Tewkesbury: The Battle That Destroyed The Lancasters | War Of The Roses | Battlefields Of History

in 1461 the intermittent but brutal fighting that characterized the wars of the Roses was 5 years old during that time the upper hand in the struggle had been gained and lost by both sides but now the future of the House of York at last seemed assured King Edward IV was on the throne of England while the deposed King Henry V 6 cowed with his family and the remains of his court in Scotland [Applause] the bloody Battle of ton had been a complete disaster for the lancastrians many of the Nobles who had taken to the field in support of the House of Lancaster were now [Music] dead it seemed as if King Edward and the yorkists had won the war now it appeared that they must busy themselves winning the peace it was time for one of the most important and charismatic figures of the 15th century to emerge from the complex Mero round of Richards Edwards and Henry's he was the king's cousin Richard Neville the Earl of wari a man who would be remembered by history as wari the king [Music] maker [Music] [Music] wari seemed to Tower over the polity of the 1460s he is the most powerful magnate in the realm with the largest lands a prominent role in defeating the lancastrians in the North in the early 1460s and a sort of role as Edward's informal Chief counselor people early in the decade in particular expect this mature magnate to be guiding a king who's only 19 when he comes to the throne surviving contemporary portraits depict Edward IV in his middle years and his likeness is is perhaps not a flattering one the king however was considered very attractive in his Youth and he cut a very different figure to the weak lancastrian King Henry V 6 Edward was very much made from the same mold as his father Richard Duke of York while Henry V 6 had been a pale imitation of his own father the soldierly Henry V the difference between the two men was striking if the English had been asked to create a king from scratch in 1461 it's likely that their creation would have looked very like the young Edward IV he was tall about 6'3 impossibly handsome well educated intelligent and best of all he was a magnificent Soldier his record was simply battles F three battles one three so he was greeted with delight and acclaim in London but amongst nobility the mood was more subdued on the one hand there are many reasons to cooperate with the new king who is effective and promising on the other hand there are some constituencies who are simply not going to want to get on with Edward there are a number of old lancastrians who have in a sense lost everything and whose only chance of regaining It Is by siding with the lancastrian air although the lancastrians had received a severe setback po of support remained throughout the country after all despite his obvious failings Henry VII had reigned as king for nearly 40 years and he still commanded some degree of loyalty lancastrian support was concentrated mainly in the north of England it also enjoyed the backing of the Scottish Court which still provided refuge for Henry and his family the lancastrians had the support of the North nor humand Gentry and in the wake of the defeat at ton two surviving lancastrian leaders the Duke of exiter and Jasper Tuda set out for Wales to raise an Army against Edward there sadly for them their attempted Uprising in October 1461 was quickly put down and their troops were scattered no doubt chastened exitor and Jasper were forced to flee back to the protection of the [Music] Scots plans for another lancastrian Rebellion this time headed by the Earl of Oxford were hatched during the following spring but it never got off the ground Edward discovered the plot and he had Oxford its Chief Architect and his son sir Aubry executed for treason [Music] support for the lancastrians I think is waning steadily as it becomes obvious that they are not really making much impact on Edward's security I think pragmatism comes into play here there are individuals who will support Lancaster very strongly but most I think are increasingly conscious that Edward is probably there to stay and that something inevitably that becomes more marked the longer he does stay in April 1462 Margaret ofu that Dy champion of the lancastrian cause set off for France there she made the most of her connections with the French Court negotiating with King Louis X 11th in return for the French support that she hoped would restore Henry to the English Throne Margaret won support of France by offering them C Louis the 11th was very attracted by that but the problem with the c promise was that for the king to take C he would need to move through the domains of the Duke of burgundy and the Duke of burgundy was hostile to that so in fact Margaret didn't get the strong French backing that she had hoped for but she did get some support and this enabled her and a Norman Knight called saier de bre who was a close uh Ally and contact of hers to send a small Force to land in the Northeast of England in 1462 and Edward's response and War's response was fast they quickly assembled an army and moved North in strength to confront Margaret at first things went well for Margaret and her small army they