warwick & the modelmaker - richard iii of england · 2014. 4. 13. · warwick & the modelmaker —...

s Richard III Society, Inc. Volume XXVII No. 4 Winter, 2002

Warwick & The Modelmaker— Photos and montage by Geoffrey Wheeler

2003 AGM: October 3-5, Phoenix, Arizona

Winter, 2002 - 2 - Ricardian Register

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In This Issue

Cover Illustrations . . . . . . . . . 3Why I Moved The Battle of Bosworth To

Atherstone, Michael K. Jones . . . . 4The Battle of Barnet, Martin Reboul . . . 6Diary of a Ricardian Tour, Mary Jane Mack . 16Best Lines from AGM 2002, Peggy Allen . 18Annual Appreciation Award Citations . . 20Ricardian Post . . . . . . . . . 21Ricardian Puzzle, Charlie Jordan . . . . 22Two Year Profiles, Eileen Prinsen . . . . 23Welcome to New Members. . . . . . 23For Members, A Special Benefit in 2003. . 24Ricardian Honor Roll . . . . . . . 25Ricardian Spotlight, Judy Pimental . . . 26Ricardian Reading, Myrna Smith . . . . 27Audio-Visual Library Report, Yvonne Saddler 31Donations . . . . . . . . . . . 31Chapter Contacts. . . . . . . . . 32Membership Application . . . . . . 32

Thanks to Elizabeth York Enstamfor the great AGM photos!

Ricardian Register - 3 - Winter, 2002

Cover Illustrations:The colourful heraldic arms of Warwick ‘The

Kingmaker,’ found in various arrangements on his existingseals and manuscripts, have long been a source of inspira-tion for artists and modelmakers, with the particular chal-lenge of incorporating the complex quarterings of thefamily’s coat of arms, as can be seen from these fewexamples:

(a) 9 feet high relief modeled and sculpted panel by GilbertBayes for the New York Worlds Fair 1939, which inspiredthe Portuguese pottery firm Fabrica de Loiça to produce thisfaience figurine

(b) in 1954.

(c) Illustrates a 90 mm. mounted figure from ‘Tradition’,manufactured in the 1960’s.

(d) The exclusive range of 90 mm. pewter figures by theArmoury of St James’s (1) includes this figure of Warwick atthe tournament or tiltyard.

(e) A recent figure in the ‘Border Miniatures’ range (2)

available in kit form, displays the simpler Neville coat, andwith some artistic licence, has Warwick carrying his ownstandard.

(f) The full-size wax figure of Warwick, from the climatictableaux of ‘The Kingmaker 1471’ display by MadameTussauds, installed at Warwick Castle in 1994.

(g) and detail

(1) 17, Piccadilly Arcade, London, SW1Y 6NH(www.armoury.co.uk/home) — mounted figures rangefrom £800 - £1,200!

(2) ‘Romanby’, Manor Park, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 4AB(www.borderminiatures.com)

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Why I Moved the Battle ofBosworth to Atherstone

Michael K. Jones

It seems audacious to transport a battle some eightmiles from its long-established environs, and par-ticularly this one, for Bosworth 1485 is central to

any debate on Richard III as man and king. But if some-thing as basic as this is in need of re-appraisal, a lot elsemight be too. The true story of this famous battle re-mains frustratingly elusive.

Henry Tudor’s victory set the seal on a change of dy-nasty and was soon portrayed as God’s endorsement of arightful cause. The tale we know is one told and re-toldby the Tudor victors. Richard III’s preparations are over-shadowed by a fear of treachery, his army is committedin piecemeal, haphazard fashion and his charge towardshis opponent appears a desperate gamble. The lastPlantagenet king of England reacts to events always out-side his control, and his end, overwhelmed by his ene-mies, is somehow grimly inevitable.

The geography of the traditional battle site plays a keypart in these events: the king huddled defensively on thesummit of a hill, the narrow west-facing escarpment fromwhich he makes his ill-judged charge. If Richard were pas-sive, fearing the approach of Henry Tudor, we would ex-pect to find him on a hill, where he would anxiously surveythe manoeuvres of his opponent. And if he were unable tocommand the loyalty of magnates in his own army, wemight understand him choosing a site where the nature ofthe terrain disallowed their easy participation in the forth-coming clash of arms. Ambion Hill in Leicestershire, thehome of the present day battlefield centre, provides a con-venient setting for this drama to be enacted. But it is a ver-sion I now wish to challenge.

What if our assumptions about the defeated com-mander are wrong? The Richard I see takes a pro-activerole in the imminent encounter. He believes he can win,and wishes to do so in the most emphatic manner possi-ble. He creates the time and space to prepare his army,which is loyal and motivated. This is done through theuse of powerful ritual, to inspire his men and communi-cate the cause for which they are fighting. And this causeis no less than the legitimate succession to the throne ofEngland.

Up until now, the suggestion that Cecily Neville’s el-dest surviving son, Edward IV, was a bastard, has neverbeen taken seriously. We learn from the testimony ofDominic Mancini, an Italian visitor to London in the sum-mer of 1483, that Cecily herself ‘fell into a frenzy’ and inher rage, made the astounding accusation, adding that shewould be prepared to testify before a public enquiry that itwas indeed the case. How has this incredible disclosurebeen explained away by historians? Edward, of course, wasborn abroad, in Rouen on 28th April 1442, and slanders ofthis kind attached themselves more easily to a birth outside

the country. But for the mother herself to make the ac-knowledgment was unprecedented. It has been dismissedon two grounds. Some have believed Cecily’s disclosurewas mischievous, vindictive and intended to discredit herson the king because of his marriage to ElizabethWoodville, a liaison she could never accept or forgive.Others assume that Richard callously intimidated hismother into making the admission, or even worse, dispar-aged her behind her back in his ruthless pursuit of a crownnot rightfully his. I wish to argue that the disclosure mayhave been true.

In my new book, I gather the evidence to sustain thisrevolutionary point of view. One crucial new piece of evi-dence establishes that the Duke of York, Richard’s father,was away from his wife at the time of Edward’s concep-tion. This brings Richard forward in a new light, as theonly true heir and successor of the house of York follow-ing the death of his brother Clarence, and the only manable to restore the honour of that house following theshameful intrusion of a bastard line. For the first time,Richard has a cause to fight for, shared by his mother. Itwas one which could be powerfully communicated to hissoldiers on the field of battle.

A number of near-contemporary sources refer to Rich-ard wearing the ‘most precious’ or ‘priceless’ crown of Eng-land at the time of battle. This seems to have been areference to the coronation regalia itself, the richly jewelledcrown of Edward the Confessor. This would have been fartoo heavy to wear during the fighting, indeed, its weightwas such that magnates and bishops would have supportedit on the king’s head as he processed before his troops.Such a ceremony must have made a profound impressionon those who witnessed it.

This alerts us to a very different possible sequence ofevents as the battle was about to begin. Instead of thewholesale rush and disorganisation inflicting his army,Richard has time to unify it through ritual drama. Hismilitary acumen was acknowledged even by his enemies,and it is hard to imagine such a man boxing himself into acorner as the traditional narrative suggests. The slopes ofAmbion Hill are an unlikely place to find him.

I believe that Richard had a vision of the way hewished to win this crucial encounter, by leading a massedcavalry attack against his Tudor challenger. I argue fromthe presence of the experienced Spanish war captain, Juande Salazar, in the royal division, close to Richard’s person,a vital link with an earlier battle, that of Toro in March1476, which had been won by Ferdinand and Isabella ofCastile, through just such a feat of arms. And I have dis-covered an entirely new source for Bosworth, an eye-wit-ness account by one of the French mercenaries in Tudor’sarmy, describing the charge itself in stirring fashion. Itwas not the hasty act of a reckless king and a few diehard


supporters. Rather, Richard prepared carefully and ledforward his entire division, numbering several hundredhorsemen, to deliver the knock-out blow.

On Ambion Hill there is simply not enough room to ef-fect such a manoeuvre. But if we move Richard some eightmiles further west, close to the small market town ofAtherstone in Warwickshire, its low-lying fields are idealcavalry country. Surprisingly, many of the closest contem-porary accounts point to such a scenario. One, theCrowland Chronicle, tells us that Richard gained accurateintelligence of Tudor’s whereabouts as close to the Abbeyof Merevale, situated a mile southwest of Atherstone itself.This well-informed source, which drew on testimony fromthose who had marched in Richard’s army, then relates howRichard camped nearby and names their encounter the fol-lowing morning, ‘this battle of Merevale.’ Another, theWarwickshire antiquarian John Rouse, tells us the battletook place on the Warwickshire/Leicestershire border,which is exactly where Atherstone lies. And a newsletter toFerdinand and Isabella of Spain, gives the nearest town tothe engagement as Coventry, not Leicester, again placingthe action further west. Most telling of all is a grant ofcompensation for crops trampled by Tudor’s victoriousarmy, made by Henry VII in the months following his vic-tory. In the first he recompenses Merevale for crops dam-aged as his men marched towards the field of battle. In thesecond, he gives money to Atherstone and its neighbouringparishes, for damage inflicted at the field of battle itself.Henry’s grant delineates a clash taking place on the openfields northeast of Atherstone.

