,
Henry VI was reinstalled on the throne by Warwick.
The
following March, Edward and the Duke of Gloucester were
back in the country with an invasion force underwritten
by the Burgundians. Reconciled with the vacillating
Clarence, the three brothers occupied London on 12th
April 1471, placing Henry back in the Tower.
Two
days later, Edward defeated the Lancastrians at the
Battle of Barnet, just north of the capital, where Warwick
and Montague were killed. As fate would have it on the
very day of this disaster, Queen Margaret and the Prince
of Wales landed near Weymouth with a large body of French
troops. Here they met up with the forces of the Duke
of Somerset and the Earl of Devon, where she was told
of the grim news of Barnet. However, encouraged by Somerset's
confidence, Margaret decided to continue on.
Edward
who was now showing the old urgency and flair that gained
him the crown 10 years earlier, anticipated that the
Lancastrians would move north and would thus attempt
to cross the River Severn. On April 24th Edward set
out from Windsor to intercept them. He also sent on
orders to Sir Richard Beauchamp to hold Gloucester at
all costs. Edward nearly caught up with the Lancastrians
at Bath and Sodbury, but was given the slip. The Lancastrian
army reached Gloucester but were refused entry, forcing
them to march further up river in order to cross the
Severn into Wales, where they hoped to join Jasper Tudor.
They reached Tewkesbury on May 3rd with Edward only
some 3 miles away. Knowing that they were cornered they
stood to give battle the following day.
|
Heraldic
Banners at the
Battle of Tewkesbury
Yorkists
Sir Richard Beauchamp
Sir Thomas Strickland
Sir Thomas Cornewall
Sir Philip Courtenay
Sir John Clay
Sir John Harley
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