managed to secure the garrisons of bambar dunbur and Walworth and her troops also besieged and captured alwick Castle but more men were clearly required to make a fullscale rebellion possible I and Margaret decided to take her French soldiers to Scotland in order to raise more support it was to prove a disastrous move William Gregory reported that Margaret returned to Scotland by water and there arose such a tempest upon her that she forsook her ship and escaped with a small boat and the boat was sunk with much of her stuff and three great ships as well so 46 Frenchmen were taken in the church of Holy Island Margaret's fleet was marooned those not already lost to the Shipwreck were captured and killed by local [Music] yorkists while disaster was striking the lancastrian fleet the yorkist Earl of wari was steadily advancing on land towards their captured garrisons Walworth was recaptured but with winter approaching wari decided that a better plan was to lay seed to the [Music] rest the provisions of the remaining garrisons ran out over the course of a bitter winter until the men within their walls were so hungry they had to kill and eat their own horses over Christmas dunbur and Bamber surrendered although the LAN asrian inside were given free Pardons and safe conduct by the King sir Harry bort the Duke of Somerset had been among the lancastrian supporters taken at the captured castle of dunbur after receiving his pardon with the rest the Duke traveled to Durham for an audience with Edward IV there in a remarkable turnaround the diard lancastrian swore his allegiance to the yorkist king King given somerset's history and that their fathers had been the bitterest of Rivals Edward treated The Defector with great leniency even reversing the attainer that had previously been placed upon his titles and Estates to the utter astonishment of Edward's supporters the turncoat Duke somehow rapidly gained Edward's trust and it was not long before he had become one of the king's closest advisers Somerset was even made captain of the royal bodyguard a position that meant he was constantly at the king's side somerset's appointment might have been a clear demonstration of faith on Edward's part but for many yorkists it also showed a dangerous lack of judgment Edward's decision to trust suet seems to me absolutely typical of Edward's political wisdom really in the 1460s this is a king who knows that if he is to reunite the poity he must be open-handed and generous he must give people Second Chances all the successful usurpers had taken that posture as far as they could and Edward follows skillfully in their footsteps discover the past with exclusive medieval documentaries and adree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from history hit watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device download the app now to explore everything from our series on medieval Pleasures to the notorious Knights Templar the princes in the tower and the Battle of Hastings immerse yourself in the captivating stories of this remarkable era by signing up via the link in the description if Edward could win Somerset over then it would be a huge propaganda coup what he wanted the other lancastrians to be thinking was well if sumerset has moved over to Edward then why are we still fighting we might as well give in too but at the same time Edward's ego was probably at work he probably thought that a dazzling smile and an arm round the shoulder from the wonderful King Edward was all it would take to bring Somerset over to his side he was going to be grievously disappointed despite gaining the trust of the king hostility towards the Duke of Somerset remained strong among yorkists at Northampton for example the people of the Town seized Somerset during a visit with the King and attempted to Lynch him as the astonished Monarch looked on they failed but the incident confirmed to Edward that he could no longer continue to keep Somerset so close to him for the Duke's own protection he was dispatched to Wales where away from the king's influence it was not long before he showed his true colors William Gregory reported that the same year about Christmas that false Duke of Somerset without leave of the king stole out of Wales with a private following towards Newcastle in the way thither he was noticed and was nearly taken in his bed but he escaped away in his shirt and Barefoot and when his men knew that he had escaped and his false treason was discovered his men stole from Newcastle as very false traitors and some of them were taken and lost their heads for their labor and then the king had knowledge of the false disposition of this false dukee Harry of Somerset while Edward was busy with the odious Somerset Margaret and her troops continued their Northern [Music] invasions despite War's successes against them during the previous winter the lancastrians were still strong enough to lay Siege to the northern garrisons during for 1863 in July Henry Margaret and their Scots troops also besieged norham Castle but they were repelled and pursued by wari and his brother Lord montigue disturbed by the exiled Queen's persistence Edward sought to deprive her of her most dangerous supporter and so in October 1463 the English