There is one fascinating detail which makes no sense inthe traditional location — the position of the sun. It has al-ways been noted, but set aside on the assumption that thosewho recorded it must simply have made a mistake. The Tu-dor court historian Polydore Vergil spoke to those who hadfought in Tudor’s army. He gleaned from them a crucialpiece of information, that Tudor’s captains undertook aflanking manoeuvre to gain the advantage of the strongAugust morning sun directly in their opponents’ eyes. Theymust therefore have been facing west or northwest. OnAmbion Hill this cannot be, since it was Richard who wascharging down the west-facing slope. If we follow the routeset out in Tudor’s compensation grants, we at last find asetting that allows this. Henry marched out to the eastthrough the fields of Merevale, then swung north acrossthe parishes adjacent to Atherstone. Accepting that Rich-ard’s encampment was to the north of the town, for the firsttime we find a scenario that works, with Henry Tudor’smen approaching as the sun climbed in the sky behindthem.

Only one key factor seems to work against such a re-lo-cation of this famous battle — the known burial site ofsome of the slain at Dadlington, a mile or so south ofAmbion Hill. This known place of burial was of such sig-nificance that the very naming of the battle seems to havederived from it, Market Bosworth being the nearest town.Such a link has convinced the majority of historians that

the action must have taken place either on Ambion Hill orclose by.

But an alternative explanation exists. In a deliberate actof remembrance, Henry Tudor chose to move the slain ofhis army en masse to consecrated ground, because they haddied saving his life. It was this very public commemorationof a debt of gratitude that was to inspire the battle name,rather than the exact geographical location. This provoca-tive new argument is based on both detailed research and adifferent way of reading medieval battles. Only the barebones of it can be given here.

Atherstone may now be the setting for one of the mostepic battles of our history. And if we travel to this startlingnew location, the Richard we find there is entirely differ-ent from the Shakespearean caricature. He has a cause inwhich he truly believes, and has prepared his battle-ground, both actual and psychological, accordingly. Hewill take the fight to his opponent. My new eye-witnesssource shows the reason for his defeat as extraordinarychance, a manoeuvre by the French pikemen opposingthis that he had never seen before and thus had no way ofanticipating. The pikemen formed a square, to shatter theimpact of the king’s heroic charge, while Tudor dis-mounted within it and kept his head down. The king’s al-most superhuman efforts to break through, which came soclose to success, at last give us the vista of courage thateven his harshest critics have always acknowledged.

In August 2002 I walked the traditional battle site atthe time of its annual re-enactment, and discussed myideas with some of the participants. I have visited manybattle sites and have often found them intensely movingplaces where one can easily sense the drama and emotionof the life and death combats which have marked them.The tranquil surrounds of Ambion Hill felt to me curi-ously lacking in such qualities, but I wondered whethermy own beliefs about the location could be causing me tomiss something. Then one of the re-enactors turned to meand said: ‘I’ve camped out on lots of sites from the Wars ofthe Roses. Some of them are really spooky. It’s like it allhappened yesterday — you can almost hear the horses.But this place has never felt to me like a battlefield.’

About the Author:Michael K. Jones, an independent scholar, is the co-author,with Malcolm Underwood, of The King’s Mother, a biographyof Margaret Beaufort. His rationale for siting the battle atAtherstone can be found in his new book, Bosworth 1485 -Psychology of a Battle (Tempus/Arcadia, 2002) ISBN: 0 75242334 7 Hardback UK £25 USA $29.99.

Members of the American branch receive a 10% dis-count by calling Arcadia toll-free at 888-313-2665 andmentioning the secret code — “Atherstone.”

Or go to the American Branch website (www.r3.org)and use the link to Amazon Books, and your purchase willbenefit the American Branch.


The Battle of Barnet

Martin ReboulEditor’s note: media attention has been focused of late onre-evaluations of the last battle of Richard III’s career, Bosworth.The first battle of his career, Barnet, also raises any number ofinteresting questions.

This article was posted to the newsgroup soc.history.medi-eval by Martin Reboul and is reprinted here by permission.His opinions of Richard III do not match those of mostRicardians, and some will quarrel with certain characteriza-tions or interpretations of one or another of the dramatis per-sonae. Those members who closely analyze battles andbattlefields of the Wars of the Roses, however, may be in-trigued by some of the theories he presents here.

Due to the length of the article, Part II will be published inthe Spring, 2003 Register.

Mr. Reboul will be providing his references and maps at alater date and they will be posted on the http://www.r3.org/website — check the “what’s new” section for the link.

1 : The ‘Re-Arrivall’ of Edward IVEdward returned to England in force, grimly determined toregain the throne after spending nearly a year in exile. Formost of that time, Edward, along with his youngest brotherRichard and a few friends, had been the guests of Charles theBold, Duke of Burgundy. Charles had married Edward’solder sister Margaret some years before, and was thereforeunder some obligation to his brother-in-law. Charles had tofinance the invasion, as Edward had left everything behindwhen he fled, even his heavily pregnant wife Elizabeth. Shehad given birth in Westminster sanctuary during his absence,and Edward had yet to see his baby son. The departure fromEngland had been so unexpectedly hurried, he had beenobliged to pay for hire of a ship with his fur cloak, revealing aserious ‘cash flow problem’ in the Royal Accounts.

Fortunately for Edward, Duke Charles was bitterlyopposed to the man who had effectively forced him out ofEngland, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Warwick andDuke Charles had taken an instant personal dislike toeach other at their first meeting many years before, andbeen enemies ever since. Warwick was also on veryfriendly terms with King Louis XI of France, to the pointof offering Louis military support in the form of archersfor use in the long running feud between France and Bur-gundy — a very serious threat to Duke Charles indeed.

Charles was put in an awkward spot even so. He out-wardly supported the Lancastrian cause, and was alreadyharbouring the Dukes of Exeter and Somerset and otherprominent Lancastrians when Edward arrived, causinghim no little inconvenience and embarrassment. Never-theless, he welcomed them to stay at his court, no doubtseeing an excellent opportunity to use them to disrupt ordestroy Warwick, and provide a good excuse to dumpmany expensive house guests into the bargain. Exeter andSomerset had duly been sent back to England well beforeEdward’s invasion, after solemnly promising Charles todo their utmost to undermine Warwick. Warwick

reluctantly had to welcome these two bitter personal ene-mies back into England, as he was now officially aLancastrian.

Now, after months of preparation and secret corre-spondence with prospective allies in England, drummingup support and smoothing the way, the time had come tosend his Yorkist guests home too. At great expense, theDuke provided Edward with a fleet of ships, horses,equipment and extensive mercenary support, includingthe latest hi-tech Burgundian hand gunners (who didn’tcome cheap!).

At the start Edward’s venture seemed ill-starred. Theplanned invasion nearly ended in disaster before he evenlanded, as a storm sank a ship full of valuable horses andscattered the rest of his fleet in the North Sea. Their re-ception on the east coast was unexpectedly hostile, andEdward was forced to give up any hopes of landing in EastAnglia, when local forces loyal to the Earl of Oxford pre-pared to attack his scouts. He sailed north, and eventuallymanaged to disembark safely at Ravenspur, a small porton the mouth of the Humber estuary, long since washedaway into the North Sea. After landing his batteredforces and re-grouping, Edward continued to receive arather unenthusiastic response from the locals. Most re-fused to join him, and some were actively hostile. Townsclosed their gates and refused him entry, and the substan-tial support he hoped to get from Henry Percy inNorthumberland failed to materialise. He vacillated andmade unlikely excuses to avoid joining Edward, despitethe fact that Edward had returned him the Percy estatesand restored to him the title of Earl of Northumberland(still in the possession of the Percy family to this day). Itmust have been a bitter blow to Edward, for he had takenthe coveted title away from his former friend and loyalsupporter John Neville, deeply insulting and offendinghim by doing so. The very reason Edward had been forcedto flee from England had been the aggrieved JohnNeville’s sudden and unexpected defection, to side withhis brother Richard, Earl of Warwick.

Percy, still holding the Northumberland title, prom-ised only to stay neutral — better than nothing, for thePercies were Lancastrian supporters by tradition. It sayslittle for Henry Percy that he failed to actively support ei-ther side in the campaign. He sat back to wait and seewhat happened, no doubt hoping to ingratiate himselfwith the eventual victor without taking any risks. Al-though he managed to hold on to the Northumberland ti-tle, his weakness was noted, and Henry Percy paid dearlyfor his timidity in the end. He was killed while collectingtaxes some years later, neither respected nor feared evenby his own tenants.

