et was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV. On 14 April 1471 near Barnet, then a small Hertfordshire town north of London, Edward led the House of York in a fight against the House of Lancaster, which backed Henry VI for the throne. Leading the Lancastrian army was Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, who played a crucial role in the fate of each king. Historians regard the battle as one of the most important clashes in the Wars of the Roses, since it brought about a decisive turn in the fortunes of the two houses. Edward 's victory was followed by fourteen years of Yorkist rule …show more content…
On their return to the battlefield, Oxford 's men were erroneously shot at by his allies commanded by John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu. The Lancastrians lost the battle as cries of treason spread through their line, disrupting morale and causing many to abandon the fight. While retreating, Warwick was killed by Yorkist soldiers.
Warwick had been such an influential figure in 15th-century English politics that, on his death, no one matched him in terms of power and popularity. Deprived of Warwick 's support, the Lancastrians suffered their final defeat at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, which marked the downfall of the House of Lancaster and the ascendancy of the House of York. Three centuries after the Battle of Barnet, a stone obelisk was raised on the spot where Warwick purportedly died.
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Commanders
2.1 Yorkist
2.2 Lancastrian
3 Prelude
4 Fighting in the mist
5 Post-battle
6 Legacy
6.1 Shakespearian dramatisation
6.2 Battlefield
7 Notes
8 References
9 Bibliography
10 External links
Background[edit]
Further information: Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of conflicts between various English lords and nobles in support of two different royal families. In 1461, the conflict reached a milestone when the House of York supplanted its rival, the House of Lancaster, as the ruling royal house in England. Edward IV, leader of the Yorkists, seized the throne from the
Wars were also part of the crisis, notably the Hundred Years War between England and France. In 1328 the French Capetian line ended. England’s Edward III (d.1377) claimed the French throne, but a cousin to the Capets, Philip of Valois, became king (d.1350). War soon began. Armored knights on horseback were the backbone of medieval armies, but English peasants using the longbow had begun to change the face of war. When the French king was captured, a treaty was signed in 1360: France agreed to pay ransom, the English received land in France, and Edward renounced his claim to the throne. Using guerilla tactics, the French regained their lands, but in 1415 England’s Henry V (d.1422)
The War of the Roses was a crucial and significant period in the England’s history playing an important role in it. There were many factors which can be seen as the causes of the war. However, it is vital to clarify to what extent its outbreak was caused by Henry’s inadequacies.
Henry VII ascended to the throne in 1485 with a weak claim due to dynastic issues following on from his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Despite discontent and rebellion within Henry VII’s reign, it is debatable whether the monarch was actually threatened by rebellions due to the simple reason that Henry VII was able to remain on the throne and secure a succession until his death, however the challenge to his authority and succession seen in Lovell, Simnel and Warbeck shows clear instability throughout areas of his reign. However the Yorkshire and Cornish rebellions, which aims were focused around issues of tax, did not pose as much of a threat during
On the 14th of October 1066, Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. His win could be summed up by the fact that William was a better leader. Other factors that contributed to William’s victory include: William was better prepared, the English army was severely weakened as Harold had just fought off an invasion in the North of England, and Harold made a fatal mistake of prematurely entering the Battle of Hastings.
The War of the Roses were a series of Civil Wars from 1455 – 1487, they were fought between the House of York and the House of
Just after Henry VII came to power, he called all the lords that helped him win the battle against Richard III to the tower of London, where he lived. The
Henry 's father, King Henry VII, unified the divided country when he killed the last Plantagenet King, Richard III. The country had been divided in a civil war known as 'The War of the Roses ' with two sides of the Plantagenet dynasty, the House of Lancaster and the House of York, fighting over the throne. Both houses were descendants of two of the sons of Edward III. The House of Lancaster,descended from John of Gaunt, was represented by a Red Rose. The House of York, descended from Edmund of Langley, was represented by the white rose. By 1461, the Yorkists had succeeded in becoming the royal house in England. With the Yorkist King Richard III becoming increasingly unpopular, Henry Tudor ,a descendant of John of Gaunt, gained the support of the country and decided to put Richard
For more than a hundred years, the Kingdom of England and the House of Valois of France found themselves locked in war for the French throne. The hundred and sixteen year series of battles took place from 1337 to 1453, with historians often separating it into three phases: the Edwardian Era (1337- 1360), the Caroline War (1369- 1389), and the Lancastrian War (1415- 1453). Despite English success that lasted the majority of the conflict, and was revived by Henry V, the war resulted a French victory but high casualty losses on both sides. Beyond this, the war was not only limited to the two belligerents, but also involved Scotland, Spain, and the Low Countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Villalon). The French victory and resurgence are mostly accredited to the arrival of Joan of Arc and, subsequently, the unity of the French after her execution by the English. Despite this, the question of the significance of Joan of Arc in the context of ending the Hundred