king made peace with France it was a huge personal blow for Margaret and she returned to Scotland only to discover that here too Edward had outmaneuvered her during the Queen's absence he had also made a truce with the king of Scots over the winter of 1463 Henry isolated and with his cause seemingly hopeless established himself in the small stronghold of bambur Castle but on the 15th of May 1464 Edward's forces finally met and defeated Henry's Army at the Battle of Hexum it was there that Edward also caught up with the Renegade Duke of Somerset this time there was no forgiveness or leniency from the young king the king had Somerset and his followers beheaded the very same day I think he hexom is damaging to lancastrian cause it's not literally the last straw but a number of lancastrian leaders die as a result of the battle and given that the longer Edward can stay in power the more he will be accepted any Victory is going to contribute to that after the battle of hexen bambra Castle also fell and Henry VI 6 cut a sorry figure as he wandered helplessly around the countryside trying to avoid capture by his enemies Edward IV's attention now turned to perhaps more pleasant but certainly no less important matters he was without doubt the most eligible bachelor in Europe and the people of England were Keen that he should produce heirs to the throne that would put an end to the prospect of any future fighting over the succession the main talk after hexen was therefore about marriage who was to be the future Queen of England Edward's marriage plans were to cause a furious disagreement with the Earl of wari who sought to arrange a match with a French princess King Edward who already had illegitimate children was determined to make his own choice to War's utter fury on the 1st of May 1464 he secretly married the Widow of Sir John Gray the beautiful Elizabeth Woodville Sir John Gray had died fighting at SED orans in 1461 on the side of the lancastrians we can explain Edward's marriage in one short word lust he'd had numerous Mistresses but Elizabeth Woodville appears to have avoided adding herself to that list and so the story goes even after Edward had exhausted his apparently endless list of s seduction techniques she still turned him down even when he put a dagger to her throat Edward knew this was a political mistake why else would he have kept the story of his marriage secret and really only revealed it when he was absolutely forced to do so it's easy to quip that Edward didn't marry dynastically because he let his heart or his desires rule his head but the truth was probably that he was beginning to resent wari that the continued tutelage by his mentor was irritating him he wanted to be his own man he wanted to make his own decisions and his marriage was one of those decisions Edward's choice of bride was deeply unpopular his own mother The Duchess of York was so outraged that she claimed the Earl of schur's daughter Elizabeth Lucy who was pregnant by the King was already married to Edward a claim that was easily disproved accusations of Witchcraft were even leveled at Elizabeth Woodville and her mother most ominously though the Earl of wari was beside himself with anger at the king's snub to his own plans and this would have drastic long-term consequences by favoring his new in-laws the Woodville King Edward had succeeded in alienating possibly the most powerful man in the country [Music] wari was Soul searingly angry he really had been made to look a fool in front of the French there he was negotiating for Edward's marriage when behind his back Edward was already married to Elizabeth Woodville however not everyone was outraged within a very short time Elizabeth woodville's numerous brothers and sisters were being married off into noble families the the marriage which really upset the noble sensibilities was that of John Woodville he was about 20 years old at the time when he married Katherine Neville a dow Duchess of Norfolk and it's estimated she was about 65 at the time of the marriage it was known as the Diabolical marriage Edward's new father-in-law Lord Rivers was not slow to use his recently acquired influence soon the Woodville family was perhaps the most powerful and influential in the country [Music] in a further snub to the Earl of wari two woodfields were married off to his Fierce Rivals from the Herbert Family the ol of wari had no sons and he was the father of two as yet unmarried daughters who would be his AES one of the Grievances at least that Warick had against the woodfields is that the Queen's sisters absorbed most of the eligible aristocratic bachelors in England in the 1460s now this wouldn't have mattered if Edward had agreed to War's alternative plans perhaps a marriage to foreign princes abroad perhaps even marriages to Edward's own younger brothers but Edward forbad these Alternatives and so wari had no one to marry his daughters too and worse at court than there were the Woodville girls flaunting their new husbands for wari the Woodville marriage was a disaster politically the new Queen and her relatives created an alternative power base around the king whereas previously he had dominated influence in the summer of 1465 The Fugitive Henry VI 6 was finally