Deciding on a more cautious and clandestine ap-proach, Edward proclaimed that he had no intention ofre-taking the throne, having returned only to claim his


rightful inheritance, the Dukedom of York. The City ofYork was prepared to believe him, and opened the gateson condition he swore a solemn oath that this was indeedhis purpose, which Edward duly did. To persuade the citi-zens of York of his intentions, he even sported the red andblack colours and ostrich feathers of Prince Edward ofLancaster, son of King Henry VI, parading outside thewalls with cries of allegiance to “King Harry”, accompa-nied by his brother Richard.

Edward was never too bothered about keeping suchoaths of course, as many discovered to their cost after ac-cepting his carefully worded and worthless pardons. Mes-sages were dispatched by courier to potential alliesthroughout the land, and as support began to roll in hisconfidence grew. Edward soon marched south, hoping todeal with Warwick and the other prominent Lancastriansbefore they could join forces and form an overwhelminglylarge army. He bypassed Marquess Montagu, John Neville,who had a force of unknown size at Pontefract. Montagufailed to engage or pursue, for reasons unknown. Mean-while Warwick was in the Midlands, also desperately try-ing to raise support. This campaign took place long beforethere was a standing army for the Crown to use, and armieshad to be raised as and when needed by marching on re-cruitment drives, and sending out Commissions of Array,orders, urgent requests, and pleas for help. One of thesesurvives, with a touching postscript from Warwick himself,the writing showing obvious signs of strain and great ur-gency. It was sent to Henry Vernon, a minor landowner andgentleman who could raise a small force of armed tenants -the essential bread and butter forming the bulk of Englisharmies in the 15th Century. The support of such men wasvital but not always easy to obtain. Although on first nameterms with Warwick, Vernon seems to have ignored his re-quest, as well as orders and requests from Clarence and Ed-ward to join them.

Warwick was no doubt very dubious about the loyaltyof his fickle son-in-law George, Duke of Clarence, Ed-ward’s treacherous and untrustworthy brother. Clarencesent assurances that he was on his way with a large force,as indeed he was. He failed to mention he was on his wayto join Edward, however. As mentioned before, his defec-tion had been arranged well in advance by correspon-dence, while Edward languished in Burgundy. Thatexplains how Clarence managed to have so many troopsready for battle (some 7000 according to Warkworth),when the rest of England seems to have been caught onthe hop. After an uncomfortable but successful reunionwith brothers Edward and Richard, Clarence’s men hur-riedly covered up their Lancastrian “SS” collars. Somemight well say that was a very appropriate symbol for thetreacherous, ruthless, and murderous Duke with hind-sight. It appears that their hasty needlework was not of avery high standard, for their poorly concealed collars werenoticed and remarked upon later.

Suddenly faced with Edward’s greatly enlarged force,Warwick quickly went onto the defensive and refused tobe drawn. He took refuge in Coventry with around 4000men, one of the most securely walled cities in England at

the time, and wisely turned down Edward’s challenges tomeet him in battle. He also scorned his promises and of-fers of pardon, well aware that Edward’s pardons oftencame with strings attached, such as failure to mentionsummary execution following shortly after acceptance!Warwick seems to have been quite rattled by the defectionof Clarence (always so predictably untrustworthy andtreacherous), though it is difficult to believe he was thatsurprised, considering his own extensive personal experi-ence of betrayal and being betrayed.

Not a patient man, and never one to endure the tediumof sieges (having always delegated such work to others inthe past), Edward and his army suddenly departed andmarched south, having even failed to provoke his cousinby occupying Warwick Castle itself. The confidence ofthe Kingmaker was at a low ebb, probably not a bad thingfrom his point of view, as it made him unusually cautiouswhen he followed Edward. After inconclusive skirmisheswith the forces of Oxford and Exeter, who both rapidlywithdrew, Edward found himself welcomed into Londonon April 10th by Warwick’s youngest brother, anothershifty George, the Archbishop of York. George Nevilletook the precaution of obtaining a full pardon first, his ag-ile mind no doubt thoroughly checking the small printbefore delivering the City, Tower, and the hapless KingHenry VI without any resistance. To be fair, althoughGeorge Neville’s actions appear treacherous and under-hand, he was in a very difficult position indeed. The pop-ulation of London were traditionally Yorkist, and all hisattempts to drum up support for the ailing and discreditedKing Henry had met with a dismal lack of enthusiasm.Like everyone else in 15th century England, he had toconsider his own neck when the chips were down.

As King Henry greeted Edward, with genuine fond-ness it seems, he said with relief, “I know, dear cousin, thatmy life is safe in your hands . . .” or words to that effect.Poor Henry, the simple old soul no doubt much preferredthe idea of comfortable imprisonment with his books andprayers to another spell as a fugitive on the run. His trustthat he would be safe shows once again how pitifully inad-equate he was to cope with fifteenth century politics, orthe job of being King.

2 : Good Friday, Busy Saturday

Warwick waited uneasily within the walls of Coventryafter Edward’s sudden departure. Only after Oxford,Montagu, and Exeter had joined him was he satisfied thattheir combined strength was enough to face his formerpupil in battle. They followed Edward south, an army ofbetween 10,000 and 20,000 men, with a large and wellprovisioned artillery train. It is very difficult to gauge thesize of this force accurately, as no estimation of their fullyassembled number was recorded by any independent ob-server. In fact the true number has been concealed andconfused by chroniclers both biased towards theLancastrians and against them, who boosted or dimin-ished the figures for various reasons. As an example, “TheArrivall” declares that the Yorkists were vastly outnum-bered (only 9,000 against 30,000) in order to magnify Ed-ward’s achievement. This is clearly absurd, as Warwick


would certainly have won with 3:1 odds in his favour andEdward would never have willingly taken the field at sucha disadvantage. The chronicler Warkworth however,though mildly Lancastrian in sympathy, extended theodds even further in Warwick’s favour, stating thatWarwick had more than 30,000 men — probably to showthe popularity of his cause! On the whole, contemporarychroniclers tend to avoid the question, but the majorityseem to have said that the Lancastrian army was larger(Holinshed, with lost accounts of the battle to refer to,adds “..though others affirm the contrary.”) Generallyspeaking therefore, all these estimates should be consid-ered unreliable, and the best that can be done to estimatethe approximate size of the Lancastrian force is to add upthe probable numbers of men each of the individual lordsand gentlemen brought with them. The Lancastrianarmy marched into long suffering St.Albans (after twobattles there during the last few years, it is unlikely thatthere was much left to pillage in the town, even if it wereallowed), and camped just outside on the night of GoodFriday. The next morning they marched a few miles downthe Great North Road towards London, and halted atGladsmuir Heath, just north of Barnet.

Here Warwick decided to make his stand. He hadplenty of time and daylight to choose his ground carefully,and he chose well. Once the best position was decided, therest of the day was spent setting up camp and preparingfor battle. The formidable Lancastrian artillery array wascarefully deployed, probably centered around Old FoldManor, using the moat around the house as part of theirdefence. The majority of the guns were trained andranged on the Great North Road leading north out ofBarnet — the only convenient route Edward could take toapproach. With the guns set up in front of the line (15thcentury soldiers usually kept well clear of artillery), the in-fantry were deployed across the plateau that MonkenHadley is situated on, about half a mile north of HighBarnet as it is known today.

“High” is a very good description. The ground risesrapidly from the plain of London to the south, a hugemound of boulder clay once pushed before a glacier thatended near Potters Bar during the last ice age. Strangethough it may seem, a fragile link thus associates the out-come of the battle of Barnet with prehistoric glacialmovement, as the waterlogged boulder clay of this highground, still covered in ponds and bogs which are shownon the earliest maps available, indirectly caused one of theearliest recorded ‘friendly fire situations’ (to use the ratherrevolting terminology of the late 20th Century).

A full analysis of the initial positions of the two forces,together with early maps of the battlefield and details ofthe geology of the area, are included in Appendix 1.

At first glance it may appear that Warwick, consider-ing his extensive military experience, chose a rather oddposition. A quick look at the terrain shows even the mostamateur “table top General” that Barnet itself would havebeen the perfect place to array his force. With his heavyartillery dominating the only approach, Edward’s armywould surely have been decimated as it laboured up the

steep hill. That is the reason that Warwick did not take upthat position however.