The next major battle that occurred during the Hundred Year War was the Battle of Poitiers. The Battle of Poitiers was a battle that occurred after a six year break from war, warfare broke out again as Edward III’s son, Edward the Black Prince had attacked France in 1356. The French had a line of defense, however Edward was able to break through the defenses and attacked the French head on. The current king of France was King John II. Edward the Black Prince was able to cause a disastrous battle in France and the result of the battle was that Edward the Black Prince was able to capture King John II (Jean II) as well as almost 2,000 aristocracy members of France. Edward the Black Prince wanted a ransom. France was at a loss without their king and did not know what to do so they signed the Treaty of Bretigny in 1360 that states that they would cede a large amount of northern territory and the shoreline to England. In exchange for this deal, Edward the Black Prince was required to give up his claim to the throne. After the loss of the two great generals of England, Edward III and Edward the Black Prince, the French regained control of most parts of France and in 1389 the two sides signed a true as well as extended the treaty in 1396 for 28 years. In 1964, The Battle of Auray was the battle where the English forces under John Chandos besieged Auray and the leader of the French army, Bertrand du Guesclin, was captured. During this time, the French King known as King Jean II died
From his fifteen year minority to the inept rule of the rest of his reign, Henry VI was a "child", at least as far as governing ability was concerned. The period of his minority and the time that he was the titular king laid the groundwork for the Wars of the Roses. Had Henry been an intelligent king, with at least some political acumen, and the ability to win the respect of his nobles, their may have never been any Wars of the Roses. But his weakness in allowing government by favorites and governing foolishly on his own, at the very least directed his country down the road to a bloody civil war.
The strengths' pioneer against Henry was driven by his brother by marriage Simon de Montfort, sixth Earl of Leicester, who was hitched to Henry's sister Eleanor. de Montfort needed to reassert the Magna Carta and power the ruler to surrender more energy to the nobleman's committee. In 1264 at the Battle of Lewes, Henry and his child, the future King Edward I, were crushed and caught. Henry was compelled to summon a parliament and to guarantee to run with the exhortation of a gathering of nobles. Henry was lessened to a nonentity lord, and de Montfort expanded parliamentary representation to incorporate gatherings past the respectability, individuals from every area of England and numerous imperative towns. After fifteen months, Edward drove the royalists into fight once more, vanquishing and killing de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. At last, power was restored to King Henry III and extreme requital was claimed on the insubordinate nobles. In 1266, a compromise between the ruler and the agitators was worked out with the Dictum of Kenilworth. Henry was progressively sick and decrepit amid his last years. His child and beneficiary Edward turned into the Steward of England and started to assume a more noticeable part in government. The most critical legacy of King Henry III is
* During the battle the Normans struggled to break down the shield wall. They could not break the shield wall. After a while the Normans started to think that William was dead they started to retreat but William took of his helmet and said “I’m still alive”. The English opened the shield wall and charged down hill but the Normans were confident again Harold was killed and that was the fight.
During these phases of war, what originally started as the English being in favor led to the French winning the war in the end. By 1453, the French throne was secured by the House of Valois while all of England’s possessions, with the exception of Calais, were lost. There were five key battles in the Hundred Years War which the English had won three out of the five. The first key battle was the Battle of Crecy which start on August 26, 1346 was fought at the village of Crecy in northern France. King Edward III and his English army demolished the French army using the new technique of longbows used by the English. This battle was considered on of the most decisive in history. “The Genoese mercenary crossbowmen led the assault, but they were soon overwhelmed by Edward’s 10,000 longbowmen and retreated. From Crecy, Edward marched on to Calais, which surrendered to him in
The events had a great effect on the future. When the Yorkists were defeated at the battle of Bosworth Field, Henry VII became king. It had been hard for Henry to win the throne. He had been in exile, and had had to do constant campaigning to get as far as he did. However, there were still threats to his title. There were various pretenders, as well as Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be Edward V's younger brother, Richard Duke of York. After several attacks, to try win back the throne, Henry VII finally had him imprisoned and executed. Though problems left over from the Wars of the Roses were not over yet. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, the oldest daughter of the Yorkist King Edward IV, in 1486 ( Six Wives). This was convenient, since,
The Norman invasion of England in 1066 stands out in British history as the last time the isle was successfully invaded (Kramer.34). The invasion followed as a result of the death of the English king, Edward the Confessor, as he died childless on January the 4. 1066 (Barlett). The throne was left vacant and consequently three most mighty men disputed the line of succession: Harland Goodwinson, the head of one of the most notable and powerful noble families in the whole of England, Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, and William, Duke of Normandy (Wold.5).