captured in Lancashire and brought to the Tower of London meanwhile Margaret her son the lancastrian Prince of Wales the Duke of exitor and the new Duke of Somerset were now living in Exile in France waiting for an opportunity to rekindle lancastrian support Edward's appointment of Lord Rivers as Lord treasurer of England and his creation as an Earl further increased the domination of the Woodville and soon the people began to be as scornful of Edward's Court party as they once had of the avaricious ministers that had surrounded Henry V 6 as the tensions between Warick and the Woodville worsened an uneasy atmosphere of mistrust began to dominate the court although the lancastrian threat seemed far off a few speculative individuals began to take an interest in the old cause by sending Queen Margaret messages of support by May 1467 Edward had become distinctly tired of the Neville family and he decided to act War's brother was dismissed from his position as Lord Chancellor the rift widened further the following year when at the height of War's careful negotiations for peace with France Edward married off his sister Margaret of York to the Duke of burgundy the marriage was disastrous for War's ambassadorial plans as it Allied England to France's closest enemy for war it was the final straw his patience with the King was at an [Music] end and so the bitter and disillusioned Earl began to establish a rival faction to the W V's at court in collusion with Edward's younger brother the Duke of Clarence it's not altogether clear whether wari talks Clarence into supporting him or whether Clarence seeks out wari Clarence comes of age in 1466 somewhat early because he's only 17 and he seems to be a man full of ambition and hope and if Warick is going to stand as a reformer of Edward's regime which seems to be the position that he's striking in 14 69 then an ally very close to the king is a useful asset it makes wari look like a reformer and Clarence may also have thought maybe he might succeed his brother if Edward is now thought to be uh an unsuccessful king a king who could be done away with to seal their new alliance wari planned a marriage between Clarence and his own daughter lady Isabel and they all sailed to C from where they planned to catch a plot against the king if this were not enough domestic troubles were already brewing for Edward in the spring of 1469 an outcry over tax sparked an uprising in Yorkshire led by Robin of reedsdale forces under Lord montigue crushed the Rebellion but the rebels quickly reformed and they reappeared in Lancashire in June by now reedsdale and his supporters numbered several thousand men and stirring memories of Jack Cade's anti- lancastrian rebellion of 1450 a Manifesto was issued that condemned Edward's court and demanded an end to the influence of the Woodville this was all very convenient for wari of course could his hand be seen behind the Rebellion the reale rebellion was led by members of the con's family who were strong supporters of wari War was very much behind this attempt to unseat Edward they blamed the king's evil counselors yet again but the target was Edward Edward at this stage was far from the dynamic active figure that had taken the throne he was lazy slow to react and he paid for it in July the Duke of Clarence went ahead and married War's daughter Isabelle Neville the marriage expressly forbidden by Edward was an open Act of defiance and the Rival Court party now firmly established in Cal set about raising men to invade England and overthrow the king it came on the 16th of July 1469 when the Earl of wari landed with his army on the Kent Coast King Edward received the news of War's Rebellion while he was at Nottingham but although he must have been aware that the Earl was marching on London he chose to await reinforcements before making his move the king soon found himself in a very awkward position Robin of reedsdale and his men were pressing down from the north trapping the king between the two advancing forces meanwhile lancastrian rebels in Oxfordshire intercepted Edward's Welsh Army headed by William Herbert at edut they had been marching to fight at the king's side but now Herbert's men were brought to battle and [Applause] routed on War's expressed orders Herbert himself the Queen's father Earl riers and the Queen's brother Sir John Woodville were all captured and beheaded War had taken his first Revenge the executions after edut happened for two reasons first of all war has argued that these men around the king are traitors therefore they deserve to die and really these Battlefield or post Battlefield executions though slightly more Savage than usual do fall into a kind of pattern familiar from earlier battles in the wars of the Roses the second reason is that these are men who are never going to forgive wark and never going to work with him in the future that one thing that opponents of the crown must have learned from the conflicts under Henry V 6 was that you had to have your men around the king in the household and wari is not going to have a group of men who are inimical to him surviving this conflict because they will get it on hearing the news of the defeated edat Edward's men began to desert in droves and for the