Used as we are nowadays to the idea of street fightingand all out mobile warfare, it seems absurd he chose to po-sition his army in a place that allowed the enemy plenty ofroom to form up and attack. The Earl of Warwick knewexactly what he was doing of course, and knew his enemywell too. Edward, no matter how keen to lock horns,would never suicidally attack such an impregnable posi-tion. Warwick was also acutely aware that time was run-ning short, for armies in those days were liable to meltaway quickly, especially if they were getting hungry andsaw no prospect of pillaging ahead. He had to tempt Ed-ward to battle immediately. That was the way things weredone. Edward could stay comfortably in well provisionedLondon if he wished, gathering strength all the time assupport rolled in (which it was, as his army growing hourby hour at this time). Warwick therefore gave him achance to engage by choosing a convenient spot for a bat-tle and waiting. There was great pressure on Warwick toengage as soon as possible for other reasons. His force, al-ready demoralized by uncertainty and suspicion, were ingreat danger of breaking up if faced with any more delay.Some sections had already been forced to retreat in disar-ray in the last few days of the campaign and the situationwas now critical. In another day or two confidence wouldevaporate and the men would be off home . . . or off tojoin the other side.

Warwick banked on the hot-headed and aggressiveEdward soon responding, suspecting he would be unableto resist the opportunity to engage. He was right. A morerelaxed and thoughtful commander may well have waitedsafely behind the walls of London until the Lancastriansjust melted away. But not Edward — he wanted bloodyrevenge, and he wanted it now. And Warwick seems tohave had a more subtle, tactical reason to tempt him aswell. Formal letters of challenge arranging the date, time,and place to fight were unnecessary (although such writ-ten challenges did occur, notably before Flodden in 1513).That is not to say that ambushes, nasty surprises and devi-ous concealments were ‘not allowed’ — such things hap-pened fairly often. Even so, a certain amount of conventionstill existed when fighting in those days, as well as an un-willingness to abandon tried and tested methods or forma-tions, even amongst the most far sighted and enlightenedcommanders. Looking back at what happened, it seemslikely that Warwick planned to use his superior artillery tosoften up or even destroy Edward before he had a chance toarray for battle.

Edward marched from London as soon as he could af-ter receiving reports of Warwick’s position, and theYorkist army approached High Barnet as dusk was falling.To sidetrack for a moment, there is a detail about thedates and times of year of all battles fought in Britain be-fore 1752 (all save the battle of Britain in fact!), which isseldom mentioned. In 1752 the calendar was adjusted tothe Gregorian system we use today. The Julian calendarused before that date took no account of the 11 minutesand 4 seconds difference between the solar year and the

Battle of Barnet


calendar year. Not a lot, true, but it meant that the calen-dar date had gradually moved out of step with the sun andthe seasons, and this was becoming quite apparent by the15th century, as the thousands of 11 minute ‘extra bits’added up to 11 days or so. Effectively, April 14th 1471was seasonally like April 25th is today. In other words, thesun set a bit later, rose earlier, and perhaps the weatherwas a bit warmer — although the English weather seemsto have been just as unpredictable then as it is today.

As another intriguing distraction, it would also affectthe traditional anniversaries of battles and events thatghost hunters might well think about. After long watcheson windswept battlefields, or stakeouts at murder scenesand so on, do they go home disappointed 11 days beforethe “event” perhaps? Or maybe ghosts still keep an eye onthe current calendar date when organising theirappearances?

Edward left London in the late afternoon, at about 4p.m. (1), allowing some four or five hours of daylight tocover the twelve mile journey. The best estimate of theirnumber was made by Gerhard von Wesel, an experiencedGerman military man who was in London on a trade mis-sion, and the only independent observer who saw the bat-tle and left an account of it. There is no reason to questionhis estimate of 12,000 plus. The timing also seems cor-rect, as we know they carried artillery up the steep hill toBarnet. Edward’s advance guard, a sizeable light cavalryforce, briefly skirmished with some of Warwick’s scouts inHornsey park. They were quickly chased off, and headednorth towards Barnet to tell Warwick that Edward was onhis way. The Yorkist advance party reached Barnet well be-fore the rest of the army, and found the town lightly de-fended. The small Lancastrian force stationed there put upno significant resistance and were soon dislodged, probablyhaving been instructed to do so. They headed up the GreatNorth Road, hotly pursued by Edward’s fore-riders. Abouthalf a mile to the north, at a point somewhere just to thesouth of Dury road, they encountered a large body ofWarwick’s men “by an hedgesyde”(2). This is one of the fewclues that helps to place the Lancastrian forces on the field.Edward’s men quickly turned back rather than face a hail ofarrows, and raced back down the North Road to reportback.

This incident has led to some odd ideas about the exactplace where the battle was fought, which are fully dis-cussed in Appendix 1. The speedy withdrawal ofWarwick’s men from Barnet, considering what happenednext, may well have been part of an attempt to lead theYorkists into a trap — an early use of the ‘killing zone.’This is a technique often used in modern defensive posi-tions to destroy or break up tank and infantry attacks, byleading, encouraging, or forcing the enemy into an areacovered by hidden artillery, mines and mortars. Warwick’ssubstantial artillery train was covering the North Road,which was and still is the only easy route north out ofBarnet.

Warwick now knew Edward was getting close, andthere was even a possibility of battle being joined that veryevening. He ordered the guns to be loaded and all men to

their battle stations. It may be at this moment thatWarwick made the traditional commander’s speech to histroops, if he had not already done so. His actual words werenot reliably recorded, although some chroniclers have em-bellished lost early versions with their own ideas(3).Carrying on that tradition, it is not difficult to guess at thecontents of his speech, knowing Warwick’s character andthe position he was in. He wasn’t afraid to admit makingerrors of judgement (when it suited his purpose), and per-haps part of his charm and persuasiveness when speakingin public was due to this unusual ‘honesty’. That is not tosay that Warwick would cheerfully eat humble pie however— he did have his carefully tended image to consider —15th century troops would not have been encouraged byhumility and self-effacement on the part of their leader.

He probably apologised for letting himself be deceivedby the treacherous Edward and turning his back on the“truly anointed king Harry,” followed by a list of Edward’smore obvious faults, doubtless mentioning the highly un-popular Woodvilles. He almost certainly mentioned thecurrent position of those with him on the field, and the vi-tal importance of sticking together and putting aside dif-ferences or quarrels remaining from years past. He wouldhave appealed to the men’s pride, emphasizing that theywere superior in skill, experience and number to their op-ponents, and emphasised that they were fighting for abetter cause, legally, historically, and ethically (whether hebelieved it himself or not). Perhaps he then followed upwith vague promises of good things to come and so on —not unlike any modern politician. He could even havemade a show of backslapping unity with Oxford andExeter, with a ghastly attempt at cheerfulness from thethree, and maybe his brother Lord Montagu joined them aswell . . .

That is pure speculation, of course, but it would havebeen a typical “Warwick gesture”, clever as he was at pub-licity and propaganda. Whatever he said it seems to havehad the desired effect — unifying his force. This most un-comfortable alliance of old and bitter enemies performedvery well together in the event, all considered.

Edward’s army had to climb Barnet hill at the end oftheir march, a formidable obstacle in those days. Even to-day it would be no easy task to ascend the slope in heavyarmour, dragging guns and heavy equipment, but in 1471there was no earth ramp to level the gradient, no tarmacroad, and no bus service! This stretch of road was notori-ously bad - treacherously icy in winter, and, according tofines imposed and complaints to the Abbot of St. Albans,frequently blocked with rubbish at the top of the hill. Icewould not have troubled the Yorkist army however, curs-ing the heat and dust as they laboured up the steep inclinewith all their heavy gear on the warm Spring evening.

Dusk was falling by the time they reached the top, andit was obviously too late for a battle that evening. The sunset at about ten past seven, and within an hour it wouldhave been almost completely dark. Edward wisely orderedhis troops to keep moving, unwilling to let them stay inBarnet. It is a fair assumption that the taverns were shutand stoutly boarded up, and the whole town looked


deserted. Despite the excellent discipline that both he andWarwick usually maintained, towns in the immediateproximity of a 15th century battle were not a good place tobe, particularly when the only main road ran throughthem. Any bold inhabitants who did remain would havebattened down the hatches, probably praying the Yorkistswould win and the chase would be northward, away fromBarnet. If the Lancastrians won there would be a ghastlyYorkist retreat through the town in disarray, followed byhordes of bloodthirsty and beerthirsty Lancastrians intenton pillaging and plundering anything in their path.

So Edward’s troops marched through the town, nodoubt looking wistfully at the profusion of tavern and innsigns and licking their lips at the thought of the cellars fullof drink, unattended, and so close. After trudging up thesteep hill on a very warm afternoon it must have beenagonising, but Edward was insistent. He appreciated thathis soldiers would perform better in the morning withouthaving spent the night quaffing free drink, since he liked adrop himself (to say the least!), and must have been veryfamiliar with the debilitating effects of a hangover. Sincethis could well be their last night (as indeed it was to befor many of them), the likelihood that they would betempted to over indulge and not feel quite so keen to dis-play their martial skills first thing next morning was onegood reason that Edward attempted an ambitious andvery difficult deployment in the dark.

It has often been said that Edward boldly arrayed hisarmy to the north of Barnet in a cunning and brilliant ma-noeuvre intended to outwit his highly dangerous foe.That is possible, but there are more likely reasons for hismove, the temptations in Barnet being only one. Neitherside seems to have had much idea of the position of theother on the field, which meant that by the time theYorkists had passed through Barnet and spread out eastand west across the Great North road in “three battle” for-mation, visibility was almost nil. Young Richard, Duke ofGloucester, in his first command, was extended hundredsof yards too far to the East, unaware that there was no en-emy to his front, just a muddy bog. On the left, LordHastings had no idea he was outflanked by the Earl ofOxford’s formidable force, including heavy cavalry. Ed-ward centered his army on the eastern side of the GreatNorth Road, something he certainly would not have doneon purpose. He was also recklessly close to theLancastrian line, which actually saved him from destruc-tion during the night, though more probably because ofluck than by clever design.

Warwick ordered his artillery to open fire, shootingblindly into the darkness and trained on the approaches tothe south. Edward may have taken a few losses as he hur-riedly deployed his force, and ordered them forward in si-lence, showing no lights. Edward also told his gunners tohold their fire so as not to give away the Yorkist position.The Lancastrian guns continued to fire, their shot nowfalling behind the enemy. Few of the Yorkist troops couldhave had much sleep that night, hearing shot whistlingoverhead and wondering if and when Warwick would dis-cover their actual position and shorten the range. It must

have been a very unpleasant night ‘under the guns ‘, in fullharness, anticipating the dawn and what it might bring.Warkworth said the Lancastrian guns fired all night, andthe Yorkist artillery hardly replied. In view of his position,Edward may have arranged for some of his guns to openfire from positions well to the rear of his army, specificallyintending to draw enemy fire and encourage them to con-tinue overshooting. There is no mention of this anywhere,but it would have been a good idea, and Edward was nevershort of those — not on the battlefield anyway. It wouldalso have helped to cover the noise of his force as they de-ployed, as armoured men make an incredible racket whenmoving, however carefully they try to keep quiet.

3 : The Fog of War. a Greate Mystery

The air temperature dropped quickly after dark, andmoisture that had evaporated from the wet clay ofGladsmuir Heath during the day condensed into a thickmist. Gladsmuir means “grey moor” in Old English,which may well come from the heavy mists which still oc-cur there to this very day. However, during the night be-fore the battle the ‘myste’ developed into something rarelyseen in Britain until the Industrial Revolution. Smokeand shockwaves from Warwick’s thundering artillerycaused water vapour in the air to condense around micro-scopic particles of partially burnt carbon and sulphur, theresidue of exploding gunpowder, and produced a thickchemical fog, so that when morning broke an unusuallydense “pea souper” enveloped the battlefield.

Fanciful attempts to blame the strange mist on a sor-cerer (working for Edward) are sadly a myth. A certainFriar Bungay (specifically accused by Halle) was supposedto have been responsible, using sorcery to raise the mistand being paid for his sinister work handsomely. But FriarBungay had been dead for many centuries by 1471 (unlesshe really did have astonishing powers!), having been acontemporary of Roger Bacon, centuries before the battleof Barnet. This link with the alleged inventor of gunpow-der is intriguing, even so — perhaps more than just a co-incidence? Whatever, when dawn broke, Edward wascertainly as irritated and dismayed by the poor visibility ashis opponent, as a clear view of banners and troop posi-tions was vital to take effective command in battle at thetime. If anybody was responsible for the mist, it was theEarl of Warwick and his enthusiastic use of gunpowder.

The Sun rose at about five o’ clock on Easter Sunday1471. Although there has been debate about the time thebattle actually started, it would not have concerned themen who took part — they had other things on theirmind, and nobody was looking at their watch! Observa-tion of misty dawns on the battlefield indicate that itwould probably have been well after five o’ clock beforevisibility was good enough for battle to commence, al-though both sides would have been in harness and readyfor action well before first light, if not throughout thenight. Even then, as the sun began to lighten the easternsky, little was visible on Gladsmuir Heath. The “mostethicke myst” that had concealed Edward’s night ma-noeuvres now hid everything. Although nervous soldierson both sides could hear the enemy somewhere in front of

Battle of Barnet


them, they were invisible - as were most of their friends,only a few yards away. A frightening prospect, indeed.

In the damp and chilly dawn they prepared for battle,checking and loading weapons, donning helmets andgauntlets, and warming up stiff muscles with practiceswings. Their sense of well being was improved by thehasty blessings and automatically mumbled absolutionsreceived from the (sometimes) dubious priests who ac-companied 15th century armies — many were prepared todie that day. Whether their souls were received intoHeaven in a State of Grace is unknown. They were proba-bly also cheered by a final drink and whatever cold foodthey had with them, if they had the stomach for it.Warwick surveyed the Lancastrian position with unease.In view of his military and political position he had prob-ably slept little, if at all during the last few days. He wasgreeted by his household men and fellow commanders,many of whom were also worried about what the day heldin store. It was reported by Phillipe de Commynes that ananxious John Neville took his brother Warwick aside andtold him he was greatly concerned about their troops. Ru-mours of possible betrayals within the alliance were shak-ing their confidence badly. He suggested that the best wayto boost the confidence of their men and demonstrate theNevilles’ absolute dedication to the cause of Lancaster,was for the pair of them to fight on foot. Considering thesituation, that probably would have been the mood in theranks, and Warwick realised his brother was right.Knowing only too well it meant he would have littlechance of escape if things went wrong, Richard Nevilleabandoned his horse and sent him to the rear. AsWarwick’s charger was led away he must have thoughtonce again how crucial this battle was going to be for himpersonally. It was a noble gesture and a brave act indeed,whether at Montagu’s suggestion or not.

With another rousing speech, probably along a “withyou to the end lads!” theme, he no doubt raised a mightycheer as he joined the ranks of his household men on foot.Such a speech probably suited his mood anyway, for hehad now burnt all his bridges, having even discarded anyhope of taking refuge in France if he failed — King LouisXI, Warwick’s friend and ally for so many years, had justbetrayed him by signing a truce with Duke Charles ofBurgundy out of the blue. That had effectively allowedEdward to return to England with Burgundian support,and the letter Warwick sent to Louis in his fury was a bitrude to say the least, certainly not the way to speak to anyKing, particularly a Medieval French King — even from aKingmaker!* Lord Montagu was said to have been almostsuicidal that morning, caring little whether he lived ordied. Both brothers finally realised that any hope of hap-piness or success in the future depended on the next fewhours - they had to win the battle of Barnet. This time itwas all or nothing, victory or death.

On the other side, Edward seems to have been in highand angry spirits. He would probably have addressed histroops with a fiery denouncement of the traitors and vil-lains they faced only two or three hundred yards away inthe mist. His men were well motivated, with scores to

settle and the prospect of claiming great rewards if Ed-ward won the day with their help. Warwick had detainedseveral Lords who now accompanied Edward, amongstthem the Duke of Norfolk ( John Mowbray), the Earl ofEssex (Henry Bourchier), and the Lords Cromwell andMountjoy. They now stood with their men at Edward’sside, having been released from the Tower by the treacher-ous failure of George Neville, left in charge of London.

The rewards and positions that Warwick had allowedthem during his brief period in power had not beenenough to gain their support. He would have been wiserto execute them.

The actual details of Edward’s speech are of course alsoa matter for speculation and supposition, though it is easyenough to guess the points he would have raised. Apartfrom derision about Warwick’s military achievements andhis treacherous return to the pathetic Henry VI and hiscronies (and did his beady eye perhaps fix itself on Clar-ence for an uncomfortable moment as he mentioned this,while his fickle brother awkwardly pretended to be dis-tracted and looked innocently away?). He almost certainlymentioned the wicked Margaret of Anjou, the likely ille-gitimacy of Henry’s son Edward, Prince of Lancaster, (arather likely rumour actually started by Warwick) and theturmoil and injustice their regime had caused in Englandpreviously, and the loss of France. Maybe he mentionedthat they were now supported by the French (bound toraise a good response of boos, catcalls, and rumbles of out-raged indignation).

Edward had so much ammunition, he probably didn’tknow where to start. Not renowned for eloquent speechmaking, he probably kept it short and pretty bluff, in-flamed with indignant anger and self-righteousness. Forthe first and only time during the Wars of the Roses hedidn’t order mercy to be shown to any man on the otherside, even the common soldiers, and may have gone fur-ther and ordered no quarter. This was to cost him verydear, and helped to make Barnet one of the hardest foughtbattles of the century, with an extremely high casualtyrate. A tactful and sincere offer of mercy and free pardonto the opposition may well have broken the fragile alli-ance, provoking a mass desertion of old Yorkist troops andcould have prevented a battle altogether. But Edward wasnot in the mood. Impulsive as ever, his blood was up —only violent revenge was going to satisfy him, whateverthe consequences or the risk.