first time in his life military defeat was staring the King full in the face completely unsure of what to do next he chose eventually to ride South towards London but was captured and confined at middleham Castle it was becoming clear that wari who had once paved the way to Edward's coronation was now hatching plans to eventually replace the king with his young son-in-law Clarence wari may have reflected that Edward was not a man to put up with the kind of shenanigans that he had engaged in in 1469 and that therefore he would have to seek an opportunity to replace the king and the natural successor given that Edward has no children no Sons anyway at this time would be his brother George of Clarence the chances of Clarence being accepted are very remote indeed the problem is that clarence's title is obviously weaker than Edwards because he is the younger brother and there hasn't really been enough criticism of Edward to justify his cynical removal and replacement by another member of the royal family war must have known that even now putting Clarence on the throne would be no easy task a fact that was confirmed by the Looting and rioting that broke out when the news of Edward's confinement became public as a consequence by September 1469 Edward was once again free after having been released from middleham K CLE the king headed straight for London and just a few chaotic weeks after edut Edward was back at court again even after Warick and Clarence have given Edward this trouble in 1469 the king seems typically pragmatic and flexible willing to forgive and forget seeing I think at this stage the importance of patching up these incipient difficulties within the orchest establishment because presumably he can read his political Tea Leaves quite as well as wari can for Edward he wanted to deal strongly with wari but he didn't have the power to do so war must have wanted to Rebel again against Edward but he didn't have the support to do so the two had to live with each other they must have smiled grimly but their minds were working furiously what can I do next what will he do next peace was unlikely to last long Edward crushed another lancastrian rebellion in March 1470 at the Battle of loose coat field for the Earl of wari the game was up he was forced to flee once more to C there to regroup and lick his wounds in April 1470 King Edward officially proclaimed that both his own brother and his onetime closest advisor were traitors to the crown later that same month War arrived at onur and asked for the protection of the French King Louis VI 11th a fugitive in a foreign land he may have been but War had certainly not taken his eyes off the prize of the Throne of England it was however more and more obvious that a stronger claimant than Clarence was needed and so the ever resourceful Earl came to an agreement with King Louie struck a double bargain at on in 1470 with Queen Margaret he made a handsome apology for his behavior in the 1450s and made a wedding agreement that his daughter his younger daughter Anne would marry Edward of Lancaster the Prince of Wales and hopefully the Future lancastrian King with Louis VI 11th he promised that this New lancastrian England would Ally with the French King against the Duke of burgundy and that promise then hung over War's fortunes during the redeption war and Margaret had to overcome 15 years of hatred hostility Bloodshed it was an enormously difficult task it needed all the Wilds of Louis the 11th of France to bring them together he succeeded but only just and even after they'd agreed to work together even then Margaret insisted that her son shouldn't go to England until Warick had secured the country for Henry V [Music] 6 in September 1470 war and Clarence landed with troops in Devon where they joined the army of Lord Oxford and Jasper Tuda meanwhile in the north War's brother Lord montigue who had also switched sides marched at the head of an army towards Doncaster where King Edward was busy gathering support monu's defection to the lancastrian side took Edward completely by surprise and fearful of once more becoming trapped between two hostile armies he decided that discretion was the better part of valor there was nothing else to do but to flee the country riding hard into East Anglia the king boarded a ship Bound for the low countries arriving in the ha in early October 14 71 but leaving behind a kingdom at the mercy of his enemies at virtually the same time War arrived with his supporters in London and released Henry V 6 from the tower it was now that war really earned the epithet by which he is remembered the kingmaker immediately restored the lancastrian Henry to the throne of England it's hard to imagine the country welcoming Henry the Tak the back as king he's in a very dilapidated state by this stage and we have a famous Chronicle account of him tied onto a horse being paraded around London with what's described unflatteringly as an old blue gown on and actually The Burgundian chronicler shastan talks of the king as looking like a stuffed wool sack lifted by its ears at this stage if we can imagine the scene there was Henry in an old blue gown he had to be taken by the hand by the Archbishop of York effectively pulled around London a small group of supporters the Aged even more aged Lord zuch just about able to hold up the sword of State in front of him and some kind of Royal Standard apparently made out of Fox's Tales being carried on a spear the whole site was pathetic and as the chronicl said they simply didn't win support Henry must have been bewildered to learn the identity of the man who had secured his freedom and restored him to the throne the old King's return did not provide an end to the story of course quite the opposite the court was riddled with suspicion and mistrust and filled with those who could not forget that wari had once been the staunchest of yorkists these were the fathers brothers and uncles of many that had been killed during bloody battles with War's armies and no amount of expedient political alliances would erase their hatred and bitterness the Dukes of Somerset and exitor were particularly hostile to the man who had styled himself the king's left tenant so oric position was far from secure and his future uncertain but did he realize that perhaps his greatest threat now came from within now there was a rather uneasy balance between the dynastic interests of George Duke of Clarence and the interests of the House of Lancaster which were of course against the yorkist claim so Clarence was rather a square peg in a round hole as far as the redeption is concerned his future would look pretty precarious even to an idiot like Clarence actually so he's not a very reliable Ally for Warick at the same time the emergence of Edward of Lancaster is also likely to mean that War's period of influence over the management of the redeption regime is going to come to an end and the Earl of Warick looks forward to a rather uncertain future and possibly Trump up charges of treason treason which of course he had committed against the House of Lancaster so the future for wari the future for Clarence and as things turn out the future for Lancaster is actually very uncertain King Edward IV was of course determined to win back his throne support throughout the country for the exiled King was strong and it became stronger as Henry's old weaknesses as king gradually resurfaced and from England came news that his Queen Elizabeth had given birth to a son now there was an heir for the house of York Edward had every reason to fight for his crown Edward gathered together an army at flushing in March 1471 it was perhaps only 2,000 strong not exactly a mighty force with which to fight the battles that would restore Edward to the throne after a severe battering by the elements Edward eventually landed at Raven spur on the river Humber in the north of England on the 14th of March from ravenspur he marched to York before turning South towards the Midlands where the king picked up 3,000 much needed recruits for the Army the Earl of wari had not been idle however he too was in the Midlands at Coventry and it was here that Edward planned to bring the Earl to battle but Waring despite having a larger Army than Edward would not be lured from behind the walls of the town it may have been that wari was waiting for more reinforcements forces under the command of exitor Oxford and Clarence were supposed to be on their way whatever the reason even wari was probably unprepared for the next twist in the tail the disaffected and embittered Clarence had decided to take his own revenge and switch sides the king and his brother were dramatically reconciled and perhaps even more importantly clarence's sudden conversion to the orchest cause also brought with it 4,000 more men for Edward's Army deciding to run the risk of leaving War's Army intact at Coventry Edward marched to London arriving triumphantly in the city in early April 1471 he immediately seized the hais Henry V 6 although there was no violence involved and lodged him in the tower supposedly for his own safety Edward was reunited with Queen Elizabeth and his new son the Prince of Wales and once again the Archbishop of Canterbury placed the crown upon his head however urgent news came to spoil this domestic Bliss and concentrate the king's mind wari and his army had at last left cantry and had marched South as far as St Orbin the time for a final Reckoning between the king and the King maker was now at hand and Edward marched his army now some 10,000 strong out to meet the Earl's forces the two armies met at the Battle of Barnet then a small town to the north of [Music] London Chronicles recorded that perhaps 20,000 men did battle and although it is believed that War's men outnumbered Edwards it was the yorkest side that attacked in a thick Morning Mist at about 5:00 a.m. on Easter Sunday April 14th 1471 flanked by troops under the command of Lord Hastings and Richard of Gloucester Edward who is said to have been mounted on a white horse fought his way into the lancastrian army under the command of War montigue Oxford and exitor the battle was a confused melee of savage hand toand fighting the thick blanket of mist played a crucial part in the outcome the weather conditions meant two things one that soldiers in one part of the battlefield didn't really know what was going on elsewhere and secondly that the two armies had not lined up opposite each other so there was an area where