Detail, The Battle of Barnet, by Martin Reboul


The Lancastrian guns ceased fire when dawn broke, asthe gunners and the rest of the army tried to get some ideaof what the enemy were up to and where they were.Whether the actual range of the Yorkist line was finallydiscovered is unknown, but it seems likely that neitherside ever really knew much until they actually saw eachother. Battle commenced with the usual artillery ex-change, and Edward’s guns were probably ranged moreaccurately, since the Yorkist gunners probably had someidea of the enemy position from observing gunflashes andfall of shot. Archers would have been unwilling to wastetheir precious stock of arrows against unseen targets, andcrossbowmen and hand gunners were very unlikely tohave fired blind, every shot being precious because of thetime it took them to reload.

Whether Warwick’s hastily re-aimed guns began totake a toll in the Yorkist ranks or may have looked likely todo so soon, Edward decided to take the initiative and at-tack. His aggression and martial zeal alone made him ea-ger to get to grips with the enemy, but he may well havebeen galled into action by enemy gunfire. His own guns,smaller in number as well as calibre, seem to have had lit-tle impact. Once the first few rounds were exchanged ev-eryone suddenly realised how horribly close the twoarmies were. Edward signaled “Advance Banner!” — theorder to attack.

In the fog, the signal was passed down the line bytrumpet call, and the Yorkists surged forward with greatgusto, shouting “Á Edward!” This sort of battle cry, oftenrecorded, probably became traditional during the Hun-dred Years War, indicating to the terrified French (inFrench, very considerately) exactly who their enemieswere, and who they were working for. This cry was a fa-miliar feature throughout the Wars of the Roses, and washeard for many years afterwards — please note, those whoaccuse the English of not bothering to learn foreignlanguages!

From the “off,” it probably took less than a minute forthe first dim shapes of enemy men at arms to appear fromthe fog. It must have been a dreadfully tense and very longminute for the Lancastrians, who stood firm nonethelessas the war cries and clanking armour got louder andcloser, and they braced themselves to receive the charge,shouting back their defiance. On Warwick’s right flank,with favourable ground ahead of him, the Earl of Oxforddecided to stay on his horse unlike his fellow command-ers. Outflanking his opponent Lord Hastings, his heavycavalry smashed into the side of the Yorkist rearward bat-tle, somewhere just to the southwest of where the GolfClub is today. Hastings’ men, obviously not expectingsuch a ferocious onslaught, broke almost immediately andretreated in disarray down the Great North Road towardsBarnet. Oxford’s men slaughtered many in the pursuit,and as so often happened in those days, gleefully chasedtheir enemies right off the field. As a result, Edward man-aged to reinforce his shattered left flank with reserves.Fortunately for him, the complete collapse and rout of hisleft wing was concealed from the rest of his army by thefog, and failed to demoralise or unnerve them unduly.

Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the field, youngRichard of Gloucester had also signaled ‘advance banner’,and moved forward. However, his men were quickly dis-concerted and confused as they found the ground drop-ping away rapidly and their feet sinking into boggyground. As they tramped determinedly onwards, the clashof steel and noise of battle could be heard to the west.They struggled on uneasily for a short while, but stillmade no contact with the enemy. Richard called a halt andlistened. The sound of battle was now almost to his rear,so he decided to head his force towards the noise of fight-ing. With an admirable feat of generalship for one in hisfirst real command, he turned his men around andtrudged westward until they found themselves climbinguphill onto firmer ground as the sound of battle camecloser. Surging out of the marsh, they surprised Exeter’sflank guard and attacked them from the side and probablybehind, surprising them completely.

The seemingly excellent position Warwick chose toprotect and anchor his left flank, relied on this treacher-ous swampy ground which nobody in their right mindwould ever normally have attempted to lead an armythrough. Exeter’s men may have been a little over confi-dent of their safety, quickly crumbled, then fell back in theface of Gloucester’s unexpected attack. The sudden ar-rival of Gloucester’s force also caused panic and suspicionin the Duke of Exeter as well as his men, highly suspiciousof Warwick and Montagu as he was. The entireLancastrian rearward flank (on the eastern side of the bat-tlefield) began falling back in disorder toward the north-west.. Visitors to the battlefield can relive this stickymoment today, though without a hail of arrows and gun-fire from the cricket pitch. The area is still very boggy de-spite modern drainage and a covering of trees (which wereprobably absent in 1471). Visit at your peril; it is immedi-ately to the east of Hadley Green.

Warwick quickly sent substantial reinforcements fromhis reserve, anxious to reassure the temperamental,untrusting Exeter that he had not been betrayed. It savedthe situation as Gloucester was soon stopped, his menweary after their swift advance following the climb out ofthe marsh. The Lancastrians then slowly started to pushthem back in a welter of swinging poleaxes, bills, ham-mers and swords.

In the centre, Montagu and Warwick were up againstthe best of Edward’s soldiers. After giving some ground toaccommodate the reinforced rearward flank, the lines sta-bilized, and then began the grim, exhausting sloggingmatch the battle of Barnet was to be. Many of the archers,having fired blind in the early stages and still hampered bypoor visibility, gave up their bows and advanced to the frontwielding hand weapons. Crossbowmen and hand gunnersstayed back, picking at targets of opportunity in the enemyranks or firing at their opposite numbers behind the enemylines. The effort of swinging battleaxes and war hammersin full or even partial armour is enormous. A system musthave existed to relieve men at the forefront of the fightingevery few minutes or so, as even the very fittest could not

Battle of Barnet


realistically have fought continuously for much longer thanten minutes or so.

Frustratingly, there are no surviving records of detailssuch as how deep the line was or exactly how troops wereorganised at the battle of Barnet. The first ‘military man-ual’ describing such things was printed in Burgundy (forDuke Charles) some years later, and recommends quite acomplicated structure of multiple lines with facilities formopping up breakthroughs

At Barnet things were probably much simpler.Knowing the approximate size of the two armies and theirlikely deployment, it can be assumed the lines were be-tween five and ten men deep over the whole front. If anymilitary drill was used, no details of it have survived. Mostmen at the front would have wielded a pole weapon, themajority likely to have been bills. It doesn’t seem as if any‘standard drill’ was adhered to, though routines for closequarter combat with spear and bill would have been prac-tised by units organised from towns and villages. Theystood side by side in battle if possible, closely supervisedby their local lord or ‘gent’ and his henxmen (a splendidold word replaced by “henchmen” today, though withoutthe modern implication of thuggery). Once battle wasjoined, it was a question of slogging away to the bitterend, which is why morale, confidence, and the steadyinginfluence of veterans and valiant commanders were so im-portant in deciding the day. Apart from sending in re-serves to reinforce weakpoints in the line, thecommanders could do little to affect the eventual out-come, apart from setting a good example by their ownpersonal courage.

The artillery pieces that were arrayed across Warwick’sfront played no further part in the battle after the twosides met, it being impossible to hit the enemy alone. Theguns probably fired their last rounds of “grapeshot” orsharp lumps of flint when the charging Yorkists appearedfrom the fog, at point blank range. After that, the battlewas over as far as they were concerned. Edward’s gunswere left way behind in the mist, and although on a clearday they may have been able to hit Warwick’s reserve for-mations, they were of no use in such poor visibility.Warwick soon received news from the vaward flank whichmust have cheered him considerably. Oxford had out-flanked Hastings and delivered a crushing blow, routingthe Yorkist left. Most of Hastings men had broken andrun without putting up any significant resistance. Edwardmust have sent a considerable portion of his reserve tosave the situation, though probably not on such a scale asWarwick had on the other side of the field.

Warwick was unlucky on two counts — firstly, the mistconcealed the rout of Hastings from the rest of Edward’sarmy, secondly, Oxford’s men pursued their beaten foes allthe way to Barnet and had at this point effectively left thefield. Oxford, who should have known better, seems tohave led the chase. Although his men inflicted heavy ca-sualties on the fleeing Yorkists (some of whom foundhorses and soon arrived in London with tales of disaster),they were already beaten. He should have stayed to keepup the pressure on Edward’s centre. He should perhaps be

forgiven for this, however, as in all his 29 years, he and hisfamily had lost time after time to the Yorkists, and his fa-ther had been barbarically executed by order of Edward’sevil “J.P.”, John Tiptoft (a.k.a. “The Butcher of Eng-land”). This was his first chance for revenge.... though nothis last (see Epilogue).

Besides, in such poor visibility it was very hard to knowwhat was going on at all. His men gave up the chase atBarnet and turned to the more financially rewarding busi-ness (normally the top priority of medieval soldiers) oflooting the town. Oxford then remembered his duty, andsent a messenger to Warwick with the good tidings. Afterthe initial confusion and Exeter’s panic stricken requestfor help, Warwick realised that although he had beenforced to commit the bulk of his reserve, the line washolding and the situation was stable for the time being.Now he had an unexpected trump card to play too, for ifOxford returned with even a small force and hit Edwardhard in the rear, the Yorkist army would almost certainlybe finished. Warwick sent a courier to find Oxford with amessage to gather his men and return to the field and dojust that. It probably also informed him that things werenot too desperate and told him to gather a sizeable forcetogether and hit Edward as hard as he could from behind,rather than drift back in dribs and drabs. Whether or-dered to or not, this is what Oxford did, as he spent two orthree hours collecting up his men, now merrily pillagingand plundering Barnet in the age old tradition of victori-ous English soldiers. As Barnet was (and still is) wellserved with taverns and inns (being effectively on the“medieval M1"), they would have been in high spirits in-deed, in an age when breakfast time drinking was encour-aged for adults and children alike.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, Edward was start-ing to feel the pressure of re-organised Lancastrian might.Whether he was heavily outnumbered as some sourcesclaim, or his hastily assembled troops were inferior toWarwick and Montague’s veterans, the Lancastriansstarted to push uncomfortably hard (4), and inch by inchthe Yorkist line began to give ground.

At this grim moment Edward came into his own, andarguably had his finest hour. In ‘The Arrivall’ there is aunique account of a real fifteenth century hero in battle.With a little imagination the impressive sight of Edward’sgigantic armoured frame mounted on a great whitecharger can be pictured. ‘The Arrivall’ puts it thus . . .

“(Edward). . . manly, vigorously and valiantly assailedthem with great violence and beat and bore down aforehim all that stood in his way.” Edward led an elite force ofheavy cavalry, numbering only a few hundred or so, proba-bly including Clarence (under close surveillance) and hisbrother-in-law, Anthony Woodville. Again and again heled them into the heart of the fighting, rallying his troopsand stopping the Lancastrians from breaking through thehard pressed Yorkist line. And led meant just that — Ed-ward was at the very front, at great personal risk. On thevaward flank, Richard of Gloucester was running intotrouble however. Exeter and his remaining men, now re-inforced with crack troops from Warwick’s reserve, slowly


advanced across the ground they had taken in the first fewminutes of the battle. He steadfastly refused to ask forhelp from Edward however, aware that his brother washard pressed himself. Pride in the first ever command en-trusted to him, combined with his foolhardy yet coura-geous determination, resolved Richard to show hisbeloved brother that he could do the job without help. Itappears that two of his squires were killed fighting along-side the young Duke, clearly showing how ferocious thefighting was at this time.

Meanwhile, half a mile to the south, Oxford had gath-ered a substantial force, almost a thousand men. With theDeVere battle standard at the front, they headed in col-umn towards the sound of fighting. Visibility was stillvery poor, and they followed the Great North Road. Hadthe positions not changed so dramatically, this would haveled them up behind Edward’s centre, but Warwick andMontagu had pushed the Yorkist line back across theGreat North road, which Oxford was unaware of. He ad-vanced cautiously and his men peered nervously throughthe mist for a sight of the enemy, unaware they were head-ing straight towards Warwick and Montagu’s vaward.Oxford’s banner was spotted through the fog by theLancastrian flank guard. Seeing the ‘Starre with Streyms’of the DeVere family, some nervous archers mistook it forthe ‘Sunne with Raeys’, Edward’s battle standard whichhe had adopted after three suns were seen in the sky justbefore he won the battle of Mortimers Cross. Once again,the Three Suns of York were to prove incredibly lucky forthe three surviving sons of York . . . Assuming Edwardhad detached a force to outflank them or Oxford’s menwere latecomers from London arriving to support theYorkists, Montagu’s flank guard loosed off a volley of ar-rows, killing several of Oxford’s men, and fire was re-turned before anyone realised that a catastrophic mistakehad been made — too late. The damage had been done.Both Oxford and Montagu’s troops assumed they hadbeen betrayed, and outraged, dismayed cries of “treach-ery!” and “treason!” went up. These did untold damage, asthe army Warwick had kept together with such great skilland leadership was still highly vulnerable, even at thepoint of victory. At the back of every soldier’s mind lin-gered the possibility that their allies would betray them,however preoccupied with fighting they were. The cry of“treachery!” passed quickly down the line, and theLancastrians hesitated, wondering anxiously what wasgoing on, and (more to the point) whether they wereabout to be attacked from behind . . .

Oxford assumed that Montagu had turned traitor andhurriedly withdrew his force, who scattered and headedfor home. It was each man for himself, the usual case insuch desperate retreats. With only a few close supporters,Oxford headed for Scotland in dismay and disgust. Whatshould have been the final blow that broke Edward’s col-lapsing army backfired, and now proved fatal to theLancastrians instead . . .

4 : The Twist in the Tale

As his troops faltered and hesitated, Warwick realisedthat a critical moment had arrived. He knew only too well

that battles are often won and lost in a few seconds ofpanic and confusion. Edward was equally aware of thistoo, and saw what was likely to be his last chance. Rallyinghis exhausted troops, he exhorted them to attack with alltheir remaining strength, then charged the falteringLancastrian line, throwing in any remaining reserves hestill had — all or nothing.

The calls of “Treason!” and “Treachery!” turned thetide. Although no betrayal had even taken place, the un-derlying unease and suspicion in the Lancastrian ranks fi-nally decided the day, and spelt their doom. As theylooked anxiously around them for non-existent attackersconcealed in the fog, the Yorkists assaulted them with re-newed vigour from the front. Messengers racing down theline to assure everyone that all was well were either ig-nored or failed to arrive in time. On the point of victoryonly seconds ago, the Lancastrians began to retreat inpanic, some dropping their weapons and running north-ward as the rest fell back in increasing disarray.

First to crumble seems to have been the rearwardflank, and here young Richard of Gloucester can scarcelyhave believed his luck. About to be thrown back into themarsh whence he had surprised Exeter several hours be-fore, his men now found themselves advancing rapidly,back across the same ground they had already won andlost that morning. The grim slaughter began, as it alwaysdid (and still does) when orderly retreat turns into desper-ate flight. Squelching through the sticky, churned upmud, blood and gore, tired, heavily armoured men had lit-tle chance of escape. They were either knocked down andkilled, or overwhelmed and captured. Henry Holland,Duke of Exeter, tried to rally his men, and seems to havemade a valiant last stand. For all his faults he was no cow-ard, and his brutal, thuggish nature was well suited to thebattlefield as was his stubborn tenacity and unwillingnessever to give in. He fought on foot alongside his men likeWarwick and Montagu and paid the price, for wearingheavy armour meant no chance of outrunning his ene-mies. He was beaten to the ground and probablyconcussed by a heavy blow to the head. However, al-though his armour was taken, Exeter wasn’t recognised bythe Yorkist soldiers, and they left his unconscious body inthe mud, probably thinking he was dead. Had they knownhe was Henry Holland, they would certainly have madesure he was.

In the centre, Warwick knew what was coming andmade a last desperate attempt to rally his men as Edwardcharged. Alongside his friends and the loyal men of hishousehold, he moved to the front of the line. Raising hisvisor (at considerable risk) to show his troops that the il-lustrious Earl of Warwick was alive and well, he called tothem to stand firm — he would stay with them come whatmay. It is written that he shouted:

“This is our last resource! Withstand this charge, andthe field is ours!”(5)

He may have been right if he had but a few reservesleft. Whether he actually said those words or not,Warwick tried to save the situation with a dramatic ges-ture, typical of the man — he wasn’t dubbed “the bravest

Battle of Barnet


man of a brave age” later on for nothing. Even so, he wasprobably unaware of his collapsing left flank, still hiddenfrom view by the fog. Whatever the case, more grim newswas on its way — his brother John, Lord Montagu, wasdead. Warwick’s men held back the Yorkist onslaught fora short while, but when it became clear that the left flankhad collapsed and Oxford was not coming back, theyknew they would soon be surrounded and hopelessly out-numbered. They began to fall back, in good order to beginwith even though they knew the battle was lost.

Veterans would have been painfully aware that soon themoment would come to run for their lives, and at thatpoint they were most likely to die. As panic set in and theremaining Lancastrians broke around them, men began todrop their weapons and head north. The moment wouldinevitably come when all order was lost and it was eachman for himself. Tired after fighting for hours, the mostexhausting thing a man can do both physically and men-tally, they finally discarded weapons and armour, and ranfor their lives, hotly pursued by the equally tired but jubi-lant Yorkists. Men in full armour could not hope to shed itor run very far, and those who had not wisely withdrawnearly and reached their horses were quickly overwhelmed.The rest mostly escaped, but a number of the least fit,wounded or most exhausted could go no further afterabout half a mile. Running downhill, they found them-selves bogged down in a muddy dip, nowadays known asDead Man’s Bottom. Slowed down or stopped altogether,they were overtaken by the fittest and strongest of theirpursuers, and slaughtered.