War's Army was dominant and an area where Edward's Army was dominant the area where War's Army was dominant put the yorkists the supporters of Edward IV quickly to to flight and indeed pursued those men off the battlefield losing therefore War's Army a significant proportion of its troops at the other end of War's Army is wari himself and this end of War's Army is outnumbered by the main body of the orist strength where the King Edward IV is and it's in that context that wari is overcome and he and his brother montigue are murdered the triumphant King returned to London where he had the banners of the defeated lancastrian leaders displayed on the walls of St Paul's the mutilated bodies of the brothers Neville were also put on display in the cathedral as Grizzly proof that they had at last been killed and there was little point in any lancastrian sympathizer trying to start a rumor that they had escaped Edward had little time to glory in his victory for news came that on the very same day that War's Army had been crushed at Barnet Margaret of Anu and her son the Prince of Wales had landed at Waymouth Margaret and Edward of Lancaster immediately begin to try and build support in the west country an area with quite a lot of lancastrian leanings actually and aided by the B Duke of Somerset and the Courtney Earl of Devon or Pretender to the Earl of Devon they are able to build up quite a lot of support in that area Edward meanwhile flush from victory at Barnet needs himself to gather a fresh Army and wheels round through the Midlands Gathering it up eventually forces Margaret to a battlefield at tuxbury she's trying to head up towards Wales but Edward is able to get Gloucester to close its Gates against her and force them therefore up the seven to the Ford at tuxbury and that's where the confrontation takes place between two pretty substantial and well supported [Music] armies on the 4th of May with the support of the commanders that had triumphed at Barnet only weeks before Edward attacked the lancastrian Army and despite the undoubted military skills of the Duke of Somerset his troops were no match for Edward and his Commanders yest infantry and Spearman were soon overwhelming somerset's men on the lancastrian right flank the inexperienced Prince of Wales was unable to hold the remaining lancastrian troops together they crumbled broke and ran for their lives abandoning their commanders to their fate towards the town of tuxbury they fled but hundreds were caught and hacked to death in an echo of the battle of ton 10 years earlier the field where many met their end was later named bloody Meadow although no one could be certain it is thought that 2,000 lancastrian troops died at dukesbury the lancastrian nobility was decimated and perhaps worst of all the Prince of Wales himself was among those butchered on the battlefield we don't know exactly how young prince Edward died the story of him being captured hauled before King Edward and slapped around the face with the Royal Gauntlet then murdered in Cold Blood well that it doesn't appear in the Contemporary sources it's more likely that the Young Prince was killed in the battle or in flight but even then there's a fair chance that it was a cold blooded Murder King Edward didn't want the Young Prince to leave the battlefield with him dead the lancastrian cause was at an end following the Battle of dukesbury the Duke of Somerset was dragged from the sanctuary of a local Abbey and beheaded it was a grim end to the house of bfort the Duke's father had fallen at the war's first battle at St Albans and his brother executed after the battle of hexen other surviving lancastrian Nobles met similar rough Justice the defeated Queen Margaret doubtless brokenhearted by the death of her son was captured at little mulvin and brought before the king at cantry for the queen it was all over with her son dead only her weak and unstable husband remained as a symbol of the lancastrian cause Margaret was taken to London to begin an imprisonment that would last 4 years the battle of tuxbury was a watershed it marked the end of the House of Lancaster shortly afterwards in May 1471 came the news that confirmed the struggle for the crown was finally over Henry V 6th was dead as soon as Edward of Lancaster dies at tuxbury in effect that signs his father's death warrant there's no longer any political or diplomatic reason to keep Henry V 6 alive Edward spread the rumor that Henry had died of pure displeasure and Melancholy in the tower the truth is that he was murdered in practice what this tells us that even now Edward couldn't admit that he had had Henry murdered he had to find another story when Henry's coffin was open centuries later the skull had matted blood around the remaining hair Henry the 6 was murdered mured and that was the end of the House of Lancaster whatever the truth behind Henry's death it was convenient to say the least for King Edward now both the Old King and his son were dead and the almost Unthinkable Prospect of a period of domestic peace was very real indeed but one of the most controversial figures of British history was hovering in the wings a man who would play the central part in the final cataclysm of the wars of the [Music] Roses