It is not known exactly where Warwick’s brother John(Lord Montagu) was when he was killed, but whetherWarwick actually saw it happen or not, he probably wasn’tvery far away. Precisely what happened remains one of theunsolved mysteries of Barnet. As mentioned before, it ishighly likely that Warwick posted one or more trustedagents close to his brother, probably with orders to killhim at any sign of treachery or desertion to his old friendEdward. Warkworth, in his chronicle, claims that theMarquess was “agreed and appointed with Edward”, i.e.,his defection was prearranged, and that he wore Edward’slivery beneath his outer clothing. Apparently, one ofWarwick’s men spotted this, and killed him at the mo-ment of crisis. That is possible, but seems unlikely in viewof the situation. It would have been a considerable risk towear such clothing undetected. Besides, a commander ofMontagu’s experience would have seen the moment to de-fect during the initial confusion, and would hardly havepressed on with the fight until the side he was intending tojoin was almost beaten.

Henry Holland may also have had an agent besideMontagu, and so might the Earl of Oxford. Heavy handedthough it may seem, it would have been a wise move onboth their parts in view of their previous relationship withthe Nevilles. After John Neville had failed to attack Ed-ward’s tiny force in the North and had the opportunity tomeet him secretly and plot, it could be said that Oxfordand Exeter would have been negligent not to have pro-tected their interests so. Whatever the truth, at some point

during Edward’s final attack, Montagu died — whetherby the hand of an agent from his own side or a Yorkistsoldier will always remain a mystery.

It is of course possible that Montagu did attempt todefect, and some chroniclers have stated that this was in-deed the case (6). It seems unlikely in view of what isknown of him as a man however. As already mentioned, aman with Lord Montagu’s military experience wouldhave seen his moment to defect at the start of the battle(assuming he had an opportunity), and would hardly haveleft it so late. Furthermore, had he decided to throw in hislot with the Yorkists and considering what is known ofJohn Neville’s nature and personality, he would have beenmuch more likely to openly join Edward during hismarch South. Subterfuge and clandestine activities werenot in the nature of John, who seems to have been anhonourable and loyal fellow, unlike his more Machiavel-lian brothers.

There is another possibility, which concernsMontagu’s state of mind at the time. It was said that he“appeared not to care if he lived or died...” before the bat-tle (7). John Neville, unwillingly forced to fight against hisoldest and dearest friends and probably feeling that evenhis own brother no longer trusted him, was the sort ofcharacter who may have chosen to die in battle. Perhapshe pressed suicidally into the fiercest fighting and died —Marquess Montagu would have seen that as an honour-able death? Edward was upset by the death of JohnNeville following Barnet, and probably regretted hishasty, high tempered words at the start of the battle, eventhough it seems unlikely they were directly responsible.Montagu’s death will always remain mysterious, but whathappened to his brother has become obscured in legendand fanciful fabrication.... As the tide of battle turned in-exorably against the Lancastrian hard core, RichardNeville must have felt disappointment bordering on dis-belief. He had seen victory within his grasp, suddenlysnatched away by Dame Fortune as he closed his fingers.It was a bitter blow for one whose fortune had alwaysseemed so assured, one who never gave up whatever theodds.

AGM 2002:Wayne Ingalls,

Laura Blanchard,& SharonMichalove


Diary Of A Ricardian Tour

— Mary Jane (Jayney) Mack

The idea to join the Ricardian Tour for 2002 came to mewhile I was listening to a fellow English history major(modern England, but I don’t hold it against her) relate heradventure of traveling to London. She felt that, as a studentof English history, she couldn’t properly understand itwithout having traveled to England at least once. Being inthe same situation (but as a medieval English history major),I agreed. I set out that very day for the campus computercenter to see if the Richard III Society offered any kind oftour of Richard III sites. I found Linda Treybig’s name onthe website and called her to sign up that night. I was set!!!

I was very fortunate in that the other members of thetour, Nancy and Joan along with Linda, were just as ex-cited as I was to be going and being part of a group, andwe had a lot of fun! The first three nights we spent in theNorth at a really quaint inn. We went to the city of York;and we were joined by members of the Yorkshire Branchfor our tour of Middleham Castle. This was, for me, oneof the highlights of the trip — getting to meet Englishmembers of the Society. It was not only a terrific chanceto learn more about Richard III, but also an opportunityto learn more about English society and culture. It was anexperience I will treasure for the rest of my life, and itgreatly enhanced the educational value of the trip.

We also visited, while up North, the castles of SheriffHutton, Conisburgh, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and Richmond.The visit to the Mount Grace Priory was wonderful, as wasour tour of Haddon Hall, a perfectly preserved medievalstately home. As we moved on, we spent the night inLoughborough at a guest house named for SimonDeMontfort, where we were treated to a dessert called“Spotted Dick” which they renamed “Spotted Richard” inour honor.

The next day was Bosworth Field where we werejoined by our guide (not a member of the Society but en-tirely sympathetic to Richard III), who gave us a wonder-ful and insightful tour of the battlefield. We laid ourwhite roses at Richard’s memorial stone and hung theAmerican Branch wreath in the church at SuttonCheyney. Next came a visit to Kenilworth Castle,and then we were joined by members of theWorcestershire Branch at Worcester Cathedralwhich Linda, knowing that one of my special ar-eas of study was King John, graciously includedjust for me so I could see his tomb there. A visitto Great Malvern Priory brought the day to anend, and we retired to a cute B&B set high in theMalvern Hills. It was absolutely beautiful.

The next day, joined once more by our friendsfrom the Worcestershire Branch, we were off toLudlow Castle, and I am eternally grateful toNancy for asking that it be included and to Lindafor being so accommodating. Next came the little

Norman church at Kilpeck, Goodrich Castle, and a reallyfun dinner with our new friends.

The following day found us at Tintern Abbey and thenin the city of Exeter. We toured the cathedral and evenhad some time to explore the city. We stayed the night inExeter and traveled the next day to Salisbury with itswonderful cathedral. This was especially exciting for ussince Nancy had just finished reading Sarum, and I hadthe chance to see one of the four original drafts of theMagna Carta (not to mention the tomb of King John’shalf brother, William Longsword)! We stayed over twonights in the seaside town of Bournemouth, and had achance to see and walk along the coast of the EnglishChannel. It was beautiful.

The next day we set out for Corfe Castle. I must sayhere that this was a real treat for me not only because thecastle is so closely linked with King John, but also becauseit was so incredibly beautiful. The castle sits very high upand the views were spectacular. It is easy to imagine KingJohn, or later the Dukes of Gloucester and Clarence, rid-ing up the stone road to the castle. This was followed bylunch with local English members of the Society and thena trip to Athelhampton manor.

We detoured from the medieval world to the Romanthe next day with a visit to Fishbourne Roman Palace. Itwas fun to have a chance to see a reconstructed Romanvilla, and to compare their style of living with that of thepeople of the castles we had been touring. The question ofwhether one would rather live in the medieval or the an-cient world is always a popular debate in history classes.After a visit to the moated manor house of Ightham Mote,we stayed the night at a truly charming B&B in Rye.

Our final day of touring was spent first at Battle Ab-bey, where William the Conqueror won his great victory,and finally at Hever Castle. This made me think onceagain of the friend I mentioned in the beginning. She isreally a student of Scottish history; so as I stood in HeverCastle looking at an actual letter written by Bonny PrinceCharlie, I couldn’t help but think she must have felt

Nancy Detrick, Jayney Mack, Linda Trebig & Joan Lymon at KingRichard ’s Well, Bosworth


cheated at having only come to London for a few days andthen having spent most of those in the library.

As we rode together for the last time into London, Ihad a chance to reflect upon the trip. I can honestly saythat taking the Ricardian tour was the best decision Icould have made. I saw England. I met the people. I atein real English pubs and tried English drinks like Shandy,a mixture of beer and lemonade which is surprisinglygood. (No one would mix Country Time with a Bud here?Not even in Vegas!) I had the chance to see the sites thatwere most important to me as a student of Richard III.Linda told me that it was important to see the differentmedieval castles and houses since it gave you a sense of theeveryday life of Richard’s England. She was right, and it isa feeling that can not be found in any book. I don’t knowhow good a historian I will turn out to be, but I feel I cannow study Richard III with a greater understanding, if notof the man, then at least of the world he lived in.Note: Jayney, a college student with a really inquiring mind andthe youngest member of our group, was tremendously enthusiasticand eager to fully experience England. She was an excellenttraveling companion, and I am gr

warwick & the modelmaker - richard iii of england · 2014. 4. 13. · warwick & the modelmaker —...

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